South Sydney’s mascot has apologised for pushing a child during an NRL match against the Cronulla Sharks. Charlie Gallico, while dressed as mascot Reggie Rabbit, was filmed shoving a nine-year-old boy while moving through the players’ tunnel at Sharks Stadium during their round three fixture.
Gallico, 81, issued an apology on Tuesday following an investigation by the club into a complaint made by the child’s mother Caroline Agius.
NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Fantilli scored in regulation and then got the only goal in the shootout, leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-3 win against the New York Islanders on Monday night to end a six-game skid.
Boone Jenner and Kirill Marchenko also scored in regulation for the Blue Jackets, and Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves.
Pierre Engvall, Kyle Palmieri and Anders Lee scored for New York, which lost its second straight after a three-game win streak. Ilya Sorokin finished with 28 saves.
In the second round of the shootout, Fantilli made a move to his backhand and beat Sorokin. Bo Horvat then missed high and wide left on his attempt in the third round.
Marchenko scored the tying goal with 7:06 left in the third period.
Palmieri appeared to give the Islanders a 4-3 lead with less than 10 seconds remaining as he redirected Alexander Romanov’s shot. However, the goal was immediately waved off and the initial call was confirmed after a lengthy review in the league office in Toronto.
Takeaways
Blue Jackets: Columbus has only scored 10 goals during its last seven games while getting shut out three times.
Islanders: New York coach Patrick Roy elected to dress seven defensemen and opted to play defenseman Adam Boqvist on the right wing of the third line rather than disrupt his combinations with Hudson Fasching sidelined due to an illness. Boqvist had two assists.
Key Moment
Sorokin denied Fantilli from the high slot with 62 seconds remaining in regulation and Monahan in the final minute to help force overtime.
Key stat
Blue Jackets outshot the Islanders 17-4 in the third period.
Up next
Blue Jackets host Vancouver on Friday, while Islanders host Vancouver on Wednesday to finish a four-game homestand.
The Islanders jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in terms of shots, and that would be indicative of the rest of the first period, which the home team dominated.
Pierre Engvall opened the scoring, firing home his sixth of the season from the slot with 6:44 to go in the first.
Defenseman, Tony DeAngelo started the play and relayed the puck up to Adam Boqvist, who fed Engvall.
The teams went to the dressing rooms after one with the Islanders holding the edge 17-6 in shots.
Following their dominant performance in the first period, the Islanders got an early power play after Damon Severson tripped up Horvat, who went into the boards feet-first. Horvat returned to play during the man advantage after flexing his left leg.
Later, Adam Fantilli streaked into the Islanders' zone and toe-dragged around Noah Dobson, then let go of a sneaky snap shot, which beat Ilya Sorokin’s glove side to cut New York’s lead to 2-1.
At 16:58, Justin Danforth flipped the puck over the boards for a delay-of-game infraction, giving the Islanders their second power play of the period. However, only 15 seconds into the man advantage, Boone Jenner’s shot deflected off of Dobson’s leg and past Sorokin to knot the game at 2-2.
Columbus head coach Dean Evason challenged for goaltender interference, but a quick review determined there wasn’t sufficient contact, and the Blue Jackets received another delay-of-game penalty to be split across periods.
The Islanders outshot the Blue Jackets 9-5 in the middle frame.
New York’s power play remained fruitless to start the third period, and Adam Pelech was called for interference, incidentally bumping the stick out of Zach Werenski’s hands.
Columbus got a quality chance when Kent Johnson fired a blistering one-timer from the top of the circle, but Sorokin was able to slide across and make the save with his mask. The offense opened up for Columbus, but as per usual during the Islanders’ recent playoff push, Sorokin stood on his head.
With under 10 minutes left, the Islanders iced the puck three times and lost each ensuing faceoff. This came back to bite New York’s tired skaters, as Kirill Marchenko’s bullet from the point snaked through bodies and beat Sorokin to tie the game at 3-3.
Patrick Roy and assistant coach Benoit Desrosiers called a timeout in the last minute to shore up defensive miscues and secure a trip to overtime.
However, the timeout would give more than a defensive boost to the Islanders. With eight seconds remaining, Kyle Palmieri deflected an Alex Romanov shot past Merzlikins, but the goal was immediately called off due to goaltender interference.
The situation room conducted a lengthy review, but ultimately the no-goal call stood—much to the ire of the Islanders’ bench and fans.
Seeing as the Islanders were outshot 17-4 in the third, Palmieri’s goal would have been a relief. Instead, the review ensured that the Eastern Conference playoff race would become even closer.
To start overtime, the Islanders kept two Blue Jackets stuck on the ice, but Ryan Pulock was unable to finish on a scramble that saw Merzlikins down on the ice.
Sorokin made a number of saves to keep New York alive after the momentum shifted in Columbus’ favor. Horvat and Palmieri found themselves on a 2-on-1 in the dying seconds but didn’t have enough gas for a shot.
Anthony Duclair, Palmieri, and Horvat all went scoreless in the shootout, which allowed Adam Fantilli’s backhand tally to be the game-winner.
The Islanders are back in action on Wednesday as they host the Canucks at 7:30 PM at UBS Arena.
Despite being scratched from the team’s Freeway Series exhibition game Sunday, and held out of the lineup again Monday at Angel Stadium, the converted shortstop reported improved symptoms following a workout at Dodger Stadium on Monday afternoon, manager Dave Roberts said, raising hopes that Betts will make his season debut in Thursday’s home opener against the Detroit Tigers.
“Really encouraged,” Roberts said. “I do think that Mookie has turned a corner.”
Betts missed the Dodgers’ opening two games in Japan last week while battling a stomach virus, one that is believed to be a case of norovirus, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly. Betts said he had lost almost 20 pounds over the course of his illness, which began a few days before the team left for Japan earlier this month. He was scratched shortly before first pitch Sunday, he said, because he needed to throw up after trying to eat solid food.
“I’m tired of sitting, tired of just throwing up, tired of doing all this,” Betts said Sunday. “Every time — literally, every time — I fuel my body, I throw up.”
On Monday, however, Roberts said Betts was not only able to keep down solid food, but felt good after a workout that included both defensive drills at shortstop (the position Betts is returning to on a full-time basis this season) and batting practice.
Betts is now scheduled to play in Tuesday’s Freeway Series finale. If that goes well, he should be in the lineup Thursday, when the Dodgers’ regular-season schedule resumes.
“I think it was getting to be pretty concerning, because there really isn’t something to compare what he was going through,” Roberts said of Betts’ illness, which lingered so long that the 32-year-old went for bloodwork to rule out anything more serious. “But talked to him on his way home today. He said he feels great. And expect him to play tomorrow. So right now, we’re in a good spot.”
The Dodgers are also confident that first baseman Freddie Freeman, who also missed both Tokyo games after a flare-up in the same area of his ribs he suffered torn cartilage during last year’s postseason, is past his issue.
Freeman has played in both Freeway Series games this week, and said Monday he believes that his rib discomfort was simply the result of breaking up scar tissue that had built up where last October’s injury had healed. He made enough progress by the time returned home from Japan, he added, that he didn’t even need to go for an MRI scan.
“Hopefully it will be an afterthought by Thursday,” Freeman said. “I was able to hit in the cage and do whatever I wanted to on the day of Game 2 [in Japan]. But just didn’t know, game-speed, if it would make it come up again. So I thought we ultimately made the right decision.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Naji Marshall scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 120-101 rout of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
P.J. Washington and Spencer Dinwiddie finished with 16 each, Brandon Williams scored 15 and Kai Jones added 13. Anthony Davis, in his first game back after missing six weeks with a groin injury, had 12 points in 27 minutes.
Brooklyn dropped to 23-49 with its fourth straight loss. Nic Claxton led the Nets with 19 points.
Takeaways
Mavericks: For a team that is in a neck-and-neck race with Phoenix for the final Western Conference play-in spot, Dallas believes that the reinsertion of Davis — among others — can provide a boost. “We understand what’s at stake here,” coach Jason Kidd said before the game. “We got to figure out how to win.”
Nets: With three weeks remaining, coach Jordi Fernandez wants his team to use the final 11 games of the season to work on in-game execution. “We have to control (in order) to (have) one more possession,” Fernandez said before the game. “I think winning teams take care of those possessions.”
Key moment
Dallas guard Spencer Dinwiddie knocked down a left corner three, and then assisted on buckets by Marshall and Jones in a 26-second span midway through the third quarter that allowed the Mavericks to extend their lead to 75-56.
Key stat
Brooklyn entered the game ninth in the NBA in three-pointers attempted per game (39.1) and 29th in three-pointers made per game (34.5). Against the Mavericks, the Nets made 11 of their 33 attempts from beyond the arc.
Culminating in a dramatic final day in front of a packed Adelaide Oval pulsating with nervous energy, the 1996 Sheffield Shield final remains one of the competition’s most unforgettable contests of the modern era.
Lakers star Luka Doncic, right, controls the ball in front of Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr., during the first half of the Lakers' 118-106 loss Monday. (John Raoux / Associated Press)
In a moment when the crowd was quiet and the in-arena music stopped blaring, you could hear the Orlando Magic bench screaming out instructions to teammates on the floor, frantically pointing to places the Lakers were trying to attack.
The yelling was clearly heard from the other side of the court, and the Orlando defense responded, talking their way through switches.
That LeBron James still found a seam and made a tough shot didn’t matter. The Magic were connected. They were communicating. They looked, really, like the Lakers used to look, an energy that carried over to Orlando's offense in a 118-106 win over the Lakers.
“Used to” might be a little harsh since the Lakers have only had a completely healthy team available for two games since Feb. 28. During that time, the team had to play for stretches without James, Rui Hachimura or Jaxson Hayes. It also has needed to rest Luka Doncic, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent and hold out Austin Reaves.
But the Lakers (43-28), for the second straight game, looked like a team trying to recapture its defensive identity.
“We're going through it a little bit,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We gotta get back into the flow and the rhythm.”
Like they did against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, the Lakers unquestionably spoke less than the Magic (34-38), their switching and scrambling defense just a little duller than it had been before injuries started to pile up.
“I think we just gotta look back at the way we played on that eight-game winning streak," Doncic said. "We're physical. We (have a) hell of a defense. I think we just got a little bit satisfied. We can't afford that right now."
The shots they have been willing to concede — the Magic are the worst three-point shooting team in the league — went in. And the edge they played with on the defensive side of the ball for nearly half the season simply hasn’t been as sharp this month.
“We just, we look tired,” Redick said. “And I don't know what contributes to that. That happens periodically throughout a season where the group gets tired. That's what it feels like right now. Again, we weren't able to sustain our level of intensity that we started the game with. And our guys, I thought started out really well.”
Since Hachimura’s injury knocked him out of the lineup for a dozen games, the Lakers’ identity has eroded, their rating sliding all the way down to 17th.
The team now has a losing record in March, dropping seven of 13 games.
Before the game, Redick said assistant coach Nate MacMillan summarized the situation best.
“You can't build trust on the court unless you're communicating,” he told the staff, “and we've gotta get back to communicating. We gotta get back to having a physical disposition with our opponent.”
The lack of talk has been a problem, no doubt. But the lack of individual stoppers has been problematic the last two games, the Lakers struggling to stop scorers when they get hot.
Saturday, Coby White hurt the Lakers early and late, his rhythm never really disrupted. Against Orlando, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, players with a combination of size, strength and skill, attacked the weak points in the defense and combined for 62 points.
The Lakers found some intensity late in the second quarter, building a nine-point lead. But Orlando scored seven straight as the Lakers' offense went cold, and the Magic continued to pull away in the third.
The Magic made half of their 10 threes in the third quarter as the Lakers sputtered, their bad offense causing bad defense and their bad defense preventing them from getting easy baskets in transition.
After trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter, the Lakers did rediscover a sliver of their defensive identity and cut the Magic lead to seven, but Wagner easily got past Doncic for a layup with no help at the rim.
Doncic finished with 32 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. James had 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Reaves scored 18 points and Finney-Smith added 14 points.
The Lakers play Wednesday in Indiana against the Pacers, the first leg of a back to back. The team has three back to backs in its final 11 games.
“We need the adversity. Especially being a new team, know we get to learn a lot about each other during tough times. You usually don't see things when you winning,” Finney-Smith said. “So we got the chance to grow. We're going to use this opportunity to grow.”
Brisbane will become the home of an elite state-of-the-art sporting facility that will rival the world’s best stadiums after confirmation on Tuesday that a contentious 63,000-seat venue will be built in Victoria Park to host the 2032 Olympic Games.
More NHL expansion could be on the way. If it happens, the playoffs should expand as well.
American billionaire Dan Friedkin of The Friedkin Group, which owns soccer clubs AS Roma and a majority share of Everton, reportedly met with the NHL multiple times about a potential Houston franchise, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. This comes after past news about the interest in bringing a team back to the Atlanta area as well. That could bring the NHL up to 34 teams, with 17 in each conference, if interested owners in each city get their wish.
An offshoot of potential NHL expansion should be the Stanley Cup playoff format.
As it stands, half the NHL’s 32 teams make the playoffs. But if the NHL kept its 16-team structure after bringing on another expansion squad or two, that number would drop below the 50-percent mark.
So, how could the league address its post-season in a 34-team setup?
From our perspective, there are a couple of options. The first would be along the lines of what the NBA does, which is assuring the top six teams in each conference of a playoff spot, with the top four teams in the wild-card race squaring off in a play-in tournament to decide the final two spots in the Eastern and Western Conferences. Another option could be a best-of-three series between the second- and third-place teams in the wild-card race for the second wild-card berth.
With the best-of-three-series option, 18 teams advance to the post-season – just over half – but only two teams in the East and West battle for the final spot in each conference’s quarterfinals. You’d have four teams fighting for two playoff spots in each conference with the NBA system. From this writer’s preference, an expanded NHL playoffs using the NBA format would be the right way to go, as there’s the potential for more upsets while keeping a thrilling end to the regular season.
The first and second teams in the wild-card race get two chances to advance anyway. They would face off, with the winner clinching the first wild-card spot. The loser takes on whoever wins in the No. 3 vs. No. 4 game for the second wild-card place.
If this wild-card play-in format happened this season, the potential matchups could have been full of drama. Ahead of Monday night’s games, the standings would have had the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens facing off in the East’s No. 1 vs. No. 2 game and the New York Rangers taking on the New York Islanders in the No. 3 vs. No. 4 match. In the West, the Minnesota Wild would battle the St. Louis Blues for the first wild-card spot, while the loser would take on the winner of a Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks contest for the second wild-card spot.
The NHL only introduced wild-card berths in 2013-14 as the league continued to evolve. If the league grows, it makes sense to continue to grow the playoff pool like what happened 45 years ago.
The NHL expanded to a 16-team playoff format in the 1979-80 season, when there were only 21 teams in the league. So this notion that there can’t be a majority of the league’s teams involved in the post-season flies in the face of the NHL’s history.
Ultimately, an expanded NHL playoffs is all about increasing the value of regular-season games, which would be true if the NHL adopted an NBA-style play-in system. In fact, all the teams that were in the wild-card race for most of the season but are running out of time would still have everything to fight for.
As of March 24, four teams trail the 10th-place Islanders by fewer than five points. In the West, the Utah Hockey Club is only one point behind the 10th-place Canucks, and the Minnesota Wild are only four points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the third spot in the Central Division – which would hypothetically make them safe from a play-in round. That means more teams are playing important games deeper into the regular season, and that’s what it’s all about.
If more NHL expansion ever happens, which would come with sky-high expansion fees, a revamped playoff system should come with it. Teams with the most regular-season success wouldn’t be affected by an increased playoff field, but games would matter more for more teams, and any way you look at it, that would be a success.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Monday that they signed Dartmouth College center Luke Haymes to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning in 2025-26.
Before that contract starts, the 21-year-old Haymes will sign a professional tryout contract with the Toronto Marlies for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
The Ottawa, Ontario native was reportedly linked to the Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning and hometown Senators as potential destinations to begin his professional career. He posted 12 goals and six assists in 22 games in a season hampered by a broken hand sustained early in the campaign.
Haymes is consistently described as a tenacious and gritty two-way forward, known for his effectiveness on both sides of the ice . He plays with a high level of energy and determination and strong hockey IQ. His style allows him to generate quality scoring opportunities through a combination of intelligent play and physicality.
Haymes attended Toronto's summer development camp in 2023.
Scouting reports suggest that he projects as a potential bottom-six player with the possibility of developing into a middle-six role with further refinement. Perhaps he could help the center prospect depth for the Leafs that was vacated when the club traded Fraser Minten to the Boston Bruins along with a conditional first-round pick for defenseman Brandon Carlo.
At 6-1, 203 pounds, Haymes is considered pro-hockey ready and his recent growth spurt (previously listed at 185 pounds), explains why the player wasn't drafted and has recently garnered a lot of interest.
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Sacramento led by as much as nine points midway through the first quarter, with Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis getting off to fast starts in the absence of Malik Monk (illness). But Jayson Tatum did Jayson Tatum things to pull it back, logging 11 points and five assists, including one that set up Payton Pritchard’s buzzer-beating triple that gave Boston a 30-29 lead after one.
After a heavy back-and-forth second 12 minutes, Boston eventually extended its lead to five at 56-51 thanks to a mini late push. Tatum still led the Celtics with 17 points and six assists on 4-for-7 3-point shooting, while Pritchard’s 14 points off the bench was more than any King at that point.
Boston then pushed its lead to 14 late in the third quarter following a Kristaps Porzingis 3-pointer, but maintained an 88-78 advantage going into the final 12 minutes. Tatum increased his point total to 25 despite suffering an ankle injury on a late closeout by Domantas Sabonis, while Porzingis got up to 14 points.
The Celtics simply saw out the game in the fourth, with Sacramento putting up little resistance with 17 points in the quarter. Baylor Scheierman got in on the action in a big game for the bench.
With the Phoenix Suns next on Wednesday, here are three takeaways from the Celtics’ win over the Kings:
Jayson Tatum stars prior to ankle injury
This game was all about Tatum for the majority of the first three quarters. Tatum posted a game-high 25 points to go with eight assists and seven rebounds on 8-for-15 shooting overall and 5-for-9 from beyond the arc. He uncharacteristically went just 4 of 8 from the foul line.
Tatum also showed off a unique one-legged pull-up three in the early stages, which set the tone for his nice output.
However, Tatum had to leave the game in the second half after suffering an ankle injury. Tatum stepped into a triple over Sabonis, but didn’t get any room to land and suffered the injury. He managed to attempt his free throws before being helped to the bench.
Sabonis was issued a Flagrant 1 foul after a review.
Payton Pritchard leads strong bench effort
The Celtics received a significant lift from its bench that helped Tatum and Co. build a cushion against Sacramento. Pritchard was the catalyst as he continued his hot end to the month of March, finishing with 22 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal on 8 of 18 shooting overall, including a 5 of 13 clip from distance.
Luke Kornet put in a robust shift, too, ending with 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting overall to go with eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and a block in 26 minutes, which included heavy playing time in the fourth.
Even Scheierman did his part with nine points on 3-for-6 shooting from deep, adding seven rebounds, two steals, one assist and a block in 28 minutes.
Sacramento’s bench could not keep pace, with Markelle Fultz’s eight points in 11 minutes leading the way. Jonas Valanciunas was held to just four points in 13 minutes, while Jake LaRavia mustered only two in 17.
Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday stay quiet
Despite the score advantage, the Celtics didn’t get much production from two of their stars. Brown had just nine points in 26 minutes, though he went 4 of 5 from the floor. He also added two rebounds and a steal, but the former Finals MVP could’ve offered more in what’s been a slow back half of March from a statistical perspective.
Holiday tried to deal damage offensively, but fared much better on the other end. He shot 2 of 11 from the field for just five points, while adding three assists, one rebound and a block in 31 minutes.
