Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the visiting Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Kyle Connor picked up a goal and an assist, while Alex Iafallo and Cole Perfetti also scored for Winnipeg. Mark Scheifele added two assists as the Jets moved within five points of the second and final wild card in the Western Conference.

Martin Necas got Colorado’s lone goal. Mackenzie Blackwood made 15 stops for Colorado, which holds the best record in the NHL.

In the first period, neither team was able to find the back of the net, but the Avalanche held an 8-5 edge on shots.

The Jets opened the scoring 2:05 into the middle frame when, on the rush, Scheifele found a streaking Connor in the slot, who drove a wrist shot into the net to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead. The goal marked Connor’s 30th of the season and Scheifele’s 50th assist.

Winnipeg extended its lead to 2-0 with 8:08 remaining in the second when Iafallo took a one-timer off the chest from Scheifele, who fired the puck on net from high in the zone, and was able to spin around and tuck the puck home past Blackwood.

Colorado’s best chance to get on the board up that point came from Brock Nelson, who missed a wide-open net when he slid the puck across the crease and wide with 10 seconds left in the second period.

That miss allowed Winnipeg to maintain its 2-0 advantage after 40 minutes. Colorado held a 16-12 edge in shots heading into the third period.

Hellebuyck’s bid for his first shutout of the season ended with 1:16 left in regulation when Necas pulled in a long pass from Nathan MacKinnon across the zone and wired it past the Jets netminder to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The hope for a comeback didn’t last long, however, as MacKinnon lost the puck near the blue line. Cole Perfetti corralled it and fired a long shot into the empty net 34 seconds later, with 42 seconds remaining, to seal the 3-1 final.

Three of the five players from the Iran women’s soccer team, who had attempted to seek asylum earlier this week while the team was in Australia, have elected to return home, The Australian newspaper reported Saturday.

The Iranian team was in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup when the war between Iran, Israel and the Unites States began. Five players left the team and were given humanitarian visas in Australia.

Australia’s Home Affairs department gave the three players requesting a return home multiple chances to reconsider before their request was honored.

“While the Australian government can ensure that opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which the players are making these incredibly difficult decisions,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said, according to the Australian. “The Australian government has done everything we could to make sure these women were provided with the chance for a safe future in Australia.”

Iran’s women’s team started play in the Women’s Asian Cup just after the war in their home country started. The team lost all three games it played and were eliminated from the event.

–Field Level Media

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, in pursuit of a third PGA Tour title and the biggest win of his career, maintained ice-cool composure as he increased his overnight lead to three shots in the third round of The Players Championship on Saturday.

The 26-year-old, whose most recent victory came at last year’s Genesis Invitational, for the most part played ultra-disciplined golf as he carded a 1-under-par 71 on another sun-splashed afternoon at TPC Sawgrass.

That left him with a 13-under total of 203 in the PGA Tour’s flagship event – three strokes ahead of American Michael Thorbjornsen, who reeled off five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys en route to a 67.

Cameron Young was alone in third at 9-under after returning a 72 while fellow Americans Brian Harman (69), Xander Schauffele (74) and Justin Thomas (72), England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (69), Viktor Hovland of Norway (69) and Canada’s Corey Conners (72) were a further stroke back in a six-way tie for fourth.

Aberg had been two ahead overnight and made a slow start to the round, bogeying the par-4 fourth after finding the right rough off the tee and doing well to save par at the fifth where he sank a 13-foot putt after being bunkered off the tee.

Three more pars followed before he got up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the par-5 ninth and stretch his lead to three shots.

Though a Young birdie briefly trimmed Aberg’s advantage to two, the Swede surged four ahead with a superb eagle at the par-5 11th where he struck his second shot to 17 feet and coolly sank the putt. On a course that was increasingly running firm, the Swede comfortably parred the next six holes before surprisingly bogeying the par-4 18th where he three-putted from 25 feet.

Top-ranked American Scottie Scheffler, who made his 70th consecutive PGA Tour cut on Friday with just one shot to spare, produced his best performance of the week as he carded a flawless 5-under 67 that included three birdies in his first six holes.

Scheffler, who in 2024 became the first Players champion to successfully defend his title, finished with a 4-under total of 212 — nine strokes off the lead.

World No. 2 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, who withdrew from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational after two rounds due to a back injury, struggled at times with his driver and his putter en route to a 72 and a 1-over total.

–Mark Lamport-Stokes, Field Level Media