Sports
NHL roundup: Mattias Ekholm posts hat trick as Oilers top Ducks
Jan 26, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; The Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal scored by defensemen Mattias Ekholm (14), his third of the game and first career hat-trick, during the third period against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images Mattias Ekholm collected his first career hat trick as the Edmonton Oilers posted a 7-4 victory against the visiting Ducks on Monday, ending Anaheim’s seven-game winning streak.
Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid each had a goal and an assist, Leon Draisaitl notched four assists and Tristan Jarry made 36 saves for the Oilers, who will try to win three straight for the first time this season when they host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Spencer Stastney and Darnell Nurse also scored for Edmonton, which won two in a row nine times previously but never extended the streak. The Oilers scored four goals in a 3:49 span of the second period.
Mikael Granlund recorded a hat trick, all on the power play, for the Ducks. Alex Killorn also scored, Beckett Sennecke had two assists and Ville Husso made 25 saves.
Islanders 4, Flyers 0
Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves for his league-leading sixth shutout as New York Islanders picked up its first win of the season against host Philadelphia.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who came into Monday’s contest with two goals in his last 26 games, scored twice for the Islanders. Mathew Barzal, who entered in a slump of his own with no goals in his last eight contests, also scored and added an assist for New York.
The Islanders avoided a third straight defeat and bounced back nicely from their first shutout loss of the season — a 5-0 defeat to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. New York also topped the Flyers for the first time this season after losing each of the first two matchups, both via shootouts.
Kings at Blue Jackets (ppd.)
The game between Los Angeles and host Columbus was postponed due to severe winter weather and will be played on March 9 in Columbus with the time to be determined at a later date.
Lightning 2, Mammoth 0
Andrei Vasilevskiy turned away 28 shots, Darren Raddysh and Anthony Cirelli tallied on the power play and Tampa Bay won its sixth straight home game by stuffing Utah.
In his 42nd career shutout, Vasilevskiy stopped eight shots in the third period for his second blanking this season. His 20-save showing against the Philadelphia Flyers in a 3-0 win on Nov. 24 was his other. Tampa Bay improved to 15-1-1 in its past 17 games.
Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves, and Dylan Guenther skated in his 200th NHL game. Winger Lawson Crouse (illness) returned to Utah’s lineup following a one-game absence.
Rangers 4, Bruins 3 (OT)
Rookie Matthew Robertson scored with 67 seconds left in overtime as New York snapped a four-game home losing streak by rallying past Boston.
Robertson scored his first career overtime goal when he got a pass from goalie Jonathan Quick after David Pastrnak’s shot was blocked by New York defenseman Braden Schneider, skated to the slot, switched from his backhand to forehand and lifted the puck over goalie Joonas Korpisalo to improve the Rangers to 6-13-4 on home ice.
Quick made 21 saves to earn his 408th career victory, passing Glenn Hall for 12th on the all-time list. Pastrnak had three assists to become the sixth player in team history with 900 career points as the Bruins fell to 10-2-1 in their past 13 games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Felix Auger-Aliassime defends title, sets Canadian record
Jan 19, 2026; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in action against Nuno Borges of Portugal in the first round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open at John Cain Arena in Melbourne Park. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime successfully defended his Open Occitanie championship on Sunday with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Adrian Mannarino in Montpellier, France.
Auger-Aliassime, 25, recorded 13 aces and won 87% of his first-serve points to dispatch the Frenchman in 1 hour, 35 minutes. The ninth career ATP title for Auger-Aliassime is one more than Milos Raonic for the most tour-level titles by a Canadian in the Open Era.
A strong service game was nothing new for Auger-Aliassime, who delivered 20 aces while posting a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 victory over French qualifier Titouan Droguet on Saturday.
Auger-Aliassime will elevate one spot to No. 6 in the ATP rankings on Monday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alijah Arenas converts winning basket as USC beats Penn State
Feb 8, 2026; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions guard Dominick Stewart (7) dribbles the ball around the outside of Southern California Trojans guard Alijah Arenas (0) during the first half at Bryce Jordan Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images Alijah Arenas scored 24 points, including a spinning layup in traffic with 0.7 seconds remaining, as Southern California overcame a 12-point second-half deficit and rallied for a 77-75 victory over Penn State in Big Ten Conference play at University Park, Pa.
Kam Woods scored 13 points with nine assists and Ezra Ausar also had 13 points as USC (18-6, 7-6 Big Ten) extended its winning streak to three games. It is the first time the Trojans have won three consecutive games in Big Ten play since joining the conference last season.
It was USC’s third conference victory this season when rallying from a deficit of at least 10 points. The Trojans, who were playing without leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara (knee), also overcame double-digit deficits to defeat Oregon and Wisconsin.
Freddie Dilione V scored 23 points and Josh Reed added 17 for Penn State (10-14, 1-12), who have dropped consecutive games after their first Big Ten victory Feb. 1 against Minnesota. Ivan Juric scored 13 points after missing the previous two games.
Penn State took its first double-digit lead at 48-38 with 18:09 remaining on a jumper from Dilione. A dunk from Dilione less than a minute later put the Nittany Lions up 50-38.
Penn State still led 53-42 with 15:56 left when USC began to close the gap with a 9-0 run that cut the deficit to 53-51 with 12:55 remaining. USC jumped on top 56-55 on a three-point play from Woods with 10:56 left.
Arenas, who scored the Trojans’ last eight points, was playing his sixth college game after starting the season for USC with a knee injury. He combined to score 30 points over his first four games before a breakout 29-point game against Indiana in a home victory Tuesday.
Penn State took a 40-36 lead at halftime by shooting 53.1% from the floor and getting 13 points from Dilione. Arenas and Ausar each had nine points in the first half for USC, which made half of its 32 shot attempts.
–Field Level Media
Sports
HEROIC, Team Liquid advance at BLAST Slam VI
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
HEROIC and Team Liquid each recorded a sweep on Sunday to punch their ticket to the quarterfinals of the BLAST Slam VI event.
HEROIC posted a 2-0 win over Tundra Esports in their play-in match, courtesy of 56- and 40-minute victories on red. HEROIC will compete again in Friday’s quarterfinals against Team Yandex.
Team Liquid notched a 2-0 win over GamerLegion in their play-in match on Sunday, courtesy of a 27-minute victory on red and 37-minute triumph on green. Liquid will be back in action on Friday against Team Falcons in the other quarterfinal.
BLAST Slam VI is a 12-team Dota 2 event that pays $300,000 to the winner and $1 million overall. The event opened with three days of group play — a round-robin, best-of-1 format in which each team played each other team once. The top two teams in the standings, Natus Vincere and OG, moved on to the semifinals of the playoffs.
The teams finishing third through eighth in the standings advanced to the play-in round — four best-of-3 matches in which the winners advance to the playoffs and the losers are eliminated. The teams finishing ninth through 12th in group play competed in the last-chance playoff, another best-of-3 format where the winners advanced to the play-in round and the losers went home.
The teams that win Friday’s quarterfinals advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Natus Vincere gets the winner of Team Yandex-HEROIC while OG faces the Team Falcons-Team Liquid victor. The grand final will be held on Feb. 15.
BLAST Slam VI prize pool
1. $300,000 (plus $100,000 in team earnings)
2. $150,000 (plus $50,000)
3-4. $60,000 (plus $29,000)
5-6. $35,000 (plus $15,000)
7-10. $22,500 (plus $6.250) — Team Spirit, Xtreme Gaming, Tundra Esports, GamerLegion
11-12. $10,000 (plus $2,500) — REKONIX, MOUZ
–Field Level Media
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