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'Pretty frustrated': Fred VanVleet on Raptors' defensive inconsistency
Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet can't explain why his squad isn't able to play defense fro 48 minutes each game.
Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet can't explain why his squad isn't able to play defense fro 48 minutes each game.
After thrashing the Oilers three games in a row in Edmonton, Toronto struggled in Vancouver, dropping a 4-2 decision to the Canucks on Saturday.
Capitals forward Tom Wilson will sit for 7 games after a high, dangerous hit sent Bruins blueliner Brandon Carlo to the hospital.
Watching Rasmus Ristolainen race Mat Barzal to a loose puck and then try to defend him 1-on-1 must be pure nightmare fuel for Sabres fans.
Only one belt changed hands Saturday at UFC 259.
It’s an exciting week ahead in the Premier League as the battle for Champions League qualification spots heats up.
This NHL season has gone all-in on complete and utter weirdness.
Adam Silver said the NBA will not mandate players receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Receiving $100 million appears to have done very little to change Trevor Bauer.
Jake Odorizzi is coming off an injury-riddled 2020 season.
Adam Silver is playing the strict dean in Atlanta this weekend.
Mark Pavelich had been committed to a mental health treatment center after assaulting a friend in 2019.
Kevin De Bruyne has won every domestic honour on offer with Manchester City but Europe's biggest prize still eludes the Belgian midfielder maestro.
MILAN — Gianluca Mancini’s bullet header helped Roma beat Genoa 1-0 to move back into fourth place in Serie A on Sunday. Mancini scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute as Roma moved a point above fifth-place Atalanta, which visits Serie A leader Inter Milan on Monday. The top four from Serie A qualify for next year's Champions League. Second-place AC Milan was playing at Hellas Verona later. Genoa remained seven points above the relegation zone after its second loss in three matches. It had only lost one of the previous 10 since Davide Ballardini replaced Rolando Maran as coach. Roma dominated and broke the deadlock when Mancini rose highest in the middle of the area to head a Lorenzo Pellegrini corner into the top right side of the net. Roma almost doubled its lead in the 67th but Gonzalo Villar’s effort was deflected onto the right post by Genoa midfielder Ivan Radovanovic. The hosts did have the ball in the back of the net shortly after. Pedro’s backheeled flick came off the left post and Borja Mayoral turned in the rebound but it was ruled out for a narrow offside. Genoa fought hard for the equalizer until the end but struggled to create opportunities of note. ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
MADRID — The three presidential candidates vying to lift Barcelona from one of its worst crisis in recent memory have cast their ballots on Sunday, with the winner set to inherit a club mired in trouble on and off the field. Former president Joan Laporta, businessman Víctor Font and longtime board member Toni Freixa are among the more than 110,000 members who are eligible to vote in the election being held just days after the club's last elected president — Josep Maria Bartomeu — spent a night in jail while Catalan police investigated possible irregularities during his administration. Lionel Messi and other players also had already voted. The club published a photo of Messi casting his ballot on Sunday morning. The winner, who will earn a five-year term, will be announced late on Sunday, capping a week in which the club made worldwide headlines after a police raid at the team's headquarters led to arrests and further embarrassment for an institution that has long prided itself as “more than a club.” The police investigation was related to the so-called “Barçagate,” which involved allegations that the former executive board hired an internet services company to spread negative messages about its own players and opponents on social media to boost the image of senior club officials. The presidential election was originally scheduled for the end of January but was postponed because of the pandemic. Members can vote at the team's Camp Nou Stadium and at other polling stations in northeast Catalonia and neighbouring Andorra. Voting by mail also was allowed in certain circumstances. The elections were called after Bartomeu and his board resigned in October facing a possible no-confidence referendum by club members angry about the team’s trophy-less 2019-20 season — the first since 2007-08. The season ended in a humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals. The club has qualified for the Copa del Rey final and is second in the Spanish league this season. It won 2-0 at Osasuna on Saturday. The new president will face daunting problems that include the possible departure of Messi at the end of the season and a debt of more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) brought on in large part by the coronavirus pandemic but also by one of the highest payrolls in soccer. Messi's future has been a key issue during the campaign. The Argentina great was upset with Bartomeu after he denied his request to leave the club at the end of last season. Messi can leave for free at the end of his contract this summer and all candidates have said they will try to convince the club's all-time leading scorer to stay. Laporta, who was president between 2003-2010 during Messi’s breakout seasons, says he is in the best position to convince the player to stay. Of the three candidates, 52-year-old Freixa is the only one who has guaranteed that coach Ronald Koeman would remain in place to see out his contract through the end of next season. The 48-year-old Font, by contrast, has promised to bring back midfield great Xavi Hernández in some capacity, either as sports director or as coach. Font is the only outsider among the candidates who has no experience at the club’s administration. He has been calling for renewal at the club. Freixa was a Barcelona board member from 2010-15. He rejects its portrayal as a club on the brink of collapse and says that he can win as an underdog. ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports ___ Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press
Adesanya showed his peers how it is done, even in a losing effort.
EDMONTON — The latest installment of the Battle of Alberta ended up being the perfect place for Connor McDavid to snap his pointless streak, and help his team snap a losing streak. McDavid ended a three-game pointless streak with a three-point night in a 3-2 Edmonton Oilers win over the Calgary Flames Saturday at Rogers Place in Edmonton. The superstar had a hand in all three Oilers goals, scoring one and adding two assists. McDavid had been held pointless in his previous three games, all losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs. "I think it's a big win," McDavid said. "When you're sliding like we were, sometimes it's tough to find a way out of it. I thought we did a good job as an entire group of just staying with it, sticking with it. Holding on to that game even though we probably didn't get off to our best start." Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto also scored for the Oilers (15-11-0). Johnny Gaudreau and Noah Hanifin scored for the Flames (11-12-2). It was their first game following the firing of Geoff Ward earlier this week. He will be replaced by Darryl Sutter. "I thought we had a really good start," Hanifin said. "It was a pretty back and forth game after that. It's a rivalry game. It's always going to be competitive. It stings as a loss. But I think we competed. If we play that way and we compete that way, we'll have more success than not." Mike Smith made 34 saves on 36 shots in a winning effort while Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves on 33 shots. Gaudreau opened the scoring with a power play goal in the first period. He one-timed a shot past Smith after taking a cross-ice pass from Elias Lindholm. Sean Monahan also picked up an assist. By the end of the first period, Smith had seen his fair share of rubber, having made 20 saves. Not long after, Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse and Calgary forward Milan Lucic dropped the gloves in a spirited tilt in front of the Flames bench. Not to be outdone, Oilers forward James Neal and Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk also exchanged fisticuffs with a little over three minutes to play in the first period. "I loved it," McDavid said of the fighting between both teams in the opening period. "(Nurse) taking on the big man is something special and it for sure got us going. (Neal) to drop them with Tkachuk obviously is an emotional one for our group and got us going as well. Hats off to both of those guys." The Oilers would eventually equalize with 2:59 remaining in the second period. Jesse Puljujarvi put a bouncing puck past Markstrom, with assists from Kris Russell and Connor McDavid. McDavid snapped his pointless streak with the assist. The Flames would retake the lead in the third period thanks to a goal from Hanifin, his first of the season. But Calgary's lead would last for less than five minutes as Yamomoto leveled the score for Edmonton. McDavid would give his team their first lead of the night with less than four minutes to go, scoring his 15th of the season and his fourth game-winning goal of the year. The Oilers will play the Ottawa Senators in Edmonton Monday night. The Flames will meet those same Senators Sunday night. NOTES: The Edmonton Oilers paid tribute to Wayne Gretzky's father, Walter, prior to puck drop. The team played a video commemorating the late father of the Oiler great before holding a moment of silence. Walter passed away Thursday at the age of 82....Calgary Flames assistant coach Ryan Huska served as coach behind the bench. Incoming head coach Darryl Sutter will join the team Monday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2021. The Canadian Press
Blachowicz cemented the fight by taking Adesanya down in each of the final two rounds and basically holding him on his back for more than half the round.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Alex Tuch scored twice and Marc-Andre Fleury earned his NHL-leading fourth shutout in his return from a rare night off to help the Vegas Golden Knights beat the San Jose Sharks 4-0 on Saturday. Mark Stone and Reilly Smith also scored. Tuch and Fleury did the rest of the damage as the Golden Knights swept the back-to-back in San Jose and extended their winning streak to six games. Fleury made 24 saves for his 65th career shutout. Devan Dubnyk stopped 28 shots as the Sharks lost for the fifth time in the first six games of a seven-game homestand — their longest of the season. San Jose has allowed 28 goals during this stretch as both Dubnyk and Martin Jones struggle to provide solid goaltending. The offence was also a problem in this game with San Jose missing two top-six forwards. Tomas Hertl has been on the COVID-19 list since Feb. 24 and Timo Meier was scratched with a lower-body injury. The Sharks managed to generate a few chances but Fleury was more than up to the task after getting the night off Friday. He had started 10 straight games before getting that break and was extremely sharp in his return. Fleury made a good stop early against Kevin Labanc and then denied Joel Kellman on a breakaway later in the first period. That save led to an opportunity at the other end that Stone converted into a goal off a give-and-go with Chandler Stephenson on a 2-on-1 rush. That gave Stone 10 points in his past four games, but he exited later for undisclosed reasons. Fleury robbed John Leonard from in close late in the first and again on a rebound early in the second. Tuch then took over from there. He rifled a shot through Dubnyk on a rush early in the second to make it 2-0 and then scored again late in the period thanks to a fortunate bounce. Brent Burns’ clearing attempt hit teammate Logan Couture, and the puck went right to Tuch, who knocked a backhand into the open net. That gave Tuch eight goals in his past seven games and 12 in 21 games this season. He scored just eight in 42 games last season. MOVING DAY The Golden Knights got thrown for a surprise on their two-game trip to San Jose. After eating their pregame meal at the hotel on Friday, they were told they had to pack up and find new accommodations because the Fairmont Hotel had declared bankruptcy and was closing immediately. The team found a new hotel and stayed there after the game Friday night. “I think that’s a first for probably everybody on our team,” defenceman Nick Holden said. UP NEXT Golden Knights: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Monday night. Sharks: Conclude their seven-game homestand versus St. Louis on Monday night. ___ More AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Josh Dubow, The Associated Press
No one wants to win a belt this way.