Sports

By MATTHEW COLES Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder strengthened their hopes of reaching the play-in tournament with a 114-98 victory over the short-handed Utah Jazz. Josh Giddey had 17 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, while Aaron Wiggins scored 15 for the Thunder,

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Thatcher Demko stopped 33 shots for his first shutout of the season and third overall in the Vancouver Canucks’ 3-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. Andrei Kuzmenko, Vitali Kravtsov and J.T. Miller — into the empty net — scored and defenseman Akito Hirose had two assists to

By JACK THOMPSON Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Chris Paul made a career-high seven 3-pointers and the Phoenix Suns won their season-best seventh game in a row, holding off the short-handed Denver Nuggets 119-115. Kevin Durant added six 3s and led the Suns with 29 points, while Paul scored 25. Durant also had seven rebounds.

By SCHUYLER DIXON AP Sports Writer DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson beat the first-period buzzer while scoring twice, and the Dallas Stars kept pace in the tight Central Division playoff race with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Joe Pavelski had a goal and two assists to get to 999 career points. The Stars

MONTREAL (AP) — Joel Armia had his second career hat trick and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals 6-2 on Thursday night to snap a four-game skid. Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher and Mike Hoffman also scored for Montreal, Mike Matheson had two assists and Sam Montembeault made 24 saves. Dylan Strome and Nicklas Backstom

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jacob Quillan had a two-goal game for the second time during the NCAA Tournament, Yaniv Perets posted 29 saves and Quinnipiac beat Michigan 5-2 in the Frozen Four. Quinnipiac, which set a program record for wins, advances to its third national title game in program history against Minnesota on Saturday. The

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