ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MARCH 12-13, 2021 SPORTS 15 Ek scores twice as Wild edge Vegas Grosenick returns, leads Kings past Ducks 5-1

ST. PAUL, Minnesota, March 11, (AP): Joel Eriksson Ek had two goals and Kirill Kaprizov scored for Minnesota’s league-worst power play, leading the Wild to a 4-3 victory over the West Division-leading . Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 24 shots to win his eighth consecutive start for Min- nesota, extending his franchise rookie record despite surrendering a hat trick to Dylan Coghlan for the fi rst three goals of his career. Coghlan scored with 6 minutes left and then with the extra attacker with 2:10 remaining. Carson Soucy scored Minnesota’s third of the third period during a rare stumble by Ve- gas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 25 shots before being pulled for Logan Thomp- son’s NHL debut about halfway through the fi - nal frame. Fleury entered the night ranked third in the league in both goals-against average and save percentage. Avalanche 2, Coyotes 1, OT In Denver, Gabriel Landeskog scored 4:22 into overtime and Philipp Grubauer made 13

ICE HOCKEY saves, sending Colorado to the win. Landeskog circled through the Coyotes end and sent a wrist shot over Antti Raanta for his seventh of the season. The Avalanche settled for a split during the two-game series in Denver even though they outshot the Coyotes by an 81-28 margin. Colorado limited the Coyotes to 14 shots on Wednesday. It’s the 14th straight game the Av- alanche have allowed less than 30 shots, which tied a franchise record. Brandon Saad scored 1:23 into the game, but Raanta settled in and was diffi cult to solve. He made 44 saves. Nick Schmaltz scored for the Coyotes. ’s Marcus Foligno (17) passes the puck as Vegas Golden Knights’ Nicolas Hague (14) defends during the fi rst period of an NHL hockey game, on March 10, in St. Paul, Kings 5, Ducks 1 Minnesota. (AP) In Anaheim, California, Adrian Kempe scored two goals and Troy Grosenick made 33 ber 2014. When Kings goalie Cal Petersen went saves in his fi rst NHL appearance in nearly 6 into the COVID-19 protocol about three hours 1/2 years, leading the Kings to the victory. before this game, Grosenick came through with UNC routs Notre Dame to advance in quarters Captain Anze Kopitar, Andreas Anthanasiou a strong performance on short notice. and Alex Iafallo also scored for the Kings, who Sam Steel scored and John Gibson stopped beat Anaheim for the fi rst time in three tries this 32 shots for the Ducks. season and split two Freeway Faceoff meetings Oilers 7, Senators 1 Syracuse tops NC State in ACC tourney over the past three days with their Southern In Edmonton, Alberta, Leon Draisaitl had California rivals. The 31-year-old Grosenick’s three goals and two assists, leading Edmonton GREENSBORO, N.C., March 11, (AP): Buddy Kessler each had a double-double and North entire previous NHL experience consisted of to the victory. Boeheim scored 27 points with a season-high Carolina dominated inside in its 101-59 win two games for the in Novem- Connor McDavid added a goal and two as- six of Syracuse’s 14 3-pointers, and the Orange over Notre Dame at the ACC tournament. sists for Edmonton, which earned its third beat beats State 89-68 in the second round of No. 6 seed UNC (17-9) plays third-seeded straight win. Darnell Nurse had a goal and an the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Virginia Tech in the quarterfi nals Thursday. , and Jujhar Khaira and James Neal also Syracuse (16-8) will face top-seed, and No. Bacot, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, fi nished with scored. Tyson Barrie had three assists. 16 Virginia on Thursday in the quarterfi nals. 20 points and 13 rebounds. Kessler added Draisaitl’s third career hat trick helped the The Cavaliers won the only regular-season 16 points and a career-best 12 rebounds and Oilers improve to 6-0-0 against the Senators meeting, hitting 14 3-pointers en route to a 81- Sharpe had 14 points, 10 boards and a career- this season. The teams fi nish their three-game 58 victory on Jan. 25. Syracuse was 5 for 24 high six assists. Kessler added eight blocks, the series on Friday night. from 3-point territory. most by a UNC freshman in program history Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for Ottawa, Boeheim gave Syracuse its fi rst double-digit and an ACC tourney single-game record. and Evgenii Dadonov spoiled Mike Smith’s lead at 22-12 on the fi rst of his three straight Prentiss Hubb and Nate Laszewski scored shutout bid midway through the third period. It 3-pointers. He fi nished with four 3-pointers in 13 points apiece for No. 11 seed Notre Dame was Dadonov’s 100th career goal. the half and 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The (11-15). Canadiens 5, Canucks 1 Orange shot 58.1% overall. Girard fi nished with 14 points, Griffi n and North Carolina shot 51% from the fi eld and In Vancouver, British Columbia, Jesper Kot- Guerrier each had 12, and Robert Braswell 11 had its highest-scoring game since the 2018- kaniemi had a goal and an assist to lead the for Syracuse. Guerrier picked up his fourth foul 19 season, when the Tar Heels topped the over the Vancouver Ca- with 10:51 remaining and fouled out at 2:39. 100-point plateau six times. nucks. DJ Funderburk scored 14 points for N.C. Prairie View A&M 91, Miss. Valley St 64 Corey Perry, Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and State (13-10). Manny Bates added 12 points In Birmingham, Ala., Jawaun Daniels had Phillip Danault also scored for the Canadiens, and Dereon Seabron 11. Syracuse forward Alan Griffi n (middle), and Tyler Toffoli had two assists. drives to the basket as North Carolina State a career-high 36 points as top-seeded Prairie Brock Boeser had the lone goal for Vancou- FAU 76, UTEP 70 guard Dereon Seabron, (background), de- View A&M easily defeated No. 8 seed Missis- ver with a rocket during a second-period power In Frisco, Texas, Karlis Silins had a career- fends during the second half of an NCAA sippi Valley State 91-64 in the Southwestern play. high 22 points as Florida Atlantic topped UTEP college game in the second Athletic Conference tournament quarterfi nals. had 23 saves for the Canadiens 76-70 in the second round of the Conference round of the Atlantic Coast Conference The Panthers (15-4) will face the Grambling and Thatcher Demko stopped 40 of 45 shots for USA tournament. tournament in Greensboro, N.C., on March State-Southern winner in a Friday semifi nal. 10. (AP) Vancouver. FAU (13-9), the East Division’s No. 4 seed, left wing Nicolas Deslau- The result gives Montreal the edge in the will advance to play the West Division top- two-game series after Vancouver took a 2-1 (12-12). Bryson Williams and Keonte Kennedy BASKETBALL riers (left), tries to get the puck past Los seeded Louisiana Tech in a Thursday quarter- each added 14 points and seven rebounds. Angeles Kings Troy Grosenick shootout win on Monday. It also snaps a three- fi nal. during the second period of an NHL hockey game winning streak for the Canucks, who sit Bryan Greenlee had 13 points and Michael UNC 101, Notre Dame 59 Daniels made seven 3-pointers and was 13- game, on March 10, in Anaheim, California. in fi fth place in the all-Canadian North Divi- Forrest added 11 for FAU. In Greensboro, N.C., big men Armando Ba- of-19 shooting from the fi eld. He also had six (AP) sion, trailing the Habs by fi ve points. Souley Boum scored 23 points for the Miners cot and freshmen Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker rebounds, three assists, two steals and a . Cam Mack added 13 points. Wyoming clinches berth in NCAA tourney Penn State 72, Nebraska 66 NHL Results/Standings In Indianapolis, Jamari Wheeler scored a ca- reer-high 19 points, and No. 11 seed Penn State pulled away inside the last four minutes to beat No. 14 seed Nebraska 72-66 in the fi rst round of WASHINGTON, March 11, (AP): Results and standings from the NHL games on Wednesday. No. 20 South Florida women the Big Ten Conference tournament. St Louis 4 Winnipeg 1 Colorado 2 Arizona OT 1 Minnesota 4 Vegas 3 Los Angeles 5 Anaheim 1 Penn State (11-13) has won four of its last Edmonton 7 Ottawa 1 Montreal 5 Vancouver 1 fi ve games and plays sixth-seeded Wisconsin in East Division West Division the second round Thursday. GP W L OT Pts GF GA GP W L OT Pts GF GA hold off Tulane in AAC semis Tied at 59-all with 3:48 remaining, John Har- NY Islanders 26 16 6 4 36 75 57 Vegas 23 16 6 1 33 73 51 FORT WORTH, Texas, March 11, (AP): Elisa for South Florida (17-3). rar made a and Myles Dread hit a Washington 25 15 6 4 34 84 80 St Louis 26 14 8 4 32 83 82 Pittsburgh 25 15 9 1 31 81 77 Minnesota 24 15 8 1 31 75 63 Pinzan made six free throws in the final 23 AAC freshman of the year JerKaila Jordan 3-pointer to spark a 13-7 closing run by the Nit- Boston 23 13 6 4 30 66 56 Colorado 24 14 8 2 30 72 59 seconds and 20th-ranked South Florida went 8 scored 22 points, her ninth 20-plus game, to tany Lions, who trailed 37-23 at the break. Philadelphia 23 13 7 3 29 76 73 Los Angeles 25 11 8 6 28 78 72 NY Rangers 24 10 11 3 23 68 67 for 8 from the line in the last minute to hold off lead the Green Wave (17-8), which has lost 18 Myreon Jones and Izaiah Brockington added Arizona 26 12 10 4 28 69 77 14 points apiece for Penn State. Sam Sessoms New Jersey 22 8 11 3 19 55 71 Anaheim 27 8 13 6 22 62 86 fourth-seeded Tulane in the semifinals of the straight to the Bulls. Krystal Freeman added 13 Buffalo 24 6 14 4 16 56 80 San Jose 23 9 11 3 21 66 88 American Athletic Association tournament on points and 11 rebounds. had 11 points. Wheeler and Jones combined for Central Division Wyoming 59, Fresno St. 56 six of the Nittany Lions’ seven 3-pointers. Har- GP W L OT Pts GF GA North Division Wednesday. rar matched career highs with 14 rebounds and Tampa Bay 24 18 4 2 38 87 51 GP W L OT Pts GF GA Maria Alvarez had three of her four 3-point- In Las Vegas, Quinn Weidemann scored 14 Toronto 27 18 7 2 38 93 67 four assists. Carolina 25 18 6 1 37 88 66 ers in the fourth quarter, the last with 1:50 to points, Grace Ellis hit two free throws with 3.4 Florida 25 16 5 4 36 84 72 Edmonton 28 17 11 0 34 93 83 seconds left and Wyoming beat Fresno State Chicago 27 13 9 5 31 83 86 Winnipeg 25 16 8 1 33 83 72 play that put the Bulls on top 43-41. DePaul 70, Providence 62 59-56to win the Mountain West Conference Columbus 27 10 12 5 25 71 89 Montreal 25 12 6 7 31 84 69 Pinzan, Alvarez and Harvey all had 12 points In New York, Javon Freeman-Liberty and Nashville 26 11 14 1 23 63 85 Vancouver 30 12 16 2 26 84 99 tournament and clinch a berth in the NCAA Charlie Moore each scored 21 points and De- Dallas 21 8 8 5 21 62 55 Calgary 26 11 12 3 25 71 80 Tournament for the second time in program Detroit 27 7 16 4 18 57 91 Ottawa 29 9 19 1 19 77 115 Paul surprised Providence 70-62 in a Big East Note: Two points for a win one point for overtime loss. The top four teams in each division will qualify for playoffs under history. Conference tournament fi rst round game. this season’s temporary realignment. McKinley Bradshaw added 13 points for DePaul advances to the quarterfi nals to face seventh-seeded Wyoming (14-9), which No. 3 seed Connecticut on Thursday. As the No. 11 seed pulling up the rear of the conference during the regular season, DePaul ESPN, NHL announce 7-year deal BASKETBALL (5-13) entered the tournament having lost nine of its last 10. NEW YORK, March 11, (AP): When Jimmy gan to intensify the last two months. Nate Watson scored 18 points for Providence Pitaro became ESPN’s chairman three years Under the new agreement, the Stanley Cup knocked off second-seeded UNLV in the quar- and Noah Horchler 17. David Duke, who went ago, one of the fi rst long-term goals he gave Final will air on ABC in four of the seven years, terfinals. into the game averaging 17.2 points for the Fri- to his staff was trying to regain the National beginning next season. It also includes the All- Aly Gamez had 15 points, Haley Cavinder ars, fi nished shooting 2 for 9 from the fl oor and Hockey League rights when they became avail- Star game and 25 regular-season games, with and Hanna Cavinder scored 12 apiece and scored seven points. able again. the likely breakdown being 15 on ESPN and 10 Wytalla Motta added 10 for Fresno State (16- Despite the fact DePaul missed 10 foul shots On Wednesday, Pitaro was able to check that on ABC. The ABC games likely would air on 10). The Bulldogs lost in the title game for the (16 for 26) Providence missed 14 (15 for 29). one off his list. The NHL and ESPN are together second consecutive season. again after announcing a seven-year agreement Iowa 83, Purdue 72 Colgate 105, Bucknell 75 that also includes extensive streaming rights. In Indianapolis, Monika Czinano scored a In Hamilton, N.Y., Keegan Records set a “This is a transformative time in media, es- career-high 38 points and Big Ten Freshman of career-high 21 points and Colgate thrashed pecially sports media. It puts us on the cutting the Year Caitlin Clark just missed an eighth Bucknell 105-75 in the semifi nals of the Patriot edge of content distribution with a great linear Saturdays beginning around the All-Star game, double-double, scoring 27 points with nine League tournament. package as well as a forward-looking strategy, with the ESPN top game being on Thursday. assists, and sixth-seeded Iowa pulled away No. 2-seed Colgate will face upstart ninth focusing on the impact of streaming,” NHL During the playoffs, ESPN and ABC also will from eleventh-seeded Purdue 83-72 in the Big seed Loyola (6-10) for the automatic bid to the Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “This is a have fi rst choice of which conference fi nal series to Tulane forward Mia Heide blocks a shot by Ten Conference tournament. NCAA Tournament on Sunday. win, win, win. A win for ESPN and The Walt carry as well as half of the fi rst- and second-round South Florida guard Elena Tsineke (left), Czinano and Clark combined to score 23 of Jordan Burns had 18 points and seven assists Disney Company, a win for the NHL, and most games. “The NHL has a young demographic and during the second half of an NCAA college Iowa’s 27 points in an emphatic fourth quarter. for Colgate (13-1), Nelly Cummings scored 14 importantly, a win for fans.” ESPN has a long one of our top priorities is audience expansion,” basketball game in the semifi nal round of Czinano scored five points in a 9-0 run as the and Jack Ferguson 12. Colgate has won both history with the league, stretching back to the Pitaro said. “As we look to attracting the younger the American Athletic Conference women’s Hawkeyes broke away for a 69-61 lead and contests this season when at least reaching the network’s launch, but hasn’t aired games since generation, we think NHL content and live games tournament on March 10, in Fort Worth, held a double-digit lead for most of the last four century mark, and Wednesday’s effort was a 2004. Bettman said discussions with ESPN be- are going to signifi cantly help us.” Texas. (AP) minutes. season high.