In a season of ups, downs, and playoff disappointments, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ opponent for their final game of the 2024-25 season on Thursday is quite fitting.
It will mark yet another chapter in the Ovechkin v. Sidney Crosby rivalry, which is one that, likely, doesn’t have all that many chapters left.
And what started out as a bitter rivalry between the two players has blossomed into a friendship over the years.
“We’ve seen a lot of each other on the ice,” Crosby said. “But off it, whether it’s All-Star games or events or whatever it may be, just having the opportunity to get to know him a little bit more… I think that’s helped. You develop a friendship through those experiences and things like that.”
"What we did to the NHL, it's a tremendous thing,” Ovechkin said. “Me and him, what we do all those years, it's great for us. People [are going to] talk about Crosby-Ovechkin, Pittsburgh and Washington, for maybe 20 or 50 more years."
With first-place Washington destined for a first-round matchup with the Montreal Canadiens, the Penguins will not be in the postseason. However, on fan appreciation night, they’ll still give it all they can.
Alex Nedeljkovic gets the nod in goal for the Penguins. Here is the rest of the lineup:
The West Virginia Mountaineers basketball program has landed another commitment out of the transfer portal from St. Bonaventure forward Chance Moore.Moore, 6-foot-6, 210-pounds, entered the transfer portal March 19 and took an official visit to Morgantown April 17 which led to his commitment to the Big 12 Conference program which he announced on Instagram.
‘I was watching the 1999 documentary … A great night’
United score three goals in extra time to progress in Europa League
After Manchester United scored three times in the last seven minutes of extra time to knock Lyon out and progress to a Europa League semi-final versus Athletic Bilbao, Ruben Amorim stated he had drawn on the 1999 Champions League final triumph over Bayern Munich.
Losing 1-0 going into added time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær claimed European glory for United 26 years ago.
Brighton hope their injury problems ease, Palace must stem the tide and Forest could do with Chris Wood fully fit
Considering the length of Brighton’s injury list, Fabian Hürzeler will be desperate to get Kaoru Mitoma back in time for Saturday’s trip to west London. The Japanese winger sustained a heel injury against Crystal Palace, ruling him out of the draw with Leicester. It was the first time he had missed a Premier League game all season after making 31 appearances. Whether he will be available against Brentford is yet to be seen but, with three teenagers on the bench last weekend, the more experience Hürzeler can name on the teamsheet the better. James Milner, Igor Julio, Georginio Rutter, Adam Webster, Ferdi Kadioglu and Tariq Lamptey are all out, while the goalkeeper Jason Steele returned to action for the under-21s this week but Carl Rushworth will remain the backup to Bart Verbruggen for now. If Mitoma can recover in time, it will be a timely boost as Hürzeler’s side fight for a European place. Will Unwin
Brentford v Brighton, Saturday 3pm (all times BST)
Luka Doncic shoots over Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert during the final seconds of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on May 24. Doncic led the Dallas Mavericks past Minnesota in five games. (Abbie Parr / Associated Press)
On the night Luka Doncic returned to Dallas, the Mavericks condensed his American basketball career into an emotion-filled two minutes full of game-winners, highlight passes and trick shots that helped connect the Slovenian star to the Texas city.
As Doncic watched the footage, occasionally hiding his eyes behind a white tear-filled towel, one moment in particular stood out as most special.
It was Game 2 of the 2024 Western Conference finals, his team down by two points, the final seconds ticking off the clock. Rudy Gobert, the league’s four-time defensive player of the year, stood out at the three-point line attempting to stop the inevitable from happening.
Doncic, in one of the biggest moments of his career, moved Gobert to the left, to the right and then back toward the paint, opening a window for Doncic to make the big shot in the big moment.
He celebrated with a scream, joy and anger combining for uncontainable passion and an image that’ll define Doncic.
“I like big games,” Doncic said with a half-smirk on Thursday. “Playoffs is a fun time.”
The Lakers are about to see if Doncic’s reputation as one of the league’s premiere big-time players carries over to their stage. After he was dealt from the Mavericks, some people wondered how Doncic would fit in Los Angeles, the star player living mostly in the shadows off the court. Would he even want the kind of stardom that Los Angeles could give him?
That was the wrong question. It wasn’t about being a star; it was about having the stage.
“Typically guys that love being on stage and love the performance aspect of it are typically elite players and great players,” coach JJ Redick told The Times after the Lakers' win in Dallas. “And like when I think about Luka, it’s performance art. He’s on stage. He’s, he’s in some ways ad-libbing… and there’s an element of art to it. The same way that an actor on a Broadway show goes on stage. It’s the live aspect of being able to perform and then feed off the energy in the building.”
And that moment with Gobert encapsulates how electric those performances can be.
Since Doncic is so big and because he’s so in control on offense, teams are forced to try all different kinds of defensive strategies to slow him down. Sometimes, teams will double team. Sometimes teams will blitz multiple players at him to force pass. And, sometimes, teams will surrender and switch, putting players like Gobert on an island against one of the NBA’s best one-on-one players.
“Always since I came to the league, I like to play pick and roll,” Doncic said. “I like to get a center on me. That's what I've been doing since I came into the league.”
Through experience and inherent intelligence, he’s become an expert on how to dissect the ways teams try to stop him.
“He thinks that there's not a person in the world that can guard him,” Redick said Wednesday. “So I think he takes that seriously.”
Ever since he was a rookie, Doncic has played with tremendous confidence when the moments were the toughest, Dorian Finney-Smith said.
“He always wants the ball in the big situations. He always wants that moment,” Finney-Smith said. “I’ve seen that from the beginning since his rookie year. You would’ve said like, Harrison [Barnes] probably was our go-to guy, but end of the game, it just magically became his time to shine.”
Lakers guard Luka Doncic is introduced as a starter before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans on April 4. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
While the Timberwolves have one of the NBA’s best defenses and multiple players who they’ll use to try to stop Doncic, the Lakers have the luxury of spreading the offensive responsibility to an emerging star in Austin Reaves and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in LeBron James as complementary options.
After some rough minutes for the three on the floor, the Doncic-James-Reaves lineups are plus-10.8 points per 100 possessions over 103 minutes in their last five games of the season.
And the Lakers and Doncic understand that there are still ways for those three players to develop even more chemistry to the gains they’ve already made.
While Doncic was far from alone in taking down Minnesota in the Western Conference finals a year ago, he was in the center of the spotlight.
“It’s a different team,” Gobert told reporters Thursday. “But it’s still Luka Doncic.”
And it shouldn’t be a surprise if he ends up there again, another performance of his show and his favorite scenes, with everyone watching him try to take down a giant defender.
“At certain points in the game, he just feels like nobody can guard him. Even if Coach telling us to put certain guys in the action, Luka don't care,” Finney-Smith sad. “Sometimes he’s just yelling, 'Just bring ’em Doe.’ Don't care who it is.
“Sometimes he just gets in a mode where you know whoever in front of him is just a cone."
And sometimes, that cone has to hear Doncic celebrate with a scream.
The Flyers lost their 2024-25 season finale with a 5-4 decision Thursday night to the Sabres at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
Matvei Michkov scored two of the Flyers’ goals, while Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink had the other ones.
The club’s draft lottery odds were set with the loss (more on that below).
The Flyers finished the season 33-39-10. The 76 points marked an 11-point drop-off from 2023-24, when the Flyers were knocked out of the playoff race on the final day of the season. They’ve now gone five straight seasons without a postseason berth, matching the franchise’s longest drought.
“That’s the toughest part of the rebuild, is going through this,” general manager Danny Briere said after firing Tortorella. “I really hope that this is the bottom, this is rock bottom for us, today, and this is the turnaround.”
Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones now have a pivotal offseason, which will start with their first head coaching hire.
The Flyers will hold their end-of-the-season press conferences over the weekend, with Briere speaking Saturday.
• Thursday night’s finale went the Flyers’ way for the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
The regulation loss gave the club the fourth-best lottery odds. A regulation win would have put the Flyers at No. 7.
The Flyers will have a 9.5 percent chance at the top overall pick, according to Tankathon.com. They can pick no lower than sixth. The lottery will be held in May on a date yet to be announced.
• Michkov closed the season as the NHL’s rookie goals leader with 26, one ahead of Sharks center Macklin Celebrini.
He also finished as the Flyers’ team leader in goals, one ahead of Foerster and two ahead of Travis Konecny.
The Flyers’ prized 20-year-old winger put up 63 points, the most by a Flyers rookie since Mikael Renberg had 82 in 1993-94. Renberg’s mark is a franchise record for most points by a rookie in a season. Michkov climbed to eighth on the Flyers’ all-time rookie single-season scoring list.
• One of the biggest concerns staring down the Flyers this offseason is their goaltending picture.
The Flyers had an .872 save percentage, the lowest in the NHL this season. Last season, they were tied with the Senators for the league’s worst mark at .884.
The team used three goalies this season: Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov.
“I think with Sam, as we move forward, we’re hoping it’s going to be a tandem,” Tortorella said in mid-March. “We’re not going to ask Sam to play 55, 60 games if he’s the guy. I think it’s going to be a tandem. We’re still evaluating. He has been inconsistent. Sometimes you watch him play and you think he has got it but then he falls off.”
The drama surrounding Kolosov’s future in Philadelphia never really settled. The 23-year-old rookie made 13 starts for the Flyers and appeared in only 12 games with AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley. Where he fit was a constant question.
Kolosov recorded 26 saves on 30 shots Thursday night. The Sabres scored three goals in the first period. Their fifth marker was an empty-netter.
Buffalo netminder James Reimer stopped 21 of the Flyers’ 25 shots.
• A critical and telling offseason begins for the Flyers.
The club has three first-round picks in the June 27-28 NHL entry draft and four second-rounders. They’re slotted to make six first-round selections over these next three drafts, so they definitely have assets to potentially be creative.
“It’s too early to tell if it’s the right time to be aggressive or if the right player will be there,” Briere said after the March 7 trade deadline. “Realistically, down the road, it’s going to open up even more when some of the dead money is able to come off the books. But there’s going to be a little opening this year and it’s possible we’re able to do some things with it, but I don’t know to what degree yet.”
Restricted free agents Foerster, Cam York, Noah Cates and Jakob Pelletier will be due new contracts.
The New York Rangers are all set for their matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at 7:00 PM EST in what will be their final game of the season.
Here’s everything you need to know from a Rangers perspective.
Projected Lineup:
Forwards:
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Gabe Perreault
Brennan Othmann-J.T. Miller-Alexis Lafrenière
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Will Cuylle
Jonny Brodzinski-Sam Carrick-Matt Rempe
Defensemen:
K’Andre Miller-Will Borgen
Matthew Robertson-Adam Fox
Urho Vaakanainen-Zac Jones
Goaltenders:
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Notable Storylines:
The Rangers are coming off of a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers.
Igor Shesterkin is set to start for the Rangers.
Carson Soucy is out with an illness.
Tonight marks the last game of the season for the Rangers.
The Rangers currently hold a 38-36-7 record.
The Lightning are coming off of a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers.
(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.)
As tight end prospects get ready to hear their names called in the 2025 NFL Draft, the big debate in draft circles — and on this week’s Yahoo Fantasy Forecast — is whether Michigan’s Colston Loveland or Penn State’s Tyler Warren is the best tight end in this year’s class.
Hosts Matt Harmon and Charles McDonald dove deeply into both prospects, and if you’re wading through pre-draft rankings, their conversation makes one thing clear: this debate is anything but settled.
Tyler Warren: Athletic marvel, mismatch nightmare
McDonald kicked things off by praising Warren’s athleticism, movement skills, and size. At 6-foot-6, 256 pounds, Warren is a “mismatch nightmare” for NFL linebackers and safeties. He broke out with a massive production year, not just catching passes but showing up as a runner — 26 carries, 218 yards and four TDs on the ground. Penn State clearly saw him as their top playmaker and schemed up plenty of touches.
Yet, Harmon noted, Warren isn’t the classic in-line tight end. Most of his production came on designed touches, rather than overpowering defenders in traditional fashion. Still, as McDonald made clear, that’s not a knock, it’s a creative use of a unique skill set. Teams that put Warren in the “Sam LaPorta role” (think: creative schemes, space-creation, YAC opportunities) could really unlock something special.
Colston Loveland: The pure receiver with pro upside
Loveland, meanwhile, has quickly become a favorite among some draft analysts who see his “dynamite” receiver skills and imagine a player who could survive — and even thrive — as a big slot or genuine mismatch. McDonald raved about his hands, fluid route running and ability to hang with actual NFL corners and safeties. While he needs to develop as a blocker (and could stand to add bulk), you can’t coach the kind of movement Loveland flashes at 6-6, 248 lbs.
Loveland’s best football is almost certainly ahead of him. His college production is a bit harder to parse, partly due to Michigan’s offense and a nagging shoulder injury, but the film suggests a player ready to make an immediate impact as a receiving threat — if his new team is willing to scheme him open and let him develop as a blocker.
So, who's the better tight end prospect?
Both Harmon and McDonald agreed the gap between Warren and Loveland is close — and depends heavily on what a team wants out of the position. Warren is an out-of-the-box “finishing piece” for an offense seeking YAC and creative deployment (the Jets or Bears were floated as ideal landing spots). Loveland, on the other hand, might rate higher as a traditional route-running, hands-first mismatch and carries a “high ceiling/high floor” projection if he can round out his blocking.
In McDonald’s words, “If you’re just painting a broad picture of both ... you come away with some similar takeaways,” but Loveland might be “a little bit stronger at the catch point ... some more real-deal receiver skills,” while Warren is an “explosive receiving option” with upside and rare versatility.
For fantasy and NFL fans, the key might be fit. As Harmon put it, most NFL offenses aren’t built to flow through the tight end — even the best ones get upstaged by true perimeter WRs in high-powered offenses. That actually makes landing spot even more crucial for these prospects. A team willing to scheme up touches, commit to a versatile game plan, and be patient with development will benefit the most, whichever way they go.
So, who’s the TE1? The Yahoo Fantasy Forecast guys see it as a matter of taste:
— Want explosive, versatile athleticism, and a player ready for heavy manufactured production? Tyler Warren’s your guy.
— Want a pure receiver with starter-level mismatch upside and long-term all-around potential? Colston Loveland is a compelling bet.
Both should hear their names called early in the draft’s second half of the first round — or perhaps even earlier, if one team falls in love.
Who’s your pick to be the best tight end in the 2025 class? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to follow Harmon, McDonald and the entire Yahoo crew for live coverage throughout the NFL Draft!
Manchester United unveiled a giant tifo that declared “Never Gonna Stop”, then did precisely this by knocking out 10-man Lyon in an electrifying end to extra time that ranks second in the club’s pantheon of late, late continental finishes.
For those here the drama of minutes 114-120 (+34 seconds) will never be forgotten. At this juncture United had gone 4-2 down to a Rayan Cherki strike and an Alexandre Lacazette penalty (on 104 and 109 minutes) that had the French side leading 6-4 on aggregate and apparently dumping Ruben Amorim’s men out of Europe.
The order for the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery was set on the final night of the 2024-25 regular season Thursday. And the two teams with the best odds to land the No. 1 pick are the same as last year.
So, which other teams are in the running for this year’s top pick? And when will the lottery be held? Here’s what to know:
What is the NHL draft lottery?
The draft lottery is used to award the top two picks in the draft and set the order of the first 16 selections, which includes all of the non-playoff teams. But not all teams in the draft lottery are eligible to win the No. 1 pick.
How does the NHL draft lottery work?
That’s because the most spots a team can move up in the lottery is 10, giving 11 clubs a chance to land the first pick and 12 teams a shot at the second pick.
For the lottery, 1,001 different four-number combinations are distributed among the teams, with the worst team having the most combinations, the second-worst team having the second-most combinations, and so on.
Fourteen ping pong balls numbered 1 to 14 are placed into a lottery machine and four are randomly drawn. The team that owns that four-digit combination gets the top pick, and the process is then repeated to award the second pick. Once the top two picks are awarded, the rest of the top 16 is set in inverse order of the regular-season standings.
If, for instance, the Detroit Red Wings, who enter the lottery sitting in the 12th draft slot, win the first drawing, they would move up 10 spots to No. 2 and the league-worst Sharks would get the No. 1 pick.
A rule introduced starting with the 2022 lottery bars a team from improving its draft position via the lottery more than twice over any five-year span. But, since the 2022 lottery, no team has moved up in the order more than once.
What are the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery odds?
Here are the 11 teams with a chance to win the No. 1 pick, along with their odds:
The teams slotted from 12th to 16th are, in order, the Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Utah Hockey Club, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. Detroit has a 5.1% chance of jumping up to second, Columbus has a 4.2% chance of jumping up to third, Utah has a 3.2% chance of jumping up to fourth, Vancouver has a 1.1% chance of jumping up to fifth and Calgary has a 1.1% chance of jumping up to sixth, according to Tankathon.
The NHL hasn’t announced a date for the draft lottery yet. Last year’s event was on May 7.
When and where is the 2025 NHL Draft?
The draft will be held at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater in Los Angeles from Friday, June 27, to Saturday, June 28.
How many rounds are in the NHL draft?
The NHL draft features seven rounds. The first round is set for June 27 followed by Rounds 2-7 on June 28.
Who will be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft?
OHL defenseman Matthew Schaefer is expected to be the first player taken in this year’s draft. Schaefer, 17, had seven goals and 15 assists with a plus-21 rating over 17 games this season with the Erie Otters before suffering a broken collarbone while playing for Canada at the world junior championship in December.
The order for the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery was set on the final night of the 2024-25 regular season Thursday. And the two teams with the best odds to land the No. 1 pick are the same as last year.
So, which other teams are in the running for this year’s top pick? And when will the lottery be held? Here’s what to know:
What is the NHL draft lottery?
The draft lottery is used to award the top two picks in the draft and set the order of the first 16 selections, which includes all of the non-playoff teams. But not all teams in the draft lottery are eligible to win the No. 1 pick.
How does the NHL draft lottery work?
That’s because the most spots a team can move up in the lottery is 10, giving 11 clubs a chance to land the first pick and 12 teams a shot at the second pick.
For the lottery, 1,001 different four-number combinations are distributed among the teams, with the worst team having the most combinations, the second-worst team having the second-most combinations, and so on.
Fourteen ping pong balls numbered 1 to 14 are placed into a lottery machine and four are randomly drawn. The team that owns that four-digit combination gets the top pick, and the process is then repeated to award the second pick. Once the top two picks are awarded, the rest of the top 16 is set in inverse order of the regular-season standings.
If, for instance, the Detroit Red Wings, who enter the lottery sitting in the 12th draft slot, win the first drawing, they would move up 10 spots to No. 2 and the league-worst Sharks would get the No. 1 pick.
A rule introduced starting with the 2022 lottery bars a team from improving its draft position via the lottery more than twice over any five-year span. But, since the 2022 lottery, no team has moved up in the order more than once.
What are the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery odds?
Here are the 11 teams with a chance to win the No. 1 pick, along with their odds:
The teams slotted from 12th to 16th are, in order, the Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Utah Hockey Club, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. Detroit has a 5.1% chance of jumping up to second, Columbus has a 4.2% chance of jumping up to third, Utah has a 3.2% chance of jumping up to fourth, Vancouver has a 1.1% chance of jumping up to fifth and Calgary has a 1.1% chance of jumping up to sixth, according to Tankathon.
The NHL hasn’t announced a date for the draft lottery yet. Last year’s event was on May 7.
When and where is the 2025 NHL Draft?
The draft will be held at L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater in Los Angeles from Friday, June 27, to Saturday, June 28.
How many rounds are in the NHL draft?
The NHL draft features seven rounds. The first round is set for June 27 followed by Rounds 2-7 on June 28.
Who will be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft?
OHL defenseman Matthew Schaefer is expected to be the first player taken in this year’s draft. Schaefer, 17, had seven goals and 15 assists with a plus-21 rating over 17 games this season with the Erie Otters before suffering a broken collarbone while playing for Canada at the world junior championship in December.
When Ja Morant went down with a rolled ankle against the Warriors Tuesday night, for a moment it felt like that could be the end of the Grizzlies' season. To his credit, Morant showed his resolve and returned to the court for the final nine minutes, although he was clearly slowed and not moving with the same explosiveness. The Grizzlies fell just short in that 7/8 game, sending them to a Friday night showdown with Dallas for the final play-in spot in the West.
Ja Morant went down with an apparent ankle injury on this play.
"My feel with him is he'll do absolutely everything in order to play," Iisalo said. "If he's physically able to do it, he will do it. It's a legitimate gametime decision."
After the game Tuesday night, Morant said, "I'm playing. That's basically the answer I'm giving."
Morant averaged 23.2 points and 7.3 assists a game this season, and the Grizzlies outscored opponents by 6.1 points per 100 possessions when he was on the court. However, Morant played in just 50 games this season due to injuries.
Expect Morant to give it a go on Friday night, but also expect Desmond Bane and Scotty Pippen Jr. to have more playmaking responsibilities against Dallas as well. If Memphis beats Dallas, it will turn around in 48 hours and face the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
Australian teammates Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell will butt heads twice this weekend when the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings face off in the Indian Premier League.
Ovechkin Proud Of What He & Crosby Have Done For NHL, Reiterates He's Not Retiring YetWhen Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby came into the league, they didn't exactly take kindly to one another, having been pitted against one another right from the get-go while the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins remained intertwined in a heated rivalry.
