Sports
Sabres' first postseason since 2011 starts with confident Bruins
Oct 11, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) dumps Boston Bruins center Elias Lindholm (28) battling for the puck during the second period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images The Boston Bruins have won 11 Stanley Cup playoff rounds since the last time the Buffalo Sabres made the postseason.
That experience seems to have Boston coach Marco Sturm oozing with confidence heading into Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series on Sunday night in Buffalo.
“We know how we have to play, we’re going to be ready to go,” Sturm said Friday. “We’re excited. We are bigger, stronger, we are more physical. We just have to be smart, but we’re going to go after them.”
Buffalo forward Josh Doan said on Saturday that those comments have been seen and heard by the Sabres, who will play their first postseason game since April 26, 2011.
“At the end of the day, I think our group trusts what we’re doing here and we’ll just let that play out throughout the series,” he said. “We’re going to stick to our game plan. So, it’s one of those things that you see, but at the end of the day there’s no real response from us in this room.”
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff didn’t fire back either when asked about Sturm’s comments.
“That’s his take on his team,” Ruff said. “I have a lot of respect for what our team has done and how we play and the speed we play the game. They’ve got a good team. I mean, they know who they are and we know who we are.”
Boston won three out of four meetings with Buffalo this season, most recently a 4-3 overtime win on March 25 that moved the Bruins into a tie for third in the Atlantic Division at the time.
Boston ultimately finished fourth in the Atlantic, six points behind the third-place Montreal Canadiens. That dropped the Bruins into the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot.
The Bruins are just happy to get back into the postseason after missing out last season for the first time in nine years.
“I think if you don’t enjoy (the Stanley Cup playoffs), you’re in the wrong sport or wrong place,” Boston defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. “That’s playoff hockey. That’s pressure, that’s atmosphere, intensity, physicality, blood, sweat — you name it.”
Leading the way for the Bruins will be 29-year-old forward David Pastrnak, who finished the regular season with exactly 100 points (29 goals, 71 assists) — the fourth straight year he has hit triple digits.
After Pastrnak, however, the Bruins have a significant drop-off in point totals with Morgan Geekie next at 68 points (39 goals, 29 assists).
Sturm said he doesn’t expect Ruff to try to match up line for line.
“In the past, Lindy wasn’t really a big matchup guy,” Sturm said. “He did his thing, so we’ll see where it goes. Maybe he does it differently in the playoffs, but we don’t really care.”
The Sabres not only ended the NHL’s longest active playoff drought at 14 years, they won the Atlantic Division by three points over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Buffalo doesn’t have a 100-point scorer, but Tage Thompson remains one of the top centers in the league. He followed up last year’s 44-goal output with 40 goals and 41 assists this year.
The Sabres also boast one of the top offensive defensemen in Rasmus Dahlin, who finished second on the team with 74 points (19 goals, 55 assists). That ranked sixth among all NHL defensemen.
–Field Level Media
Sports
LAFC, Earthquakes clash in Western Conference showdown
Mar 21, 2026; Austin, Texas, USA; LAFC forward David Martinez (30) waits for gameplay to resume during the first half against Austin FC at Q2 Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images Goals will be at a premium when two of the top teams in the Western Conference meet Sunday as Los Angeles FC plays host to the San Jose Earthquakes.
Each team allowed just two goals through seven league games to lead MLS. They are also two of four teams in the league with a positive goal differential in double digits.
LAFC (5-1-1, 16 points) will be out to protect a perfect 4-0-0 home record in league play during a busy early part of the season.
In two home games during the first seven days of April, LAFC earned a 6-0 MLS victory over Orlando City and a 3-0 victory over Mexico’s Cruz Azul in CONCACAF Champions Cup play. The club absorbed its only MLS loss, 2-1 on the road against the Portland Timbers, on April 11, then went to Mexico on Tuesday and advanced against Cruz Azul with a 1-1 road tie.
While Denis Bouanga leads LAFC with four goals and eight goal contributions in MLS play, 20-year-old forward David Martinez of Venezuela has six goals across all competitions and scored twice in the first leg against Cruz Azul.
“If you guys would see training, for me it’s normal,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos said of Martinez’s play. “… When he has space in front of him, he goes and it’s fantastic to watch. He has this quality. David is strong. He seems little, but he’s really strong when he has courage behind him.”
Mired in mediocrity after not delivering a winning season in any of the previous 13 seasons, the Earthquakes (6-1-0, 18 points) have been reborn in just the second season under head coach Bruce Arena.
The Earthquakes are on a four-game winning streak across all competitions and are coming off a 2-0 victory over Phoenix Rising FC on Wednesday in U.S. Open Cup play. The 7-1-0 start across all competitions is the best in club history.
“We’re going to utilize our (full) roster this week,” Arena said. “If we have any aspirations of being a good team, it’s critically important that we can show that we can have depth and we can rotate our squad when it’s called upon.”
San Jose also scored three goals in each of its last two MLS games, earning a road victory over Sporting Kansas City and a home shutout win over San Diego FC on April 4.
Jack Skhan scored a pair of goals against Sporting KC, and Niko Tsakiris scored two against San Diego FC. Preston Judd leads the Earthquakes with three goals on the season, while Tsakiris has four assists.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cody Bellinger homers twice, as Yankees eclipse Royals
Apr 18, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) hits a two run home run against the Kansas City Royals during the third inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Cody Bellinger homered twice and collected five RBIs Saturday afternoon, and the New York Yankees easily recorded a 13-4 victory over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Saturday afternoon.
The Yankees notched their most lopsided win this season after their previous five victories were decided in the final at-bat.
Amed Rosario hit a two-run homer, and Ben Rice hit a solo shot during a five-run third off Kansas City left-hander Noah Cameron. (1-1).
Rosario started the scoring with his two-run blast to left after a three-base error by Kansas City center fielder Kyle Isbel.
J.C. Escarra hit a fly ball to the warning track in center field, and the ball was not caught when Isbel and right fielder Jac Caglianone converged. Isbel knocked the ball out of Caglianone’s glove and was charged with a three-base error.
After Rosario’s homer, Aaron Judge walked, then Bellinger sent a first-pitch slider into the second deck in right. Rice homered two batters later when he hit a fastball into the right field seats for his third straight game with a homer.
Bellinger homered again in the sixth off Mitch Spence for a 10-0 lead. It was Bellinger’s 20th career multi-homer game and his eighth game with at least five RBIs.
Bellinger also had an RBI single in between homers. Rosario added a run-scoring single in the sixth and Escarra contributed an RBI double in the fourth.
Escarra also drove in two with his first career triple in the seventh as the Yankees collected 11 hits. Randal Grichuk added a sacrifice fly in the eighth for his first RBI with New York.
New York’s Will Warren (2-0) allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings. The right-hander matched a career-high with 11 strikeouts and walked none.
The Royals dropped their sixth straight. Kansas City was blanked until Carter Jensen hit a two-run homer in the seventh and got a two-run double from Michael Massey in the ninth.
Cameron was shelled for a career-worst seven runs (five earned) on seven hits in four innings.
Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro was tossed by second base umpire Nestor Ceja before Cameron threw a pitch after the Royals batted in the first.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Blazers face Victor Wembanyama, Spurs to open playoffs
Apr 8, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) drives to the basket against San Antonio Spurs forward Carter Bryant (11) during the second half at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images The Portland Trail Blazers will get their first look of the season at erstwhile league MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama when they travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs on Sunday in their opening game of the first round playoff series.
The Trail Blazers (42-40) clinched the seventh seed and a meeting with the second-seeded Spurs with a 114-110 road win over Phoenix on Tuesday in the West’s 7 vs. 8 matchup in the play-in tournament. That victory allowed Portland to earn its first trip to the playoffs since 2021.
San Antonio has won two of the three games with the Trail Blazers this year — most recently a 112-101 decision at home on April 8 — but Wembanyama missed all three contests with injuries. That doesn’t bode well for Portland’s chances to upset the Spurs, who lost just four times in their 34 games since March 1.
“He will play in the fourth game,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said about Wembanyama. “That feels good.”
Wembanyama’s numbers this season — 1,600 points, 736 rebounds, 199 assists, 197 blocked shots, 122 3-pointers –are a combination never before produced in the NBA. Portland acting head coach Tiago Splitter said his team will employ a combined effort to try to slow the Spurs’ star center.
“Of course Wembanyama is a big emphasis for us both offensively and defensively,” Splitter explained. “He’s a 7-foot-5 guy that can handle the ball, shoot, guard the rim, guard the perimeter and brings something different that other teams don’t have.
“Every game is a team effort,” Splitter added. “Stay connected on offense. Share the ball, play together. It’s a big team effort on both ends of the court.”
Deni Avdija led the way for Portland in Tuesday’s win, scoring 41 points that included his three-point play with 16.1 seconds remaining that capped the Blazers’ comeback from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit.
San Antonio had the second-best record in the NBA this season at 62-20, trailing only defending champion Oklahoma City. The Spurs are on the hunt for their sixth NBA title in franchise history and are one of the favorites to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.
But this is lofty company for San Antonio, which hasn’t earned a spot in the playoffs since 2019. The Spurs are just the fourth team in league history to win 60 games in a season a year after they won less than 35.
“I can’t really help but dream about it, of course,” Wembanyama said about the team’s quest for a championship. “But we have to stay grounded, stay in the moment. And before even thinking about Game 1, I have to think about showing up the right way. Practice, doing all my stuff, preparing, being locked in on the scouts.”
San Antonio is far from a one-man team. The Spurs had seven players average in double-figure scoring, with Wembanyama leading the way at 25 points per game in 65 contests. De’Aaron Fox was second at 18.6 points, and Stephon Castle (who had five triple doubles) racking up 16.7 points.
“We know where we are,” Johnson said this week. “We will be ourselves. We’ll be excited to play. If that means we come out in the first three minutes and there’s some nerves, I think that’s excitement. But I think we’ll get back to being ourselves. That’s what I expect.
“As soon as we can get back to making it the basketball game we’ve been playing all year, we’ll be in a good spot.”
Game 2 will be Tuesday night in the Alamo City before switching to Portland for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and April 26, respectively.
–Field Level Media
LAFC, Earthquakes clash in Western Conference showdown
Cody Bellinger homers twice, as Yankees eclipse Royals
