Through the early parts of 2026-27, the Lakers had cobbled together enough strong defensive moments that allowed their league-best offense to carry them to three straight wins.
Those moments didn’t come often enough against the Trail Blazers Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, leading to the Lakers losing their first game of the season.
Despite Luka Doncic picking up where he left off after 52 points in Salt Lake City on Sunday, the Lakers didn’t have the defensive support behind another brilliant offensive performance, falling to the Blazers 136-129 to drop to 3-1 on the season.
Luka Doncic reacts to a Lakers foul during the first half of the Lakers’ 136-129 loss to the Trail Blazers on Oct. 27, 2026 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Getty Images
Doncic had 41 points on 12-for-22 shooting (6 of 15 on 3-pointers, 11 of 13 on free throws) to go with nine assists and five rebounds.
Austin Reaves was once again uber-efficient, recording 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting (4 of 8 on 3s), plus seven assists and four rebounds.
Deni Avdija drives to the basket while being guarded by Ziaire Williams (behind) during the first half of the Lakers’ loss to the Trail Blazers. AP Photo/Caroline Brehman
But the Blazers, who entered Tuesday with the league’s second-best offense, took advantage of the Lakers’ struggles with containing the ball.
The Blazers were led by Deni Avdija’s 23 points, nine assists and four rebounds.
Ja Morant (23 points, four assists), Damian Lillard (21 points, four assists) and Jrue Holiday (22 points, four rebounds) also scored at least 20 points for the Blazers.
Luka Doncic, who scored 41 points, shoots a long jumper over Sidy Cissoko during the Lakers’ loss to the Trail Blazers. NBAE via Getty Images
The Blazers scored on five straight possessions late in the fourth to prevent the Lakers from keeping pace.
The Lakers couldn’t stop Portland from anywhere on the court: The Blazers shot 59% from the field and 50% on 3s.
The Blazers would’ve won by more if they made the easiest shots: They made just 63% of their free throws (26 of 41).
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 23: Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers dribbles the ball during the game against the LA Clippers on October 23, 2026 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Lakers (3-1) are back at it on Wednesday against the L.A. Clippers (1-2), whom they defeated just last week. This time, round two of the battle of Los Angeles will be held in the Clippers’ home base.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. L.A. Clippers
When: 7:30 p.m. PT, Oct 28
Where: Intuit Dome
Watch: Spectrum Sportsnet
The Lakers’ first back-to-back will happen exactly a week into the season, the first of 14 this year.
If there’s also one thing about recently defeating an opponent the way the Lakers did with the Clippers, it’s knowing that the latter will have vengeance on their mind. That just means this game on Wednesday will be a tough one for the purple and gold, especially after the Clippers gave them a run for their money last time.
In that first meeting, the Clippers came out of the gates aggressively, courtesy of Brook Lopez and Darius Garland. They attacked the paint, scoring 48 points and 15 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds. Expect them to attack the paint and boards again, especially now that teams are aware that the Lakers have been a below-average rebounding team to start the season.
As always during back-to-backs, the key is to grind out the victory, especially when it’s on the road. Luka Dončić — who struggled against the Clippers last week — will have to carry as usual, as does Austin Reaves, who led the team with 28 points in the last meeting. It’ll be ideal to see another terrific Walker Kessler performance, but look out for the Clippers to contain him better, knowing full well that the big man was 10-14 from the field for 22 points last time.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Lakers bounce back after suffering their first loss of the season on Tuesday. Will they come into this game motivated or fatigued? Can they simply rebound better? And most importantly, will they be able to get production outside of Dončić and Reaves? That’ll say a lot about how this team is shaped this early in the season.
Let’s see if the Lakers can quickly get back on the winning column on Wednesday.
Notes and Updates
Since it’s the second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers won’t release an injury report until a few hours before tipoff.
The Clippers list Bradley Beal (right knee injury management), Rui Hachimura (left quad soreness), Brandon Ingram (right heel surgery), Jordan Miller (left rotator culf surgery), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (right lisfranc surgery) and Max Strus (right plantar fascia tear) as out.
This is another game against a Pacific Division opponent for the Lakers, with the Lakers currently 2-0 against them.
Lakers forward Sandro Mamukelashvili scores between Portland's Sidy Cissoko and Donovan Clingan in the first half. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
They are the top-scoring teams in the NBA and have dynamic backcourts to make it all work.
So, when the Lakers came to work with their superb guard duo of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves and the Portland Trail Blazers came to work with their exciting guard combo of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant, it figured to be a high-scoring affair Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
It lived up to that billing, with the game going back and forth in the decisive fourth quarter, finally being settled after Lillard hit a big-time three-pointer off a pass from Deni Avdija for a six-point lead with 42.8 seconds left that the Lakers couldn’t overcome in a 136-129 loss.
Doncic, coming off a 52-point game at Utah on Sunday, had 41 points, nine assists and five rebounds and Reaves had 26 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Morant and Avdija had 23 points for the Trail Blazers and Lillard had 21. Jrue Holliday scored 22.
The Lakers dropped their first game of the season, falling to 3-1 after getting outscored 34-26 in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers entered the game averaging a league-best 128 points per game and the Trail Blazers were right behind them at 126 points per game.
Doncic (34.3 points per game) and Reaves (26.7) are the top scoring backcourt in the league.
Lillard, who sat out last season with a torn left Achilles tendon injury, and Morant, who played for the Memphis Grizzlies last season before being traded to the Trail Blazers, formed essentially for a new backcourt for Portland.
“You’re talking about a playoff team that essentially added [Damian] Lillard and Ja Morant so it’ll be a great test for us tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I think you know the biggest thing for us is being able to get back, set our defense, and try to get our first bumps outside the paint. They’re a heavy drive team, [with a] number of guys that can do it at a high level and Avdija obviously led the league last year in drives and got to be great with that tonight.”
Lakers center Walker Kessler gets hit in the head by Portland center Donovan Clingan (23) in the first half. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The two teams went at it in the first half, with the Lakers taking a 73-68 lead at intermission after a three-pointer at the buzzer by Sandro Mamukelashvili to end the second quarter.
He pumped his chest a few times, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr, who has been out with a right oblique strain, practiced with the Coachella Valley Lakers on Tuesday. Redick said Carr showed progress while at practice with their G-League team.
“We needed him to be able to get through a full practice,” Redick said. “So that’s probably a very important step. Obviously, he was able to do some level of conditioning because it was an upper body injury. But [we] want to make sure he’s able to take hits and able to be in shape.”
ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Cooper Pratt knew it was gone. Joey Ortiz did too.
Pratt led off the 12th inning of Game 4 on Tuesday night by driving Ian Seymour's pitch deep into the left-center field stands, putting the Brewers a half-inning away from the franchise’s first ever World Series title.
About 20 minutes later however, Pratt was consoling Ortiz in a quiet Brewers clubhouse.
The Tampa Bay Rays scored twice in the bottom of the 12th without making an out and won Game 4, 4-3. The rally started when Ortiz bounced the throw to first on Junior Caminero’s groundball.
Ortiz didn't hide from it.
"There's no excuse," Ortiz said. "Not one at all. I should make that play every (bleeping) time."
Pratt found him afterward. His advice was short and sweet.
"Flush it," Pratt said. "I've made about seven of them this postseason. So what? Next pitch.
“And next pitch is tomorrow.”
For the Brewers, a team that had lost just once all October, they spent the early hours of Wednesday morning trying to treat this loss like any other. They did not want to talk about being three outs from celebrating a World Series title.
"It can be (difficult), but if you don't let it, then you can just come back ready to play tomorrow," Ortiz said. "It's a new game."
Pratt had his own play he wanted to flush. He was thrown out trying to steal second in the ninth after the Rays challenged the safe call and won.
"I didn't think he touched me," he said. "I saw the video. It looked like in the video that I was touched. I couldn't feel it. He probably did."
Then he moved on, which seemed to be the point.
"I think a loss is a loss," Pratt said. "Losing by 10 runs is the same as losing by one run in the 12th. It's over. It's done with."
Milwaukee still leads the series 3-1. And the Brewers didn't think they played badly so much as unluckily. They hit the ball hard all night. Much of it went right at Rays fielders. William Contreras, Christian Yelich, Jake Bauers and Brice Turang went a combined 0-for-21.
"We hit a ton of balls hard today that just went right to people," Pratt said. "Nobody said this was going to be easy. They're a really good team. They've proven that all year."
The Rays will be scratching together pitching on Wednesday after using Nick Martinez in relief Tuesday night. The Brewers have the luxury of sending out their ace.
Jacob Misiorowski will start Game 5 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. He won Game 1 and led the majors this season with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts.
And history is on the Brewers’ side.
Every team that has led a World Series 3-0 has gone on to win it. That's 25 for 25. The Brewers are just the fifth to let Game 4 get away.
They are confident they will flush it and get back on track.
“When you're achieving something like this, it's going to have its adversity. We had some things go our way yesterday. They had some things go their way today. That's the way it is,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
“You just live with it, and if you're a competitor, you wake up tomorrow morning and come ready to play.”
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 27: Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the game against the Portland Trail Blazers on October 27, 2026 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
A back-and-forth battle between the Lakers and Blazers saw a flurry of big shots down the stretch before a dagger from Damian Lillard gave Portland a 136-129 win, handing LA its first loss.
The Lakers struggled defensively, allowing Portland to make 59% of their shots, including 18 threes on 36 attempts. The game was marred by fouls throughout with 52 being called and 71 free throws attempted.
Austin Reaves drained a triple to get LA on the board. Matisse Thybulle followed it with a layup that put Los Angeles up by five. Ja Morant was the first Blazer to score, converting on a midrange jumper. Luka Dončić knocked down a three on the other end.
Damian Lillard knocked down a 3-pointer, but after four straight points from LA, Portland called a timeout. Out of the break, Morant was fouled and converted on a pair of free throws. Luka continued his great quarter, pushing his point total to 12.
Sandro Mamukelashvili came in and drained his first 3-point attempt. The Blazers, though, had cut the deficit to three. The Lakers answered by pushing their lead back to seven. Mamu had five off the bench for LA.
Neither team’s defense was particularly strong, making it an offensive affair. Los Angeles was up by six at the end of the first.
Donovan Clingan drained a triple to start the second period. Collin Sexton responded with a midrange jumper. Portland tied the game with a 16-6 scoring run.
Reaves scored four in a row to give LA the lead again.
Sexton connected with Ziaire Williams for an impressive alley-oop dunk. Deni Avdija then scored four straight to put the Blazers ahead. Morant scored again, pushing his point total to 15. After Jrue Holiday drained a triple, Los Angeles called a timeout.
Out of the break, Luka was fouled and completed the three-point play.
The rest of the half involved lots of free throws and the lead being exchanged. Mamu drained a three that put LA up by one with 35 seconds left. Holiday was assessed a flagrant foul penalty-1 for a foul on Walker Kessler, who split the free throws.
Mamu knocked down a clutch three at the buzzer to give Los Angeles a five-point halftime lead.
Reaves and Luka drained 3-pointers to start the third period. Toumani Camara got Portland on the board with a triple. It was a 3-pointer party as Luka and Camara each made one. Lillard was fouled from behind the arc and converted on only one of three free throws.
At the 8:33 mark, LA was up by five.
Kessler scored back-to-back buckets before Clingan and Luka exchanged triples. After four straight points from the Trail Blazers, the Lakers held a three-point lead in an offensive battle.
Thybulle knocked down his second three of the night.
Luka and Reaves quickly scored five points, leading to a Blazers timeout. Jake LaRavia fouled Vít Krejčí on a three out of the break, but he made just one of three free throws. Luka connected with Sexton twice on backdoor baseline cuts.
The quarter ended with chaos of sloppy turnovers and missed shots. Robert Williams III got a shot off right at the buzzer to make it a one-point deficit for Portland at the end of the third.
34-21 free throw advantage for Portland tonight so far.
The final frame started with Avdija tying the game with a free throw. It was the seventh tie of the game. Sexton connected with LaRavia for a dunk, putting Los Angeles up by two. The Trail Blazers started to take control, growing the lead to five with 8:29 left.
LA called a timeout and out of the break, Thybulle missed a three.
Los Angeles started 0-6 from behind the arc in the quarter. Avdija then nailed a three at the other end, extending the Blazers’ lead. The Lakers ignited for a 6-0 scoring run to make it a two-point game with 6:44 left.
The lead started to change hands again as both teams were cooking offensively. Williams and Holiday exchanged triples that had Portland up one, but Morant was given a flopping technical foul and Reaves converted on the free throw to tie the game.
Lillard then drained a triple and hit a free throw after Williams was assessed a flopping tech. Luka then drained a ridiculous clutch three with 3:24 left. Avdija answered with a 3-pointer on the other end.
Williams then responded for LA with a three as well. The Blazers were up by one with 2:17 left.
Morant converted on a midrange jumper, putting the Blazers up by three. Kessler was then fouled and missed both free throws. Morant then made another midrange jumper.
Luka converted on a middy with just over a minute left to make it a three-point game again.
It was Dame Time late as Lillard knocked down a clutch triple with 42.8 seconds left to put Portland up six. The Lakers had two opportunities to drain a three and missed.
Key Player Stats
Luka finished with 41 points and nine assists. Reaves ended with 26 points, four rebounds and seven assists. He also dished the 1,500th assist of his career. Kessler notched 13 points and eight rebounds.
Mamu pitched in with a stellar showing of 17 points off the bench. Williams logged 11 points with four assists and two steals. Sexton had nine points with four assists.
The Lakers’ next game will be against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday at 7:30 PM PT.
The Senators did a lot of things right to open their five-game Western road trip on Tuesday night, but like so many others before them, they're leaving Las Vegas empty-handed.
Raphael Lavoie scored his first career NHL goal midway through the third period to break a 1-1 tie, leading the Knights to a 4-1 victory over the Senators.
Shane Pinto scored the lone goal for the Sens, who now have to deal with yet another injury in a season that's already been full of them.
Travis Green looks ahead to Tuesday's game against Vegas after Saturday's win over the New York Rangers (Senators YouTube).
Warren Foegele went down on a knee-on-knee hit from Jeremy Lauzon. Foegele left the game with assistance, not putting any weight on his right leg.
The Senators were, by far, the better team in a scoreless opening period, outshooting Vegas 11-4 but failing to capitalize on several great chances.
Fabian Zetterlund and Dylan Cozens each provided a couple of elite scoring chances, but in both cases, they couldn't get their stick blade on the puck to punch it into a wide open net.
Despite the lack of scoring, you wouldn't describe the opening two periods a defensive struggle. Both goaltenders were busy, with dangerous chances at either end.
Tim Stutzle had another fantastic chance in the second, but Adin Hill made an amazing glove save on his one-timer, similar to the one that Yaroslav Askarov made on Drake Batherson in the game against San Jose last week.
Vegas pushed back hard in the second, outshooting the Sens 15-7 and finally broke through late in the second period following a wild sequence on a Knights power play.
After a sprint up ice, Ridly Greig dove for a loose puck, attempting to chip it past Hill but crashed hard into the Knights goaltender, leaving him caught up ice as Vegas quickly transitioned the other way.
As Greig headed to the Sens bench for a change, that gave Knights a brief two-man advantage and seconds later, after a shot trickled through Jonas Johansson, Braeden Bowman stuffed the puck into the open net to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.
The Senators responded early in the third period on the power play, thanks to some great work by Pinto. After making a strong defensive play, Pinto turned on the jets, outskated Mitch Marner, took a nice feed from Drake Batherson, and fired a shot past Hill to tie the game at 1.
But the Senators couldn't build on that.
Midway through the period, Lavoie pounced on a juicy rebound and buried it for his first NHL goal, putting Vegas back in front.
It was a memorable moment for him, but a frustrating turn of events for a Sens team that had generated more than enough chances to be leading at that point.
The Sens continued to push for the equalizer, but Vegas put the game away with a pair of empty-net goals.
William Karlsson scored the first before Jack Eichel added another, just minutes into his 30th birthday.
For the Senators, it was a tough to come away with no points to start to a lengthy road trip. They did plenty of things well, particularly in the opening period, but their inability to finish was their undoing.
They'll try to get back on track on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
The Nets guard downplayed any worries over the injury afterward.
“I’ll be good,” Dëmin said. “I mean, it’s nothing serious, so I’ll be ready to go.”
Dëmin left the game in the first half and didn’t return.
After appearing to knock legs with Paul George while defending the latter’s drive, the Russian guard came up hobbling on Brooklyn’s ensuing possession.
Dëmin checked out with 2:22 left in the half, limped into the locker room and was ruled out for the rest of the night shortly thereafter.
“I just got kneed in the muscle/bone area … Now it feels better than it did right then. I think I’ll be ready in a couple of days,” Dëmin said. “It was when [George] was driving by me, we ended up hitting each other’s legs kind of, yeah.”
Egor Dëmin, who later left the game with a right leg contusion, slams home a dunk during the Nets’ 125-124 overtime loss to the Celtics on Oct. 27, 2026 at TD Garden in Boston. NBAE via Getty Images
After getting lit up from deep and having one of the worst defenses in the league entering Tuesday night, the Nets held Boston — the NBA’s best 3-point shooting team — to 11 of 41 from deep.
They lost, but it’s an encouraging sign.
“Yeah, it’s one game. I don’t know. Percentages come and go,” Jordi Fernández said. “I think that we were on point with our coverages and we played a pretty complete game. So other than that, I don’t see the numbers in a certain way because we’ve only played four games and even if it’s still the process of getting better and learning.
“So yeah, I’m happy that they shot 26 percent. I still think that we contested the 3s for the most part. I got to look at the numbers and teams that shoot that well, sometimes you contest them and they still make them. So to answer your question, I’m happy with the defense, but regardless of [whether] the shots went in or not.”
And by the end, this World Series looked a lot closer than it did when the night began.
Oh, the Milwaukee Brewers still hold a 3-1 Series lead even after the Tampa Bay Rays got on the board with a 4-3, extra-inning Game 4 triumph after the Brewers were just three outs from clinching their first championship in franchise history.
They’ve got three to win one, odds that any desperate celebrity shilling for a prediction market would surely take. But in a Series that would likely be defined by the performance of its relievers, significant bullpen resources were expended on both sides in a Game 4 that began Tuesday, Oct. 28 and bled into Wednesday.
The Brewers will have just one advantage heading into Game 5: Jacob Misiorowski.
And it’s safe to say they need The Miz more than ever.
He pitched solidly in Game 1, going five innings and striking out just three, a K-rate that might raise eyebrows for a guy who throws 103 mph. Yet five innings is a marathon in this postseason context. Misiorowski did great.
Now, the Brewers will ask him to get out of his comfort zone.
Misiorowski, who led the major leagues with 252 strikeouts, typically gets an extra day or two of rest, the better to conserve his otherworldly arm. He’s still just 24, his odometer is already in uncharted territory at 187 total innings and, since this is a one-time bullet, you want to fire it at an optimal moment.
Four solid innings would typically be fine. But when the Brewers fly back to Milwaukee, they don't want to play more baseball; they want the Commissioner’s Trophy strapped safely into a seat on the team charter.
And Miz is the only man who can prevent Game 5 from becoming a battle of attrition.
Consider the workloads of both teams’ high-leverage guys in Game 4:
Brewers October hero Aaron Ashby pitched 2 ⅓ innings. Dominant Abner Uribe tossed two innings. Lefty DL Hall went 1 ⅓ innings. And swingman Dustin May opened up with three innings. Closer Trevor Megill only got one out, so he’s good to go – yet it’s clear Ashby has supplanted him atop the Brewers’ relief trust tree.
The Rays are similarly diminished: Closer Bryan Baker pitched two innings for the first time since 2024. Game 1 starter Nick Martinez came back on three days’ rest to toss two innings. Set-up man Tyler Wells got five outs. Kevin Kelly pitched for the third time in this Series.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said the club will “huddle” to determine a pitching plan. Like the Brewers, they face a brutal decision involving an ace accustomed to extra race.
In Game 5, they’d be asking Drew Rasmussen to be starting on short rest. Absolutely not what you want – especially for a right-hander who’s endured three major arm surgeries.
But the options are thin.
“We're going to need everybody. We're going to need to be all hands on deck,” says Cash in his postgame press conference.
So imagine Freddy Peralta, on just a days’ rest, giving them an inning. Martinez on back-to-back nights? Might be a little crazy. You know Baker and Wells will be down for the cause, and lower-leverage lefties Steven Matz and Garrett Cleavinger will have to steal some outs.
Yeah, that’s the wounded animal the Brewers are facing. All the more reason the 6-7 Misiorowski must be a menace.
That hasn’t been the case every time out this October. He’s allowed 18 baserunners in 13 ⅓ innings and was chased after getting just 12 and 13 outs in his first two starts. World Series Game 1 Misiorowski will do.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy certainly hopes to see that guy.
“You can write it up and hope that they perform like the back of their baseball card, but that doesn't always happen. You go with what you believe is the deal,” says Murphy in naming Misiorowski his starter.
The San Jose Sharks hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. Much like in their game against Edmonton, this game seemed like it should be a barn-burner on paper, but oddly we ended up with one of the most unexpected goaltending duels of the season.
Colten Ellis saved all 24 of the Sharks' shots in route to a 2-0 shutout victory. At the other end of the ice, Yaroslav Askarov saved 38 of 39 shots. He likely deserved a better result, but a lack of goal scoring, and a considerable number of shots missing the net, caused the Sharks to drop a game they could've won.
Recap:
In an odd turn of events, both teams opted to start their fourth line. Nothing really came of it, but Collin Graf and Olen Zellweger had a bit of a shoving match in the opening minute. Louis Crevier gave the Sharks their first power play chance of the night after taking a delay of game penalty, but Josh Norris earned a breakaway and forced Mason Marchment to take a penalty of his own just 11 seconds later.
Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini had back-to-back scoring chances in the ensuing 4-on-4, but bother were denied by Buffalo netminder Colten Ellis. Early on, the Sabres were getting the majority of the chances, but it felt like the few that San Jose got were of higher quality. The Sabres did force Yaroslav Askarov to make some big saves though as the period progressed.
The Sharks got another power play opportunity later in the first when Ty Dellandrea was run over by Crevier, who looked like a freight train on the play, but again, nothing came of it.
Just 50 seconds into the second period, former Anaheim Ducks defenseman Olen Zellweger was able to slot the puck past Askarov and into the net, giving the Sabres a 1-0 lead.
Askarov was forced to make a couple more big saves near the middle of the period, keeping his team within a goal.
The Sharks had a massive scramble in front of the net, but despite multiple attempts on the rush, they were unable to get it past the prone goaltender before Buffalo's defensemen piled into the crease. Less than a minute later, Ellis broke out the splits to make another massive save.
Ty Dellandrea was called for high-sticking with 8:51 remaining in the middle frame, giving Buffalo their first full power play of the night. On the power play, Buffalo nearly scored and a review was initiated by the official to see if the puck crossed the line at one point, but there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the ice.
Luca Cagoni was taken down in the corner after taking a swinging high-stick to the face, but no penalty was called by the officials despite a clear dangerous play.
With just over 26 seconds remaining in the period though, Zach Benson was sent to the penalty box for holding, giving the Sharks an opportunity to tie things up.
The Sabres not only killed off that penalty, but earned a power play of their own shortly afterwards, as Adam Gaudette was called for holding Tage Thompson.
Ellis once again robbed the Sharks, this time Kiefer Sherwood, with just over four minutes remaining in regulation.
Zach Benson then scored his first goal of the year with just under a minute left in the game, scoring on the empty net to double Buffalo's lead.
The Sharks will be back in action on Thursday night as they'll host the Vancouver Canucks.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Filip Hronek scored a power-play goal with 11 seconds to go in overtime to cap a run of four consecutive goals by the Vancouver Canucks, who snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 6-5 comeback win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.
The Canucks, who won for just the third time all season, trailed 5-2 after Anaheim's A.J. Greer scored his second goal of the game with 7:37 to play in regulation.
But Jamie Oleksiak pulled Vancouver within 5-3 just 31 seconds later.
Jonathan Lekkerimaki then scored twice less than a minute apart — the second with 1:57 left in regulation — to send the game into overtime.
In addition to his winning goal, Hronek also had an assist. Liam Ohgren and Brock Boeser also had goals for Vancouver, while Elias Pettersson added a pair of assists. Leevi Merilainen made 18 saves.
The Ducks jumped to a 4-1 lead after two periods. Greer scored in the first period, then Jeff Malott, Beckett Sennecke and Leo Carlsson added second-period goals. Sennecke's came on the power play.
Jackson LaCombe had three assists for the Ducks and Lukas Dostal made 27 saves.
Through much of the first half of Tuesday night's contest against the Detroit Pistons, the Knicks found themselves still buried in the slump from the season's first three games: shoddy defense, missed baskets, and sluggish transitions. At one point in the first half, they fell 13 points behind.
Then came the third. New York outscored Detroit 60-47 in the final 24 minutes of play, holding its opponents to just 13 points in the third and eventually running away with a 111-97 lead by the time the clock wound down.
The effort was largely spearheaded by Karl-Anthony Towns. The 30-year-old center completely turned it around after the break, finishing with his fourth double-double in four games so far this season. His 57 percent shooting from the field was second on the team, only to Andre Drummond (5-for-7).
But it wasn't until a near-brawl with Pistons starting center Paul Reed midway through the third that Towns really stepped up; he finished the first half a minus-14.
Reed, who scored nearly one-third of Detroit's 50 first-half points (16) and finished with a team-leading 22 points and five offensive rebounds, got tangled with Towns as teammate Duncan Robinson cut New York's lead to 10 midway through the third quarter. The two instantly became heated, but the referees stepped in before things could escalate and dealt Reed a Flagrant 1.
Then came the shift. After making his two free throws from the flagrant — his only two free throws of the night — Towns exploded for 16 of his 27 total points and tacked on eight of his 20 rebounds, recording his fifth 20-20 as a Knick.
After the game, head coach Mike Brown commended Towns for the way he rebounded and said he had a very frank conversation with the center at halftime.
"KAT's a grown man. He's obviously a perennial All-Star. I just told him the truth: 'KAT, the guy is killing us on the glass, and when he gets a rebound, he's putting it back. Anything he gets in the paint, he's putting it back. If he catches on the perimeter, guard him,'" Brown said. "And he did those things. I've got to take my hat off to KAT because I thought his shift in his mindset was really big for us in the second half."
KAT gets tangled with Paul Reed https://t.co/A6NvVBwm2k
The clash between Towns and Reed ignited a fire inside the entire Knicks roster, serving as a catalyst for a more aggressive effort on both ends of the court.
It was just the boost New York needed to clinch their first win of the season after seemingly falling victim to a championship hangover.
"[Reed] played great in the first half. I think we were able to not let him loose on the offensive boards. He was really impacting the game," Jalen Brunson said after the game. "For [KAT] to step up as he did throughout the game was something that we needed."
Towns, however, credited the turnaround to the entire team.
"I thought we did a better job picking up our intensity and our physicality, and we just executed at a high level," he said. "... We've just got to worry about the controllables, which is us playing our best, executing at a high level, and bringing that physicality to the game."
He added that with one win under its belt, the team has to shift all of its energy toward a second one rather than dwelling on Tuesday's success.
"Gotta get the next one — that's the only thing on the mind," he said. "... All year, it's going to be us improving, going through the ups and downs of the season. We just got to stay steady, keep believing in each other, keep pushing each other to another level."
TYLER KOLEK BEHIND THE BACK PASS! https://t.co/fyBK8WVtQn
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Once you got past the Semyon Varlamov of it all on Tuesday, there was the matter of the hockey the Islanders played in beating the Predators 4-3 in a shootout.
After coach Pete DeBoer went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen and essentially challenged his team following a loss in Dallas he said was their first poor performance all season, the Islanders responded in kind.
It wasn’t perfect — actually, it was nearly disastrous, as the Islanders fumbled a 3-0 lead, then failed to score with nearly four minutes at 4-on-3 in overtime — but DeBoer’s side had the qualities they’d lacked against the Stars.
Kyle Palmieri scores a goal in the shootout during the Islanders’ 4-3 win over the Predators on Oct. 27, 2026 in Nashville, Tenn. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
They were up ice and physical, their passes crisp and their battle level high. The best example all night came at the start of the second period, when the Islanders passed the puck around the zone for nearly a minute without pause before Matthew Schaefer’s feed across gave Bo Horvat a one-timer to rocket past Juuse Saros and make it 3-0.
“We got back to our identity tonight,” Brayden Schenn said. “We know we have to play that way in order to be successful. It’s a gritty, hard-nosed game. Play good defense.”
Of course, that alone didn’t mean this was easy.
The Islanders let the Predators back in on Filip Forsberg’s power-play goal at 9:42 of the second, making it 3-1, and from there, things got hairy.
Just over three minutes later, off a rare Matthew Schaefer turnover when the defenseman got crossed up with Ondrej Palat trying to exit the zone, Alexander Kerfoot got the Predators within 3-2.
When the Islanders’ fourth power play of the night went nowhere — just as their first three had — the Predators wasted no time in making them pay. Daemon Hunt’s initial shot trickled through Varlamov’s pads before Ryan O’Reilly stuffed it in to tie the game at 4:16 of the third.
The Islanders were on their heels late in regulation, requiring a few scrambling defensive shifts to get the game to overtime, but they would eventually earn the extra point.
After Schaefer was tripped at the start of overtime, the Islanders exhausted the Predators for a ridiculous 1:45 on a delayed call before Nashville finally got a touch.
Still, somehow, the Islanders — opting to leave Schaefer, Bo Horvat and Simon Holmstrom out for well over four minutes of overtime, and Schaefer for all five — couldn’t convert on the power play itself. (Schaefer, who finished with a career-high 32:16 of ice, is the first player to go all five minutes of overtime in the post-lockout era.)
Shootout goals from Kyle Palmieri and Horvat sealed it anyway.
“I thought it was a great response, and I knew we would get that response,” DeBoer said. “I think the guys knew and came out and played great.”
After three straight defeats to open their title defense, the Knicks were looking to put together something more of a complete game when they hosted the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.
When New York fell behind by 13 after the game's opening quarter, things looked bleak. But then the home side flexed a muscle that had been dormant during the first week as they dominated the middle quarters, outscoring Detroit 63-25, which meant the lackluster final stanza could be overshadowed by the 111-97 win.
"We talk about trying to string a game together… 48 minutes of basketball the way we know how to play, and we like to play,” head coach Mike Brown said after the win. “And we had some lulls where we weren't as physical as we should have been throughout the course of the game, but we had some really good moments.
“We had more good moments in this game in totality than we did in the first three games, and that's why we got the win.”
Overall, it was a positive step for the Knicks, who still know much more needs to be done to regain the feel of last year’s unit.
"We can have some hiccups,” Brown said of the early struggles. “That's what the [regular] season's for. It’s trying to correct it, so come playoff time, you're ready to go do what you need to do. So is it fixed? No, it ain’t fixed. Nothing's really fixed.
“What tonight shows us is we're more than capable if we put our minds to it. And that’s what we gotta continue to try to build off. And then if we do slip up, that we don’t slip up for eight minutes or 10 minutes. Maybe for a minute and a half, two minutes, and then we get back, regroup, and get back heading in the right direction again."
Karl-Anthony Towns, who had a 27–point, 20-rebound explosion, said the Knicks “looked more like ourselves from last year, but we still have a lot of room to grow.”
“We got to remember that Rome wasn't built in a day,” Jalen Brunson, who scored 23 points on the night, said in his on-court interview after the game. “This is a new year, new team. Adversity started early, so we just gotta fight back.”
“We have a long way to go, but obviously we want to learn from wins as much as we do from losses. Excited we came up with the win today.”
It is a long season, as the head coach was sure to point out, but positive signs were abundant.
“I still believe we took some really good shots,” Brown said. “I believe if we keep taking the shots that we're taking, they're going to start going in sooner than later. But our guys played an overall good game. On the offensive glass, defensively physically, offensively physically.”
The defensive performance shouldn't be overlooked. Brown pointed to the “hot players” the Knicks had keyed in on in the previous game against the Magic, Desmond Bane and Tristan da Silva,who shot a combined 9-for-18 from three, which “had a huge impact” in the 111-102 defeat.
“The guys that we labeled hot tonight, two of the guys were obviously Duncan Robinson and [Daniss] Jenkins, and they were combined 3-for-16,” Brown said. “So our awareness, our level of physicality, throughout the 48 minutes were a lot better on those two guys in the previous game.”
With no rest on the docket and a date Wednesday night in Chicago with the Bulls, the only thing on Towns’ mind after getting the first win of the season out of the way: “Gotta get the next one.”
“Build off of this game and continue to improve as a team,” Towns said. “All year it’s gonna be us improving, going through the ups and downs of a season. We just gotta stay steady, keep believing in each other, keep pushing each other to another level.”
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jonny DeLuca and pinch-hitter Ben Williamson singled home runs in a stunning 12th-inning rally, and the Tampa Bay Rays staved off World Series elimination with a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night that forced Game 5.
Cooper Pratt hit a tiebreaking home run off Ian Seymour in the top of the 12th for his fourth hit of the game as Milwaukee neared a sweep and its first World Series title.
But the Rays, also seeking their first championship, rallied in the bottom half after a throwing error by third baseman Joey Ortiz on Junior Caminero’s leadoff grounder against reliever Antonio Senzatela.
Liam Hicks singled off Shane Drohan, who relieved in his first appearance since Oct. 15, and DeLuca’s single to center drove in pinch-runner Cedric Mullins to tie the score at 3.
Chandler Simpson’s single loaded the bases and Milwaukee employed a five-man infield with the infield in.
Williamson, who had been 1 for 15 in the postseason, hit a chopper over first baseman Jake Bauers and into right field.
Game 5 will be Wednesday night at Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay became just the fifth of 26 teams that fell behind 3-0 in the World Series to win Game 4. The previous four lost Game 5.
Of 43 teams to trail 3-0 in any best-of-seven postseason matchup, the only one that rebounded to win was the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.
Tampa Bay ended an eight-game winning streak by the Brewers, who were bidding to become only the second team to sweep a League Championship Series and the World Series.
David Hamilton also homered for the Brewers. Jackson Chourio had a single and double, improving to 10 for 20 in the Series.
Pratt, a 22-year-old rookie whose go-ahead hit sparked the Brewers to a 5-4 win in Game 2, drove a slider into the left-field seats against Seymour. Pratt had tied the score at 1 with an RBI double in the second.
Milwaukee players bounded out of the dugout to greet Pratt, who debuted in June and became the first rookie to hit an extra-inning homer in the World Series.
Seymour had allowed Frelick’s tying homer in Game 2.
Milwaukee fans in the crowd of 40,514, many waving yellow towels and some wearing cheeseheads, brought a Badger State feel to Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay returned to its white home jerseys, a day after playing in Devil Rays throwbacks.
Simpson hit an RBI double off starter Dustin May in the second, but Milwaukee tied the score in the fourth against Griffin Jax when Frelick hit a two-out single and came around on Pratt’s double.
Caminero singled leading off the bottom half to chase May and advanced on a groundout. DeLuca hit a hard grounder to Hamilton and Caminero twisted toward the grass to avoid the third baseman’s tag, then came home when Hamilton bounced his throw past Bauers for an error.
Hamilton, Milwaukee’s No. 9 hitter, drove an 0-2 fastball at the letters from Jax into the right-field seats for his second home run of the postseason — half his regular-season total and just his second since June 6.
