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Nick Nurse on officials, Hawks' hot shooting
Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse explains how Toronto came into the game planning to guard Atlanta and how the 3rd quarter binge of foul calls affected play.
Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse explains how Toronto came into the game planning to guard Atlanta and how the 3rd quarter binge of foul calls affected play.
Luka Doncic scored 27 and Kristaps Porzingis added 18 as the Dallas Mavericks snapped the Brooklyn Nets’ eight-game winning streak with a 115-98 victory Saturday night.
Yildirim was done after the third round.
Matt Dumba scored in the final second of overtime to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Vanessa Bryant wants names of deputies accused of sharing Kobe crash photos made public
In an emotional Instagram post, Lin encouraged people to reach out to Asians in their communities.
LAS VEGAS — Canadian veteran Alexis Davis, fighting for the first time in 19 months, gave Sabina (Colombian Queen) Mazo a reality check en route to a unanimous decision win Saturday night on a UFC Fight Night card.The judges scored it 30-27, 30-27, 30-26 for Davis, who used her grappling skills to blunt Mazo's striking talent.The 36-year-old Davis (20-10-0), who had shoulder surgery in early 2020, came into the bout on a three-fight losing streak. The 23-year-old Mazo (9-2-0) had won her last three fights.Mazo looked to keep the flyweight matchup on the feet against Davis, who fought for the UFC bantamweight title in 2014, And she showed fast hands early in the fight until she went down trying to land a kick. Davis, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, got side control and then took Mazo's back, finishing the round in control.Davis kept lashing Mazo's lead leg with kicks in the second round, looking to blunt Mazo's striking edge. The Canadian took Mazo down late in the round.Davis used her ground skills to control Mazo, a former Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight champion."I like being on the ground. I'm comfortable there," said Davis, a native of Port Colborne, Ont. who now makes her home in California.Saturday's main event at the UFC's Apex production facility pitted Suriname's Jairzinho (Bigi Boy) Rozenstruik, ranked fourth among UFC heavyweight contenders against No 7 Cyril (Bon Gamin) Gane of France.Davis had her first pro fight in 2007, competing in Strikeforce and Invicta FC before moving to the UFC in 2013.After three straight wins in the promotion, she faced (Rowdy) Ronda Rousey for the UFC bantamweight title at UFC 175. Rousey, then unbeaten and a 10-1 favourite, won in just 16 seconds.Davis won three of her next four fights and took time off to have her son before dropping her last three outings. Davis lost a decision to Viviane Araujo last time out at UFC 240 in Edmonton in July 2019. The defeat prompted her to seek help for her shoulder which had been damaged two fights earlier against Katlyn Chookagian in July 2018.Davis moved back to bantamweight (135 pounds) after four fights as a flyweight (125 pounds). She is currently ranked 11th among flyweights.The five-foot-six Davis, who is 7-5-0 in the UFC, made the move because she had had more success as a 135-pounder and because it makes for less stress.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2021. The Canadian Press
Sabres starting goalie Linus Ullmark will miss at least the next month with a lower-body injury, while captain Jack Eichel remains day-to-day.
The Wild are on a tear, the Eichel saga takes a plot twist, and other fantasy takeaways from the week that was.
It's been 11 months, but Hopkins is still positively tickled that the Texans traded him to the Cardinals for almost nothing.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Marco Scandella scored his second goal of the game to break a tie in the third period and St. Louis rallied to beat the San Jose Sharks 7-6 Saturday night after Blues starting goalie Jordan Binnington lost his cool when getting pulled. Binnington went after three Sharks when he was replaced after allowing his fourth goal on 19 shots. Ville Husso stopped 19 of 21 shots he faced in relief and the Blues got the win after tying the game on Zach Sanford’s goal late in the second and then three more in the first 7:14 of a back-and-forth third period. Mackenzie MacEachern scored a short-handed goal, Ryan O’Reilly added another and Scandella took a pass from Oskar Sundqvist to make it 7-6 midway through the third. Evander Kane and Timo Meier each scored twice and Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc added goals in the Sharks' first game back after having one game postponed because of Tomas Hertl’s positive test for the coronavirus. Devan Dubnyk allowed seven goals on 30 shots. Sammy Blais and Brayden Schenn also scored for the Blues, who had lost four of five. Despite the barrage of goals, the most memorable moment of the game might have come when Binnington lost his composure after allowing Kane’s second goal of the game. While skating off the ice, Binnington went after three different Sharks players. He shoved Radim Simek by the bench, put his stick in Erik Karlsson’s face near centre ice and then got into it with Dubnyk before finally leaving the ice. Husso came on and stopped 13 shots the rest of the second period to keep St. Louis in the game. The Blues tied it late in the second when Sanford skated in from behind the net and beat Dubnyk for their 12th goal in five second periods against San Jose this season. LUCKY START The Sharks got on the board just 17 seconds into the game when Meier threw a puck toward the net that hit defenceman Torey Krug and bounced past Binnington for a goal. Each team added another goal in the first with Scandella’s point shot tying the game at 1 before Kane knocked a rebound into an open net on the power play to restore the one-goal lead for San Jose. HEALTH REPORT The Sharks got three key players back in the lineup with defenceman Karlsson returning after missing four games with a groin injury, defenceman Simek returning after missing four games with an upper-body injury and forward Dylan Gambrell back after missing one game in concussion protocol. Australian Nathan Walker was in the lineup for the Blues after a week in COVID-19 quarantine. Forward Vladimir Tarasenko (upper body) is practicing for St. Louis and could return for the first time this season on the this trip. Blues defenceman Jacob de la Rose left the game in the first period with a lower body injury. UP NEXT Blues: Visit Anaheim on Monday night. Sharks: Host Colorado on Monday night. ___ More AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Josh Dubow, The Associated Press
WINNIPEG — Paul Stastny's overtime goal clinched Winnipeg's 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens, extending the Jets' winning streak to four games.Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg (13-6-1). The Jets were victorious despite being outshot 41-21. Connor Hellebuyck made 40 saves in the winning effort at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg. Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal (9-6-5) while goaltender Jake Allen made 19 saves in the loss. Montreal's winless streak is now at five games. The streak includes back-to-back losses to the Jets. Montreal held a 3-1 lead on Winnipeg Thursday night before the Jets scored five unanswered goals en route to a 6-3 win. Saturday night's affair saw both teams fail to score in the opening period. Montreal, however, doubled Winnipeg's shot total, leading 14-7. Neither team took a penalty until the second period when each had a pair of minors, with Jeff Petry serving time for both of Montreal's infractions. As Petry sat in the box for his second penalty, Ehlers opened the scoring with a power play goal. Jets forward Andrew Copp won a faceoff in the offensive zone and flicked the puck behind him. Ehlers was first to it, sniping it past Allen for his 11th of the season.Suzuki replied with his fifth of the season almost five minutes later. The goal was unassisted. The Canadiens and Jets remained deadlocked in the third, but it was Montreal who applied most of the pressure. The Canadiens outshot the Jets in every period, including the third where they led 14-2. As the game headed into overtime it took Stastny only 36 seconds to get the puck past Allen and give the Jets the win. Ehlers fired a shot on net that was trickling towards the goal line after it beat Allen and Stastny then pushed it in. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2021. The Canadian Press
“Everybody’s talking about Gane being this big contender, but look what Francis Ngannou did to Rozenstruik,” White said. “This was his coming out party and his chance to show the world who he is. He won, but let’s leave it at that. He won.”
EDMONTON — The Maple Leafs knew even with Auston Matthews they would need to be at their best against a surging opponent. Subtracting the NHL's leading goal scorer from Toronto's lineup due to injury further increased the degree of difficulty. Sitting in that tricky spot, Jack Campbell and his teammates rose to the occasion Saturday. The netminder stopped 30 shots for his third career shutout, Mitch Marner sparked the offence with a goal and an assist, and the Leafs blanked the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 in the opener of a three-game series. Toronto scored on the power play, three times at even strength, didn't take a penalty, and frustrated the powerhouse offensive duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in one of the club's most complete performances of the season. "Everything really came up Leafs here tonight," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. Toronto was minus Matthews, who has 18 goals in 20 games, after he aggravated a wrist injury he's been dealing with most of the schedule in Wednesday's 2-1 overtime victory against the Calgary Flames. Keefe didn't spell it out to his players what was needed on this night with their best player absent, but the message was clear. "When you lose a guy like that, you're essentially taking a goal away from your lineup," Keefe said as Toronto improved to 22-11-2 all-time with Matthews sidelined. "If you score one less, you've got to make sure you give up one less. "Whether Auston was in or out, to beat an Edmonton team that's rolling the way that they are and playing as confidently as they are, we had to really play a sound team game." William Nylander, Jason Spezza and Zach Hyman also scored for Toronto (16-4-2). John Tavares added two assists as the Leafs stretched their lead atop the North Division to six points over the Oilers. Campbell played for the first time since injuring his leg Jan. 24 and picked up his first shutout since March 25, 2019, when he was with the Los Angeles Kings. "It was awesome," Toronto's backup said after getting mobbed in his crease at the final buzzer. "It's what you play for." Mike Smith stopped 25 shots as Edmonton (14-9-0) saw its five-game winning streak come to an end. "We just didn't deserve to win," said Draisaitl, whose Oilers will look to rebound Monday and Wednesday against the same opponent at Rogers Place. "They just outbattled us." Matthews hasn't just been a goal dynamo this season. He also sits tied for fourth in league scoring with 31 points behind McDavid (40), Draisaitl (34), and now Marner (32), and has honed a relentless 200-foot game. "Auston's a big part of our team offensively (and) defensively," Marner said. "Everyone steps up in that moment." Campbell was proud of the effort with the team's top talent looking on in street clothes. "Losing Auston is a huge blow," he said. "But it was a great opportunity for all of us to come together and just try and take two points from a really, really good team. "Auston was fired up in the room after." The Leafs also got winger Joe Thornton (lower body) and top-4 defenceman Jake Muzzin (facial fracture) back after both sat out Toronto's last two games. No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen, meanwhile, remains day-to-day with a lower-body ailment that pressed third-stringer Michael Hutchison into action twice earlier this week with Campbell still working his way back. Keefe elected to put Tavares in Matthews' spot between Marner and Thornton, and that line combined for five points. The Leafs, who opened a road trip that will see them play five games in eight nights, also defeated Edmonton 4-2 in Toronto on Jan. 22 without Matthews. "We did a good job sticking to our game plan," Muzzin said. "Even when we're up a few, we stayed with it." After both teams had a couple of good chances to open the scoring early, the Leafs got on the board at 14:37 of the first period on the game's only power play. Marner showed great patience circling behind Smith's net before finding Nylander, who buried his eighth, and third in two games, as Toronto snapped an 0-for-12 stretch on the man advantage. Marner then turned finisher just 1:13 later when he took a pass from Tavares in transition and fired a shot through Smith for his 10th. Both goalies were busy before the Leafs broke through, with Campbell denying McDavid off the rush and Smith thwarting Alexander Barabanov. Tavares has been blown away by Campbell since he was acquired from the Kings last season. "He's been absolutely tremendous, not just with the results that he brings and the confidence that he gives the group, but the attitude, the energy he brings every day," said Toronto's captain. "The work ethic in practice is second to none. It's just infectious, what he brings to our team. There's a lot of things not seen behind the scenes that he brings to our group. "Thrilled for him, and not surprised." Spezza made it 3-0 at 11:15 of the second on a vintage sequence from a player nicknamed "Vintage" by teammates. The 37-year-old forward took a pass from Jimmy Vesey coming down the right side, faked a slapshot that had Smith swimming in his crease before firing his fifth shortside on the 38-year-old netminder, who entered a perfect 6-0-0 with a .944 save percentage. "What a treat it was to watch," Campbell said of Spezza's effort. "He does it in practice, so it's nice to see it on our end." Edmonton, which was on 11-2-0 run after starting the season 3-6-0, came close to getting that one back moments later, but Draisaitl's pass to Josh Archibald was redirected off Campbell's crossbar by Leafs centre Alexander Kerfoot before the netminder shut the door on the follow. Hyman, who missed two of the Leafs' last four games with a foot injury, then roofed his fifth upstairs on Smith at 13:34 as the visitors picked up their first shutout of the season. "Just proud of this group," Campbell said. "It was a heck of a game, and we needed it. "Let try to keep'er going." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2021. The Canadian Press
CALGARY — Rachel Homan is in familiar territory in a strange curling season. She'll skip Ontario in a third straight Canadian women's curling championship final Sunday. Homan's 7-2 win over Saskatchewan and defending champion Kerri Einarson's 10-9 loss in an extra end to Manitoba on Saturday combined to give Ontario a bye to the final. "We really wanted to get to the final and see what we can do and to put that Maple Leaf on our back would really be another dream come true," Homan said. "We're going to work and fight hard to the last rock and hopefully we can make more than the other team." Homan is a three-time winner of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2017, 2014 and 2013. In the third trimester of her pregnancy, she'll try for a fourth. Homan and Einarson owned identical 10-2 records at the conclusion of the championship round Saturday. Homan's 7-4 win over Einarson in a Pool A game Thursday was the tiebreaker giving Ontario the higher playoff seeding. Einarson has a place in Sunday afternoon's semifinal as the second seed. The defending champs await the winner of a morning tiebreaker between Manitoba's Jennifer Jones and Alberta's Laura Walker, who were both 9-3. "Personally, it's pretty huge for me not to play three games tomorrow," Homan said. "I knew we were ready to do whatever it took to be in that final. "Thankfully the way it fell, we were able to get that bye, get some rest, get our feet up and just prepare for the final tomorrow." The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out most of the competitive curling season. Homan's team arrived in Calgary incorporating new second Sarah Wilkes and adjusting to the shift of Joanne Courtney to lead without the benefit of 50 to 60 games behind them this winter. "I think we've faced a lot of adversity like every team here trying to show up and put together the best performance we can under the circumstances," Courtney said. "I'm really proud of how we've supported each other and kind of just stayed tough. Lots of gritty wins, lots of gritty ends. Any time you get a chance to play in a final, it's a huge honour." Walker took three losses into the championship round, but won a fifth straight game Saturday to keep the host province in contention for the national women's curling crown. Alberta came from behind to cap the championship round with a 9-4 win over Chelsea Carey's Wild Card One. "I think our confidence is high," Walker said. "To run the table in the championship round is a pretty special thing I think for us to have just done." Six-time champion Jones avoided elimination by drawing for the extra-end win over Einarson. Her Winnipeg foursome must win three games Sunday for Jones to claim a record seventh title. "Adrenalin usually takes you through those games," Jones said. "We didn't play a lot of games coming in. We're well-rested. "Hopefully we'll be able to play three. At the end of it we'll be tired, but I think when you're playing, you'll be fine." The 2021 Tournament of Hearts is one of four Curling Canada events to be held in a spectator-free, controlled environment at WinSport's Markin MacPhail Centre. The pandemic thwarting many provincial and territorial playdowns prompted Curling Canada to add two wild-card teams to the Hearts field for a total of 18, which in turn shrunk the playoff window. Instead of the traditional four teams in a Page playoff, only three advance. Einarson is attempting to win the first back-to-back Hearts titles since Homan in 2013-14. Sunday's victor earns $100,000 in prize money and a return trip to the 2022 Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont., as Team Canada. The runner-up earns $60,000 and $40,000 goes to the third-place team. The winner doesn't have a world championship, however, in which to wear the Maple Leaf. The March 19-28 tournament in Schaffhausen, Switzerland was cancelled by the World Curling Federation because of the pandemic. The 2020 world championship in Prince George, B.C., was called off for the same reason, so Einarson wasn't able to represent Canada there. Beth Peterson's Wild Card Three (7-5) finished with a 10-3 win over Quebec's Laurie St-Georges (6-6) on Saturday. Wild Card One, with Carey filling in at skip for Tracy Fleury, and Saskatchewan's Sherry Anderson also finished 6-6. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2021. Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
The kick went through the goal posts. It was ruled no good.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jacob MacDonald broke a tie with his first goal of the season and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes 6-2 on Saturday night to sweep the two-game, two-day series. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Joonas Donskoi, Tyson Jost and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored, with the Avalanche striking four times in the third period. Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 shots for the victory. Clayton Keller and Ilya Lyubushkin — with his first NHL goal — scored for Arizona. Antti Raanta made 35 saves. Colorado won the opener 3-2 on Friday night. They knocked the Coyotes out of the playoffs last season in five games. Arizona got off to a much better offensive start against Colorado than the night before, when it managed just 10 shots through the first two periods. The Coyotes outshot the Avalanche 9-7 in the first and had a few good chances to score, including Phil Kessel's shot that hit the right post and bounced away. MacKinnon opened the scoring with 7:44 left in the first period when he beat Raanta with a wrister to the top right corner of the net. Raanta was playing in just his fourth game this season. Colorado started the second period with an offensive flurry, putting 10 shots on goal in the first four minutes but couldn't put anything in the net. Arizona tied it late in the period when Keller deflected a pass from Niklas Hjalmarsson past Grubauer. Colorado answered three minutes later when MacDonald wrapped around the back of the net and slipped the puck past Raanta for a 2-1 lead. It was MacDonald's second goal of his career. The Avalanche pulled ahead 3-1 early in the third on a power-play goal by Landeskog, who corralled a rebound and smacked it into the net. Donskoi, Jost and Bellemare all scored later in the third. Colorado dominated offensively in the final two periods and finished with a 41-24 advantage in shots. ICE CHIPS Coyotes trainer Dave Zenobi worked his 2,000 professional hockey game on Saturday night. He was honoured before the game with a framed jersey that had a 2,000 on it. ... Arizona's Conor Garland missed the game with a lower-body injury. He leads the team with 19 points. It was the first game he's missed this season. ... UP NEXT Avalanche: At San Jose on Monday night. Coyotes: At Los Angeles on Wednesday night. ___ Follow David Brandt at www.twitter.com/davidbrandtAP ___ More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports David Brandt, The Associated Press
No coach reached the 900-club faster than the UNC coach.
If there was a crowd, boos would have filled the venue.
(Dream Gap - image credit) The Dream Gap tour returned with a flourish on Saturday. After nearly 12 months of inactivity, the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWPHA) showcase series kicked off its second year as Team Minnesota defeated Team New Hampshire 5-2, in Somerset, N.J. The PWHPA was formed after the collapse of the Canadian Women's Hockey League in 2019. While pandemic-related restrictions have kept players living north of the border out of action, the PWPHA is pushing ahead with its Dream Gap Tour with two U.S.-based teams for now. Made up primarily of Canadian and U.S. athletes, the action picked up in the second period after a slow opening frame. Hayley Scammura was the first to break the ice, streaking down the wing before pulling the puck back onto her backhand to beat Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley to give New Hampshire a 1-0 lead. WATCH | Minnesota routs New Hampshire in Dream Gap Tour opener: But with 20 seconds to go in the second, Savannah Harmon pulled Minnesota level with a wrister from the slot. Then the floodgates then opened, with Abby Roque — who had an assist on Harmon's goal — leading the charge. After feeding Winnipeg's Ryleigh Houston for her second helper of the night, Roque would pot two of her own. Her second, courtesy of a nearly impossible-to-stop wrister, befuddled New Hampshire goalie Katie Burt as it sailed top shelf from a tight angle. Minnesota's fifth of the night came courtesy of Kendall Coyne Schofield, before Gigi Marvin finally added New Hampshire's second to close out the box score at 5-2. This year's edition of the Dream Gap Tour features a unique scoring system; teams are awards two points for a win, one for a win in overtime and half a point for an overtime or shootout loss. Emphasis is also being placed on hat tricks, shorthanded goals, shutouts and an additional point for teams that score five or more goals in a game. Historic game ahead Saturday's game was the first of two this weekend. Both teams set to return on Sunday for the second half of their back-to-back series — except this time, they will be playing at Madison Square Garden, a historic first for professional women's hockey and its goal of creating a viable women's pro league. PWHPA players are currently training out of five hubs: Minnesota, New Hampshire, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. The next stop for the tour is Chicago, which will host games on March 6-7. The Toronto Maple Leafs have previously issued their support and plan on hosting a Dream Gap Tour stop once Canada's COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. CBC Sports will live-stream all Dream Gap Tour games not being broadcast on TV by Sportsnet or the NHL Network.