Ayo Dosunmu came off the bench to score a career-high 43 points on 13-for-17 shooting, and the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away for a 112-96 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series on Saturday night in Minneapolis.

The victory, which gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, came at a cost to the Timberwolves, who lost two starters due to injury.

Anthony Edwards, a four-time All-Star and the team’s top scorer, left in the second quarter and did not return because of a left knee injury. Edwards leaped to try to block a shot and landed awkwardly on his left leg, and he quickly dropped to the court and clutched his knee.

Team officials helped Edwards to his feet and he placed his arms around their shoulders. He put little weight on his left leg as he hobbled toward the locker room.

Earlier in the first half, Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo headed toward the locker room after he injured his right leg on a non-contact play. DiVincenzo planted his foot to pursue a loose ball and fell to the hardwood, and he grabbed the back of his right leg in pain.

Early reports indicated that DiVincenzo might have ruptured his Achilles tendon on the play.

Naz Reid added 17 points off the bench for Minnesota. Julius Randle finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Rudy Gobert grabbed a game-high-tying 15 rebounds to go along with four points.

Jamal Murray scored 30 points on 10-for-25 shooting to lead Denver. Nikola Jokic finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists. However, he shot 8-for-22 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts.

The series returns to Denver for Game 5 on Monday night.

Dosunmu took over in his teammates’ absence. He helped Minnesota outscore Denver 62-42 in the second half to take a commanding lead in the series.

The Nuggets led 76-74 late in the third quarter before Dosunmu helped Minnesota take charge. He made a pair of free throws as Minnesota finished the quarter on an 8-2 run to grab an 82-78 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Dosunmu continued to assert himself. He hit a driving layup and a pull-up bank shot to increase the Timberwolves’ lead to 95-82 with 7:53 to go.

Denver struggled to keep pace the rest of the way, and Jokic took exception to a layup by Jaden McDaniels with 2.1 seconds left. Jokic and Randle were ejected in the closing seconds after players from both teams shoved one another near the sidelines.

–Field Level Media

Matt Boldy scored with 29 seconds left in overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 win over the visiting Dallas Stars to level their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series at 2-2 on Saturday evening in St. Paul, Minn.

Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, Marcus Foligno also scored and Jesper Wallstedt made 43 saves for the Wild, who dominated the series opener 6-1 before losing two in a row, including Game 3 at home in double-overtime.

Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen scored goals, Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen had two assists each, and Jake Oettinger made 40 saves for the Stars.

Minnesota won despite going 0-for-4 on the power play while Dallas was 2-for-2. Game 5 is set for Tuesday night in Dallas.

Hurricanes 4, Senators 2

Logan Stankoven’s power-play goal midway through the third period broke a tie for Carolina, which never trailed in defeating host Ottawa to eliminate the Senators from the playoffs.

The Hurricanes completed a four-game sweep in the first-round Eastern Conference series. Sebastian Aho scored two empty-net goals, and Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist for Carolina. Seth Jarvis had two assists and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves.

Drake Batherson had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, and Dylan Cozens scored. Linus Ullmark stopped 26 shots.

Penguins 4, Flyers 2

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist as visiting Pittsburgh stayed alive with a victory over Philadelphia in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Rickard Rakell also scored a goal and set up another for Pittsburgh, which had been outscored 11-4 while dropping the first three games of the series. Penguins coach Dan Muse opted to start Arturs Silovs in net instead of Stuart Skinner, and Silovs responded with 28 saves in a crisp performance.

Denver Barkey and Travis Konecny scored for Philadelphia, which will have another chance to win the best-of-seven series Monday when the teams reconvene for Game 5 in Pittsburgh. Dan Vladar, playing with a right arm injury, turned aside 17 shots for the Flyers.

–Field Level Media

Alex Bonetig scored his first career MLS goal in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage to lift the visiting Portland Timbers to a 2-1 victory over reeling San Diego FC on Saturday night.

Kevin Kelsy also scored his second goal of the season much earlier for Portland (3-5-1, 10 points), which earned its first away points of the season in a fifth attempt.

James Pantemis made only three saves in the victory, but two were crucial interventions: a 79th-minute denial of Lewis Morgan when the match was still tied, and another stop of Anders Dreyer in the final minutes of second-half stoppage time after Bonetig’s winner.

That was enough to secure a satisfying win for a Timbers side that was eliminated by San Diego from the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs in a tightly contested first-round series.

Dreyer scored from the penalty spot for his team-lead-tying fifth goal before halftime, but he couldn’t prevent SDFC (3-5-2, 11 points) from falling to a club-record fifth consecutive defeat.

San Diego captain Jeppe Tverskov departed in the 81st minute with an apparent injury.

Portland may have thought it missed an opportunity in the 83rd minute when Antony somehow missed wide on an open net after goalkeeper Duran Ferree rashly sprinted off his line in a poorly timed challenge outside the penalty area.

But the visitors kept pushing and were eventually rewarded for their resilience on a corner kick.

The initial delivery failed to reach a Timbers attacker, but the hosts couldn’t clear. Bonetig eventually reached it in a frenetic scrap, and he powered in a low finish past Ferree from about 8 yards.

Kelsy created the turnover that led to his 26th-minute opener, pressuring Tverskov into a giveaway inside his own half.

From there, he slalomed past defender Christopher McVey before dragging a low finish past Ferree into the bottom right corner.

San Diego FC received their route back into the game only five minutes later when referee Jon Freemon spotted a handball in the penalty area on defender Brandon Bye.

Dreyer stepped up and dispatched his PK into the bottom right corner as Pantemis dove in the opposite direction.

–Field Level Media