Sports
NHL roundup: William Nylander's hat trick propels Leafs over Flames
Feb 4, 2025; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs right wing William Nylander (88) celebrates his goal with teammates against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images William Nylander netted his second career hat trick and Matthew Knies collected one goal and one assist as the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs rode a four-goal second period to a 6-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
John Tavares and Bobby McMann also scored for the Maple Leafs, who beat both Alberta teams to kick off a four-game road trip. Auston Matthews posted three assists in his 600th game and goaltender Joseph Woll made 23 saves.
Matt Coronato, Yegor Sharangovich and Joel Farabee replied for the Flames, who have lost two of three games. Goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 24 shots, while MacKenzie Weegar, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri all collected two assists.
Nylander’s empty-net goal, his fifth tally in a three-game stretch, sealed the victory and completed his hat trick, which came eight years to the day after his first three-goal game.
Utah 3, Flyers 2 (OT)
Dylan Guenther had a storybook return to the ice Tuesday for the Utah Hockey Club, capped by scoring the game-winning goal with a second left in overtime to lift the hosts to a victory over Philadelphia in Salt Lake City.
Returning from a lower-body injury kept him out for 12 games, Guenther scored twice and had an assist to snap Utah’s five-game losing streak (0-3-2). Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and two assists, Barrett Hayton also notched two assists, and Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves.
Samuel Ersson stopped a career-high 39 shots for Philadelphia, which lost its fourth straight (0-3-1). Philadelphia broke a 182-minute scoring drought thanks to goals by Rodrigo Abols, his first NHL tally, and Tyson Foerster.
Capitals 6, Panthers 3
Lars Eller and Nic Dowd each scored a goal early in the third period and Alex Ovechkin added career goal No. 878, lifting host Washington over Florida.
Ovechkin scored for the third time in as many games; his team-leading 25th goal of the season moved him 17 goals away from breaking Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record. Dowd had two assists to go along with his goal, Andrew Mangiapane and Aliaksei Protas each collected one of each and Tom Wilson added a short-handed tally. Logan Thompson made 30 saves as the Capitals snapped a two-game skid overall and extended their home point streak to 14 games (10-0-4).
Florida’s Sam Bennett recorded a goal and an assist, and Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 20 shots for the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers, who saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.
Canadiens 4, Sharks 3
Joel Armia’s short-handed goal late in the third period lifted Montreal to a win at San Jose.
The victory snapped the Canadiens’ five-game (0-4-1) winless streak. Alex Newhook had a goal and an assist, and Kirby Dach had two assists. Brendan Gallagher and Cole Caufield both scored with the extra attacker as part of a 2-for-4 night for Montreal’s power play. Sam Montembeault stopped 27 of 30 shots.
Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli each had a goal and an assist on the power play as San Jose was also 2-for-4 with the man advantage. Collin Graf scored the Sharks’ other goal for his first career NHL tally. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 16 of 20 shots for the Sharks, who are 1-8-0 in their last nine games.
Canucks 3, Avalanche 0
Jake DeBrusk had a goal and an assist and Thatcher Demko recorded his first shutout of the season as Vancouver snapped a two-game losing skid by beating visiting Colorado.
Brock Boeser and Drew O’Connor scored and Filip Hronek had two assists for the new-look Canucks, who were playing with an extra spring in their step after adding four new players in a pair of trades on Friday. Demko stopped 25 shots for his ninth career shutout as he played one of his best games since returning from a long injury absence in mid-December.
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 28 of 30 shots for the Avalanche, who had won their previous two games. Blackwood had his shutout streak snapped at 146:55 after he recorded shutouts in his previous two games.
Oilers 3, Blues 2 (OT)
Connor Brown scored 2:33 into overtime to lift visiting Edmonton past St. Louis.
Connor McDavid tallied a goal and two assists and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who are 4-1-1 in their last six games. Stuart Skinner made 20 saves to earn the victory.
Jordan Kyrou and Colton Parayko scored and Jordan Binnington made 35 saves for the Blues, who are 1-4-1 in their last six.
Jets 3, Hurricanes 0
Eric Comrie made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season as Winnipeg secured a seventh consecutive victory, blanking visiting Carolina.
Nino Niederreiter had a goal and an assist for the Jets, while Neal Pionk and Rasmus Kupari were the other scorers. Winnipeg is one victory away from matching the club best, achieved three times since the franchise began as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999-2000.
Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 27 shots for Carolina.
Sabres 3, Blue Jackets 2
Alex Tuch scored two second-period goals after registering a first-period assist and Buffalo recorded their first four-game winning streak in more than two years by beating Columbus.
Bowen Byram had a goal with an assist, Jason Zucker added two helpers and James Reimer made 27 saves for the Sabres, who notched four straight wins — to sweep their homestand — for the first time since a five-game run in January 2023. Reimer improved to 2-4-1 in seven starts since joining Buffalo.
Ivan Provorov logged a goal and an assist and Kent Johnson also scored for Columbus, which dropped two after winning the first two of a four-game road stretch. Elvis Merzlikins made 18 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two straight games in regulation for the first time since mid-December.
Bruins 3, Wild 0
Jeremy Swayman pitched a 35-save shutout and Charlie McAvoy scored the eventual game-winning goal as Boston beat visiting Minnesota.
Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie also tallied as the Bruins won their second straight game. Matt Poitras assisted on Boston’s first two goals, and David Pastrnak had one helper to extend his point streak to 11 games.
The loss was Minnesota’s second straight since a three-game win streak. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots in his 1,044th career game, tied with Roberto Luongo for the second most by a goaltender in NHL history.
Lightning 4, Senators 3
Brandon Hagel broke a third-period tie and host Tampa Bay snapped Ottawa’s five-game winning streak.
Luke Glendening, Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh also netted goals for the Lightning, who are 3-4-1 in the past eight games. Victor Hedman had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots.
Michael Amadio, Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson tallied for the Senators. Thomas Chabot had two assists, and Linus Ullmark made 34 saves.
Devils 3, Penguins 2 (SO)
Jack Hughes scored both regulation goals for New Jersey, which earned a shootout victory at Pittsburgh.
Timo Meier scored the deciding goal in the seventh round of the shootout. Jesper Bratt had two assists for the Devils, and Nico Daws stopped 25 shots to record his first victory of the season.
Rickard Rakell scored in the second period and Kevin Hayes scored in the third as the Penguins erased a 2-0 deficit. Alex Nedeljkovic made 19 saves.
Islanders 2, Golden Knights 1
Brock Nelson scored the winning goal just beyond the midway point of the third period for surging New York, which edged Vegas in Elmont, N.Y.
Bo Horvat scored in the first for the Islanders, who won for the eighth time in nine games despite being outshot 34-14. Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves.
Brandon Saad scored his first goal for the Golden Knights since signing with the team on Friday. Ilya Samsonov stopped 12 shots for Vegas, which has lost four straight (0-2-2) and 11 of 14 (3-8-3).
Ducks 2, Stars 1
John Gibson made 26 saves to pick up the win in his 500th NHL game as host Anaheim edged Dallas.
It was the 202nd career victory for Gibson, who became the 11th active goaltender and 85th in NHL history to hit the 500-game mark. Trevor Zegras and Cutter Gauthier scored for Anaheim, which won for the fifth time in six games.
Colin Blackwell scored and Jake Oettinger made 26 saves for the Stars, who had a five-game winning streak snapped. It marked the first loss of Oettinger’s career in nine starts against the Ducks.
Red Wings 5, Kraken 4
Patrick Kane set the NHL record with his 53rd shootout goal as visiting Detroit beat Seattle to claim its seventh consecutive win.
Kane scored with a backhanded shot off the crossbar and into the net, the lone tally in the skills competition. He passed former Chicago teammate Jonathan Toews for the top spot in shootout goals. Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Jonatan Berggren and Elmer Soderblom scored in regulation for Detroit. Cam Talbot made 23 saves through overtime, plus all three shootout attempts.
The Red Wings, who finished a perfect four-game road trip — with three wins coming in extra time — are riding a 15-3-1 run. Shane Wright scored twice, while Matty Beniers and Chandler Stephenson replied for the Kraken, who have one win in the past five games. Joey Daccord stopped 36 shots through overtime.
–Field Level Media
Sports
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
Oct 1, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) during game two of the 2024 WNBA Semi-finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images LAS VEGAS — Entering her eighth season in the WNBA, Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson is poised to build on what was arguably the most dominant individual campaign in league history.
Wilson joined Cynthia Cooper (1997) as the second player in league history to win a unanimous MVP award and joined an exclusive club as the fourth player to win the award three times. She averaged 26.9 points and 11.9 rebounds per game last season and set the all-time single-season mark for points (1,021) and rebounds (451).
Unfortunately for Las Vegas, injuries and fatigue from their two previous championship runs mounted and resulted in the team’s worst regular-season record (27-13) since 2019. The Aces’ three-peat hopes ended with a 76-62 home loss to the New York Liberty to drop their semifinal series 3-1.
It’s that loss on her home floor that served as Wilson’s motivation this offseason.
“Losing sucks, especially on your home court,” Wilson said “It still kind of burns a little bit, but I’ve used that as fuel to help my teammates understand how hard it is to win in this league. Yes, we can celebrate the two championships. They were great. But for us to move forward, we have to understand how hard this league is and value the basketball and the little things. I think that’s what we lacked last season, so we’re going to make sure that we can show up better than we did.”
While the Aces appeared to be on top of the world heading into their potential three-peat campaign in 2024, the reality inside the locker room was that both the internal and external pressure to win another championship had become suffocating. A common theme across media day was the fact that the team feels less pressure entering the 2025 season, a sentiment Wilson shared as the unquestioned leader of the team.
“(Three-peat talks) obviously impacted us, because it’s like, y’all think we don’t want to win? We’re trying as well,” Wilson said.
“I would definitely say it’s refreshing this year. I feel like this is one of my only years where it feels like there’s no weight. There’s a lot of weight to be defending champs. It’s a lot of weight to be trying to win one. We don’t have that. We actually have a clean slate to really dial into getting back to who we are culturally, like, in our system and everything.”
Leading the Aces back to the top of the mountain for a third time in four years is one of a few historically significant achievements Wilson can collect this upcoming season. Wilson could also become the first four-time MVP in league history, though the meaning of that is something she hasn’t quite allowed herself to ponder yet.
“I haven’t given it much thought, but it would be a blessing to have my name in that conversation,” Wilson said. “Every year, I try to be better than I was the year before just to give myself a chance in this league. Because the league is getting better. We’re growing. At this point, you just want to maintain your stamina. You want to maintain your mental, all of that, because the season gets hard. I can’t think too much about that just yet, but I’m definitely going to try to be better than I was last year.”
As Aces coach Becky Hammon put it, fans can expect to see an even better version of Wilson this season.
“What I see is, she went and got better,” Hammon said. “Which is hard to do when you’re already the best, but it speaks to her work ethic, her desire and her mindset this whole offseason. We talked a lot this offseason. She’s a busy lady, but I can tell you what she always does is her workouts. She’s always getting her workouts in. That comes first and foremost, she never gets her priorities jumbled up.”
When Hammon was asked what a player like Wilson would possibly need to improve after last season’s campaign, the coach did not feel like revealing too much.
“There was (something for Wilson to improve), and she did,” Hammon said. “I’m not going to tell you what it was. Actually, there were two things.”
–Will Despart, Field Level Media
Sports
Jacob Wilson joins Aaron Judge in spotlight for Yankees-A's series
May 5, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) throws to first for an out against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images The top two hitters in the majors square off Friday night when the New York Yankees face the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series in Sacramento, Calif.
It’s no surprise to see Yankees star Aaron Judge off to a superb start after winning American League MVP honors last season. He has a major league-best .400 batting average and entered Thursday’s play tied for the big-league lead with 12 homers and 34 RBIs.
But who had Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson ranking second in the majors at .357 as the season nears the quarter pole? Wilson has played in just 64 career games and quickly has solidified himself as a future All-Star, perhaps even this season.
Sharing the marquee board with Judge seems quite surreal for the 23-year-old shortstop who was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2023 draft.
“It’s a great feeling, for sure,” Wilson said of his name being mentioned with Judge. “Obviously, everybody has seen what he is doing. It’s pretty incredible watching him do his thing on a daily basis. To be up there with him is pretty cool for me.
“I’m excited to play against him this week and see what it looks like in person.”
Wilson had his first career four-hit game during Wednesday’s 6-5 home loss against the Seattle Mariners and has six multi-hit outings in the past eight games. He went 8-for-14 with one game-winning hit in the three-game series against the Mariners and is 16-for-34 (.471) with four walks during the eight-game stretch.
The hot hitting led to Athletics manager Mark Kotsay moving Wilson to the leadoff spot on Wednesday. Kotsay indicated Wilson may be sticking at the top of the lineup.
“I think you’ll see Jacob up there now,” Kotsay said. “Jacob’s earned it. … Jacob has shown enough over the last week. He’s walking and taking pitches, and, obviously, swinging the bat really well.”
Judge arrives in Sacramento in the midst of a four-game funk in which he is 2-for-15.
The two-time MVP just went 1-for-10 in a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres, but the one hit was a homer.
Judge grew up 50 miles south of Sacramento in Linden and starred for Linden High but wasn’t highly sought by major league teams. The then-Oakland Athletics selected him in the 31st round in 2010.
Judge instead went the college route and starred for Fresno State. He was chosen in the first round (32nd overall) by the Yankees in the 2013 draft.
Trent Grisham was one of the heroes of Wednesday’s 4-3, 10-inning win over the Padres. He hit a tying two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning.
Grisham had two homers and five RBIs in the series against the Padres — one of his former teams — and already has 10 long balls in just 89 at-bats. He hit just nine last season in 179 at-bats.
“I’m having fun with the guys, I would say that more than anything,” Grisham said. “The clubhouse is really good in here, led by Cap (Judge). So, I would say the guys have been the most enjoyable part.”
New York is starting right-hander Will Warren (1-2, 5.65 ERA) in Friday’s series opener. Right-hander Osvaldo Bido (2-2, 4.71) will be on the mound for the Athletics.
Warren, 25, struck out a career-high eight in 4 2/3 innings while losing to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He gave up five runs (three earned) and seven hits. Warren hasn’t previously faced the Athletics.
Bido, 29, received a no-decision against the Miami Marlins last Saturday when he gave up four runs on three hits over five innings. He is winless (0-1) over his last three starts. Bido hasn’t faced the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao coming out of retirement
Aug 21, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada; Manny Pacquiao (right) fights Yordenis Ugas in a world welterweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao plans to end his retirement and return to the ring on July 19 against Mario Barrios in Las Vegas, ESPN reported Thursday.
Pacquiao, 46, will be fighting for the first time since losing a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas in 2021.
The fight will be for Barrios’ WBC welterweight championship belt. Barrios turns 30 on May 18.
Pacquiao is an eight-division champion who is slated to be inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame in June. He reportedly will formally announce his return to boxing next week. The report stated that Pacquiao has been cleared to compete by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
In recent years, Pacquiao has been focusing on his political career in the Philippines.
The boxer nicknamed “PacMan” has a 62-8-2 record with 39 knockouts during his career. He won his first major title — the WBC flyweight crown — at age 19 in 1998.
Pacquiao was 54-3-2 prior to turning 33 and 8-5 afterward. One of those losses was to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via unanimous decision in 2015, a bout that reportedly drew nearly $400 million in pay-per-view sales.
Barrios (29-2-1, 18 knockouts) fought to a 12-round, split-decision draw against Abel Ramos last November. This will be his third defense since winning the title by beating Ugas in 2023.
–Field Level Media
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
Best Mothers Day gifts: Show mom some love
