NFL
Saquon Barkley rushed for 146 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns, and the Philadelphia Eagles stretched their lead in the NFC East with a 26-18 win over Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders. Jalen Hurts ran for the go-ahead touchdown for Philadelphia after he was evaluated for a concussion following a hard hit in the second quarter. He finished with 221 yards passing. The Eagles won their sixth straight since their bye to improve to 8-2. Washington fell to 7-4 with its second straight loss. Daniels was stopped on a fourth-down scramble when the Commanders were in range for a go-ahead field goal.
Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders were stopped on a critical fourth down in the fourth quarter of their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Washington trailed 12-10 and could have tried a go-ahead field goal from about 43 yards, but instead, Daniels scrambled for no gain on fourth-and-2. The Eagles took over and Saquon Barkley scored the first of his two fourth-quarter touchdowns for a two-score lead. Coach Dan Quinn didn't second-guess his decision to go for it but says he didn't like the execution. Washington has lost two straight to fall to 7-4.
A person familiar with the situation tells The Associated Press that the Kansas City Chiefs are putting kicker Harrison Butker on injured reserve with a knee injury. The Chiefs hope to have him back by the playoffs, but he will miss at least four weeks. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the injury had not been announced, said the club is expected to sign Spencer Shrader off the Jets' practice squad to fill in beginning with Sunday's game in Buffalo. Kansas City is 9-0 as it chases a third straight Super Bowl. The Bills are 8-2 heading into their showdown.
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves, Anders Lee had a goal and an assist and the New York Islanders beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Thursday night. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Scott Mayfield, Pierre Engvall and Noah Dobson — into an empty net — also scored for New York. The Islanders were coming off consecutive 4-3 overtime losses, at home against New Jersey on Saturday and at Edmonton on Tuesday night. Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored his first NHL goal early in the first period for Vancouver, and Tyler Myers finished the scoring late in the third.
Mika Zibanejad, Jimmy Vesey and Vincent Trocheck each scored in the second period and the New York Rangers beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2. Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves as the Rangers rebounded from Tuesday’s 6-3 loss to league-best Winnipeg and got their fourth win in six games. Timothy Liljegren and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Sharks, who have lost four of six (2-3-1). Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 32 shots.
Rasmus Dahlin scored 1:33 into overtime to lift the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues. Alex Tuch and Ryan McLeod each had a goal and an assist in Buffalo’s fourth win in five games. Zach Benson also scored, and Devon Levi made 24 stops. Brandon Saad scored twice for St. Louis, which dropped to 0-3-1 in its last four games. Pavel Buchnevich also scored. Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington had 29 saves.
Jesper Bratt got his second career hat trick, Stefan Noesen scored twice and the New Jersey Devils beat the Florida Panthers 6-2 on Thursday night to sweep a two-game series with the Stanley Cup champions. Jack Hughes had a goal and two assists for the Devils, who also won 4-1 in Florida on Tuesday. Sam Reinhart — the first player with 13 goals this season — and Jesper Boqvist scored for Florida, which hadn’t dropped two straight since Oct. 10 and 12.
Evgenii Dadonov scored two goals, including the first successful penalty shot in the NHL this season, and the Dallas Stars beat the Boston Bruins 7-2. Matt Duchene, Roope Hintz, Mason Marchment and rookies Logan Stankoven and Oskar Back also scored for the Stars, who continued an offensive roll following a 7-1 win at Pittsburgh on Monday. Dadonov gave Dallas a 2-0 lead at 6:36 of the first period after being obstructed on a breakaway by Mason Lohrei. Five previous NHL penalty shots didn’t produce a goal. Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins, who split two games on a Central Division road trip.
Matvei Michkov scored from a sharp angle at the side the goal at 4:05 of overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 5-4 comeback victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. Anthony Richard and Bobby Brink tied it for Philadelphia midway through the third period with goals in a 2:03 span. Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny also scored. Ivan Fedotov made 33 saves. Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris and Adam Gaudette scored for Ottawa, coming off road victories over Boston and Toronto. Linus Ullmark made 14 saves.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves in his 300th NHL win, and the Tampa Bay Lightning stopped Winnipeg’s seven-game win streak with a 4-1 victory over the Jets. Vasilevskiy is the 40th goaltender in league history to win 300 games. He reached the milestone in 490 games, the fewest in NHL history, 31 faster than Jacques Plante. Winnipeg lost for just the second time in 17 games this season. It dropped to 7-1 on the road. Jake Guentzel scored twice for the Lightning, who had lost their previous five games against the Jets, including 7-4 in Winnipeg on Nov. 3.
Kirill Kaprizov had an empty-net goal and an assist, Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves for his first shutout of the season and the Minnesota Wild beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0. Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi also scored. Boldy opened the scoring in the second period when he tapped in a goal-mouth feed from Marcus Johansson. Rossi added a power-play goal in the third for the Wild. Kaprizov scored into and empty net with 20 seconds left to clinch it for the Wild, who are 6-1-1 since Oct. 29.
Connor McDavid scored early in the second period to become the fourth-fastest NHL player to reach 1,000 points, then assisted on Darnell Nurse’s overtime goal in the Edmonton Oilers’ 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. On the milestone goal, McDavid took a pass from Leon Draisaitl on a 2-on-1 break and beat goalie Scott Wedgewood with a shot to the near post to tie it at 1. In overtime, he set up Nurse’s goal with a backhand pass. The 27-year-old McDavid reached 1,000 in his 659th game. Wayne Gretzky was the fastest at 424 games, followed by Mario Lemieux at 513 and Mike Bossy at 656. McDavid has 341 goals and 660 assists. He’s the 99th NHL player to reach 1,000 points.
Jaden Schwartz scored on a power play 1:34 into the third period, and the Seattle Kraken pushed their winning streak to three games with a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Matty Beniers and Brandon Tanev also scored. Beniers made it 1-0 4:18 in the second period before Schwartz’s goal gave Seattle a two-goal cushion. Former Kraken player Ryan Donato pulled Chicago back within one with his eighth goal of the season, but Tanev sealed the game with an empty-net goal at with 19 seconds left. Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord made 18 saves for Seattle. Chicago’s Petr Mrazek stopped 23 shots.
NBA
John Collins scored the last of his 28 points on a tiebreaking dunk with 6.4 seconds left to give the Utah Jazz their first home victory of the season, 115-113 over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night. Collins also had nine rebounds. Jordan Clarkson added 20 points. Luka Doncic had 37 points, seven rebounds and nine assists for Dallas. Quentin Grimes added 15 points and five assists while filling in for Kyrie Irving, who missed the game because of a right shoulder sprain. Klay Thompson had 17 points. The Mavericks erased the double-digit deficit and tied it on Thompson’s 3-pointer in the final minute. Collins answered with his winner.
SOCCER
Ricardo Pepi scored from Christian Pulisic’s pass in the fifth minute, Matt Turner saved a penalty kick and the United States won 1-0 at Jamaica in a CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal first leg, the Americans’ first competitive match under coach Mauricio Pochettino. The second leg of the total-goals series is Monday in St. Louis. The winner advances to a March 20 semifinal at Inglewood, California. The United States won the first three editions of the tournament. Pepi scored his 12th goal in 32 international appearances, mis-hitting his shot but putting the ball in off goalkeeper Andre Blake’s far post.
BOXING
Mike Tyson isn't the villain anymore as the 58-year-old prepares to fight the much younger Jake Paul in a sanctioned pro bout in Texas. Paul says he's the disputer as the 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer facing one of boxing's most famous fighters. It's the first sanctioned fight for Tyson since he retired almost 20 years ago. The bout is tonight at 8 at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. A crowd of at least 60,000 is expected. The streaming platform Netflix is offering the bout at no additional cost to more than 280 million subscribers globally.
OLYMPICS
Lindsey Vonn says she is coming out of retirement to rejoin the U.S. Ski Team in an attempt to race again at age 40. Thursday's announcement comes more than six years after Vonn's last Olympics. She is a three-time Olympic medalist, including a downhill gold and super-G bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and a bronze in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She is also a four-time overall World Cup champion and owns eight world championships medals. Her 82 World Cup race victories stood as the record for a woman until that total was eclipsed by Mikaela Shiffrin.
MLB
The Tampa Bay Rays will play their 2025 home games at the New York Yankees’ nearby spring training ballpark amid uncertainty about the future of hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field. Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg told The Associated Press that Steinbrenner Field in Tampa is the best fit for the team and its fanbase. At about 11,000 seats, it’s also the largest of the spring training sites in Florida. The Rays’ home since 1998, the domed Tropicana Field, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9, with most of its fabric roof shredded. It likely cannot be repaired before the 2026 season.
Left-handers Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox have been selected Major League Baseball’s Comeback Players of the Year. Cleveland right-hander Emmanuel Clase won his second AL Reliever of the Year Award and St. Louis righty Ryan Helsley won the NL honor. Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani joined David Ortiz as the only players to win four straight Outstanding Designated Hitter Awards. (The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei) Ohtani and the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge won Hank Aaron Awards as the outstanding offensive performers in their leagues.
COLLEGE HOCKEY
Citing financial reasons and other factors, American International College in Springfield says after this season, its men's ice hockey team will return to Division II. Most of the college’s athletic programs already play at that level, but since 1998, the men's hockey team has been in Division I — winning four regular season titles from 2019 to 2022. The team earned three appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a shocking upset in 2019 when it defeated St. Cloud State in the regional semifinals. According to College Hockey News, AIC will also likely forgo its rink partnership with the MassMutual Center. The college says it will also be cutting its women's tennis and wrestling programs as part of a "pathway to progress initiative." That includes expanded teaching loads for full-time faculty and a new three-year, 120-credit bachelor's degree option for some undergraduate programs.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
The world’s tallest teenager might have to wait a year to become the world’s tallest college basketball player. Florida coach Todd Golden says Olivier Rioux, a 7-foot-9 freshman who owns a spot in the Guinness record book, is planning to redshirt. Had the popular Canadian played in even one game, he would have burned one of his four seasons of college eligibility. Instead, Rioux will spend the rest of the 2024-25 season practicing with teammates and honing his skills. He will still be a freshman next fall. Florida students chanted for “Oli” in the final minutes of a victory over Grambling State on Monday as Golden emptied the bench. But Rioux remained seated.
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