8 Page 57 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Okay, Confirmed, Evander Kane Is A "Playoff Player"
In his ninth season, in his fourth city, Evander Kane had played 574 games without ever making the playoffs. (That was just five games shy of Carolina’s Jeff Skinner, who now has no real challengers.) So when Kane earlier this week called himself a “playoff player,” he was talking style, not experi...
Good Lord, Filip Forsberg, This Is Sorcery
Filip Forsberg scored twice in the third period of the Predators’ 5-2 win over the Avalanche in Game 1 of their first-round series tonight, but forget about that first goal for now, because his second one was truly gorgeous. It’s unclear how exactly he managed to keep track of the puck here in order...
Capitals Collapse, In What Is Surely Not An Omen Of Things To Come
Maybe it’s just me, but it felt easier to talk myself into the Capitals this playoffs. They’re still a very good team, the thinking went, but without the pressure of the Presidents’ Trophy—which they won the past two years—maybe they could learn from experience and surprise people by avoiding the in...
The Bruins Whupped The Leafs, But The Ugliness Is Just Beginning
Despite one truly beautiful goal from Toronto’s Zach Hyman, the Bruins easily dispatched the Maple Leafs at home in the first game of their opening-round series tonight, winning 5-1. Boston looked good doing it, too—they closed the night with four straight goals, including this third-period highligh...
Winnipeg's Been Waiting A Long Time For This
It had been 22 years since a Winnipeg Jets team won a playoff game, and that wasn’t even these Winnipeg Jets. That was a different franchise altogether; it’s in Arizona now. This Jets franchise, including its time in Atlanta, had never won a playoff game. But before a crazy, popcorn-erupting, whited...
This Is What Playoff Hockey In Vegas Looks Like
The Vegas Golden Knights, the expansion NHL team that somehow won its division, were the best story in hockey this year. ...
Timberwolves Survive Nikola Jokic To Earn First Playoff Bid In 13 Years
The NBA’s unofficial play-in game lived up to its importance tonight, as the Minnesota Timberwolves needed overtime to outlast the Denver Nuggets for the Western Conference eighth seed. Minnesota earned its playoff appearance with a 112-106 win, overcoming stellar play from Nikola Jokic—who scored 3...
The Combine At Night Is Where The NFL Happens
INDIANAPOLIS — At 1:12 a.m., my phone lit up with a text. It was one of my spies telling me the party had arrived....
Here's Everything At Stake On The Last Night Of The NBA Regular Season
Tonight, anyone watching the NBA will get to see the closest possible regular-season equivalent of a play-in game when the Denver Nuggets travel to Minnesota to play the T-Wolves for the last playoff spot. Both clubs are 46-35, and Minnesota leads the season series 2-1, though a 100-96 win last week...
Entire U.S. Men's Curling Team Combines For Total Of One Respectable First Pitch
The gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic men’s curling team stopped by Thursday’s Minnesota Twins game to throw out the first pitch, and boy were their deliveries crummy. The combined efforts of (from left to right) Joe Polo, John Shuster, Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, and John Landsteiner resulted in one...
Holy Diapers, It’s Time For Your Name Of The Year Deadcast<em></em>
Every year we make a point of reading the Name of the Year bracket out loud, and every year the bracket succeeds in reducing me to a puddle of tears. But THIS bracket … my god man, this year’s bracket nearly killed me. I know I say every bracket is the strongest bracket ever, but holy shit. When you...
The Donte DiVincenzo Show Was A Damn Work Of Art
Donte DiVincenzo was not a sophomore bench player on Monday night. He was when the game started, but by the final horn he was the man who had saved a national championship for Villanova. ...
Villanova Coasts To Title On Back Of Record-Setting Bench Player Donte DiVincenzo<em></em>
For the bulk of the first half, tonight’s NCAA men’s basketball championship was Michigan’s game—not by more than a few points, not convincingly, but it was. With six minutes remaining, though, Donte DiVincenzo hit a three to deliver Villanova its first lead since the opening seconds, and then he se...
This Was Muffet McGraw's Masterpiece, And Notre Dame's Next Season Could Be Even Better<em></em>
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Muffet McGraw’s husband Matt clearly knows the drill by now. He beamed as he watched his wife of 40 years hold court with reporters after the greatest coaching win of her career. She wore a black dress that she’d bought especially for what turned out to be her second national champi...
This Is "This Is March": Unpacking College Basketball's Most Uncanny Twitter Account
Jon Rothstein is a real person. He was born in a town at the very outermost edge of what could be called exurban New York City and has covered sports for a living virtually from the moment he graduated from Ithaca College. Rothstein won a Dream Job contest at New York’s ESPN sports radio station, 10...
Notre Dame's Arike Ogunbowale Crushes Mississippi State With Championship-Winning Three
For a while, it looked like today’s National Championship game would be an anticlimactic finale after both semifinals went to overtime on Friday. Mississippi State led Notre Dame 30-17 at the half, holding the Irish to just three points in the second quarter. But Notre Dame fought back and gave us a...
Late Michigan Surge Ends Loyola-Chicago's Heroic Cinderella Run
For a good 30-plus minutes Saturday night it looked like the unlikely tournament run of 11th-seed Loyola-Chicago would live on. The Ramblers had a seven-point lead at halftime; that lead would grow to 10 points early in the second half, and stood as high as eight points at the 11:25 mark. From that ...
Enjoy This Video Of The Broadcast Table During The Closing Moments Of Notre Dame's Huge Upset
This rules. It’s footage of the broadcast table during the closing seconds of Friday’s Final Four game between Connecticut and Notre Dame, as junior Arike Ogunbowale knocked down the game-winning basket:...