GLOBAL NEWS

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) The Florida Panthers are starting to heat up. Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist to lift the Panthers to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. The Panthers are on a six-game points streak, and four of their past five have gone past regulation. Huberdeau has 10 points in his last eight games. ''We've had a lot of games in overtime lately, so I think it's just good to get a regulation win,'' Huberdeau said. ''I just want to help our team. I want to be a leader out there.'' Denis Malgin had a goal and an assist, and Noel Acciari, and Frank Vatrano also scored goals for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 shots. Aleksander Barkov had a pair of assists. Patric Hornqvist and Teddy Blueger scored for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray made 18 saves. After winning five in a row, the Penguins lost their second straight game. ''That game could either way. It didn't go our way tonight, but we

PRAGUE (AP) It was a successful home debut for Flyers coach Alain Vigneault - a long, long way from Philadelphia. Travis Konecny had two goals and Vigneault won his first game with his new team, directing the Flyers to a season-opening 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. Oskar Lindblom and Michael Raffl also scored for the Flyers in front of a sellout crowd of 17,463 at Prague's O2 Arena as part of the NHL's Global Series. Carter Hart stopped 28 shots. It was the first regular-season game outside of North America in Philadelphia's 52-year history. ''I think tonight's game, everybody was down there, everybody was consistent in what we were doing and it was a team win,'' Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux said. ''It was a lot of fun.'' Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for Chicago, which opened the 2009-10 season in Finland. Alex Nylander and Alex DeBrincat also scored. ''I like the way we fought ba

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) The way Pekka Rinne was playing, the Predators' slow start was irrelevant. Rinne made 26 saves, Colton Sissons had a goal and an assist and Nashville beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Thursday night. Miikka Salomaki, Calle Jarnkrok and Craig Smith also scored for the Predators, who have won two straight. The shutout was Rinne's first of the season and 56th of his career. He improved his record on the season to 6-0-1, the second-best season-opening run in franchise history after Tomas Vokoun, who started 7-0-1 in 2005-06. Rinne's best sequence came late in the first period, with the game scoreless. With 1:09 remaining in the first, Rinne turned aside a backhand shot from Jason Zucker and then denied Mikko Koivu's attempt at the rebound from just outside the crease. ''Anytime you feel like as a team you're not playing to your potential, I think as a goalie it feels good to be able to help your teammates,'' Rinne said. '

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Another strong third period provided a satisfying conclusion to a three-game road trip for coach Joel Quenneville and the Florida Panthers. They earned points in the first two stops against the Sabres and Islanders, needing third-period rallies to force overtime before losing in a shootout. On Monday, they came from behind again in the third period with Mackenzie Weegar scoring the tying goal and setting up Noel Acciari for the go-ahead tally as the Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the winless New Jersey Devils 6-4 on Monday. ''It turned out to be a good trip for us and a lot of positive things in the third period.'' Quenneville said. ''We might have played our best period (of the season) in the third.'' And the Devils played one of their worst, falling to 0-4-2 before a disgruntled holiday crowd at the Prudential Center. ''No one sees that coming,'' Taylor Hall, one of the Devils goal scorers, sa

LAS VEGAS (AP) Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was a little lost as a visitor to T-Mobile Arena. While the rest of his Colorado Avalanche teammates knew their way around the visitors' locker room, Bellemare was a newcomer, even after spending the last two seasons with Vegas. But, everything looked familiar once Bellemare got onto the ice. Nadem Kadri and Matt Calvert each scored twice, Bellemare had a goal and two assists against his former team and the Avalanche beat the Golden Knights 6-1 on Friday. Cale Makar also scored for the Avalanche, who improved to 8-1-1. In a matinee on the Las Vegas Strip on the observance of Nevada Day, it was Colorado's day in Bellemare's first game against his former team since signing with the Avalanche in the summer. ''It was weird, I've got to be honest,'' Bellemare said. ''It's so soon (into the season). I thought that wasn't going to be a difference if it's now or if it's later in the season. .

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) The New York Islanders are slowly rediscovering their disciplined style and beginning to play the way they did when they made it to the second round of playoffs last season. Brock Nelson scored in the shootout and the Islanders beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 Saturday night to snap a two-game skid. Anders Lee and Josh Bailey scored in regulation for the Islanders. ''We didn't focus on the outcome, we just focused on the process and how we have to get back to playing our way,'' Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. ''We didn't have any passengers, it was a team win.'' Semyon Varlamov, signed to a four-year, $20 million deal in the offseason, stopped 35 shots through overtime and all three Florida attempts in the tiebreaker to pick up his first win with New York. ''A win tastes great,'' Varlamov said. ''After two losses, we needed this win and I thought everybody played well.'' Evgenii Dadonov h

DENVER (AP) Colorado lost the lead and momentum, yet a great pass and quick stick put the Avalanche back in the lead. Philipp Grubauer made it stand up with some big saves in the final minutes. Gabriel Landeskog scored a tiebreaking goal late in the second period on a feed from Mikko Rantanen to lead Colorado to a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. Grubauer had 29 saves, including one on Kevin Fiala when Minnesota pulled goalie Devan Dubnyk for an extra skater and was pressing for the equalizer. Ryan Graves scored into the empty net with 39.1 seconds left after a flurry of shots by the Wild. ''I was kind of scrambling around a little bit. I couldn't get up. Desperation save,'' Grubauer said. ''The guys played it really well, they got the puck out and scored. Game over, two points.'' Dubnyk had 28 saves. Rantanen, who missed training camp and the preseason before agreeing to a contract with Colorado last weekend, also scored and

DALLAS (AP) Brett Ritchie had never taken the ice in an NHL game with a team other than the Dallas Stars when he debuted for the Boston Bruins. After scoring on his first shift, Ritchie watched his former teammates basically form a parade route out of the rink with injuries. The new Boston forward scored barely a minute in, Dallas defenseman Roman Polak was taken off on a stretcher just before the Stars' only goal and the Bruins opened defense of their Eastern Conference title with a 2-1 victory Thursday night. Danton Heinen had a power-play goal in the first period as the Bruins beat Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop with their first two shots in a season-opening meeting of teams that lost Game 7s in the playoffs to Stanley Cup champion St. Louis last season. ''You're not going to score on your first two shots very often," said Ritchie, who was with the Stars when they lost in double overtime in the second round last spring before the Bruins fell to the Blues

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Cam Talbot and Michael Stone haven't played much through the first three weeks of the Calgary Flames' season. They made the most of their opportunities Sunday night. Talbot made 29 saves and Stone scored the Flames' first goal as they rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Mikael Backlund broke a tie with 11:03 left, and Calgary snapped a three-game road losing streak, bouncing back from a disappointing 4-1 loss at Los Angeles on Saturday which some called ''embarrassing'' due to their effort. ''I thought everyone took accountability for last night,'' Talbot said. ''I liked our work ethic and dedication in our zone to get the pucks out.'' It was Talbot's second start and first win with the Flames. The seven-year veteran, who was with Edmonton and Philadelphia last season, signed with Calgary as a free agent. He allowed up an early second-period goal to Jakob Silfverberg but stopped Sil

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Trailing by two goals early in the third period, the Philadelphia Flyers didn't get discouraged. They simply maintained their focus and came through with their biggest late rally in nearly six years Kevin Hayes scored the go-ahead short-handed goal late in Philadelphia's five-goal third period, and the Flyers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-4 Saturday night. ''When you have five goals in nine minutes, it's just an example of sticking to it,'' Hayes said. ''We're getting a lot of shots on net each night and that's been big for us.'' James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist, Jake Voracek added a goal and two assists, Shayne Gostisbehere had a goal and an assist, and Michael Raffl and Travis Konecny also scored for Philadelphia. Hayes and Ivan Provorov also each had two assists, and Brian Elliott finished with 22 saves to help the Flyers end a five-game losing streak to their Metropolitan Division rivals. Th

PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Stars are set to start a four-game homestand they hope can spark a needed turnaround. But first, one for the road - a win in Philadelphia that ended a winless road trip. Roope Hintz, Esa Lindell and Corey Perry all scored to help Dallas snap a five-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Flyers on Saturday night. Ben Bishop stopped 38 shots to help the slow-starting Stars improve to just 2-7-1. The Stars only took 16 shots against a listless Flyers team playing their first home game in 10 days. The Stars dropped games at Buffalo, Columbus and Pittsburgh before they trudged into Philly. ''Two points is all we really wanted,'' Stars forward Jamie Benn said. ''Don't really care how we did it.'' The Stars took only one shot in the second period and added two goals in the third. Miro Heiskanen added an empty-netter. Dallas made the most of its attempts for a rare dose of good news for a team trying to make the playoffs

LAS VEGAS (AP) Nicolas Roy was a six-year-old when Marc-Andre Fleury made his NHL debut. The two are teammates now, and on Sunday night Roy scored his first career NHL goal and Fleury made 13 saves, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Roy, making his first appearance as a member of the Golden Knights, showed off his blazing speed when he split two Anaheim defenders and slipped a shot through Ducks goaltender John Gibson's pads for what turned out to be the game-winning goal. ''Usually I don't even celly after a goal, but that one I had to, it was so fun,'' said Roy, who celebrated by jumping into the glass that separated him and a slew of frenzied Golden Knights fans. ''It was such a great feeling, a really great night.'' Roy, who was drafted 96th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, was inserted into the lineup in place of Brandon Pirri and centered a fourth line better known for

PITTSBURGH (AP) Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury wasn't happy with his performance in his return to Pittsburgh two seasons ago. He had a much better time Saturday night. Fleury stopped 29 shots against his former team, leading the Golden Knights to a 3-0 victory over the Penguins. ''Last time I was in Pittsburgh, I let in five goals,'' Fleury said. ''I wanted to make sure that wasn't happening again. I was just happy that it was a better showing.'' Fleury recorded his 445th win, tying Terry Sawchuck for seventh on the NHL career list. Fleury, who made his second career start for Vegas against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, also registered his 57th career shutout. The Golden Knights won for the fourth time in five games. Paul Stastny scored his fourth of the season, a power-play goal in the second period, and William Karlsson and Mark Stone added empty-netters in the final 90 seconds. Fleury kept the puck out with a sliding cr

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Matt Duchene was feeling a bit nervous before his debut with Nashville. A misstep in the pregame warmup helped the Predators’ new free agent feel more at ease. As the warmup came to an end, Duchene was the last Predators player on the ice. He caught an edge and fell in the right faceoff circle. From his backside, he fired a puck into the net, much to the delight of the sellout crowd, who cheered the new center. “That was my best 1972 Phil Esposito impression,” Duchene said. “It gave the fans a good laugh. Honestly, it took a little bit of butterflies out of me. I got a good laugh and you’ve got to laugh at yourself sometimes.” Duchene finished with three assists, Ryan Ellis and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and an assist and Nashville rallied with four goals in the final period and beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams. Mikael Granlund, Austin Watson and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the defending Central Divisi

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Connor Hellebuyck's first shutout of the season couldn't have come at a better time for the Winnipeg Jets. Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine scored in the shootout and the Jets snapped a three-game losing skid with a 1-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night. ''I wasn't trying to do too much, sticking with my game and relaxing and reading the game as it came to me,'' Hellebuyck said of his 28-save performance. ''I thought I was a calming presence for the guys out there, and it helps when they were clearing rebounds like they were. I'll enjoy this one. You don't get too many shutouts.'' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid were stopped in the shootout. The overtime period was highlighted by tight goaltending. Edmonton goalie Mike Smith robbed Mark Scheifele in close and Hellebuyck followed that up by denying Connor McDavid on a breakaway. ''That's what 3-on-3 hockey does with the best pla

PITTSBURGH (AP) The Pittsburgh Penguins endured a brutal stretch in the opening days of the season in which high-profile players headed to injured reserve with alarming regularity. Yet rather than panic, head coach Mike Sullivan used it as an opportunity to make sure the good habits he believes his team will need to win in one of the NHL's most competitive divisions become ingrained. Take fewer risks on defense. Make the simple pass on offense. Do both well enough for long enough and Sullivan knows the scoring will take care of itself, kind of the way it did during a 7-1 demolition of the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. The Penguins poured in four goals during a 6:05 span of the first period - matching their first-period total on the season coming in - and Pittsburgh rarely let up in its biggest regular-season blowout over their cross-state rivals in 11 years. ''We're playing the game the right way, the way we want to play it and when we all buy in the way th

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Vancouver captain Bo Horvat says the Canucks simply weren't good enough to steal a win from the Washington Capitals on Friday night. Though the Canucks led by four goals late in the second period, Washington rallied late and beat Vancouver 6-5 in a shootout. ''It's a 60-minute hockey game for a reason and (Washington) won the Stanley Cup for a reason,'' Horvat said. ''They've got some good players over there. We had to play a full 60 to beat that squad.'' Tim Schaller scored twice for Vancouver, Brock Boeser had a goal and an assist, and Elias Pettersson and Jake Virtanen also scored. Jacob Markstrom had 24 saves for the Canucks. Vancouver scored three times in the second period and led 5-1 with less than a second remaining in the period. Schaller scored his second of the game 13:59 into the period, batting a rebound out of the air and into Washington's net. It was the Canucks forward's third g

DETROIT (AP) On a night when their biggest stars were quiet offensively, the Toronto Maple Leafs still scored plenty. Ilya Mikheyev put the Maple Leafs ahead in the final minute of the second period when goalie Jimmy Howard's gamble backfired, and Toronto went on to beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 on Saturday night, snapping a three-game losing streak. Toronto's Auston Matthews and Detroit's Anthony Mantha, who entered the night with six goals apiece, were both held without a point. Instead, the Maple Leafs got goals from Mikheyev, Nicholas Shore, Alexander Kerfoot, Jake Muzzin and Trevor Moore. ''We have lots of depth here,'' Muzzin said. ''We have smart hockey players and guys that are working hard and hungry, so that's a great combination to have.'' Jacob de la Rose and Darren Helm scored for Detroit. With the game tied at 1, Toronto's Kasperi Kapanen flipped the puck up the ice, and Mikheyev appeared to have a step on Detroit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) In a game dominated by offense, a defenseman scored the game-winner. Mattias Ekholm scored with 4:40 remaining to cap a wild third period and lead the Nashville Predators to a 6-5 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. Ryan Johansen scored twice and Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene and Nick Bonino added goals for Nashville, which finished 3-1 on a season-opening, four-game homestand. Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of power-play goals and Lars Eller, Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie also scored for Washington. John Carlson had three assists for the Capitals, who lost in regulation for the first time this season. ''There's too many turnovers that are ending up as good scoring chances for one, and then for two, that are ending up in our net,'' Washington coach Todd Reirden said. Ekholm netted the winner on a slap shot from the middle of the blue line through traffic 28 seconds after Bonino tied the game at 5. ''I saw the guy go d

TORONTO (AP) The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a habit of falling behind early this season. That didn't matter much against a slow, tired opponent Tuesday. Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists and Toronto overcame a slow start and beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2. ''We weren't as good as we'd like to be in the first,'' Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. ''We've got to do a better job.'' Andreas Johnsson had a goal and an assist, and Auston Matthews and John Tavares also scored for Toronto. Frederik Andersen made 27 saves. Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly added four assists in the second period, tying a franchise record for assists in a period of a regular-season game set by Rick Vaive on March 12, 1984. ''We just talked about being patient and not trying to force too much,'' Rielly said. ''I thought we played a good first and obviously didn't get the results we wanted.'' Luke Kunin and Gerald

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Pavel Francouz overcome soe pregame jitters to get his second win in two career starts. Francouz made 44 saves, Tyson Jost had three goals, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the high-powered Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 Saturday night to remain the only NHL team without a regulation loss this season. ''It was a great challenge,'' Francouz said. ''Of course I was a little bit nervous about the game. But I was trying to see it as fun. It was a fun night.'' The 29-year-old Francouz followed up his first career start and win Oct. 12 against Arizona with a number of nifty saves, including a post-to-post pad stop in the first on Ondrej Palat. ''Frankie was great,'' Colorado left wing Gabriel Landeskog said. ''He made some really amazing saves.'' Colorado's 7-0-1 start is the second-longest season opening point streak in franchise history, behind only the 9-0-2 start in 2000-01. Jost opened the scoring 3:09 i

DENVER (AP) Down two goals late, Jonathan Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers didn't play desperate. They just played determined. Huberdeau scored 29 seconds into overtime after he tied the game late in regulation, and the Panthers beat the injury-riddled Colorado Avalanche 4-3 on Wednesday night. ''We don't need to panic, even if we're down two goals,'' Huberdeau said. ''We're good. We know we can come back every game.'' Huberdeau sent a backhanded shot between the pads of Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer for the win. He tied the game with 1:30 remaining on a wrist shot through traffic. Florida trailed 3-1 with around eight minutes remaining. That's when Aleksander Barkov picked a good spot for his first goal of the season, a power-play tally that started the Panthers on the comeback trail. ''Finally, I did something,'' Barkov cracked. ''I'm happy.'' Colton Sceviour scored a first-period

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A hot goalie and a rejuvenated power play helped the Carolina Hurricanes break a three-game winless streak with a 4-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Petr Mrazek stopped 32 shots to record his second shutout in 12 days and the Hurricanes (7-3-1) went 2-for-2 on the power play as they returned home with a win following a four-game road swing. Andrei Svechnikov scored twice, Nino Niederreiter had a goal and one assist, Jordan Staal scored and Sebastian Aho had two assists for Carolina. Chicago (2-5-2) has lost four straight, including one overtime loss, and now has totaled just two goals in its last three games. Corey Crawford made 27 saves on 31 shots for the Blackhawks. Mrazek, who posted a 31-save shutout at Los Angeles on Oct. 15, was sharp throughout the game, particularly during a flurry of Chicago opportunities in the closing minutes of the first period that included a pad save on Patrick Kane at the goalmouth after a cross-ice feed. '&

Every features a handful of teams that go on a surprising run. Who will it be in 2020? It's never too early to look ahead to October, right? Every season features a handful of surprise teams, and inevitably some will make the postseason, even in today's tank-tastic MLB world.  Last year the Twins, Rays, Nationals and Cardinals made the playoffs despite missing them the year before. So who's crashing the postseason party in 2020? Tom Verducci: Chicago White Sox I've felt the White Sox have been too one-dimensional on offense: super aggressive and too easy to pitch to, which happens when you have a bunch of young players. Now they have experience, and more importantly, guys who are going to grind out at-bats in Yasmani Grandal and Edwin Encarnación . This team will contend–Minnesota is still the team to beat in the AL Central–but if Nick Madrigal and Luis Robert emerge as instant contributors the way Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña Jr. did in Atlanta it has the makin

World Athletics issued new regulations on new technology amid controversy regarding Nike's VaporFly shoes. On Friday, World Athletics, the global governing body of track and field, released new regulations on footwear, banning any shoe with a maximum sole thickness of more than 40mm and shoes that contain more than one plate. Under the new regulations, the current version of Nike's VaporFly Next% shoes—which have been popularized by elite and amateur runners, but have stirred debate regarding their threat to the integrity of the sport—will not be banned. The Nike VaporFly Next% shoes have a stack height of 40mm, which would meet the limit. The future of shoe technology will likely be impacted by the governing body's new ruling, which improved upon its previous, vague stance, which read: “Shoes must not be constructed so as to give athletes any unfair assistance or advantage.” A technical committee was established in November 2019 to examine controversial footwear in hop