AP National Sports

By KEVIN COONEY Associated Press PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro each scored 24 points and the Miami Heat kept alive their hopes of avoiding the NBA’s play-in tournament with a 129-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. Max Strus and Bam Adebayo both added 14 points. Miami started fast, leading

By DAVID SOLOMON Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kasperi Kapanen scored 1:16 into overtime to help the St. Louis Blues beat the New York Rangers 3-2. Kapanen took a pass from Brayden Schenn to score his 15th goal of the season for St. Louis, which has won two in a row. Tyler Pitlick and

By CHARLES ODUM AP Sports Writer ATLANTA (AP) — Orlando Arcia singled in the winning run in the ninth inning for his third hit and the Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres 7-6 on Thursday night in their home opener. Arcia hit a third-inning homer and also had a double. With two outs in

By BRENDAN McGAIR Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — David Pastrnak scored his 57th goal of the season at 2:30 of overtime to give the history-chasing Boston Bruins a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. Pastrnak blasted a shot from inside the left circle as the Bruins notched their 61st victory —

By TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mark Jankowski had a goal and an assist in the first period and the young Nashville Predators beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Thursday night to keep their improbable playoff hopes alive with four games left. Michael McCarron also scored as the Predators won

By DICK SCANLON Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Danny Green scored 21 points, Cedi Osman added 19 and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic 118-94 in a game in which both teams rested their starters. Isaiah Mobley came off the bench with 18 points for the Cavaliers. Jalen Suggs led the Magic with

By RAUL DOMINGUEZ Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Keita Bates-Diop had 25 points, Julian Champagnie and Keldon Johnson added 24 points each and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 129-127 on Thursday night in the first NBA in Texas’ capital city. Tre Jones had 18 points and 10 assists for San

By WILL GRAVES AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tristan Jarry stopped 27 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins kept pace in the race for one of the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference with a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. The Penguins bounced back from a miserable performance in a loss to New

By ALLAN KREDA Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Pelech, Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri and Ryan Pulock all scored second-period goals, Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves and the New York Islanders kept pace in the Eastern Conference wild-card race with a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Simon Holmstrom and Bo Horvat also

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The 13th hole at Masters went from the easiest of the four par 5s a year ago to the most difficult in Thursday’s first round following modifications at Augusta National. The 13th hole, which leaves Amen Corner, has traditionally been a relative gimme for the

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks won’t have Giannis Antetokounmpo and several other notable players Friday night when they host the Memphis Grizzlies, who can take the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with a victory. Milwaukee already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the NBA and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mets catcher Omar Narváez will be placed on the injured list with a strained left calf that will likely sideline him several weeks. The Mets announced Thursday that Narváez had an MRI that revealed a medium- to high-grade strain. The team said the typical timeline for recovery from that

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Top-seeded Jessica Pegula lost 10 straight games and trailed 4-0 in the final set before rallying Thursday to reach the Charleston Open quarterfinals. Pegula led the top four seeds in advancing to the final eight. That included No. 4 seed and defending champion Belinda Bencic, who lost her first set before

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer DENVER (AP) — Kyle Freeland pitched four-hit ball over 6 2/3 innings, Jurickson Profar made several nifty catches in left field and the Colorado Rockies won their home opener 1-0 over the Washington Nationals. Kris Bryant drove in the only run with a single in the fifth after Ezequiel

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Freshman Luke Mittelstadt scored two third-period goals in two-and-a-half minutes and top-ranked Minnesota beat Boston University 6-2 in the opening game of the NCAA Frozen Four. Mittelstadt gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead on a power play with 18:20 left in the third period and his second came from the same spot

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Augusta National took another surprising step toward modernization: The Masters allowed for a walk-and-talk during the opening round when Rory McIlroy answered questions for the ESPN telecast while playing the ninth fairway. CBS, which is producing the Masters, first broke out the technology at the

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Brooks Koepka carved out a new identity that sure looked familiar Thursday in the Masters. This wasn’t about his surprising defection last year to LIV Golf, or even his victory four days ago that made him the Saudi-funded circuit’s first multiple winner. He just looked

By BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans have ruled out Zion Williamson for Friday night’s game against the New York Knicks but are stopping short of providing a timeline for how much longer the All-Star forward will be sidelined by his right hamstring injury. Basketball operations chief David

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Jon Rahm overcame a four-putt double bogey on the opening hole to finish at 7-under 65 and tied for the first round lead with Viktor Hovland and LIV golfer Brooks Koepka at the Masters. Cameron Young and Jason Day are two shots back after posting 67s on Thursday. Defending champion Scottie

LONDON (AP) — England’s Chloe Kelly has scored the winning spot-kick to settle the first women’s Finalissima after a dramatic game against Brazil watched by 83,132 fans at Wembley ended in a 4-2 penalty shootout victory for the hosts. Ella Toone looked to have secured the win for England in a match between the champions