Minnesota United beats Rapids on road for first time, 2-1

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Minnesota United beats Rapids on road for first time, 2-1 COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Miguel Tapias scored in the 82nd minute to rally Minnesota United to a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.Tapias scored the match-winner off a pass from Franco Fragapane, giving Minnesota United (2-0-1) its first road win over the Rapids. Minnesota entered play with an 0-5-1 mark in Colorado.Neither team scored until Cole Bassett found the net in the 49th minute to give Colorado (0-3-1) a 1-0 lead. It was the Rapids’ first goal of the season. Only the 2015 Rapids and Toronto (2007) have gone scoreless in four matches to open a season.Luis Amarilla scored the equalizer for Minnesota United on a penalty kick in the 54th minute.Colorado outshot Minnesota United 12-11 with a 3-2 edge in shots on goal.Dayne St. Clair had two saves in goal for Minnesota United. William Yarbrough finished without a save for the Rapids.——AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Jason Robertson scores in OT, Stars beat Flames 6-5

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Jason Robertson scores in OT, Stars beat Flames 6-5 CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Jason Robertson scored his second goal of the game at 4:47 of overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 6-5 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.Robertson cut across the crease and lifted a backhander over goalie Jacob Markstrom in overtime. Robertson has 41 goals to become the first player with consecutive 40-goal seasons since the franchise moved from Minnesota to Dallas for the 1993-94 season. He’s the third in team history, joining Dino Ciccarelli (three in a row in 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1987-88) and Dave Gagner (1989-90, 1990-91).Joe Pavelski, Radek Faksa, Wyatt Johnston and Jani Hakanpaa also scored to help Central-leading Dallas snap a two-game losing streak and end a six-game trip with four victories. Jake Oettinger made 33 saves.Elias Lindholm, MacKenzie Weegar, Blake Coleman, Nick Ritchie and Rasmus Andersson scored for Calgary. Markstrom stopped 20 shots. The Flames are four points behind Winnipeg for the Western Conference’s last wild-...

Demko, Canucks finish strong to hand Kings 3-2 shootout loss

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Demko, Canucks finish strong to hand Kings 3-2 shootout loss LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elias Pettersson had a power-play goal, Thatcher Demko made 38 saves and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night.Brock Boeser also scored in regulation for the Canucks, who have won six of seven. J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes each had two assists, and Demko saved a penalty shot by Adrian Kempe midway through the second period.Miller and Andrei Kuzmenko converted in the shootout. Demko denied both Los Angeles attempts.Carl Grundstrom and Alex Edler scored for the Kings, who earned one point and moved into a tie with Vegas for first place in the Pacific Division. Joonas Korpisalo made 15 saves.Los Angeles hasn’t lost in regulation in its past nine games and is 12-2-3 since the All-Star break. But in the shootout, Gabe Vilardi fired over the net and Trevor Moore was stopped by Demko.Pettersson buried a shot from the right circle seven seconds into Vancouver’s first power play of the night to tie it at 2 midway throug...

Robertson, Canada deny Burling, New Zealand home SailGP win

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Robertson, Canada deny Burling, New Zealand home SailGP win Phil Robertston steered Team Canada to its first SailGP victory on Sunday by recovering from a penalty late in the podium race in Christchurch to deny Peter Burling and Team New Zealand a victory in home waters. Robertson, himself a New Zealander, sailed his foiling 50-foot catamaran aggressively in the three-boat final to win the New Zealand Sail Grand Prix, the penultimate regatta in Season 3 of tech tycoon Larry Ellison’s global league.Two-time defending SailGP champion Team Australia, which finished third in the podium race, and Team New Zealand remain 1-2 in the season standings heading into the final regatta in San Francisco May 6-7, which will conclude with the $1 million, winner-take-all Grand Final among the top three boats. But the victory was huge for Canada, which is in its first season in SailGP. The Canadians reached the podium races in the season’s first two regattas but didn’t reach another final race until Sunday. Their wingsail was smashed and the...

Bassi’s PK goal sparks Houston to 2-0 victory over Austin

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Bassi’s PK goal sparks Houston to 2-0 victory over Austin HOUSTON (AP) — Amine Bassi scored on a penalty kick in the 71st minute to break a scoreless tie and lead the Houston Dynamo to a 2-0 victory over Austin FC on Saturday night.Bassi’s goal came after Austin’s Adam Lundkvist was charged with a hand-ball foul. Héctor Herrera took a pass from Griffin Dorsey and added an insurance goal in the 86th minute.Houston (1-2-0), which lost its first two matches to open a season for the first time in club history, snapped a three-match skid against Austin and picked up its second win in the last six match-ups.Austin (2-2-0), which lost to first-year member St. Louis City in its opener, had won two straight matches for the first time since a four-match win streak spanning June and July last season. Austin’s four wins over the Dynamo are its most against any team.Houston has managed at least two points through its first three matches in every season but 2009, when it started 0-2-1.The Dynamo outshot Austin 15-13 with a 7-5 edge in ...

Markkanen’s scoring, Kessler’s block lifts Jazz past Celtics

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Markkanen’s scoring, Kessler’s block lifts Jazz past Celtics SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lauri Markkanen scored 28 points and Walker Kessler had a game-saving block to help the Utah Jazz to a 118-117 comeback win over the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.Grant Williams, who had 23 points and a career-high seven 3-pointers, was driving for a potential game-winner but ran into Kessler, who blocked his shot just before the final buzzer.“I figured he was going to shot fake so I stayed down and tried to time it as best as I could and I got a hand on it,” Kessler said about his rejection at the rim.The play was designed to go to Jayson Tatum on a dribble handoff, but Williams had 12 points in the fourth quarter and took it to the hoop.“I’m not frustrated at Grant. If he made it, everybody would be happy. It’s not why we lost, that last play,” Tatum said.Talen Horton-Tucker had 19 points and Ochai Agbaji added 16 for the Jazz, who overcame a 19-point deficit to win and stay in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.“We want to make the playoffs,...

MIAA state finals: Girls hockey preview and picks

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

MIAA state finals: Girls hockey preview and picks It’s only fitting that a member from each of arguably the two toughest leagues are set to face off for the Div. 1 girls hockey state final at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday at TD Garden.It’s only more compelling that it’s a private school versus a public co-op, and that it’s the nightcap of a wild day.Top-seeded St. Mary’s of Lynn (25-1) has been the consensus choice all year to reach this stage, returning for the first time since winning in 2013. Jenna Chaplain (200-point scorer), Maggie Pierce (100-point scorer) and Amanda Forziati form an electric attack further bolstered by Gabbi Oakes and Tia Picardi, while depth across the board is a huge strength. Head coach Frank Pagliuca preaches defense, which is even better: senior goalie Angelina Catino has allowed just 18 goals through 25 games.The Spartans are the favorite, but No. 3 Shrewsbury (20-2-2) is as fit as any to challenge for the title within a different storyline.Having never reached this stage before, coach Frank Panarelli’s Colonial...

Recapping the Chicago Bulls: Hot 3-point shooting leads to 113-99 win against the Miami Heat

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Recapping the Chicago Bulls: Hot 3-point shooting leads to 113-99 win against the Miami Heat Sustained energy has been hard to find for the Chicago Bulls.The season has followed the same script — building a lead in the first half only to let it slip away. So when the Miami Heat began to chip away at a lead in the second half Saturday — carving a 27-point deficit down to only three points — it seemed the Bulls were set to once again repeat their greatest weakness.Instead, the Bulls absorbed the pressure to preserve a 113-99 victory at the United Center. DeMar DeRozan scorched from midrange for a team-high 24 points. Patrick Beverley threw himself from one touchline to the other and scored 17 points while Coby White led a barrage of shots from the 3-point line and finished with 18 points.The result came on the heels of a double-overtime win Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, giving the Bulls a rare pair of consecutive wins. And as they stretch out a 9-7 record following the All-Star break, the Bulls have found a small lift in their race for play-in c...

Heat unable to sustain, wilt in 113-99 loss to weary Bulls

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Heat unable to sustain, wilt in 113-99 loss to weary Bulls The good news for the Miami Heat is that to advance out of the play-in round, you only have to win one game in a row.Because anything extended at the moment appears to be out of the reach of Erik Spoelstra’s team.Failing for the second time in 10 days to produce the team’s first three-game winning streak in a month, the Heat instead fell 113-99 Saturday night to the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.And in a season of bad losses in good spots, this one was right up there.Not only were the Heat coming off two days’ rest, idle since Wednesday night’s home blowout victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, but the Bulls were coming off a double-overtime home victory a night earlier.“This is a disappointing loss for sure, without a doubt,” Spoelstra said. “We have to take the L. That’s 0-3 against this team. They have our number this year. I don’t like to do this, but we got to move on.”Until late, it was as if the Heat were the team...

Winderman’s view: As Heat stumble, is the Omer Yurtseven era flaming out?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:22:09 GMT

Winderman’s view: As Heat stumble, is the Omer Yurtseven era flaming out? Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 113-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls:– It’s almost as if Heat coach Erik Spoelstra merely is looking to buy time in the absence of sidelined center Cody Zeller, who is recovering from a procedure for the nasal fracture sustained last Saturday in Orlando.– This time, after three ineffective minutes in his initial stint, second-year Omer Yurtseven did not return in the first half, with Kevin Love instead shifted to center when Adebayo took his second break of the game.– Then, when starting center Bam Adebayo took his first break of the second half, it was Haywood Highsmith entering for the first time, instead of Yurtseven.– Even with Love also out of the game at the time.– In other words, Spoelstra was more willing to go with a front line of Highsmith, Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin than tempt the fates with Yurtseven.– With Zeller, there was immediate trust from Spoelstra from hi...