Connect with us

Sports

Vladimir Tarasenko lifts Wild past Stars in Central Division showdown

NHL: Dallas Stars at Minnesota WildMar 21, 2026; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Dallas Stars defensemen Miro Heiskanen (4) shoots the puck between the legs of Minnesota Wild forward Bobby Brink (10) during the first period at Grand Casino Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

Vladimir Tarasenko scored the winning goal 3:06 into overtime to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon in Saint Paul, Minn.

Bobby Brink also scored for Minnesota (40-19-12, 92 points), which won in overtime for the second time in its past three games. Brink also picked up an assist on the winning goal.

Jason Robertson scored the lone goal for Dallas (43-15-11, 97 points), which holds a five-point lead over the Wild for second place in the Central Division. Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene assisted on Robertson’s tally.

Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 28 of 29 shots to collect the victory. He made nine saves in the first period, nine saves in the second and 10 saves in the third.

Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger allowed two goals on 28 shots.

Tarasenko pumped his fist after scoring the decisive goal. It was his fourth goal in his past four games and 20th of the season.

The winning play developed slowly for Minnesota. Brink had the puck along the side boards as Tarasenko waited patiently near the right circle. The Stars’ defenders drifted toward the puck and neglected Tarasenko, who eventually received a pass from Brink and fired a snap shot that zipped past Oettinger.

Dallas opened the scoring on the power play with 5:39 to go in the first period. Robertson fired a shot through traffic for his 38th goal of the season.

The play put Robertson atop the Stars’ goal-scoring list. He entered the game tied with teammate Wyatt Johnston with 37 apiece.

Minnesota made it 1-1 with 9:15 remaining in the second period. Quinn Hughes zipped a long pass to Brink, who got behind the defense for a mini-breakaway and finished with a backhand.

The play gave the ex-Philadelphia Flyer two goals in five games since joining the Wild.

Dallas finished 1-for-5 on the power play. Minnesota went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sports

South Korea's Sungjae Im maintains Valspar lead for third straight day

PGA: Valspar Championship - Third RoundMar 21, 2026; Palm Harbor, Florida, USA; Sungjae Im putts on the sixth green during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

South Korea’s Sungjae Im sank a 13-foot putt on the final hole to shoot 2-under-par 69 and stretch his lead to two strokes through the third round of the Valspar Championship on Saturday at Palm Harbor, Fla.

Im had gone nine holes without a birdie on Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club’s Copperhead Course before sinking his last birdie attempt. He enters Sunday’s final round at 11-under 202 in search of his first PGA Tour win since the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open.

Brandt Snedeker posted 67 to pull into a share of second place with David Lipsky, who turned in an erratic 70.

Snedeker’s bogey-free round — beginning with three birdies on the first four holes — gave him a score that matched the best rounds of the day.

England’s Marco Penge and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick shot matching 68s to hold a tie for fourth place at 8 under. That’s two shots clear of South Korea’s S.H. Kim and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a duo that shared the day’s best round with Snedeker.

Lipsky moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on No. 15 before giving it back with a bogey — his third of the back nine — on the next hole. His round included five birdies and four bogeys.

Im, who hadn’t led through 36 holes of a PGA Tour event since 2021, finished at 69 for the second day in a row. He saved par on No. 16 after a tee shot settled on a cart path.

Penge was at 2 over for the round after a double-bogey 6 on No. 6, but he played the backside bogey-free at 4 under.

Fitzpatrick was steadier. He fashioned nothing but pars — save a three-hole stretch of birdies on Nos. 10-12.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

Ryan Odom strives for another shining moment as Virginia faces Tennessee

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament First Round-Wright State at VirginiaMar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Jacari White (6) takes a jump shot during the second half against the Wright State Raiders during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Odom engineered a massive one-year turnaround at Virginia. Seven years removed from the program’s only national title, Odom has his players visualizing their own shining moment.

The third-seeded Cavaliers are on the verge of the Sweet 16 but first must handle Ja’Kobi Gillespie and sixth-seeded Tennessee in a Midwest Region second-round matchup on Sunday.

Virginia (30-5) officially doubled its win total from last season when it pulled out an 82-73 win over Wright State in Friday’s opener. The Cavaliers hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 national final.

Odom — the same coach who pulled off UMBC’s historic 16-over-1 upset of Virginia once upon a time — said afterward that he’d shown his players a montage of their season set to “One Shining Moment,” the tournament’s unofficial theme song.

After being hired from VCU last March, Odom had to assemble a new team quickly and primarily through the transfer portal. He has gotten his players to buy into Virginia’s history and the part they can play in writing a new chapter.

“When he brought us here, he emphasized the importance of what it is we’re actually playing for and not just ourselves, and playing for the university and trying to continue the legacy that was left behind by the players before,” said Virginia senior guard Jacari White, who transferred in from North Dakota State. “And so we honor that and take pride in that, and I feel like that shows in our play.”

Virginia’s 3-point marksman off the bench, White scored a season-high 26 points to propel the Cavaliers past the upset-minded Raiders. The first five of his six 3-pointers either tied the game or put Virginia in front.

“He’s one of the best shooters in the country when he’s locked and loaded there and feeling it,” Odom said. “You have to see that first one go in on game day, and he did, and then he was kind of on from there.”

Tennessee (23-11) is familiar with countering 3-point specialists after it held Eian Elmer to 0-for-7 shooting and Brant Byers to 1-for-6 in Friday’s 78-56 win over Miami (Ohio). Elmer shot 42.9% from deep for the year and Byers was at 39.2%.

“It’s similar. They put up around 30 threes a game or something like that,” Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell said of Virginia. “They’re also doing a (good) job attacking it early if they have the open three, so I think kind of just the same thing as we kind of did last game, just being in gaps early and playing out, guarding the 3-point line as best we can, but they’re balanced so just trying to take away as much as we can.”

Gillespie racked up 29 points and nine assists to carry Tennessee on a day where star freshman Nate Ament went scoreless in 18 minutes. Ament has been battling a high ankle sprain, yet had a 27-point showing and a double-double in the final two games of the SEC tournament last week.

“Last night, we could tell he was struggling with it,” coach Rick Barnes said Saturday. “That’s why we didn’t put him back in the game. …

“We need Nate. He knows it, but he will give us everything that he can, and that’s really all I can say about it. If it’s up to him, he would play every minute if he could. We’ll see game time.”

Ament averages 17.0 points and 6.5 rebounds while Gillespie leads Tennessee with 18.3 points and 5.6 assists per game.

Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder tops Virginia at 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

Stingy Sabres finally permit a goal, but topple Kings

NHL: Buffalo Sabres at Los Angeles KingsMar 21, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg (31) blocks a shot against Buffalo Sabres right wing Josh Doan (91) during the first period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Tage Thompson and Zach Benson each had a goal and an assist for the visiting Buffalo Sabres in a 4-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Carrick and Rasmus Dahlin scored 59 seconds apart midway through the third period, Josh Norris had two assists, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves for the Sabres (44-20-6, 94 points), who have won four in a row, seven straight on the road, and 12 of 13 since the Olympic break.

Buffalo has allowed one goal in the past three games.

Artemi Panarin scored and Anton Forsberg made 28 saves for the Kings (28-25-16, 72 points), who had earned points in five of the previous six games (3-1-2).

Carrick retrieved the puck along the wall after two Kings players converged on Benson. He carried it above the goal line before lifting a backhand over the right shoulder of Forsberg to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead at 11:12 of the third period.

The Kings challenged for a missed game stoppage on a high stick by Benson just prior to the goal, but it was determined there was no high sticking and Buffalo went on a power play for delay of game on the failed challenge.

Dahlin was then credited with a power play goal after a rebound went off Kings defenseman Cody Ceci, between Forsberg’s pads and across the goal line to make it 3-1 at 12:11.

Benson scored into an empty net to make it 4-1 with 2:25 left.

The Kings took a 1-0 lead on the first of their three power plays in the game.

Anze Kopitar had the puck in the right face-off circle when he made a backhand pass to Panarin in the left circle and he scored with a one-timer at 10:48 of the first period.

It was the fourth straight game the Kings scored a power-play goal and ended Buffalo’s shutout streak at 174:55.

It was also Panarin’s fifth goal and 14th point in 12 games since he was acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4, although his first game in black and silver did not occur until Feb. 26.

The Sabres tied it 1-1 at 4:05 of the second.

Forsberg made a save on a wrist shot by Peyton Krebs, but the rebound came to Thompson alone in front of the crease. Forsberg lunged at Thompson to try and poke the puck away, but Thompson dragged the puck around Forsberg and slid it into the open net for his team-leading 36th goal of the season.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading