BUFFALO
Adidas Michael Hutchinson Jersey , N.Y. (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his second goal with three seconds on the clock in overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs matched their best start in 84 years with a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.The Maple Leafs won their fifth straight game and improved to 20-8. The only other time it took them just 28 games to reach 20 wins was when they opened the 1934-35 season at 20-6-2.Patrick Marleau scored with 5:13 remaining in regulation to force overtime, and Kasperi Kapanen set up the decisive goal. Jake Gardiner also scored and Mitchell Marner had an assist to give him 11 in five games. Frederik Andersen stopped 38 shots to win his fourth straight.Jack Eichel scored twice for Buffalo, which dropped to 0-2-2 since equaling the franchise record with a 10-game winning streak. Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, CAPITALS 3LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nate Schmidt scored twice in the final two minutes to lift Vegas over Washington in a rematch of the Stanley Cup final last spring.It was the first time Washington skated at T-Mobile Arena since winning and hoisting the Stanley Cup in June.Schmidt burst through the neutral zone and beat goalie Braden Holtby with a tiebreaking wrist shot with 1:24 left for his first goal of the season. The former Capital added an empty-netter moments later.Ryan Reaves, Pierre Edouard-Bellemare and Cody Eakin also scored for the Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves.Jakub Vrana had two goals and Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington. Holtby also stopped 23 shots.PENGUINS 6, AVALANCHE 3PITTSBURGH (AP) — Patric Hornqvist’s natural hat trick in the third period powered Pittsburgh past Colorado.The Avalanche had erased a three-goal deficit to tie the game going into the third when Hornqvist went to work.His power-play goal 6:11 into the final period gave the Penguins the lead. Hornqvist beat Semyon Varlamov again 1:21 later to push Pittsburgh’s advantage to two, and the veteran from Sweden completed the hat trick on his next shift when he fired a wrist shot by Varlamov less than 90 seconds later.Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin and Derick Brassard also scored for the Penguins, who halted Colorado’s 11-game point streak. Kris Letang added two assists, and Casey DeSmith made 42 saves.Tyson Barrie, Carl Soderberg and Matt Nieto scored for the Avalanche, who had their six-game road win streak snapped.LIGHTNING 6, RED WINGS 5, SODETROIT (AP) — Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Victor Hedman scored in a shootout to give Tampa Bay a comeback win over Detroit.The Lightning, who have won seven of eight, erased a 5-3 deficit in the third period and overcame Frans Nielsen’s hat trick.Mathieu Joseph had two goals and an assist for Tampa Bay. Steven Stamkos, J.T. Miller and Cedric Paquette also scored.Ryan Callahan had two assists and Edward Pasquale made 19 saves to win his NHL debut. He stopped Nielsen and Thomas Vanek in the tiebreaker.Despite the shootout goal, Kucherov’s 10-game point streak came to an end.Nielsen scored three times for his second career hat trick. Gustav Nyquist scored twice for the Red Wings, plus a shootout goal.JETS 3, ISLANDERS 1NEW YORK (AP) — Jacob Trouba and Adam Lowry scored 22 seconds apart early in the third period to rally Winnipeg over New York.Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-net goal with 2.1 seconds left and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots as Winnipeg won for the fifth time in six games. The Jets have three straight road wins for the first time this season after completing a sweep of their three-game trip to the New York area.Anders Lee scored for the Islanders
Adidas Mike Hoffman Jersey , who have lost three of four.PANTHERS 5, BRUINS 0SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Roberto Luongo made 33 saves in his 77th career shutout, Mike Hoffman scored twice and Florida blanked Boston.Luongo, who returned to the lineup after missing five games with a knee injury, passed Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito for sole possession of ninth place on the NHL’s shutout list.Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists, while Mike Matheson and Evgenii Dadonov also scored. Aleksander Barkov had three assists and Keith Yandle added two.Jaroslav Halak stopped 39 shots as the Panthers had a season-high 44 shots on goal. The Bruins lost for the third time in four games.FLAMES 9, BLUE JACKETS 6COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and two assists, and Calgary scored five times in the second period to rally past Columbus.Cam Atkinson netted a hat trick to extend his point streak to 11 games, but the Blue Jackets lost their second straight.Sean Monahan also had two goals and two assists for Calgary, which scored five straight goals for a 6-4 lead during the second period. Monahan opened that barrage 1:55 into the second, and Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Noah Hanifin and TJ Brodie followed with goals. Tkachuk, Hanifin and Brodie scored in a span of 1:53.Monahan, Gaudreau and Austin Czarnik each scored in the third period for Calgary.David Rittich and Mike Smith combined to stop 24 shots for the Flames. Calgary earned a point in its fifth straight game to stay atop the Pacific Division and improved to 17-9-2.Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 of 26 shots before being replaced in the third period by Joonas Korpisalo.Zach Werenski, Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno also scored for Columbus.CANADIENS 5, SENATORS 2MONTREAL (AP) — Max Domi had two goals and an assist and Jonathan Drouin added a goal and two assists as Montreal defeated Ottawa.Artturi Lehkonen and Brendan Gallagher also scored for the Canadiens, who won for the second time in eight games. Carey Price stopped 28 shots.Mark Stone and Dylan DeMelo scored for the Senators, whose three-game winning streak was halted. Craig Anderson made 36 saves.WILD 3
Adidas Jonny Brodzinski Jersey , CANUCKS 2VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Jason Zucker broke a tie late in the second period and Minnesota scored on all three of its power plays, beating the staggering Vancouver Canucks to stop a three-game slide.Ryan Suter and Zach Parise also scored for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves and Mikael Granlund had two assists.Josh Leivo scored on his first shot in a Canucks uniform. Tyler Motte also had a goal for Vancouver, which has lost 12 of 13. Anders Nilsson stopped 25 shots.COYOTES 2, KINGS 1LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nick Schmaltz had a power-play goal, Adin Hill made 25 saves for his fourth straight win and Arizona beat Los Angeles.Lawson Crouse scored a short-handed goal for the Coyotes, undefeated since acquiring Schmaltz in a trade with Chicago on Nov. 25. Hill has stopped 84 of 86 shots since replacing an injured Antti Raanta to start the third period at Minnesota on Nov. 27.Alec Martinez scored and Jonathan Quick made 18 saves for the Kings, held to two goals or fewer in five consecutive games.Dustin Brown appeared to have scored the tying goal with 56.4 seconds remaining, but it was immediately waived off because his stick was over his head when he tipped the puck in. HOCKEYCHICAGO (AP) Emergency goaltender Scott Foster played the final 14 minutes after Chicago lost Anton Forsberg and Collin Delia to injuries, closing out the Blackhawks’ 6-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.It was Foster’s first competitive action since 20 minutes in relief with Western Michigan University in the 2005-06 season.Forsberg was expected to start, but he was scratched after the team said he got hurt during warmups. Delia, who was just recalled from the minors Wednesday, then stopped 25 of 27 shots in his NHL debut before he was helped off the ice in the third period due to a lower-body injury.Enter Foster, a 36-year-old accountant. After a short warmup, the game resumed and Foster got a big cheer from the crowd of 21,839 when he denied Tyler Myers for his first save about a minute after he came in.Backed by chants of ”Foster! Foster!” and more loud ovations down the stretch, he finished with seven stops against the playoff-bound Jets, winners of six in a row.BASEBALLNEW YORK (AP) – The average major league salary on opening day dropped slightly following an offseason of slashed contracts for many free agents and the decisions to start three highly paid players in the minor leagues, according to study by The Associated Press.The $4.41 million average Thursday fell 0.9 percent from last year’s starting figure of $4.45 million, according to the AP’s calculations. It was only the second drop since the end of the 1994-95 strike, after a 2.7 decrease in 2004.Two late-signing free agent pitchers were optioned to farm teams just ahead of Thursday’s openers to get more preparation time: Philadelphia’s Jake Arrieta and Baltimore’s Alex Cobb. If they had remained in the majors
Adidas Peter Budaj Jersey , the average would have been down just $1,380. And if Arizona outfielder Yasmany Tomas had also remained in the big leagues, the average would have been up 0.2 percent to $4.46 million.Boston had a $224 million payroll and topped the major leagues for the first time since at least the 1980s. San Francisco was next at $207 million, followed by the Chicago Cubs ($182 million), Washington ($181 million), the NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers ($179 million), the Los Angeles Angels ($170 million) and the New York Yankees in seventh at $167 million. The Yankees have their lowest payroll since 2003 and their lowest ranking since 1992.PRO BASKETBALLPHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid will need surgery on an orbital fracture of his left eye and he has a concussion.There was no timetable Thursday on how long Embiid would be sidelined. The 76ers are set to play Friday in Atlanta and Sunday in Charlotte.Embiid posted a photo on Instagram of him on the court and grabbing his face with the caption, ”I guess I gotta trust `The Process’ that I’ve been preaching… Unfortunate freak accident but I’ll be more than fine.”Markelle Fultz was driving toward the basket Wednesday against the Knicks when he appeared to accidentally head-butt Embiid. The 7-footer immediately went to the floor. He remained on the floor for several minutes before he was assisted by Philadelphia’s trainer. Embiid sat up once before lying back down on the court. Eventually, he was helped off the court.Fultz was not injured on the play. He posted a hands-clasped prayer emoji on Embiid’s photo.EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) – Los Angeles Lakers guard Isaiah Thomas will need four months to recover from arthroscopic surgery on his right hip.The Lakers announced Thomas’ prognosis after the surgery Thursday.Thomas will be a free agent by the time he recovers from the procedure, but he has expressed interest in staying with the Lakers.The two-time All-Star guard averaged 15.6 points and 5.0 assists in 17 games with Los Angeles, which acquired him from Cleveland in February.OLYMPICSTOKYO (AP) – The man who organized the most popular Winter Olympics 24 years ago in the Norwegian ski resort of Lillehammer says it’s too soon to return in 2026.But watch for Lillehammer in 2030.Gerhard Heiberg tells The Associated Press he’s ”a little sad” that Norway can’t join the chase for 2026.He adds ”I think 2026 would have been best for us” but acknowledges organizers and politicians had too little time to work out details.Bidders have until Saturday to let the International Olympic Committee know of their interest. In October, the IOC will trim the field to serious contenders and pick the host next year.At least four serious bids are likely to be on the table: Calgary, Canada; Stockholm, Sweden; Sapporo, Japan; Sion, Switzerland. Interest might also come for Austria, Italy and Turkey.
