Sports
Lightning, Bruins to clash in the outdoor chill of Florida
Oct 13, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) waits for a faceoff during the third period against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images The action should be hot on the ice between the rival Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning, and even Mother Nature will oblige to make Florida the frosty center of the hockey world on Sunday night.
Wintry conditions, with overnight temperatures in the low 30s, will be welcomed in the Sunshine State when the Lightning host the Bruins in a 2026 NHL Stadium Series contest at the outdoor home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It will be the second outdoor game at Florida in a month. The New York Rangers beat the two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers 5-1 on Jan. 2 in the Miami Marlins’ retractable-dome ballpark.
“Outdoor hockey, I think you can’t beat it,” Bruins forward Casey Mittelstadt said. “That’s pretty much what I do for All-Star break every year.”
The NHL’s two stadium events in Florida should come as no surprise. Five of the past six Stanley Cup Finals have featured a representative from the state, with the Panthers and Lightning each winning it all twice.
Tampa Bay leads the Detroit Red Wings in the Atlantic Division by two points with three games in hand and is getting key contributions from the usual suspects.
Nikita Kucherov is third in the NHL in scoring with 82 points in 48 games. Brandon Hagel has 25 goals and 49 points in 47 games, while Jake Guentzel also has averaged over a point a game with 55, while skating in all 52 Lightning games.
Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy ranks second in the NHL with 24 wins in 34 games, just one win behind Utah’s Karel Vejmelka.
With Thursday’s 4-1 home victory over the Winnipeg Jets, the Lightning improved to 16-0-2 in the past 18 games.
“We need to do this to compete in this division,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen our division this tight — actually any division as the Atlantic has been.”
Winners of two straight, Boston comes in as the No. 2 wild-card team in the Eastern Conference behind the Montreal Canadiens. Florida and the Columbus Blue Jackets slot eight points behind the Bruins, who have been short-handed.
Boston’s top two centers, Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha, did not join the club on its trip to Florida because of upper-body injuries.
In his first game this season, pivot Matt Poitras stepped in for Lindholm in the Bruins’ 6-3 home win Thursday over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Over 11 minutes of ice time, the 21-year-old Poitras posted five shots and one penalty while centering the fourth line.
“I think the mindset was not to kind of sit and wait,” Poitras said of his playing time. “For me, it was just go down (to Providence of the AHL) and not worry about what’s going on up here. … Worry about where I am.”
Boston coach Marco Sturm agreed.
“I think first of all, he’s got to be himself,” Sturm said Thursday. “I don’t need to see anything special out of him. I want to see him go up and down and play really good defensively.”
The Bruins’ Fraser Minten, who will be the top-line center Sunday, has 16 points and is plus-15 over his past 15 games.
Morgan Geekie leads Boston with 30 goals, while David Pastrnak has 22.
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 7 Florida drubs No. 20 Arkansas, wins SEC regular-season title
Florida forward Alex Condon (21) drives on Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile (7) during the first half of an NCAA basketball game at Steven C. O’Connell Center Exactek arena in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, February 28, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] Thomas Haugh scored 22 points, Ruben Chinyelu had 12 points and 16 rebounds for his 17th double-double, and No. 7 Florida clinched the Southeastern Conference regular-season title with a 111-77 rout of No. 20 Arkansas in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday.
Alex Condon scored 17 points, Urban Klavzar and Boogie Fland scored 14 apiece and Xaivian Lee added 13 as the Gators (23-6, 14-2 SEC) placed seven players in double figures in their highest scoring game of the season.
The defending champion Gators lead second-place No. 17 Alabama (22-7, 12-4) by two games with two games left, and they own the tiebreaker after a 100-79 victory in their lone regular-season meeting.
Florida has won a season-high nine in a row — eight by at least 13 points — and is a projected No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Billy Richmond scored 22 points and Darius Acuff Jr. added 17 for the Razorbacks (21-8, 11-5), who had won five of six. They are a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Acuff, the SEC’s leading scorer at 22.2 points per game, had a streak of nine straight 20-point games broken. He was 6 of 19 from the field.
Florida led by at least 24 in the final 15 minutes and stretched its advantage to 37 on Condon’s layup in the final three minutes.
The Gators secured their first regular-season title since 2013-14, when they also won the SEC tournament.
Florida shot 56.5% from the field and had a 51-31 rebounding advantage. Condon had six rebounds and Haugh had five. The Gators led the nation with a plus-14.1 rebound margin.
The Razorbacks shot 40.0% from the field.
Florida coach Todd Golden and Arkansas coach John Calipari were hit with double technical fouls with 17:27 left with the Gators holding a 23-point lead.
Klavzar kickstarted the Gators with two 3-pointers and Condon added a dunk in a 12-0 run to give Florida a 23-16 lead nine minutes in.
Lee made three layups later in the first half and Isaiah Brown (11 points) hit two 3-pointers and a transition dunk to push the Gators’ lead to 51-27 with 2:33 left in the first half.
Florida led 53-34 at half, when it totaled 32 points in the paint.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Thomas Muller's first-half brace leads Vancouver to rout of Toronto
Feb 28, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Thomas Muller (13) celebrates scoring on a corner kick from midfielder Sebastian Berhalter (16) (not pictured) against Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran (1) during the first half at BC Place. Mandatory Credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images Thomas Muller scored a first-half brace, leading the Whitecaps to a 3-0 victory over visiting Toronto FC on Saturday night in Vancouver.
Brian White also scored a first-half goal, while keeper Yohei Takaoka made three saves for his second consecutive clean sheet to open the MLS season.
With the victory, Vancouver (2-0-0, 6 points) improved to 4-0-1 in its last five regular-season matches against Toronto.
The Reds (0-2-0, 0 points) are now 6-9-4 in 19 MLS meetings against their Western Canadian rivals.
Trailing 3-0, Toronto had an excellent chance to cut into the lead early in the second half. Djordje Mihailovic thought he’d put Toronto on the board in the 55th minute, but the midfielder was caught offside.
Then in the 74th minute, Takaoka made a diving save off Toronto midfielder Jose Cifuentes – the Reds’ first shot on target of the match.
Vancouver controlled possession in the first half with five shots on target.
Aziel Jackson was awarded a penalty kick after being taken down in the area by Walker Zimmerman in the 24th minute. On the ensuing penalty kick, Muller opened the scoring, putting his right-footed strike in the bottom-left corner past Luka Gavran.
Muller added his second of the half 12 minutes later as Sebastian Berhalter’s corner was headed across to Muller by Mathias Laborda, and the German midfielder ripped his left-footed shot into an open goal.
In first-half stoppage time, off another Berhalter corner, Gavran was caught out of position, allowing White to score on a right-footed strike.
Up next, Vancouver travels to Portland for its first away match of the season next Saturday. Toronto visits Cincinnati next Sunday to wrap up a three-game road trip to open the season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Pelicans close 1st half strong to beat Jazz for 4th straight win
Feb 28, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones (2) dunks the ball during the second quarter against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images Saddiq Bey scored 24 points and the visiting New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Utah Jazz for the second time in three nights on Saturday, 115-105.
Bey, who scored a season-high 42 points in the Pelicans’ 129-118 victory Thursday night, was joined in double figures by rookie Jeremiah Fears (18), who added a season-high 11 rebounds, Bryce McGowens (18), Herb Jones (17), and Jordan Poole (11) as New Orleans won its fourth consecutive game.
Leading scorer Trey Murphy III missed his fifth consecutive game because of a right shoulder contusion, and second-leading scorer Zion Williamson had just four points in 11 minutes before leaving the game with a right ankle injury.
New Orleans still had plenty of firepower, leading by as many as 27 points just as it did two nights earlier.
Isaiah Collier scored 21, Keyonte George (ankle) returned from a six-game absence to score 17, Elijah Harkless added 14, Ace Bailey had 13, Kyle Filipowski had 12 and Brice Sensabaugh 10 to lead the Jazz, who lost their fifth straight game.
The Pelicans pushed their 25-point halftime to 27 with 3:57 left in the third quarter, but the Jazz climbed within 89-73 at the end of the period. Utah got as close as seven points early in the fourth quarter, but New Orleans scored the next eight points and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Pelicans scored the first nine points of the game as the Jazz went nearly five minutes before making their first field goal. Utah pulled even at 17 and 19 before New Orleans held a 27-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Yves Missi, returning from a five-game absence due to a calf strain, made a dunk to start the second-quarter scoring and Poole followed with a 3-pointer to expand the lead to 10 points.
Jones made two 3-pointers and Bey had five points during a 15-0 run that completed a 20-2 surge, giving New Orleans a 65-40 halftime lead. The Jazz didn’t make a field goal in the final 4:55.
–Field Level Media
No. 7 Florida drubs No. 20 Arkansas, wins SEC regular-season title
Thomas Muller's first-half brace leads Vancouver to rout of Toronto
