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Fire plays Columbus to scoreless draw in Crew's home opener

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Chris Brady finished with three saves for the Chicago Fire and Patrick Schulte stopped two shots for Columbus as the longtime rivals played to a scoreless draw in the Crew's home opener on Saturday night.

It was the 24th draw in the 80th meeting between the two clubs with the victories knotted at 28 apiece.

Five yellow cards were handed out in the final 13 minutes of regulation — three of them to the Fire (1-1-1).

Brady had two saves and Schulte wasn’t tested in the first half.

The two clubs split a pair of matches last season with both winning at home.

Columbus falls to 0-1-2 on the season.

Up next

Chicago: Hosts D.C. United on Saturday.

Columbus: Hosts Nashville SC on Saturday.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer

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Nets snap 10-game skid with stunning comeback win over shorthanded Pistons

Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) dribbles as Detroit Pistons guard Kevin Huerter (27) defends him during a game at Little Caesars Arena.
Mar 7, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) dribbles defended by Detroit Pistons guard Kevin Huerter (27) in the first half at Little Caesars Arena....

The Nets snapped the longest losing skid in the NBA with one of the largest comebacks in their history.

Brooklyn rallied for a 107-105 win at East-leading Detroit before a sellout crowd of 20,062 at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday that was as stunning as their last visit was shameful.

The Nets’ comeback — from 23 points down in the second half — tied the fifth biggest in franchise history. It flipped the script from their last trip to Detroit on Feb. 1, when their 53-point humbling was the third worst they’d ever suffered.

Saturday was much sweeter thanks to a 34-13 fourth-quarter run that turned a 17-point deficit into a four-point lead they held onto.

“[You have to] keep playing as hard as you can,” Jordi Fernández said. “[It was] the resiliency, and we found energy at the right time. Defensively, when you look at 43 points allowed in one half, you give yourself a chance to win. So, we found a way. I’m proud of the growth. … [We] played against a really good team, and we were able to fight all the way through.

“The effort was good, but their voice was great. [I was impressed by] how encouraging they were to others. At times, when you’re down and everybody is frustrated, it creates a little negative energy. … Those guys kept everybody positive. That’s a good thing. That’s how you overcome a big deficit. We were able to fight for it and get the win.”

The win was the Nets’ first against an Eastern Conference leader since 2022. And it came because, after taking it on the chin early, they eventually matched the shorthanded Pistons’ physicality. No, they didn’t have to face star Cade Cunningham (left quad) or Ausar Thompson (right ankle) — but they won’t care.

Michael Porter Jr. had a game-high 30 points and 13 rebounds. Ziaire Williams (23 points) and Day’Ron Sharpe (13 points) had strong second halves.

Michael Porter Jr. drives to the basket during the Nets’ 107-105 win over the Pistons in Detroit on March 7, 2026. Imagn Images

Brooklyn erased a 17-point fourth-quarter hole, and an eight-point deficit with 3:25 left thanks to a 12-0 blitz that gave them the lead for good.

“Last time we were here, [Detroit] broke a franchise record for largest win ever. So ever since that game, we always would tell ourselves it’s all about how you respond,” Sharpe said. “It’s our first time seeing them since we lost that game, so we just wanted to come out and give them a fight, and we won the game.”

The Nets — now 16-47 and third in the tank race — trailed 77-54 with 7:55 left in the third quarter.

They were still down 90-73 with 10:04 to play before mounting a 34-13 run.

Day’Ron Sharpe defends during the Nets’ March 7 win over the Pistons. Imagn Images

Sharpe had nine points and five boards — three offensive — in the pivotal fourth quarter. Nic Claxton — who had just two points on 1-of-5 shooting and was outplayed by Jalen Duren — saw how effective his burly backup was, and told Fernández to ride the hot hand.

“That’s a great teammate for them to see the flow of the game and trust me to finish the game. That says a lot about his character,” said Sharpe.

“I was about to bring Nic in for Day’Ron. Day’Ron was playing so hard. Nic saw that he just got a putback and fought for the ball, and said [stick with him],” Fernández said. “When you see things like this, how connected [they are] and they come together. They believe in each other, and that was pretty cool.”

Michael Porter Jr. drives to the basket during the Nets’ March 7 win over the Pistons. NBAE via Getty Images

Down 103-95, the Nets reeled off a dozen unanswered points.

Williams forced a Daniss Jenkins miss, and Sharpe grabbed the rebound. Even after Noah Clowney’s turnover with seven seconds left gave Detroit life, Williams forced a Duncan Robinson miss on the wing. Duren’s last-second miss sealed it.

“The second half, we built a 20-point lead and then we stopped respecting the game,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “You disrespect the game, it’s going to bite you in the [butt] and that’s what happened to us.”

The Nets are a game behind second-place Indiana and 2 ½ behind Sacramento in the tank race.

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Agee, Griffen combine for 50 as Texas A&M outlasts LSU 94-91 in 3OT win

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Rashaun Agee scored 26 points, Rylan Griffen scored 24, and Texas A&M beat LSU 94-91 in triple overtime on Saturday night to close out the regular season for both Southeastern Conference teams.

Agee had 11 rebounds and two blocks in his 47 minutes, and scored a layup with 24 seconds left to give the Aggies (21-10, 11-7) the lead in triple overtime. Griffen was 5 of 8 from behind the arc, and had seven rebounds, three blocks and a game-high six steals.

Pop Isaacs had 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals for the Aggies. Ali Dibba added 12 points and five steals.

Max Mackinnon led the Tigers (15-16, 3-15) with 20 points. Jalen Reece scored 17. Mike Nwoko had 16 points and 13 rebounds.

The Tigers led by a game-high 15 points in the first half, which ended 38-33. They had a nine-point second-half lead until the Aggies responded with a 14-4 run to briefly take the lead. Mackinnon tied the game at 70 on a layup with 38 seconds to go, sending it to overtime.

Mackinnon gave the Tigers a one-point lead on a 3-pointer with 1:23 left in overtime before Agree responded with one for the Aggies 18 seconds later. Agee turned the ball over with 15 seconds left, leading to a game-tying jump shot from Jalen Reece to send the game to a second overtime. Free throws forced a third overtime.

LSU lost eight of its past nine games, and 15 of its past 18 to finish last in the SEC standings.

Up next

Texas A&M clinched the sixth seed in the SEC tournament, and will play on Thursday against the winner of the 11 and 14 seeds.

LSU will be the 16th seed in the SEC tournament, beginning Wednesday against the No. 9 seed. ___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

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Brooklyn Nets work miracle against Detroit Pistons, win 107-105

Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images

It’d be nice to simulate to the end of the Brooklyn Nets’ season by adding 20 losses to their ledger and populating social media with a few Nolan Traore highlight reels here and there. Alas, they do have to play the games, and on Saturday evening, the Nets faced the East’s #1 seed — the Detroit Pistons — on the road.

However, much like Brooklyn’s narrow loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, this one seemed like a trap game for their opponent. Maybe “trap” is the wrong word considering the Pistons were missing Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson to injury, but throw in the weird 6:00 p.m. tip-off time and their most recent, hard-fought loss to the San Antonio Spurs, and it felt like the Nets could make it sweaty.

The first few minutes were promising. Michael Porter Jr. — chased through screens not by Thompson but by Duncan Robinson — got free for a couple early threes, and Jordi Fernández even threw out a funky double-big lineup to reward the faithful Brooklyn viewers that tuned in.

Then the Pistons went on an 18-4 run, taking a 16-point lead into the half as old friend Caris LeVert helped destroy a turnover-prone reserve unit…

Another Nets loss, huh? Not even the were providing enjoyment, with Egor Dëmin sitting to manage his plantar fascia injury again, while Traore (15 minutes) and Ben Saraf (four minutes) combined for five turnovers and two total points. Danny Wolf was better, finishing with a tidy eight points and four assists, but the team was down 23 points soon after the third quarter started. Autopilot, right?

And then it all changed. Jordi Fernández rode the veterans to a wild, wild comeback, ending a ten-game losing streak. Foolish or not, nobody can accuse this team of tanking, not on Saturday night in Detroit.

Michael Porter Jr. never really caught fire, but shot 10-of-25 to end up with 30/13/1 , leading all scorers. Likewise, Noah Clowney shot just 1-of-5 from deep, but frequented the free-throw line en route to 16 points. Terance Mann brought the ball up the floor for much of the second half and stabilized the group, while Ziaire Williams continued to play some of the best ball of his career…

“I was just flowing, just taking what the defense gives me, not forcing anything,” said Williams. “My mama, she from D-town, so shoutout to the fam in the arena watching. I had a little extra spirit with me today.”

Williams scored 23 points, making five threes and eight free-throws, but it didn’t stop there. Day’Ron Sharpe, who fought Jalen Duren tooth and nail in the paint, closed over Nic Claxton. Fernández even went offense/defense down the stretch, showing some faith in Danny Wolf to get buckets.

The Pistons, yukking it up in the first half as Kevin Huerter shot heat-checks and Daniss Jenkins took everybody off the dribble, looked mortified in the second half, running into a brick wall without Cunningham. They shot a grotesque 9-of-27 from TWO after halftime, with the Nets racking up five blocks in that span.

“I think we found energy at the right time,” said Fernández. “I think defensively, when you look at 43 points allowed in one half, you give yourself a chance to win.”

Well, that’s the truth. Here’s Ziaire Williams’ take: “We just never gave up. Shoutout Day’Ron, big minutes down the stretch. It was a team win, just glad we got it done.”

Detroit’s 23-point lead approached single-digits, but a quick run at the start of the fourth quarter pushed it back to 17. It wasn’t safe. Ziaire Williams hit two huge threes, Detroit couldn’t stop fouling, and it set up a stupid, wacky ending that both teams, quite frankly, deserved to lose. (Maybe more the team that blew the big lead…)

I still can’t make sense of it. My best guess is that Noah Clowney got out over his skis trying to put the game away with a dunk instead of catching the ball, which set up another Nets blunder on the ensuing defensive possession: Up two points, they lost track of…Duncan Robinson. Who missed. Brooklyn’s fourth-quarter execution was splendid, but uh, that real late-game execution? It might need some work heading into next season.

Duren, however, missed the fadeaway jumper over Sharpe to seal what I would otherwise consider a devastating outcome for both sides if I hadn’t seen the emotion on Brooklyn’s sideline…

Will this be 2026’s version of the Nic Claxton game-winner in Philadelphia? I don’t know about all that. Jordi Fernández may have gone balls to the wall to snag the fifth-largest comeback in franchise history, but the team is still just 16-47 after this foxtrot of a win, good for the third-worst record in the league.

“The last time we was here, they broke a franchise-record for their largest record win ever … it’s all about how you respond,” said Day’Ron Sharpe.

Well…if the Nets are gonna win…it might as well be like this. I’m still sweating.

Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 107, Detroit Pistons 105

Milestone Watch

More milestones — especially team-focused ones — than we’ve had in a minute!

  • Porter Jr. had 27+ points and 13+ rebounds for the second consecutive game. It’s the first time in his career he’s put up such numbers in back-to-back games.
  • Saturday night also marked MPJ’s 11th 20-point double-double of the season, the most he’s ever recorded in one season.
  • This is the first time in Ziaire Williams’ career he has scored 15+ points in three consecutive games. His 23 points is the second-most he’s scored this season, and five made 3-pointers is tied for the third-highest total of his career.
  • Brooklyn defeated the East’s #1 seed on Saturday, the first time they’ve done so since a 12/23/22 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
  • As mentioned, that 23-point comeback ties the fifth-largest comeback win in franchise history. How many do you remember?

Next Up

<p>Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images</p><br>

The Nets return home for a back-to-back, starting with the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

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Los Angeles Dodgers Offseason Review

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 26: Kyle Tucker #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers gets ready in the batters box against the Chicago White Sox during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch on February 26, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Introduction

Last week we began a series of articles reviewing the offseason moves of each National League West team, starting with the worst team in the NL West (and possibly all of MLB), the Colorado Rockies. (Here’s a link to that article). Continuing our NL West offseason reviews, we’re going from worst to first with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are not only the best in the NL West, but are the back-to-back World Series Champions and are arguably the best run organization in all of MLB.

2025 Season Overview/Recap

The Dodgers won 93 games and took the NL West division title. This in spite of a lot going wrong throughout the season, like Mookie Betts having the worst season of his career, big offseason acquisition SP Roki Sasaki not being anywhere close to the starting pitcher he was in Japan, and injuries to many key players. They’d go on to win their second consecutive World Series Championship for the first time in franchise history, and the first since the Yankees won back-to-back-to-back titles from 1998 to 2000

Notable acquisitions:

Notable subtractions:

  • RP Kirby Yates (Angels)
  • RP Anthony Banda (traded to Twins for International bonus pool money)
  • SP Clayton Kershaw (retired)

Offseason Summary and Review

So how do you improve upon a roster that was just the first to win back to back World Series in over twenty years, while you already have the highest payroll in baseball, if at all? Well as far as the latter goes, you just ignore the consequences of the luxury tax completely, and pay it if you’re the Dodgers. The Dodgers roster did have a few areas that could be improved. And, coincidentally, adding the top free agent hitter in Kyle Tucker, along with top free agent reliever Edwin Diaz just so happened to perfectly address the two biggest weaknesses on the roster.

While I do not like the optics of the team with the highest payroll in baseball raising their payroll even further by giving Tucker a 4 year, $240m contract and setting a record for AAV (average annual value), along with another $85m spread out between the other four FA signings, that’s more taking an issue with the business/financial side of the game. This is not what I’m evaluating here. I will criticize the fact that the Tucker signing cost them two draft picks, which is never a good thing long term for a sports franchise.

Honestly, there really isn’t much you can knock the Dodgers for this past offseason as far as the baseball operations side goes. They could have easily and justifiably stood pat this winter, but improving a team is what every fan wants their team to do during the offseason. I would knock the Kiki Hernandez signing based on his career during the regular season .(236/.305/.403, a 91 wRC+) , but he has hit extremely well (272/.339/.486 and a 122 wRC+) in the postseason, and apparently clubhouse vibes really are an actual thing, U guess. I do not like the Rojas signing either because he also looks like he’s about to hit the age cliff, but it’s nitpicking over a contract that’s essentially a World Series bonus.

Over on Fangraphs.com, not only does ZIPs projection system project the Dodgers to be the best team in baseball, but they also have the highest playoff odds. Their lineup against RHP also looks particularly strong:

  • Freddy Freeman 1B
  • Shohei Ohtani DH
  • Mookie Betts SS
  • Kyle Tucker RF
  • Teoscar Hernandez LF
  • Will Smith C
  • Max Muncy 3B
  • Andy Pages CF
  • Hyeseong Kim 2B

That looks like a fairly strong lineup to me, even if it’s starting to get a little long in the tooth. The starting rotation will probably continue to be oft injured, with Blake Snell and Gavin Stone on the injured list as we speak. But the Dodgers have the depth to weather it, while still having one of the best starting pitchers in baseball in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ohtani will keep being an alien when he’s healthy.

Grade

Overall, I give the Los Angeles Dodgers a B+ for their offseason, with the lower grade stemming from the wider implications of the Tucker signing, along with the ages of the guys they brought back.

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Zegras scores in shootout as Flyers defeat Penguins 4-3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Trevor Zegras scored the only goal of the shootout to help the Philadelphia Flyers defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Saturday night.

Owen Tippett, Alex Bump and Denver Barkey scored for the Flyers, and Dan Vladar stopped 20 shots.

Tommy Novak, Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson scored for the Penguins, and Stuart Skinner stopped 12 shots a day after Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was suspended for five games. The Penguins were also without captain Sidney Crosby, who is out for a minimum of four weeks because of a lower-body injury.

Tippett scored his 20th goal of the season less than a minute after Novak opened the scoring for the Penguins. It marked Tippett's fourth consecutive season with at least 20 goals.

Bump scored in his NHL debut to tie the game at 2. With his family in the stands, he scored short side after a no-look pass from Nikita Grebenkin just over a minute after Rackell put the Penguins ahead 2-1 early in the second period.

Karlsson scored a minute later, and Barkley scored midway through the second to even the score at 3.

Vladar got called for interference 2:51 into overtime, and the Flyers killed off the late penalty.

Up next

Flyers: Host the New York Rangers on Monday.

Penguins: Host Boston on Sunday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Johnson scores 35 in Hawks' 126-116 win over 76ers as Maxey leaves in final minute with hand injury

ATLANTA (AP) — Jalen Johnson had 35 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 24 points as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 126-116 on Saturday night for their season-best sixth straight victory.

Atlanta, which had two five-game runs during the season, has won seven of its last eight games and moved two games over .500 at 33-31.

CJ McCollum scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half and added seven assists, Dyson Daniels finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Onyeka Okongwu had 10 points as the Hawks overcame a seven-point halftime deficit.

Tyrese Maxey led the 76ers with 31 points before injuring his right hand in a collision with teammate Adem Bona with 16 seconds remaining in the game. Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse had no update on the extent of Maxey's injury after the game and said the All-Star guard would have X-rays on his hand.

Quentin Grimes scored 26 points, Kelly Oubre Jr. added 24 and Trendon Watford 10 as Philly had its four-game winning streak halted. Jabari Walker, who was coming off consecutive 20-point games for the first time in his four-year NBA career, finished with nine points.

The Sixers were missing VJ Edgecombe (lumbar contusion), Joel Embiid (right oblique strain), Johni Broome (right knee surgery recovery) and Paul George (league suspension).

Jonathan Kuminga (left knee inflammation) was sidelined for the Hawks.

Up next

76ers: At the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.

Hawks: Host the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

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Foegele To Make Senators Debut, While Seattle's Locker Room Deals With Illness

The Ottawa Senators will have a new face in the lineup Saturday night when they face the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Veteran winger Warren Foegele will play his first game since being acquired by the Senators on Thursday from the Los Angeles Kings.

Senators head coach Travis Green will bring Foegele into the mix gradually, at least based on the line combinations at Saturday’s game-day skate. The 29-year-old winger is expected to start on the left side of the fourth line alongside Lars Eller and Fabian Zetterlund.

Zetterlund arrived in Ottawa under similar circumstances. Acquired at last year’s trade deadline with 17 goals already to his credit, he also began his Senators tenure on the fourth line before eventually working his way up the lineup.

Foegele is known primarily for his defensive reliability and penalty killing, but his offence has gone quiet this season. The veteran winger has just seven goals and two assists in 49 games, including two goals and one assist in his last 31 outings, so it shouldn't be a surprise he’ll begin in the bottom line.

Regardless, Foegele said he’s excited about the change of scenery.

“Yeah, it’s been a pretty wild 48 hours,” Foegele told reporters in Seattle after the morning skate. “I loved my time in L.A., just a great group of guys there. I had a lot of fun with those guys, and obviously, I’m going to miss them. But I’m super excited for this new opportunity.

“The guys here seem great and, just watching some games, I think it’s a style that brings me back to my roots. It’s kind of similar to playing in Carolina and fits the mould of the player that I am.”

Foegele’s arrival means someone has to come out of the lineup, and for the second straight game Stephen Halliday is expected to be a healthy scratch.

Halliday was a surprise scratch in Thursday night’s 4–1 win in Calgary, replaced by tough guy Kurtis MacDermid, who had been sitting out since late December. The move led to some speculation that Halliday may have been involved in trade discussions at one point, although the team said they simply wanted MacDermid in the lineup to add toughness against the Flames.

Foegele's debut is the only change to Saturday's combinations, and the Sens noob will wear his familiar number 37.

He's the eighth player to wear No. 37 in Senators history. According to Hockey Reference, the others are Yves Sarault (1999), Dean McAmmond (2007–09), Martin St. Pierre (2010), Corey Locke (2011), Casey Bailey (2017), Joshua Norris (2020) and Donovan Sebrango (2025–26).

While Norris became well known in Ottawa for wearing No. 9, he briefly wore No. 37 for three games in 2020 because Bobby Ryan held No. 9 until the Senators bought out his contract later that year.

The Senators are also beginning life without David Perron, who was traded back to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. But the Sens had already been adjusting to that reality. Perron had not played since undergoing sports hernia surgery on Jan. 20.

Prior to the injury, Perron had been heating up with four points in his final four games as a Senator. But with Perron set to turn 38 in May, carrying a $4-million cap hit and headed for unrestricted free agency this summer, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Ottawa opted to move forward and get something for him while they still could.

Linus Ullmark, despite a couple of shaky outings in there, hasn't been tagged with a regulation loss in 12 games (8-0-3). He'll start on Saturday versus former Senator Joey Daccord.

Here’s how the Sens are expected to line up tonight in Seattle.

Senators projected line combinations

Drake Batherson — Tim Stützle — Claude Giroux
Brady Tkachuk — Dylan Cozens — Ridly Greig
Nick Cousins — Shane Pinto — Michael Amadio
Warren Foegele — Lars Eller — Fabian Zetterlund

Jake Sanderson — Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot — Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven — Jordan Spence

Linus Ullmark
James Reimer

Kraken projected line combinations (NHL.com)

Jared McCann — Matty Beniers — Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz — Chandler Stephenson — Eeli Tolvanen
Berkly Catton — Shane Wright — Kaapo Kakko
Jacob Melanson — Ben Meyers — Ryan Winterton

Vince Dunn — Cale Fleury
Jamie Oleksiak — Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura — Ryker Evans

Joey Daccord
Philipp Grubauer

Seattle newcomer Bobby McMann will not play because of visa issues after being acquired in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.

But that's not the only bad news for the Kraken.

There's also a bug of some kind going through the Kraken locker room. Defensemen Adam Larsson and Ryan Lindgren, along with forward Frederick Gaudreau, are all sick and missed the game-day skate. They'll be game-time decisions, and even if they can play, it's doubtful they'll be feeling their best.

In their last meeting back in October, the Senators came away with a 4-3 shootout victory. With Ottawa's net empty, Dylan Cozens scored the tying goal in the dying moments, and Tim Stutzle won it in the shootout.

The Senators begin play on Saturday night (10 pm Sportsnet, TVAS, City TV) six points out of a playoff spot after the Boston Bruins defeated the Washington Capitals 3–1 earlier in the day. Despite having a lesser record than the Sens, Seattle holds down the final wild-card spot in the West, but not by much. So they will be equally desperate.

With the trade deadline now behind them and such a big hill to climb, it's time for the Senators to get Kraken. Their goal on Saturday is to get out of Seattle with two points... and without getting sick.

Steve Warne
The Hockey News

This article was first published at The Hockey News. Read more great Senators coverage and bookmark TheHockeyNews.com/Ottawa-Senators

Will Warren Foegele Prove To Be Worth The Price For The Senators?
Brady Tkachuk Jokes About Being 'Under Microscope' After Olympics
After Trading David Perron, Senators Have Cap Space To Do More At Deadline
Senators Stand Pat On Quiet Final Day Before NHL Trade Deadline

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Sabres beat the Predators 3-2 for their sixth straight win

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tage Thompson and Jason Zucker scored less than two minutes apart in the second period and the Buffalo Sabres held on to win their sixth game in a row, 3-2 over the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

Josh Doan scored 16 seconds into the third period for a 3-1 lead and Alex Lyon made 23 saves for Buffalo, which played the first of a five-game homestand and has now earned a point in 13 of its last 15 games.

Thompson extended his point streak to a career-best 10 games (six goals, five assists) with his goal with 7:21 to play in the second period. Zucker made it 2-1 with 5:43 to play in the period.

Zachary L’Heureux scored his first goal of the season to give the Predators a 1-0 lead at 1:17 of the second period and Matthew Wood added a power-play goal with less than four minutes to play to pull Nashville within 3-2. Juuse Saros made 21 saves.

With an assist on L’Heureux's goal, Nashville’s Jonathan Marchessault now has 300 career NHL assists.

The Sabres are now 29-2-0 this season when they have the lead after two periods.

The Predators, coming off a 6-3 win over Boston, have now lost four of their last five games.

The game was Sam Carrick's first in a Buffalo uniform since he was acquired in a trade from the New York Rangers, and he played a critical role in the victory by winning two crucial faceoffs against Ryan O'Reilly in the final minutes.

Up next

Predators: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.

Sabres: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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Warriors' Kristaps Porzingis returns after being out due to illness

Center Kristaps Porzingis is available to play tonight for the Golden State Warriors after missing time due to illness.

The Warriors traveled to Paycom Center to play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, March 7.

Porzingis has not played since the Warriors' 121-110 loss to the Boston Celtics on Feb. 19. He had 12 points in 17 minutes.

It's the only game he had played with the Warriors. The Atlanta Hawks traded him to the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 5. The Warriors sent Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to Atlanta in return.

Porzingis played his last game for the Hawks in a 117-110 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 7. He had 13 points, three rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes played.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warriors' Kristaps Porzingis returns after missing games with illness

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Penguins/Flyers Recap: Pens can’t capitalize on late chances, fall in shootout

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 07: Alex Bump #20 of the Philadelphia Flyers moves the puck against Ben Kindel #81 of the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 7, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images

Pregame

There’s no Evgeni Malkin (suspension) or Sidney Crosby (injury) so the Penguins are working with this lineup today.

First period

Good start for the Penguins, the Flyers take the first penalty about 90 seconds into the game and then about 90 seconds later a pretty passing play between Justin Brazeau to Tommy Novak leads to an opening goal.

Philadelphia is able to respond less than a minute later, Avery Hayes tries to clear the zone but isn’t quite on the same page with Ville Koivunen, the turnover gets down to Trevor Zegras. Zegras makes a nice pass over to Owen Tippett who has the time and space to beat Stuart Skinner with a shot. 1-1.

Hayes finishes a big time hit on Cam York behind the net. Jamie Drysdale takes offense to it, not much comes out of the fight where both are off-balance. The Pens get a power play out of the sequence but are unable to score.

Shots are 8-2 PIT after one period; a fight, some nice hits, some goals, a nice Penguin/Flyer game to start.

Second period

Pittsburgh scores in the second period, Egor Chinakhov feeds Rickard Rakell, who steps into a wrister from the top of the circles that ends up in the back of the net in part thanks to the Bryan Rust center lane drive. 2-1 Pens.

The Flyers find another answer quickly, Ben Kindel tries to bump a puck back to Connor Clifton but it gets turned over deep in the Pens’ zone. It ends up going to Alex Bump, who is able to score in his first career NHL game by settling a rolling puck and firing by Stuart Skinner. 2-2.

It takes another minute for the Penguins to respond to that. Rakell wins an offensive zone faceoff and Chinakhov plays the puck back to Erik Karlsson. Dan Vladar has a clean lane to see the shot, but it sails through his blocker side anyways. 3-2 Pens.

Philadelphia is able to tie the game once again, another Penguin turnover results in a nice passing sequence for Denver Barkey to flick into the net. 3-3 game.

Kris Letang’s rough period continues, he allows Travis Sanehim to skate right through him and then has to slash at him from behind to help deny a scoring chance. The Flyers get their second power play of the game out of it, they come up empty.

There are only 25 total shots in the game after 40 minutes (15-10 for PIT) but there have been six total goals, three per team.

Third period

The Pens are the better team at the start, Chinakhov gets a great chance that just misses the net, as does a Novak tip attempt on a Karlsson point shot. Rakell flashes and forces a Flyer to take a penalty to alter a scoring chance to send Pittsburgh to their fourth power play of the game but they don’t manage even a shot on goal.

The Flyers then get a few chances but don’t score. Rakell draws a second power play in the period by taking a stick up high for a big chance with just 6:40 to play in the game. It gets a ton of zone time but is mostly stagnant and the puck remains to the outside.

Quiet period, each team records four SOG a piece, neither comes particularly close to breaking the tie during regulation.

Overtime

Rakell-Rust-Karlsson start out the 3v3 for the Pens. Pittsburgh got the puck back but Novak looked like he got hurt in the corner. The Flyers have a 3-on-2 the other way and Trevor Zegras’s pass through the crease gets inadvertently blocked away from the open net by his own teammate.

Vladar makes a stop on Chinakhov but then steps out of his crease and puts a pick on Karlsson. Can’t do that, refs penalize him and Zegras slams a stick to the ice in frustration of his goalie’s mistake.

4v3 power play with 2:09 to go, Skinner wisely heads to the bench for an “equipment issue” to serve as an impromptu, uncharged timeout for the Pens to get ready. Karlsson does send a shot off the outside of the post at one point, but all things considered a tough miss.

Shootout

Anthony Mantha is the first one up, he swoops in slowly and shoots right into Vladar’s leg pads.

Matvei Michkov goes first for the Flyers, similarly his low shot is stopped by the legs of Skinner.

—

Rakell is the second shooter for the Pens, his shot finds the post but ricochets out.

The dangerous Trevor Zegras is up next, he dances in then picks a corner, making it look easy on the goal.

—

Chinakhov has to score to keep the game alive, he doesn’t.

Some thoughts

  • We’ve been coming back to the difficulty for the forwards to produce 5v5 goals lately without Sidney Crosby around (they only have five 5v5 goals from a forward in the last six games), it was huge for Rakell to get on the board in the second period. It’s almost like a bonus these days when that happens, tough to live like that indefinitely but hopefully Crosby’s eventual return will help boost that area.
  • The power play went 1/6 won’t kill yearly percentage but doesn’t really like in a good flow, especially the first group. That’s partially to be expected with no Crosby and now no Evgeni Malkin. It’s not always going to be pretty, getting as much as they can out of it is absolutely crucial within the game —since as mentioned above— it’s been a struggle for the forwards at even strength so they need players like Brazeau and Novak to produce goals in whatever way they can.
  • Pens fall to 1-9 on the shootout, more of the same where they can’t find a goal at all. But the problem isn’t the shootout in this one, the problem was letting this game get to the shootout in the first place. Philadelphia only had five total SOG in the third period + OT, basically doing nothing out there. That’s a disappointment to let a game drag on so far — especially with the late power play in OT. The game is right there for the taking for the Pens, they simply were unable to reach out and grab it.
  • On all the Flyers goals, the Penguins had the puck in their defensive zone less than five seconds before the goal was scored. That’s got to be frustrating for the coaches. On a pair of goals it looked like Kindel was caught in space and Koivunen was either weak on the puck or half a beat too slow to gain a clearance. Kris Letang making mistakes all over the place didn’t help either. It happens with young players, but it’s a lesson to be a little more on the details or learn that the puck ends up in your own net mighty quickly at this level.
  • There was an adjustment made in that department for the start of the third period; Kindel was put on a line with Mantha/Brazeau (a line from earlier in the season) and Novak moved in to play with Koivunen/Hayes.
  • Two assist game for Chinakhov, who seamlessly fit in with his new linemates of the day. Nice to see him continue his productive ways apart from Malkin.
  • Great game from Rakell, he actually won 45% of his 21 faceoffs which is legitimately a very positive increase. A goal, an assist (due to a faceoff win) and he was a beast at taking the puck off Flyers in the 3v3. One of his best games in a long time.
  • Today was the last PIT/PHI game of the year, and I don’t know, March 7th and Game No. 62 is too early in the season to not have any more Pens/Flyers games. Kinda a bummer.
  • The Pens went 2-0-2 against the Flyers this season, which in NHL math is as good as three wins.

It’s going to be a struggle for Pittsburgh to claw out any and every point that they can without Crosby and Malkin. and now move to 2-2-2 in the six games post-Olympics without their captain. Staying .500 will help keep the afloat, though it would be nice to see them dig deep and get some sort of result at home against the Bruins tomorrow. Easier said than done with that opponent.

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Yankees’ C-team lineup blanked by Nats on sleepy spring night

SARASOTA, FL - MARCH 15: George Lombard Jr. #55 of the New York Yankees throws the ball during the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium on March 15, 2025 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images

It’s absolute nonsense that a game featuring so many top prospects and recent graduates wasn’t televised, but then again, maybe we’re all better off for not having seen this matchup on Saturday night. The Yankees really didn’t bring much to West Palm Beach, with a sextet of pitchers walking more Nationals than they struck out, and a collection of people who called themselves hitters failed to manage much from the Yankee side of the box score. It’s a good thing these games don’t count, because New York went down without a whimper 3-0.

I thought Will Warren was fine today, if not electric. He was facing a lineup that’s pretty representative of what the Nationals will throw out there in the regular season — and that’s an indictment on the state of that once-again-rebuilding franchise. He threw the four-seam fastball nearly half the time, and half his whiffs came against the heater as well. Warren did struggle a little more with his control than in his previous outings, walking two in four full innings against three strikeouts.

One of those walks was a successful Dylan Crews challenge under the ABS system, and I wonder how (if at all) we will distinguish reviewed walks/strikeouts over the course of a full season. The one run that Warren allowed was unearned, as George Lombard Jr. couldn’t cleanly throw out Luis García Jr. to load the bases in the fourth, then Crews would come home on Brady House’s sac fly to make the game 1-0.

Jake Bird took over for Warren and struggled mightily, walking the first man he faced, allowing a single, then a triple off James Wood’s bat that pushed those two runners across. He would get Crews swinging and a lazy fly ball from CJ Abrams, but for a player who landed flat on his face upon acquisition last year, this wasn’t exactly the best way to stake your claim on a regular-season MLB bullpen role.

A bunch of the Yankee first-stringers are playing in the World Baseball Classic, and even the second-stringers didn’t seem to make the trip to West Palm Beach. That left a bunch of prospects and org depth, and while Jasson Domínguez, Lombard, and Spencer Jones all managed to reach base — Jones twice, with a single and a walk — there wasn’t much offense to go around. The club managed just three hits overall on the day, and the one time that Lombard Jr. did reach, he was picked off at first base for an easy retirement. It’s rarely a good thing when your side manages one hit more than the cumulative number of errors they made.

There’s been plenty of buzz about Lombard in camp, between his strong showing in Grapefruit League games and Anthony Volpe continuing to rehab, the nominal incumbent hasn’t even played so far this spring. Today’s a good reminder of how far George still has to go though, and how he is still a product requiring some sanding, polishing and seasoning. We’ve all seen and read about the talent the 20-year old boasts, but there’s still a long way from Double-A to the majors.

The Yankees stay “on the road” tomorrow, bussing to Port St. Lucie to take on the Mets. Ryan Weathers will get the ball for his second exhibition start, coming off that stellar start against these same Nationals, the outing that had the internet abuzz about his raw stuff. The challenge for Weathers will be refining that raw product into something a little more dependable, and that will be the focus of his start tomorrow. First pitch comes at you at 1:10pm Eastern, note the time change tonight, and this one will be on TV (SNY).

Box Score

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Baylor coach Scott Drew gets 500th win in Bears' 101-75 rout over Utah

WACO, Texas (AP) — Tounde Yessoufou scored 26 points, and Baylor coach Scott Drew collected his 500th career win with the Bears' 101-75 rout over Utah on Saturday in a Big 12 Conference regular-season finale.

Drew, in his 23rd season at the helm with the Bears, is one of 25 active Division-I coaches with at least 500 wins (500-285). Drew came to Baylor after a decade coaching at Valparaiso, the final year as head coach.

Yessoufou shot 10 of 16 from the field and Cameron Carr added 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting for Baylor (16-15, 6-12), which shot 61.5% (40 of 65) overall.

Reserves Michael Rataj chipped in with 14 points and Dan Skillings Jr. scored 10 for the Bears.

Don McHenry scored 20 points and Terrence Brown added 16 for Utah (10-21, 2-16), which has lost five straight. Keanu Dawes scored 14 points but grabbed just one rebound, a season low.

The Utes shot 60% (29 of 48) from the floor and hit 7 of 14 from long range, but committed 16 turnovers that led to 31 points for the Bears.

Baylor opened on a 21-9 run and led 53-33 at the break. Yessoufou scored 15 first-half points and Carr added 12 with a pair of 3-pointers.

Carr's 3 with 3:38 to play stretched the Bears' lead to 95-65.

Up next

The Big 12 Conference Tournament starts Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri.

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