Sports
Hot Lightning enter Olympic break by blasting Panthers
Feb 5, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center Yanni Gourde (37) passes against Florida Panthers defenseman Mikulas Hovorka (96) during the first period at Benchmark International Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images Erik Cernak scored his first goal, Nikita Kucherov stretched his point streak to 10 games, and the Tampa Bay Lightning headed off to the Winter Olympics break by earning their 10th straight home win, 6-1, over the Florida Panthers.
Brandon Hagel, Zemgus Girgensons, Pontus Holmberg (assist) and OIiver Bjorkstrand (assist) scored and Jake Guentzel had a power-play goal. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots.
The Lightning won three of the four matches in the season series and moved to 19-1-1 in their past 21 matches overall.
On the second half of back-to-back contests, the Panthers got a goal from Mackie Samoskevich. Goalie Daniil Tarasov stopped 20 shots but left with an injury in the third period. Sergei Bobrovsky had two saves.
The feisty match featured 167 penalty minutes.
Just over two minutes into the final regular-season matchup between the Atlantic Division rivals, Victor Hedman flipped a seemingly harmless shot toward Tarasov that Hagel clipped for a 1-0 lead.
The home side doubled the lead when Holmberg kept the puck alive out front, and Girgensons, who scored just two goals last season, backhanded in his seventh marker at 14:08.
The Panthers had a five-on-three advantage after Girgensons’ goal with over four minutes left, but the Lightning were able to kill it off. The two teams then fought near the final minute in which Florida held a wasted 19-7 shot advantage.
After Matthew Tkachuk took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of the first period, the Lightning cashed in for a 3-0 advantage on their first power play. Guentzel, who provided the winning goal in the past two victories by the club, hit the net just 1:14 into the second.
Cernak rounded out the period’s scoring by finding the twine for the first time this season on his team’s 18th shot at 17:50.
Less than five minutes into the third, Tkachuk and Hagel brawled, while Gustav Forsling took down J.J. Moser in a harsh battle as both penalty boxes were stuffed with players. Panthers coach Paul Maurice was also ejected.
Holmberg scored at 6:09, and Tarasov was injured on the play.
Samoskevich’s power-play marker broke up the shutout bid at 9:50, and Bjorkstrand rounded out the scoring.
–Field Level Media
Sports
U.S. loads World Baseball Classic roster with MVPs, Cy Young Award winners
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes (30) watches from the dugout in the sixth inning of the MLB National League game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. The Reds won, 2-1. The United States finalized its roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic on Thursday, locking in a group that features both reigning Cy Young Award winners, multiple Most Valuable Players and retired Los Angeles Dodgers icon Clayton Kershaw.
Most players already had confirmed their plans to compete in the tournament that begins March 5, but Thursday’s announcement revealed the Americans’ complete arsenal of arms and deep collection of infielders to go with just four primary outfielders.
“We constructed this roster with one goal in mind: to bring home a WBC Championship for the U.S. fans,” Team USA general manager Michael Hill said in a statement. “I would like to thank the Major League Clubs for trusting us with this incredible group of talented players.”
“Building this team was never easy, but it was done with purpose and pride,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa added. “These players know what it means to wear USA across their chest, and we’re ready to go to work and bring the World Baseball Classic trophy back home.”
The U.S. has won only one WBC, in 2017. The Americans lost to Japan in the 2023 final — the last time the tournament was played.
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge serves as the team’s captain and will be joined in the outfield by veteran Byron Buxton and up-and-comers Corbin Carroll and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The 37-year-old Kershaw, who retired from his legendary MLB career after the Dodgers’ World Series title, previously had said he would pitch in this WBC. It’s not clear to what extent he will be used.
The Americans don’t have to worry about starting pitching. American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and National League Cy Young winner Paul Skenes will anchor the rotation.
The United States opens pool play against Brazil on March 6 in Houston before facing Mexico on March 9 and Italy on March 10. The championship game will be played March 17 in Miami. Here’s the team’s 30-man roster:
Catchers
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers
Infielders/utility
Alex Bregman, 3B, Boston Red Sox
Ernie Clement, UTIL, Toronto Blue Jays
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, free agent
Bryce Harper, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies
Gunnar Henderson, SS, Baltimore Orioles
Brice Turang, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers
Bobby Witt Jr., SS, Kansas City Royals
Outfielders
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
Designated hitter
Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies
Pitchers
David Bednar, RHP, New York Yankees
Matthew Boyd, LHP, Chicago Cubs
Garrett Cleavinger, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Clay Holmes, RHP, New York Mets
Griffin Jax, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Brad Keller, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
Clayton Kershaw, LHP, retired
Nolan McLean, RHP, New York Mets
Mason Miller, RHP, San Diego Padres
Joe Ryan, RHP, Minnesota Twins
Paul Skenes, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates
Tarik Skubal, LHP, Detroit Tigers
Gabe Speier, LHP, Seattle Mariners
Michael Wacha, RHP, Kansas City Royals
Logan Webb, RHP, San Francisco Giants
Garrett Whitlock, RHP, Boston Red Sox
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 2 Michigan crushes Penn St.; Nimari Burnett drops 31 in 21 minutes
Feb 5, 2026; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Nimari Burnett (4) dunks in the first half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images Nimari Burnett scored a career-high 31 points to lead No. 2 Michigan to a 110-69 rout of Penn State in a Big Ten contest on Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Burnett went 11 of 16 from the field overall and 7 of 10 from 3-point range while playing just 21 minutes. L.J. Cason, Trey McKenney and Morez Johnson each scored 12 points for Michigan (21-1, 11-1 Big Ten), which is now off to its best start in school history.
Michigan shot 60.6% from the field overall (40 of 66), including 51.7% from 3-point range (15 of 29), and held a 44-21 rebounding advantage.
Freddie Dilione V scored 19 points and Josh Reed and Melih Tunca each had 15 points in defeat for Penn State (10-13, 1-11), which shot 2 of 20 from 3-point range and 37.1% overall (23 of 62).
Going up against a bigger Michigan frontline was going to be challenging enough for Penn State, but the task got harder for the Nittany Lions at the beginning of the game when 7-foot freshman center Ivan Juric was ruled out with an illness.
Michigan dominated the first half, taking a 56-24 lead into the locker room. The Wolverines shot 21 of 32 from the field overall and made 7 of 13 shots from 3-point range in the half. Meanwhile, Penn State was 0 of 10 from the 3-point line in the first half.
The second half wasn’t much different, as Michigan built a 42-point lead on Burnett’s triple that made it 76-34 with 14:40 remaining.
The Wolverines reached the 100-point mark with 3:23 left when a 3-pointer by Will Tschetter gave Michigan a 100-59 lead.
It was the eighth time this year that Michigan has scored at least 100 points in a game.
Michigan left little doubt from the start, opening the game on a 15-2 run and going up 26-10 with 8:50 remaining in the first half.
The Wolverines later went on a 9-2 run to grab a 44-18 lead with 3:38 until halftime.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Super Bowl LX: Patriots work on red-zone offense, 2-minute drill
Feb 5, 2026; Santa Clara, CA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel talks to media members at the Santa Clara Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images PALO ALTO, Calif. — As quarterback Drake Maye and the New England Patriots’ first-team offense jogged onto the field for the first of nine plays focused on red-zone situations in practice at Stanford Stadium on Thursday, the team employee in control of the playlist had a song ready to go: “Be Legendary” by Pop Evil.
The track wasn’t Mike Vrabel’s choice, but New England’s head coach did have one request for the DJ: crank the music loud. The Patriots haven’t pumped in crowd noise through the stadium speakers, but turning the volume of the music up can in part simulate the crowd noise the Patriots expect to hear when they are on offense during the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
“We’ll have to be ready for anything that comes up,” Vrabel said.
The Patriots spent 75 minutes running through an up-tempo practice session with a focus on the two-minute drill, red zone situations and special teams. The team will finish its on-field preparations for Super Bowl LX on Friday.
“We wanted to try to get some of those things with speed and in the red zone, the plays that we’ll have to come back to and hit again (on Friday), but those are obviously critical plays down there,” Vrabel said.
Maye was sharp during that red-zone series, as the team worked through plays from the high red zone down to the goal line. But that wasn’t the case during a sloppy two-minute drill for the offense.
“We’ll have to have better execution on Sunday, without a doubt,” Vrabel. “There’s going to be mistakes, they just can’t pile up and we can’t let one mistake turn into another mistake and another mistake. So it’s going to be about how we regroup, and I thought they did that.”
Maye was once again a full participant in practice, though he remains on the injury report because of the right shoulder ailment. Linebacker Robert Spillane returned to practice and was a limited participant after sitting out on Wednesday with an ankle injury. Linebacker Harold Landry III did not practice after he was limited on Wednesday due to a knee injury.
Other players on the Thursday injury report include starting right tackle Morgan Moses (limited, rest), backup offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr. (limited, knee) and defensive tackle Joshua Farmer (full, hamstring).
–Pro Football Writers of America
U.S. loads World Baseball Classic roster with MVPs, Cy Young Award winners
No. 2 Michigan crushes Penn St.; Nimari Burnett drops 31 in 21 minutes
