Sports
Last-place Sharks, Blackhawks aim to build on recent wins
Oct 20, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; San Jose Sharks defenseman Jake Walman (96) skates with the puck against the Colorado Avalanche during the first period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images It may be a battle of the Western Conference’s two divisional cellar dwellers, but both the Chicago Blackhawks and host San Jose Sharks head into Thursday’s matchup on a winning note.
The Blackhawks hit the West Coast after snapping a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 road win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, while the Sharks kicked off a five-game homestand with a solid 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
In fact, the Sharks have won consecutive games – claiming a 5-4 comeback victory in overtime over the Utah Hockey Club Monday in Salt Lake City – after starting the season winless in their first nine games.
“A win’s a win. It doesn’t matter where it is. We want to win hockey games here,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “(I’m) proud of the guys (Tuesday) in the back-to-back effort, the way we performed, the way we showed up, and how we worked was how it should look. Proud of the group.”
To say it has been a rough stretch for the Sharks, who are in last place in the Pacific Division, would be an understatement. After finishing last in the league in the 2023-24 campaign, hopes were high they had reached rock bottom and could turn the corner. Instead, they struggled out of the blocks.
However, spirits are higher thanks to a pair of victories, and probably nobody is feeling better than Jake Walman. The defenseman scored once in a three-point performance against the Kings after collecting three assists in Utah the previous night.
“I think we can all contribute. We’ve all kind of individually done it in the past,” Walman said. “Any time we can help the forwards out, the biggest thing is just getting it up to them. We have so many skilled forwards.”
Chicago, which beat the Sharks 4-2 in the first meeting of the season on Oct. 17, is playing the third game of a five-game road trip that will conclude with a pair of clashes against the two Southern California clubs.
Beating the Avalanche to finally snap their skid was a huge boost for the Blackhawks, who had been on the wrong side of a few close games during their swoon.
“I think we deserved what we got (Monday), and there’s been nights that we probably didn’t deserve the final fate,” coach Luke Richardson said. “We could have easily had a few more wins, and I think this team and the whole organization is tired of the moral victories. So, (this win) was a really big step for us to take a real victory and put it in the back of our minds how we did it.”
Chicago was the better team through the first period against Colorado and took advantage. Ryan Donato scored his first of two goals in the game late in the opening frame to stake a 3-1 lead.
And if his offensive contributions were not enough, Donato – along with linemates Jason Dickinson and Ilya Mikheyev – kept Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon (one power-play goal) reasonably in check.
“There’s so many times the last couple games where we feel like we played pretty well, and five minutes we take off they’re back in the game. We just find a way to not finish it off,” Donato said.
“I think we all came in the locker room after the second (period) and said it wasn’t good enough, we’ve got to step back up. There’s not much to say other than just getting the job done, and that’s kind of what happened.”
Chicago enters Thursday’s game tied with Nashville at the bottom of the Central Division.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kylian Mbappe wins second World Cup Golden Boot, Spain claim other awards
July 18, 2026; Miami Gardens, Florida, U.S.; France’s Kylian Mbappe reacts after the match. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images French superstar Kylian Mbappe became the first player to win multiple FIFA World Cup Golden Boot awards after Spain shut out Argentina 1-0 in the final on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J.
Mbappe finished with 10 goals for the tournament after scoring twice in France’s 6-4 loss to England on Saturday in the third-place match.
His only competition still active was Lionel Messi, who was searching for his first Golden Boot along with trying to guide Argentina to a second consecutive World Cup. Messi and Argentina defeated Mbappe and France on penalty kicks in the 2022 final in Qatar.
But Argentina could not muster a shot on goal against Spain’s stalwart defense and had just two total shots, both coming late in the match. Messi went scoreless for the third match in a row. He had collected eight goals across the three group-stage matches, the round of 32 and the round of 16.
At 27, Mbappe already can call himself the greatest goal-scorer in World Cup history. His two second-half goals on Saturday pushed him past Messi for the all-time tournament record with 22 in just 22 matches. Messi — the first to break German Miroslav Klose’s career record early in the tournament before Mbappe caught up — stayed at 21 and may have played his final World Cup match Sunday at 39 years old.
Eight of Mbappe’s 10 goals this summer came in braces. He scored twice against Iraq, Senegal, Sweden and finally England. He was the first with 10 goals in a single World Cup since Gerd Muller of Germany in 1970.
Aside from Mbappe, it didn’t come as a surprise that the rest of the awards went to Spanish players after their remarkable run to the country’s second World Cup title.
Spain midfielder Rodri collected the Golden Ball award, given to the best overall player in the tournament. While he didn’t record a single goal or assist in Spain’s eight matches, he completed more passes, ran more distance and had more player involvements than any other player in this year’s tournament.
He also played a key role in heavily limiting Messi’s touches during Spain’s stifling 1-0 win.
Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon and defender Pau Cubarsi were named winners of the Golden Gloves award and FIFA Best Young Player award, respectively. The pair each played critical roles in La Roja allowing just one goal — a record for a champion team — and 10 shots on goal in eight matches during this World Cup.
Simon finished with seven clean sheets, two more than the previous record for a single World Cup. The 29-year-old’s nine career World Cup clean sheets are one off the record of 10 shared by former France keeper Fabien Barthez and former England keeper Peter Shilton.
Those three awards are decided by FIFA’s Technical Study Group, made up of former professional players, coaches and analysts.
–Field Level Media
Sports
D-Backs rally from down 7 to beat Cardinals in 10 innings
Arizona Diamondbacks baserunner Max Kepler (22) celebrates scoring a run against the St. Louis Cardinals at Chase Field in Phoenix, on July 18, 2026. Max Kepler delivered the game-winning RBI in the 10th inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks scored eight unanswered runs in an 8-7 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday in Phoenix.
Kepler drove in automatic runner Jorge Barrosa with a one-out double to right field off Luis Gastelum (1-1).
Juan Morrillo (3-4) allowed one hit over 1 1/3 scoreless innings across the ninth and 10th innings to register the win.
Arizona’s rally began in the sixth. Adrian Del Castillo knocked a lead-off double, Ryan Waldschmidt singled and Ketel Marte’s single up the middle drove in Del Castillo to cut the deficit to 7-1.
Andre Pallante walked Geraldo Perdomo to load the bases, and Waldschmidt scored one out later when Pallante walked Gabriel Moreno, ending his outing.
Ryne Stanek came in and retired the first batter before issuing a walk to Tyler Locklear which brought Marte across the plate, narrowing it to 7-3.
Perdomo pulled Arizona within two in the seventh when he followed up Del Castillo’s leadoff walk with a two-out inside-the-park home run to left field on a liner that skipped past St. Louis left fielder Jose Fermin and rolled to the wall.
Nolan Arenado’s two-run home run just over the left field wall in the eighth tied the game at 7.
St. Louis opened a 5-0 lead in the third inning. Lars Nootbaar walked and scored on Blaze Jordan’s triple. JJ Wetherholt singled to bring in Jordan and double the advantage.
Wetherholt went to third on Ivan Herrera’s base hit, and Jordan Walker brought him around with a double to push the lead to 3-0. Alec Burleson’s single to center field allowed Herrera and Walker to come in, extending it to 5-0.
Fermin chased Diamondbacks ace Eduardo Rodriguez, who threw 40 pitches in the frame, with a single. Right-hander Drey Jameson came in and walked Nootbaar before getting Jordan to line out to retire the side, stranding the bases loaded.
The Cardinals made it 7-0 in the fifth. Burleson singled, and Fermin and Nootbaar each walked to load the bases. That ended Jameson’s appearance, replaced by Philip Abner. Jordan (3-for-5, three RBIs) greeted Abner with a single to right that brought in two runners.
Herrera and Burleson each added three hits for St. Louis. Del Castillo and Kepler led Arizona with two hits apiece.
Rodriguez surrendered five runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. Pallante gave up three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Valkyries seek 10th straight win in rematch with Mystics
Jul 18, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton (left) passes against Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron (right) during the fourth quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images The interior-powered Washington Mystics and perimeter-oriented Golden State Valkyries will seek to do a better job defusing the other’s strength when the clubs meet in a rematch Monday night in San Francisco.
The Valkyries (19-7) finished strongly both offensively and defensively to erase a late six-point deficit and earn a 74-69 win in the front half of the WNBA-style doubleheader Saturday night, which was played on Golden State’s home court.
The hosts saved five of their 12 successful 3-pointers for the final 5:55 to account for all their scoring in a 15-4 finish. It allowed them to secure a ninth straight win in a game in which the Mystics (12-12), led by Shakira Austin, had dominated the Valkyries to the tune of 40-16 in points in the paint.
Golden State coach Natalie Nakase noted after the hard-fought win that it’s not like her players will grow a few inches before the rematch with Austin and fellow interior powers Kiki Iriafen and Lauren Betts.
“We understand they’re very tall, big and physical in size. So it’s got to be a team effort,” she said at her postgame press conference. “I just thought attention to detail with KT (Kayla Thornton) and Kiah (Stokes) down the stretch, just defending without fouling, it was beautiful that last five minutes. For us to rely on our defense down the stretch was huge.”
After Betts’ layup gave the Mystics a 65-59 lead with 6:13 remaining, the Valkyries forced the visitors into 2-for-8 shooting the rest of the way, with three turnovers mixed in. Three of the misses were 3-point attempts, where Washington went just 6-for-23 for the game, as the visitors got away from what had been successful earlier.
Mystics coach Sydney Johnson believed his team played well enough to win the opener but needs to improve in close games. Five of Washington’s 12 losses this season have been by five points or fewer.
“Really challenging us to just physically, emotionally, mentally be locked in,” he expressed to the media afterward about his team’s shortcomings. “It’s a demanding league. There’s absolutely no nights off, no easy games. Those are our consistent themes, most importantly, bringing our toughness and togetherness every time we come to the floor.”
One of the challenges will be managing odd scheduling, with the Mystics flying across the country to face the Valkyries twice in three days. They begin a six-game homestand Wednesday night against Las Vegas.
–Field Level Media
