NBA 101

Shesterkin makes 27 saves in Rangers' 3-1 victory over Panthers

NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Sykora broke a scoreless tie early in the third period and Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves and the New York Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Sunday.

Sykora, a rookie who was a second-round pick in 2022, scored his second goal of the season at 5:10, tipping Adam Fox’s shot past Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

Conor Sheary then scored his fifth of the season — on a short-handed breakaway — at 11:14 before Fox added an empty-netter at 16:06.

Sykora also scored in the Rangers’ 6-1 win against Chicago on Friday. The Rangers are just 11-18-7 at home this season.

Florida’s Mackie Samoskevich scored with 40.2 seconds left to end Shesterkin’s shutout bid.

New York nearly scored late in the second when Mika Zibanejad’s shot with 1:35 left skittered along the goal line before Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling cleared it out.

Florida appeared to take the lead at 3:22 of the third when Matthew Tkachuk scored on a breakaway, but the Rangers challenged and the play was ruled offside.

Florida was coming off a 5-2 loss at the New York Islanders on Saturday in which Tkachuk scored both goals.

Up next

Panthers: host Ottawa on Tuesday.

Rangers: host New Jersey on Tuesday.

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

Seth Lugo throws 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Royals beat Braves 4-1 for their 1st win of the season

ATLANTA (AP) — Seth Lugo pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Carter Jensen homered to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino had RBI singles for the Royals, who blew a ninth-inning lead a day earlier and avoided a season-opening sweep. Witt had five hits in the series.

Jensen was 1 for 3 with two RBIs, adding a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to his solo home run in the fourth.

Lugo (1-0) gave up five hits, struck out three and walked none while throwing 55 of his 77 pitches for strikes. He did survive three deep fly balls with exit velocities all over 105 mph from Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and Michael Harris II that were caught up against the outfield wall.

Drake Baldwin hit a solo home run to right field with the Braves trailing 4-0 in the eighth inning.

Lucas Erceg picked up the save for the Royals with a scoreless ninth inning.

Royals closer Carlos Estévez was hit in the ankle during Saturday night’s blown save and was in a walking boot Sunday morning. X-rays were negative, although Royals manager Matt Quatraro said it was the ankle that would keep Estévez out Sunday — not his shaky spring performance or because he surrendered six runs in 1/3 of an inning Saturday.

Braves starter Grant Holmes (0-1) gave up three runs in five innings with two walks and four strikeouts. Rookie Didier Fuentes, 20, gave up one run in four innings in relief of Holmes.

Up next

Royals: LHP Kris Bubic (8-7, 2.55 ERA in 2025) will face the Minnesota Twins in the Royals’ 2026 home opener at Kauffman Stadium on Monday.

Braves: RHP Bryce Elder (8-11, 5.30) will oppose Athletics RHP Aaron Civale (4-9, 4.85) in the opener of a three-game series in Atlanta on Monday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

Springer, Okamoto and Sánchez homer, Blue Jays beat Athletics 5-2 to complete three-game sweep

TORONTO (AP) — George Springer hit the 64th leadoff home run of his career, Kazuma Okamoto went deep for the first time in the majors and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Athletics 5-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Jesús Sánchez added a two-run homer, his first with Toronto. The defending American League champions swept 11 series last season, one fewer than Milwaukee and Seattle, which led the majors.

Max Muncy hit a two-run home run for the Athletics, one of five hits for the visitors.

Toronto’s Eric Lauer (1-0) allowed two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out nine.

Jeff Hoffman finished for his first save. Hoffman blew the save in Friday’s season opener when he allowed a game-tying home run to Shea Langeliers in the ninth inning.

Toronto pitchers combined to strike out 50 A’s batters over the weekend, matching the team record for a three-game series. Blue Jays pitchers fanned 50 batters in a four-game series against Detroit in 2019.

Springer homered on the first pitch he saw from Luis Morales. Only Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson (81) has hit more career leadoff homers.

Sánchez homered off Morales in the third, and Okamoto connected for an opposite-field drive in the fourth.

Morales (0-1) allowed five runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Muncy’s blast cut the gap in half in the top of the fifth, but the Blue Jays added another run on Addison Barger’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom half.

Up next

Athletics: LHP Jacob Lopez is scheduled to start at Atlanta on Monday against Braves RHP Bryce Elder.

Blue Jays: RHP Cody Ponce is scheduled to make his Toronto debut Monday at home against Colorado, which counters with Rockies RHP Tomoyuki Sugano.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

NBA playoff watch: 76ers, Hornets clash in key seeding matchup

Can Philadelphia or Charlotte move into the top six? Plus, updated playoff projections, draft lottery standings after Thursday.

The balancing act facing Jayson Tatum and the Celtics

Boston and its superstar wing represent perhaps the biggest wild card of the 2026 NBA playoffs.

Dubois scores twice in final period to rally Victoire past Sirens 3-1 in Takeover Tour stop

DETROIT (AP) — Catherine Dubois scored twice in a three-goal third period to rally the Montreal Victoire to a 3-1 victory over the New York Sirens on Saturday in a Takeover Tour stop at Little Caesars Arena.

Montreal (12-4-2-5) pulled within two points of the front-running Boston Fleet with three weeks left in the regular season.

New York (8-0-3-12) took a 1-0 lead when Casey O’Brien was in the right spot to knock in a rebound on a shot by Jaime Bourbonnais that goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens blocked but couldn’t corral at 9:09.

Bourbonnais notched her ninth assist and Anne Cherkowski collected her sixth O’Brien’s sixth goal of the season.

Dubois pulled Montreal even 1:54 into the third period and gave the Victoire a 2-1 lead less than five minutes later with her fourth goal of the campaign. Natálie Mlýnková earned her fifth assist on Dubois’ first netter. Shiann Darkangelo and Kaitlin Willoughby both notched their third assists on the go-ahead score.

Laura Stacey scored for the sixth time this season, adding an insurance goal at 7:29. Kati Tabin tallied her ninth assist and Hayley Scamurra collected her eighth.

Desbiens had 23 saves for Montreal.

Kayle Osborne stopped 26 shots in goal for New York.

Montreal outshot New York 29-24 after the Sirens had an 11-2 advantage in the first period.

New York had not shut out an opponent through the first two periods since Jan. 6 in a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Sceptres.

Up next

New York: Hosts the Minnesota Frost on Wednesday.

Montreal: Hosts the Vancouver Goldeneyes on Wednesday.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Lightning deal the Senators a blow in the playoff race by beating them 4-2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Defenseman Emil Lilleberg scored the go-ahead goal and had a career-high three points, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to defeat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Saturday.

Brandon Hagel and Charle-Edouard D’Astous each had a goal and an assist, while Jake Guentzel scored for a third consecutive game. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for Tampa Bay, which played without leading scorer Nikita Kucherov and others.

Nick Paul and Kucherov, who entered the weekend tied with Connor McDavid for the most points in the NHL, were both out because of illness. Despite not having them and captain Victor Hedman, who is on a leave of absence for personal reasons, the Lightning improved to 5-0-2 in the past seven games.

Dylan Cozens and Jordan Spence scored for Ottawa, and James Reimer allowed four goals on 27 shots. The Senators, in the middle of a fierce playoff race in the Eastern Conference, lost in regulation for the first time since March 18 and are on the outside looking in with nine games remaining.

With the score tied at 2, Lilleberg took a pass from Hagel and chipped a backhand shot past Reimer with a little more than 11 minutes left in regulation. Guentzel scored on a breakaway later to provide some breathing room.

Ottawa had taken a 2-0 lead on goals by Cozens and Spence. This was the fourth game in a row the Lightning fell behind by multiple goals, and just like in the previous three, they got back into it in the second period.

Up next

Senators: Visit the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

Lightning: Host the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

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

Tiger Woods involved in rollover car crash in Florida, according to reports

JUPITER ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Tiger Woods was involved in a rollover car crash on Friday, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office told media outlets.

Authorities said the crash occurred just after 2 p.m. not far from where Woods lives in Jupiter Island. Martin County Fire Rescue said there were no serious injuries, CBS 12 reported.

Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information.

It was the third time Woods has been involved in a car crash, most recently in February 2021 when his SUV ran off a coastal road in Los Angeles at a high rate of speed that led to multiple leg and ankle injuries. Woods said later doctors considered amputation.

He also was arrested on a DUI charge in 2017 when south Florida police found him asleep behind the wheel of his car that was parked awkwardly with damage to the driver’s side. Woods said later he had taken a bad mix of painkillers.

Woods had been working his way back to golf from a seventh back surgery last September. He had not decided whether he could play in the Masters on April 9-12.

His last official tournament was the British Open in 2024. Woods ruptured his Achilles tendon in March 2025 and that kept him off the course all season, and then he had another back surgery in September. He managed to play in his indoor TGL golf league on Tuesday night.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Mauricio Pochettino says US can win World Cup: 'Why not us? … We need to dream'

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — Mauricio Pochettino told American soccer players they can achieve what almost no one thinks is possible: win the World Cup.

“Why not us? Why not us? Why not us?” he said Friday. “We need to really believe that we can be there. We need to dream.”

Ahead of friendlies against Belgium on Saturday and Portugal on Tuesday, Pochettino publicly repeated a message he delivered directly to players when they reported to camp this week.

“Dreams,” he added, “inspire reality.”

The U.S. hasn’t reached the World Cup semifinals since the initial tournament in 1930 and hasn’t advanced to the quarterfinals since 2002. Since then, the Americans were knocked out in the round of 16 in 2010, 2014 and 2022, were eliminated in the group stage in 2006 and failed to qualify in 2018.

Only eight nations have won a World Cup: Brazil (five titles), Germany and Italy (four each), Argentina (three), France and Uruguay (two apiece), and England and Spain (one each).

Pochettino, a former Argentina national team defender who replaced Gregg Berhalter as U.S. coach in late 2024, cited American mentality as cause for optimism.

“I hear another day a press conference from some coaching staff in another national team and (they) say, `OK, if we say we are going to win, we are showing too much arrogance,'” he explained. “If we say, well, it is going to be difficult to win. It’s negative. It’s not optimistic. It’s creating negative things. What I am saying: I am here because I believe that we can win and what I can tell to the people is really believe.”

At the World Cup, the 15th-ranked U.S. opens against No. 41 Paraguay on June 12 at Inglewood, California, faces 27th-ranked Australia one week later at Seattle and closes the group stage against No. 23 Turkey or No. 78 Kosovo in Inglewood on June 25. As co-hosts, the U.S., Mexico and Canada are seeded and avoid facing top nations in the first round.

With the expansion of the World Cup to 48 nations from 32, the top two teams in each of 12 groups advance to a new round of 32 along with the best eight third-place teams.

The last time third-place teams reached the knockout round was the also the last time the United States hosted the World Cup, a 24-team tournament in 1994. And the Americans advanced as one of them, but then lost to eventual champion Brazil in the round of 16.

“We need to send the right energy and good emotion to the people, for the people to really believe in us and to support us, for sure,” Pochettino said.

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

Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo breaks NCAA single-season steals record in March Madness game

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo broke the NCAA’s single-season record for steals after getting seven in the first half of a Sweet 16 game against Vanderbilt on Friday.

Hidalgo needed four steals to break Chastadie Barrs’ mark of 192 set with Lamar in 2018-19. The Fighting Irish junior got that in the first quarter of the March Madness meeting with the Commodores.

Hidalgo was already just the second player to have at least eight steals in multiple NCAA Tournament games. She had eight in each of Notre Dame’s first two tourney wins, over Fairfield and Ohio State.

Three of Hidalgo’s steals came quickly against Vanderbilt midway through the second quarter.

She grabbed the ball out of Sacha Washington’s hands and went in alone for a layup, then stole a bad pass near midcourt. Her seventh steal soon after led to another easy layup for a 23-11 lead.

Hidalgo, the third-leading scorer in the country, had 16 points at halftime as the sixth-seeded Irish led No. 2 seed Vanderbilt 31-26.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness