Sports
Hurricanes intent on not changing their game, face Jackets
Dec 28, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes center Jack Roslovic (96) celebrates his empty net goal against the New Jersey Devils during the third period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images The Carolina Hurricanes are in search of back-to-back victories as they open a two-game road trip with a meeting with the host Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
Carolina split a home-and-home with the New Jersey Devils last week and has two wins over its past five games (2-3-0). The Hurricanes, third in the Metropolitan Division, are 5-5-0 in their past 10.
The Hurricanes scored four straight third-period goals to top the Devils 5-2 on Saturday.
Jack Roslovic had two goals and an assist, Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist and Jackson Blake had the go-ahead goal with 9:17 remaining in regulation. Dmitry Orlov also scored for Carolina, while Seth Jarvis chipped in three assists.
“I think just in general with the type of game and the way it was going — playing really well and not getting any results — is kind of the way it’s been going for us,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I thought not changing our game, that was key. … I just liked the way we just kept playing our game and kind of got rewarded.”
Dustin Tokarski, who made 21 saves in the win over New Jersey on Saturday, is 2-1-0 in three games this season with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.
In four career appearances against the Blue Jackets, Tokarski is 1-0-1 with a .886 save percentage and a 3.58 GAA.
Martin Necas leads the Hurricanes with 44 points (14 goals, 30 assists) in 36 games this season. Roslovic has a team-high 16 goals in 36 games.
Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere missed his first game of the season on Saturday due to an upper-body injury. He will be out “more than day-to-day,” according to Brind’Amour.
Tuesday is the third meeting of four between the clubs this season. The Blue Jackets edged the Hurricanes 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 23, and Carolina picked up a 4-1 victory on Dec. 15.
Aho had two goals and one assist in the two games against Columbus, while Necas had three helpers.
Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko has two goals and one assist, Dmitri Voronkov has two markers and Kent Johnson has two helpers against Carolina this season.
Columbus begins a three-game homestand against Carolina, aiming to bounce back from a 4-0 blanking at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
The loss snapped the Blue Jackets’ point streak at four games (3-0-1). Columbus is 3-4-3 over its past 10 games.
“I thought it was not a bad road game per se,” Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier said of the contest with the Bruins. “Just every big mistake kind of ended up in the back of our net. …
“I didn’t think it was all that bad, just couldn’t get it going offensively, but whenever we gave up some goals it was kind of on us.”
Daniil Tarasov, who made his first start since Dec. 5, stopped 24 shots in the loss.
Tarasov, who has lost his past six starts, reportedly refused a recent conditioning assignment.
Elvis Merzlikins is expected to get the nod in net on Tuesday and is 11-9-3 in 23 games this season with a 3.09 GAA and a .890 save percentage. In nine career appearances against the Hurricanes, Merzlikins has a 4-3-1 record with a .914 save percentage and a 2.94 GAA.
Marchenko, who had his seven-game point streak (four goals, nine assists) snapped in the loss to the Bruins, leads the Blue Jackets with 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) in 37 games this season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Flyers strike in 3rd to snap Bruins' 8-game point streak
Feb 28, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Noah Cates (27) reaches for the puck against the Boston Bruins in the first period at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images The Philadelphia Flyers scored back-to-back goals to start the third period and held on to defeat the visiting Boston Bruins 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Travis Konecny and Jamie Drysdale both scored and assisted on each other’s goals for Philadelphia, which has won two of its three games since the Olympic break. Drysdale tallied the eventual game-winner with 8:05 left.
Sean Couturier added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds remaining, Christian Dvorak recorded two assists, and Dan Vladar was excellent with a 26-save performance to help the Flyers win.
Boston’s Charlie McAvoy extended his point streak to nine games with a third-period goal that cut the hosts’ lead to 2-1.
Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves for Boston, which entered on an eight-game point streak (5-0-3).
With the game scoreless through two periods, the Bruins looked to take a 1-0 lead 1:05 into the third as Hampus Lindholm’s point shot beat Vladar, but the goal was immediately waved off due to goaltender interference.
Instead, Konecny scored first at 3:41. After Dvorak’s shot into the zone hit a stanchion behind the net, he recovered the bounce and made a tight backhand feed to his oncoming linemate to bury into an open side of the net.
Drysdale doubled Philadelphia’s lead at 11:55 by slipping down the slot on a Konecny pass and firing an open wrist shot past Swayman’s blocker.
The Bruins found an answer from McAvoy 1:08 later. Pavel Zacha won the faceoff right to Hampus Lindholm, who found his fellow defenseman cutting to the net to make it a 2-1 game.
Swayman followed up that goal by stopping Konecny on a breakaway with 5:36 left, but Boston could not find an equalizer.
Philadelphia had a 7-6 shot advantage in a scoreless first. Swayman made one of his best early saves halfway through as Trevor Zegras fired a turnaround shot from the slot.
Vladar made two close-range stops on Morgan Geekie within the first eight minutes of the second period, including one early in Boston’s second power play. The first stop occurred when David Pastrnak set up Geekie for a one-timer in the slot at the 5:00 mark.
Less than a minute after Vladar’s second stop on Geekie, Swayman returned to the highlight reel at the other end of the ice. Konecny’s wraparound put the puck on goal before Swayman robbed Dvorak with the glove on a rebound effort coming to the doorstep.
After Boston’s first man advantage came up empty, Vladar made another big save as Sean Kuraly separated from the Flyers’ defense for a breakaway with 5:43 left in the second.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Heat rally in 4th quarter to take down Rockets
Feb 28, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) argues with Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Bam Adebayo posted a double-double, and Andrew Wiggins ignited a fourth-quarter rally after returning from an in-game injury to lead the Miami Heat to a 115-105 victory over the visiting Houston Rockets on Saturday.
Adebayo paired 24 points with 11 rebounds to help the Heat snap a two-game skid. Pelle Larsson (20 points) and Tyler Herro (18) contributed to the balanced scoring attack for the Heat, who also received double-digit efforts from Jaime Jaquez Jr. (14 points) and Kel’el Ware (13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds) off the bench. The Heat shot 50% overall from the floor.
But it was Wiggins, who took an elbow to the jaw from Rockets center Alperen Sengun and needed stitches in his cheek to close the gash, who led a critical fourth-quarter surge. He assisted on a Ware alley-oop and a Larsson 3 to put the Heat ahead 100-92 before his transition dunk resulted in a three-point play and a 111-103 lead with 2:24 remaining.
Wiggins finished with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
Kevin Durant scored a game-high 32 points and added eight assists for the Rockets. Amen Thompson (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Tari Eason (10 points, 11 boards) added double-doubles, while Reed Sheppard chipped in 14 points and five assists for Houston.
The Rockets turned an early run, capped by a Sheppard 3, into a 14-4 lead, only for the Heat to respond with an 8-0 rally. Adebayo hit a 3-pointer to give Miami a 27-26 lead, and the Heat carried a 32-28 advantage into the second quarter after hitting 6 of 13 from beyond the arc in the first.
Miami extended its lead to double digits on a Ware tip-in, and led 41-28 before the Rockets scored their first basket of the second quarter with an Aaron Holiday 3-pointer at the 7:07 mark. That ended a 19-2 run by the Heat and sparked another Houston rally, featuring Sheppard and Durant combining to hit three 3-pointers and tie the game at 48.
The Rockets led 52-51 at the intermission after Miami missed 7 of 8 3-pointers in the second.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Braeden Carrington explodes for 32 points as Wisconsin routs Washington
Feb 28, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Braeden Carrington (0) shoots a three point shot over Washington Huskies guard Zoom Diallo (5) during the second half at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images Braeden Carrington came off the bench Saturday to score a career-high 32 points and Wisconsin knocked down 17 3-pointers to earn a 90-73 Big Ten Conference road win over Washington in Seattle.
Nick Boyd added 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Badgers (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten), while Nolan Winter chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds. Wisconsin canned 44.7 % of its 38 3-point attempts, with Carrington going 9 of 15.
Freshman Hannes Steinbach led the Huskies (14-15, 6-12) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, his 18th double-double of the season and the most by a Big Ten player since Jared Sullinger of Ohio State collected the same total 29 years ago. Zoom Diallo scored 21 points.
Washington made 46% from the field but simply couldn’t mute the Badgers’ potent perimeter game. Bouncing back from an 85-71 upset loss Wednesday night at Oregon, Wisconsin earned a 39-35 edge on the boards and committed only six turnovers.
The final margin flattered the Huskies a bit. The Badgers led by as many as 28 points in the second half and cleared the bench by the time Washington scored the final seven points to make the margin more respectable.
Wisconsin set an early tone by stepping up its defense from the loss at Oregon. It held the Huskies without a field goal for a 6:04 stretch of the first half and opened up a 17-4 lead with 13:28 left when Carrington converted a 3-pointer.
Steinbach made two foul shots with 6:51 left to pull Washington within 22-14 but the Badgers pulled away when Carrington hit a 3-pointer and fed Winter for a layup and a 27-14 cushion.
With Boyd canning a short jumper from the baseline, Wisconsin went into halftime with a 36-21 advantage. The Huskies made only 7 of 28 field goals in the first 20 minutes and were outrebounded 25-17.
Boyd led the charge with 14 points in the half, sinking 7 of 14 shots from the field.
–Field Level Media
