Sports
Hawks retain No. 6 seed with win over last-place Kings
Mar 28, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) reaches for the ball against Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (7) during the first quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 27 points, Jalen Johnson added 26 points and 10 assists and the Atlanta Hawks held off the visiting Sacramento Kings for a 123-113 victory on Saturday.
CJ McCollum scored 22 points, while Jock Landale finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Hawks (42-33), who won their 15th game in 17 tries. Zaccharie Risacher tallied 13 points and Mohamed Gueye chipped in 10 for Atlanta, which holds a half-game lead over Philadelphia for the East’s No. 6 seed — the last guaranteed playoff spot.
DeMar DeRozan led Sacramento (19-56) with 22 points, followed by Maxime Raynaud’s 18 points and 10 boards. Precious Achiuwa had 16, DaQuan Jeffries scored 15 and Daeqwon Plowden had 14 for the Kings, who dropped their third straight. Malik Monk and Killian Hayes both scored 10 points.
Atlanta pushed its 12-point halftime lead to 16 on Gueye’s 3-pointer with 8:08 left in the third.
The Kings pulled within nine on DeRozan’s layup, before Atlanta extended the lead back to 13.
Sacramento closed the third on a 7-1 run — including Hayes’ buzzer-beating triple — to cut its deficit to 88-82 entering the fourth.
The Kings tied the game at 97 apiece on Plowden’s 3-pointer with 8:03 left. Johnson’s five straight points began an 11-0 run that gave the Hawks a 108-97 edge with 5:47 remaining.
The margin was pushed to 14 on Landale’s triple. After DeRozan and Plowden’s 3-pointers, McCollum’s trey sealed the Atlanta win.
Neither team took a lead larger than five in the first quarter, as Jeffries’ 3-pointer with 46 seconds left gave the Kings a 30-27 lead after 12 minutes.
Sacramento opened up a seven-point lead on Plowden’s dunk at the 9:05 mark of the second quarter.
After Monk’s hook shot put the Kings ahead by 2, Alexander-Walker’s triple and Gueye’s dunk stamped a 14-0 run to put the Hawks up 63-51.
McCollum beat the first-half buzzer with a mid-range jumper to give Atlanta a 66-54 lead. Alexander-Walker had 14 first-half points, while Achiuwa’s 12 led the Kings.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Igor Chernyshov scores late winner as Sharks edge Blue Jackets
Mar 28, 2026; Columbus, Ohio, USA; San Jose Sharks left wing Igor Chernyshov (92) celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images Igor Chernyshov scored his second goal of the game with 1:25 left in the third period to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 win against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.
Macklin Celebrini entered the zone on the rush and passed to the middle for Will Smith, who fed Chernyshov for a one-timer from the left face-off dot.
Celebrini had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (33-31-7, 73 points), who snapped a six-game losing streak (0-5-1) and remain in contention for a Western Conference wild card spot. Will Smith had two assists, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 22 saves.
Denton Mateychuk and Cole Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets (38-24-11, 87 points), who have lost three of four but remain strong contenders for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves.
Celebrini, who had gone six games without a goal, tied the score 2-2 with a power-play goal 57 seconds into the third period. Alexander Wennberg won the faceoff back to Dmitry Orlov at the point, and he passed across to Celebrini for the one-timer.
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead just 31 seconds into the game. Mateychuk took a pass at the left point from Adam Fantilli, skated down into the left circle and beat Nedeljkovic with a wrist shot.
Chernyshov tied it 1-1 at 17:17. Chernyshov stole the puck at center ice, entered the offensive zone, passed to Smith and scored on a one-timer from the right circle off the return pass from Smith.
Sillinger gave the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead at 12:09 of the second period. Ivan Provorov intercepted a San Jose clearing attempt, skated down into the left circle and fed across to Sillinger, who scored on a one-timer from the right circle.
Nedeljkovic made a right pad save to rob Kirill Marchenko in the slot at 13:03 of the third period.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Luis Robert Jr. belts three-run HR as Mets down Pirates in 11
Mar 28, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets center fielder Luis Robert Jr. (88) hits a three run walk off home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the eleventh inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images Luis Robert Jr. hit a walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning Saturday for the New York Mets, who overcame a pair of deficits in extras to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2.
Bryan Reynolds had an RBI infield single in the top of the 11th for the Pirates before the Mets rallied against Hunter Barco (0-1). Jorge Polanco worked a five-pitch walk, after which Robert hit a 1-0 pitch beyond the left-centerfield wall for his first homer with New York and his second career walk-off shot.
Robert, who was acquired from the Chicago White Sox in January, hit his other walk-off homer on Aug. 30, 2020.
The Mets are 2-0 for the first time since 2022.
Richard Lovelady (1-0) allowed an unearned run in the top of the 11th before earning his first big league win since 2024.
Luis Torrens had a game-tying RBI single in the 10th for the Mets, who loaded the bases with none out but didn’t score the winning run.
Nick Gonzales had an RBI single in the top of the 10th for the Pirates, who are 0-2 for the first time since 2022. Gonzales, Reynolds and Jake Mangum had two hits apiece.
Mangum’s ninth-inning double was the only extra-base hit of the game prior to Robert’s homer.
The Mets and Pirates were a combined 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position through the first nine innings.
Mets left-hander David Peterson allowed six hits and two walks while striking out three over 5 1/3 innings. Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller gave up three hits and walked none with three strikeouts over six innings.
The Mets got only two runners as far as second base against Keller. The Pirates built their biggest threat against Peterson in the fifth, when Jared Triolo and Ryan O’Hearn delivered two-out singles before Bryan Reynolds walked. But Marcell Ozuna, swinging on a 2-0 pitch, popped out.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Miko Rantanen, Stars double-up Penguins
Mar 28, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Ben Kindel (81) fight for the puck during the second period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Miko Rantanen scored in his first game in nearly two months, and the Dallas Stars tallied three unanswered second-period goals to end a four-game skid and defeat the host Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Saturday.
Rantanen and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points), which had gone 0-3-1 in its last four. The Stars trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in this contest before exploding for three goals, two on the power play, in the second.
Rookie Justin Hryckowian, Lian Bichsel and Mavrik Bourque also scored for the Stars, who swept the two-game season series with Pittsburgh after winning in Dallas in December.
Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh (36-21-16, 88 points), which was playing without both Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby due to lower-body injuries.
Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its third game at PPG Paints Arena in the past week. The Penguins were outscored 17-6 in those three home contests.
Mantha redirected a Karlsson slapshot to put Pittsburgh in front on a power-play goal just over two minutes into the game.
Hryckowian evened the score for Dallas early in the second period, capitalizing on a broken play that left him wide open in front of the net with the puck.
Karlsson answered for the Penguins 48 seconds later with a wrister for his 13th goal of the season. In the process, he broke two franchise records for defensemen.
The goal was his ninth in March, the most in a single month by a Penguins blueliner. This was also his ninth multi-point game in March, which broke Randy Carlyle’s mark, set in December 1980, for most multi-point games in a single month by a defenseman.
The Stars responded over the next few minutes. Robertson scored on the power play 7:12 into the period to even the game. It was Robertson’s 40th goal, tying him with Wyatt Johnston for the team lead.
Three minutes later, Rantanen, who had missed 15 games in a row with a lower-body injury, tallied his 21st of the season on another power-play opportunity.
Bichsel doubled the Stars’ advantage less than 90 seconds later on a strange sequence. He went behind the goal, stapled to Karlsson, proceeded to throw the Swede’s stick to the floor with no whistle, and then scored what turned out to be the game-winner.
Jake Oettinger improved to 7-1-0 in his career against Pittsburgh. He allowed three goals on only 12 shots, as Pittsburgh posted four, five and three shots over the three periods. Stuart Skinner made 20 stops for the Penguins.
Dallas, which entered with the fourth-best road record in the league, improved to 22-8-7 away from home.
–Field Level Media
