Sports
Rangers' post-Panarin era begins with streaking Canes
Feb 8, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Jordan Martinook (48) celebrates his empty net goal with center Seth Jarvis (24) against the Utah Hockey Club during the third period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images The Carolina Hurricanes have led the Metropolitan Division most of the season and their recent hot streak has hoisted them within striking range of the President’s Trophy.
The Hurricanes attempt to earn a point in a season-high 10th straight game Thursday night when they visit the last-place New York Rangers — who traded Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday — in the final game for both teams before the Olympic break.
Carolina has gone 7-0-2 since a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 13. That left them 14 points behind the Colorado Avalanche in the race for the most points in the NHL, but the Hurricanes entered Wednesday’s action just five points back with 26 games left.
The Hurricanes are outscoring opponents 37-20 during this streak, though three of their past four wins are by one goal. The latest was Tuesday’s 4-3 home win over the Ottawa Senators when the Hurricanes blew a two-goal lead for the third straight game. They allowed two power-play tallies before Jordan Staal scored with 5:07 left in the third period.
“We’ll take wins any way we can, right?” said Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, who scored for the third straight game.” That’s what we’re trying to do here: win hockey games, get some points and get to the playoffs. As of late, we’ve done a pretty good job on that.”
Seth Jarvis added two goals and has 10 points (four goals and six assists) during the past nine games.
“You don’t want to sit on a loss for three weeks,” Jarvis said. “You don’t want to sit on a bad game. Just coming in with the mindset of keeping this thing rolling, grinding one more out, and leaving it on the ice, and you’ve got three weeks to recoup.”
Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi has started seven games during the hot streak and boasts a 22-3-1 record. But Thursday could be another milestone for him as the Long Island native can make his first appearance at Madison Square Garden.
The Hurricanes are 6-1-0 in the past seven meetings with the Rangers, whose 46 points are the fewest in the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers will play their first game of the post-Panarin era, though they have a sense of how things might go. While they held him out to facilitate a trade, the Rangers went 0-3-0 while getting outscored 13-8.
New York received forward Liam Greentree, a conditional third-round pick in the upcoming draft and a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2028 draft in exchange for Panarin, who piled up 205 goals and 402 assists in 482 regular-season games over not quite seven years with the Rangers.
In the Rangers’ most recent game, they trailed 5-1 at Pittsburgh before scoring four goals in the final 10-plus minutes as Alexis Lafreniere scored twice and Vincent Trocheck scored to go along with two assists.
Mika Zibanejad added an assist, giving him 11 goals and 23 points over his past 15 games. If the Rangers make numerous trades, Zibanejad and J.T. Miller might be among the veterans on a roster with younger players such as Gabe Perreault and waiver claims such as defenseman Vincent Iorio getting long looks.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Marta Suarez scores 33 as TCU upends Virginia in Sweet 16
Mar 28, 2026; Sacramento, CA, USA; Texas Christian University Horned Frogs guard Olivia Miles (5) and forward Marta Suárez (7) embrace after a called foul during the second quarter of the game against the Virginia Cavaliers in the Sweet Sixteen game of the Sacramento Regional 4 of the women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images Marta Suarez scored a career-high 33 points, Olivia Miles added 28 points in a near triple-double and third-seeded TCU ended Virginia’s magical NCAA Tournament run with a 79-69 victory in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento on Saturday.
Miles had 10 rebounds and eight assists and Suarez had 10 rebounds as the Horned Frogs (32-5) overcame a one-point halftime deficit by scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter to take control.
The Horned Frogs will make their second straight Elite Eight appearance when they meet top-seeded South Carolina on Monday.
Suarez had 13 points in the third quarter, when Miles had six assists and four rebounds as the Frogs pushed their lead to 15. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers did not get closer than eight until the final 31 seconds.
Miles’ two free throws with 26.1 seconds left for a 77-69 lead clinched it. She is one of four Division I players with at least 600 points, 250 rebounds and 100 assists.
Paris Clark had 20 points and Kymora Johnson had 18 for the Cavaliers (22-12), the lowest seed to reach the Sweet 16 since 2022.
Clara Silva had eight points and eight rebounds for TCU, which had a 38-29 edge on the boards and limited Virginia to 41% shooting.
Virginia led by seven late in the first quarter. TCU took a 35-33 lead with 1:09 left in the first half, when Suarez made a free throw after Romi Levy was called for a Flagrant 1 foul for pulling Miles down as she drove to the basket.
Clark’s three-point play gave the Cavaliers a 36-35 lead at halftime.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Troy appoints NC State assistant Adam Howard as new coach
Nov 13, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Fred Hoiberg and assistant coach Adam Howard watch play during the first half against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images North Carolina State assistant Adam Howard is the new head coach at Troy, the school announced Saturday night.
Howard replaces Scott Cross, who left after the NCAA Tournament to become head coach at Georgia Tech. Cross finished his seven-year tenure with five straight 20-win campaigns.
Troy went 22-12 this season and reached the NCAA tourney for the second straight season. The Trojans, seeded 13th, were routed 76-47 by Nebraska in the first round of this year’s tournament.
Howard will look to continue the success. He had a two-season stint as an assistant with Troy (2016-18) earlier in his career with the Trojans qualifying for the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Last season was Howard’s lone campaign at NC State, which went 20-14 and reached the NCAA Tournament before losing to the Texas in the First Four. Wolfpack coach Will Wade departed for LSU after the season.
Howard’s other stops as an assistant coach include Southern Miss (2012-14), Tennessee (2014), South Alabama (2018-22) and Nebraska (2022-25).
Howard resigned at Tennessee in November 2014, citing personal reasons, during a time when he and then-Volunteers coach Donnie Tyndall were being investigated by the NCAA for recruiting violations at Southern Miss, where Tyndall was previously the head coach.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Blues stay hot, crush Maple Leafs
Mar 28, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Easton Cowan (53) checks St. Louis Blues defenseman Logan Mailloux (23) during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images The St. Louis Blues continued their dominant March with a 5-1 thumping of the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
The win marked St. Louis’ fourth in a row as they improved their March record to an NHL-best 10-1-2.
The Blues (31-30-11, 73 points) scored three in the third after Jake McCabe brought it back within one for the visitors. Dylan Holloway had a two-point game two nights after he scored the overtime winner against San Jose. Jake Neighbours, Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas also had multi-point games
Jordan Binnington stopped 12 of just 13 shots for the Blues while Joseph Woll turned away 33 of 38 shots for the Maple Leafs (31-30-13, 75 points).
Jimmy Snuggerud opened the scoring 5:21 into the second period, beating Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly to Cam Fowler’s slick feed through the slot. The goal boosted Snuggerud to second in rookie scoring since the new year. Former Leafs defenseman Justin Holl nabbed his first as a Blues player about five minutes later, tipping Kyrou’s point shot past Woll through a high screen to make it 2-0.
McCabe brought it back within one early in the third, flicking a seemingly innocent snap shot from the sideboards past an unsuspecting Binnington. The goal extended an unlikely point streak to three games for the stay-at-home defenseman.
The Leafs had some cause for excitement after Blues defenseman Theo Lindstein took a penalty for holding just over a minute later. Pius Suter was quick to disrupt their momentum with a short-handed goal off a feed from Thomas. Toronto was caught flat-footed on its own power play, with three Leafs opting to challenge Thomas in the corner instead of Suter in the high slot.
Kyrou recorded a second assist two-and-a-half minutes later, sliding a pass under the stick of Jacob Quillan and onto the tape of Holloway, who wristed it past Woll blocker side. Philip Broberg then made it 5-1 late on the power play.
The Maple Leafs were awarded a four-minute power play in the first period when Jack Finley was issued a double minor for high-sticking Quillan. Toronto failed to capitalize on the opportunity and only managed four shots through the first 20 minutes.
Toronto’s best chance of the opening frame came off the stick of Matias Maccelli after William Nylander stripped Pavel Buchnevich of the puck to spark a two-on-one. Binnington came across just in time to thwart Maccelli’s five-hole tuck.
–Field Level Media
Marta Suarez scores 33 as TCU upends Virginia in Sweet 16
Troy appoints NC State assistant Adam Howard as new coach
