SAN JOSE, Calif. — As a rookie head coach in 2024, Mike Macdonald took his team to San Francisco for the first time with no trophies on the line but a sense the Seattle Seahawks’ season was on the brink.

“We were on a rollercoaster,” Macdonald said Tuesday at the San Jose Convention Center, recalling a critical moment during his first season as head coach.

With five losses in a string of six games, the Seahawks boarded the team plane at Sea-Tac Airport for a road game against the 49ers sporting a 4-5 record and more baggage than Macdonald could count.

“We were at an inflection point of where we want to go,” Macdonald recalled as the Seahawks are preparing to play once more at Levi’s Stadium in Super Bowl LX on Sunday night.

The Seahawks lost in overtime to the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 3 that season and split for their bye week. The buzzword bouncing around the offices of Macdonald and general manager John Schneider always came back to one idea.

“Connected,” Macdonald said of the theme he shared to inspire a defensive turnaround. “We made a pact: We’re going to be a great defense no matter what happens.”

The Seahawks ended up winning six of their last eight games in 2024 then won 14 games during the 2025 regular season. They head toward the Super Bowl with Macdonald in position to win his 27th game, playoffs included, in his first two seasons.

Since their turning point, the Seahawks are 22-5, counting two victories in the current playoffs. With changes along the way to further the shared vision of what Seattle could become, Macdonald views Super Bowl LX as an exhibit of the collective investment in the ongoing mission.

“It’s a masterclass by John and our personnel folks,” Macdonald said. “When you have a shared alignment of what kind of people you want what kind of player fits the process. They’ve bought in. All of us. And they’re doing it for the guy next to him.

“For us, we said it after the (NFC) Championship Game that we didn’t care (if they were expected to win). We don’t. I think what was important to us was that we had to become a championship team. That’s what our focus was on.”

–Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media

Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk is nothing if not honest.

“We’re in trouble right now,” Tkachuk told reporters Monday after Florida’s 5-3 loss to the visiting Buffalo Sabres.

The Panthers — the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champs — have lost four straight games and trail the Boston Bruins by nine points in the battle for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

On Wednesday night, the Panthers will face the Bruins in Sunrise, Fla.

The Panthers have 27 games left in the regular season but just two before a three-week Olympic break. The sense of urgency surrounding the team is real.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice, speaking after Monday’s loss, said his players are “grinding and battling” as hard as possible. In fact, Florida outshot Buffalo 42-20 on Monday.

“If the shots were 40-20 the other way, we’d be shook,” Maurice said.

Even so, Maurice admitted Florida’s injuries are an issue, especially after center Sam Bennett left Monday’s game in the first period due to an upper-body injury.

Bennett joins several prominent injured Panthers, including forwards Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand as well as defensemen Seth Jones and Dmitry Kulikov.

“That’s a problem,” Maurice said, while also sharing Tuesday that a number of these players could return as soon as Wednesday.

Tkachuk, who scored a total of 48 goals the previous two seasons, has only played eight games this season due to injuries.

Following Monday’s game, Tkachuk said the Sabres — who are trying to break an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought — are more talented than the champs.

“From an individual standpoint, they have us by a lot,” Tkachuk said. “We have a certain style, and if we play it, we are successful. We just haven’t played it enough.

“We cannot try to out-skill teams. We have to get back to the basics and win 1-0 or 2-1. If we don’t simplify things, this year will get away from us.”

Barkov and Kulikov each skated in Tuesday’s optional practice, the first time either has skated since sustaining their injuries. However, time is starting to dwindle for the twice-reigning champs.

Meanwhile, the Bruins are coming off a 6-5 shootout loss to the host Tampa Bay Lightning in an outdoor game played before 64,617 fans on Sunday.

Boston blew a 5-1 second-period lead.

“The game was over,” Bruins forward David Pastrnak said. “We had them.”

Wednesday’s game will be Boston’s final one before its Olympic break.

So far, things have gone relatively well for the Bruins under first-year head coach Marco Sturm, a former Bruins player.

Goalie Jeremy Swayman has bounced back this season from the first losing record in his six-year NHL career. Last season, he went 22-29-7 with a 3.12 goals-against average. This season, he is 22-12-3 with a 2.92 GAA.

Joonas Korpisalo, who is 10-8-1 with a 3.12 GAA, is in his second year as Swayman’s backup.

Armed with that duo, the Bruins have not lost consecutive games this calendar year, going 12-2-2 since Dec. 31.

“They’re on a heater,” Maurice said of the Bruins.

Offensively, Pastrnak leads Boston in assists (48) and points (70). He’s gunning for his fourth straight 100-point season.

Morgan Geekie leads the Bruins in total goals (32), even-strength goals (22) and power-play goals (10). He’s also one goal away from matching his career high of 33 goals, set last season.

Charlie McAvoy leads Boston’s defensemen in assists (34) and points (38). He also has a six-game point streak, with one goal and eight assists during that span.

The key for McAvoy has been improved health as he has already played 44 games as opposed to just 50 all of last season.

–Field Level Media

Unranked to begin the season, No. 20 Clemson has relied on its depth to become one of the most consistent teams in the country.

The Tigers (18-4, 8-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) could turn to their deep bench again when they begin a West Coast trip against Stanford on Wednesday night.

Clemson is riding a 12-game ACC road win streak heading into the matchup against Stanford (14-8, 3-6), which has lost four straight.

Carter Welling and Nick Davidson scored 12 points apiece to lead Clemson to a 63-52 home win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Tigers led by 17 at the half before holding on to win for the 11th time in their last 12 games.

Clemson held Pittsburgh to 37.7% shooting from the field and a season-low 19.2% (5 of 26) from 3-point range.

Butta Johnson scored eight points off the bench for the Tigers, who won despite being outrebounded 33-25.

“Kind of a workman-like win for us,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “Rusty a little bit at times, but I thought we did some good things in the first half on both ends. Then in the second half, we didn’t handle a 17-point lead very well.”

Clemson sits in second place in the ACC behind Duke with a challenging few weeks ahead. The Tigers’ second half of conference play includes games against ranked teams such as No. 4 Duke, No. 14 North Carolina and No. 24 Louisville.

Before heading into that challenging stretch, Clemson needs to be careful not to overlook Stanford, which recorded home wins over Louisville and North Carolina last month.

The Cardinal lost 88-80 to host Florida State on Saturday despite another strong effort from freshman point guard Ebuka Okorie, who had 26 points and four assists.

Okorie, who ranks 10th in the country in scoring at 21.8 points per game, was held to three points in the first half against Florida State before finding his rhythm after halftime.

“We’ve talked about his next step as a playmaker and a leader is to let the game come to him a little bit,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “They’re denying him everywhere. He’s getting used to that. … He made some good decisions and gave us an opportunity. We just couldn’t get any stops.”

Brownell raved about Okorie during Monday’s ACC media session.

“Their freshman guard, he’s incredible, just watching him on film,” said Brownell. “It’s been impressive to see his speed and change of direction. His poise for a freshman is uncanny. And obviously, they’ve got shooters around him, guys that can make shots. They’re big and strong.”

Stanford has struggled without senior forward Chisom Okpara, who is out for the rest of the season after absorbing a lower extremity injury in a loss to Virginia on Jan. 10.

Okpara has been replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore forward Donavin Young, who had 10 points and five rebounds against Florida State.

Stanford is returning home following a pair of losses, including one at Miami. Benny Gealer made nine total 3-pointers in the two defeats, while AJ Rohosy averaged 10.5 points.

–Field Level Media