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CALGARY — After eight straight losses, and weeks of frustration, the Calgary Flames finally got a chance to exhale Sunday night.

No matter where things go from here, and how hard it will be for the Flames to climb out of the hole theyâ€ve been digging, it would be hard for anyone who has ever played a sport not to appreciate how good their first regulation win of the season mustâ€ve felt.

“I would just say itâ€s a weight off our shoulders,†said Connor Zary, when asked to describe the feeling in a dressing room in which there havenâ€t been a lot of smiles of late.

“I think it’s been a tough stretch for us. We’ve had games where we’ve done the right thing and we haven’t come out with the result. And I think tonight we kind of put it together.â€

Shattering their offensive glass ceiling with a 5-1 win, the Flames eliminated the penalty problems, the defensive gaffes, the offensive miscues and the prolonged lapses to beat up on a New York Rangers team that has had its own struggles of late, losing six of their last seven.

No matter how troubled their opponent, the Flames needed to end the misery of a string that saw the club play their 10th game of the season before recording their second win.

Their first home victory did well to temporarily mask a 2-7-1 start that still has them sitting last in the league standings.

“At the end of the day, you just feel good to get a win,†said Zary, whose club hadnâ€t scored more than three goals in any previous game.

“I think you come in here, you take a deep breath, you hear the music playing, and everyone’s talking, everyone’s laughing, and that’s what you want, right?

“You play hockey because you love it, and you have fun. No one wants to go through those stretches. But when you play a game like that, that’s a lot for us to look forward to and build off of.â€

Nazem Kadri got the ball rolling early with a nifty finish less than two minutes in, prompting many to wonder if the team that was 0-5 after scoring first would finally finish the job.

Midway through the period Kevin Bahl and Noah Laba traded goals 10 seconds apart, setting up a timely insurance marker by Yegor Sharangovich midway through the middle frame that saw the puck bounce off Igor Shesterkinâ€s glove and trickle fortuitously over the line.

It was the sort of break the Flames have been on the wrong side of so often early on.

Then again, in hockey and in life, you make your own breaks.

Another key bounce came shortly afterwards when Dustin Wolfâ€s sprawling save on Alexis Lafrenière prevented the Rangers from climbing to within one.

“It just hit the inside of my stick,†Wolf said of his most spectacular of 30 saves.

“Honestly, I didn’t see him back there… thought I was screwed. Just kind of threw something, anything at it. And those are the bounces we haven’t been getting, and it feels good to be on the other side of it.â€

As it was on opening night, when the Flames beat Edmonton in a shootout, Wolfâ€s play was key to the win.

Seems it always will be for a team that has long struggled to score goals.

“This one feels good,†said Wolf, who has started nine of the teamâ€s first 10 games.Â

“This is a building block in the right direction. We played a pretty solid, full game here at home, and that’s what our fans deserve.

“If we can stay out of the box and create our offence five-on-five, I think we’re a pretty good hockey team.â€

That theory will be tested on the teamâ€s four-game eastern road trip, which starts Tuesday in Toronto, and continues through Ottawa, Nashville and Philadelphia.

“We lost eight games, right? We’re pissed off,†said Zary, bluntly, summing up the misery his club was playing through.Â

“We know we need to be better, and to a man, we knew that. You can say all you want… but we need to have games like that where we come out and have the energy and do those things.â€

With the losses piling up, coach Ryan Huska sent a controversial message Sunday morning, choosing to make Matt Coronato a healthy scratch.

Insisting it had nothing to do with effort, and everything to do with “giving him a chance to reset,†Huska insisted the teamâ€s best young scorer will be back in the lineup against Toronto.

“We love Matty, he’s a great kid, he’s a hard worker and everybody wants him in our lineup,†said Blake Coleman, who scored twice in the third period to up his team-leading goal total to five.

“But… eight in a row, something’s got to give, and they’re trying to make a point. It could have been a number of guys.

“I don’t think anybody’s not expecting Matty to come back and be a big difference-maker for us. Hopefully he took the night to reset, and he’s going to be a big reason why we get this thing moving the right way.â€

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The past couple seasons have been a rollercoaster ride for the New Jersey Devils, one that has likely triggered more stomach sickness than thrills.

If youâ€re a Devils fan, though, itâ€s very reasonable to hope the ride is about to enter another exciting upswing.

In 2022-23, Jersey — on the strength of a monster 112-point showing that marked a 49-point leap from the previous year — made the playoffs for just the second time in 11 seasons and also claimed its first post-season series victory in that span.

The next campaign, the Devils were decimated by injuries, done in by poor goaltending and tumbled completely out of the playoff picture with 81 points. Last yearâ€s slight rebound — 91 points and a first-round exit despite more bad injury luck — was at least a half-step back in the right direction.

It may be overly simplistic to suggest this club is one healthy season away from serious success, but it just might be that simple for this talented collection of players.

Of course, the injury bug has already nipped New Jersey, taking out starter Jacob Markstrom with a lower-body injury. Not to worry, though: Jake Allen is a more-than-capable backup, as he showed during a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. The triumph was Jerseyâ€s fourth straight win after the club lost in Carolina to open the campaign and the Devils have now won three straight games with Allen in goal. Really, the cagey veteran has been rock-steady for the Devils dating back to last season. Since Jan. 18, only five goalies in the league whoâ€ve played at least 20 games have a superior save percentage to Allenâ€s .917 mark.

Up front, the chronically underrated Jesper Bratt leads the team with seven points after his two-point afternoon versus the Oilers. Seeing the likes of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier off to point-per-game starts is no surprise, but there may be an interesting development with Dawson Mercer hitting his stride on the second line with Hischier and Meier.

Mercer closed out the win over Edmonton with an ENG, giving him three tallies and five points in his past four outings. For some, Mercer always seemed destined to be trade bait in Jersey, especially when the club was trying to solve its crease issues.

Donâ€t forget, though, this guy is an 18th-overall pick with lots to offer. In particular, he plays a hard-nosed style that New Jersey could use more of to compete when it really counts, in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

On the back end, Dougie Hamilton has just a single point this year, but all Devils fans are hoping for is to see the big guy out there every night with the club. In his previous four years since arriving in Jersey as a UFA whale, Hamilton has missed nearly 35 per cent of his squadâ€s games.

When heâ€s in the lineup, thereâ€s a nice right-left balance to the defence corps, and it will certainly be interesting to see where Luke Hughes — who, naturally, was injured at the start of next year — can go now that heâ€s locked up to a monster seven-year contract.

Could his rise dovetail with that of his teamâ€s?

Buy a ticket, take the ride.

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• The Devils are off to a great start, but nobody in the Metropolitan Division — or entire NHL, for that matter — can top what the Carolina Hurricanes are doing out of the gate. The Canes let a 3-0 lead slip in Los Angeles Saturday, but still came away 4-3 overtime winners to keep their perfect 5-0-0 record intact. How about the start by Seth Jarvis, who has four — FOUR! — game-winning goals after potting the extra-time marker that sunk the Kings.

• The Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings were by no means in the exact same sad position, but itâ€s certainly worth noting how much better both fan bases must feel after the weekend’s action compared to where they were in the earliest days of the season. The Sabres†3-0 whitewash of the Florida Panthers on Saturday was surely a bit of a salve given that the only game it had managed to win prior to that contest was a wild 8-4 victory over Ottawa that didnâ€t exactly inspire confidence.

Detroit, meanwhile, got two home wins over the weekend, downing Tampa Bay 2-1 in overtime on Friday and Edmonton 4-2 on Sunday afternoon. The Wings have now claimed five straight victories after losing their season-opener 5-1 to Montreal on home ice. That may have been only one tick in the ‘L†column, but — for a team desperate to end a long playoff drought — it felt like a bit of a statement defeat, as the club fell flat in its first game against a division rival it hopes to supplant for a post-season berth. To see the Wings turn the page so emphatically is impressive. So, too, is the play of rookie defenceman Axel Sandin-Pellikka, who potted his first NHL goal on Friday versus the Bolts. Which brings us to…

• Last year, a defenceman — Lane Hutson of the Canadiens — led the rookie class with 66 points and claimed the Calder Trophy. After Hutson, though, the crop of freshman blue-liners was grim. The second-highest point total by a rookie D-man after Hutson was Drew Helleson of the Ducks, who had 13 in 56 games. In fact, the only rookie defenceman besides Hutson to even skate in more than 60 NHL games was Albert Johansson of the Wings.

Letâ€s just say thereâ€s going to be more competition for the year-end all-rookie team on the blueline this year.

We mentioned above that Sandin-Pellikka is on the board for the Wings, and heâ€s averaging nearly 20 minutes per night. Last week in this space, we highlighted hot starts by Matthew Schaefer of the Isles and the Wildâ€s Zeev Buium; Schaefer has a five-game point streak to begin his career after grabbing an apple in Saturdayâ€s comeback win over Ottawa, while Buium is still being trusted to play 20 minutes per game in Minny. Then thereâ€s Alexander Nikishin, who was kept off the scoresheet for the first time in five games during Carolinaâ€s victory in L.A., but played 20:23 in the game, which is basically three minutes more than heâ€s seen in any other contest so far.

Now throw in an impressive start by Sam Rinzel, who picked up an apple on the OT winner for the Hawks over the Ducks Sunday night, and the potential for high-pedigree guys like Rinzelâ€s Chicago teammate Artyom Levshunov and Flames wizard Zayne Parekh to eventually hit their stride, and it could be an absolutely astounding rookie D-man crew.

Red and White Power Rankings

1. Winnipeg Jets (4-1-0): What a start to the year for Mark Scheifele, who became the Jets 2.0’s all-time scoring leader with his 813th career point during a 4-1 win over Nashville on Saturday. The first guy the Jets drafted when they moved back to Winnipeg in 2011 has six goals and nine points in five October outings.

2. Vancouver Canucks (4-2-0): Make it three straight road wins for the Canucks, who beat Chicago in extra time Friday and hung on for a 4-3 victory in D.C. on Sunday afternoon. With six of a possible 10 points already collected on its current five-game sojourn, Vancouver has a chance to make this a trip to remember. That said, Filip Chytil leaving early after being hit by Washingtonâ€s Tom Wilson on Sunday was obviously an unwelcome development.

3. Toronto Maple Leafs (3-2-1): The Leafs need to get in gear for any number of reasons. One, in particular, is to take advantage of their home-heavy schedule to start the year. The Buds have played but one road game so far, and 12 of their first 16 contests this season are at Scotiabank Arena. Merely treading water through that stretch simply wonâ€t do.

4. Montreal Canadiens (4-2-0): Sam Montembeault was not at his best during Saturdayâ€s 4-3 loss to the Rangers. Montembeault has an ugly .857 save percentage so far, while backup Jakub Dobes is rocking a .940 in two games. Just sayinâ€.

5. Edmonton Oilers (2-3-1): Back-to-back Lâ€s for the Oilers in Jersey Saturday and the Motor City 24 hours later make it a three-game road skid for Edmonton. The club was 0-for-4 on the power play versus the Devils and Wings, and the Oilers PP sits in a place weâ€re not accustomed to — 20th in the league at 17.7 per cent.

6. Ottawa Senators (2-4-0): Itâ€s cold comfort right now in the midst of a rough start for the Sens, but Ottawa has the fifth-best expected goals percentage in the league (54.05 per cent) and is the best club at the dot, winning 61.5 per cent of its face-offs.

7. Calgary Flames (1-5-0): After falling 6-1 to Vegas on Saturday, the Flames own the worst goal-differential in the NHL at minus-14.

• Lots of milestone watch going on these days, with Alex Ovechkin two goals from 900, John Tavares three away from 500 and Nikita Kucherov three points shy of 1,000 for his career. Meanwhile, Adam Henrique will play career game No. 1,000 on Thursday when the Oilers host Montreal.

• On Tuesday, Brad Marchand will face the Boston Bruins for the first time as a Florida Panther. The Panthers actually visited Boston not long after the trade deadline last year, but Marchand was injured and didnâ€t play. One can safely assume the former Bâ€s captain — who spent parts of 16 seasons in Boston — will be warmly received by the New England fans.

Meanwhile, two Canadian teams hungry for a win — the Oilers and Sens — will meet in Ottawa that same night.

• Thursday brings a heavyweight tilt as the Canes and Avalanche clash in Denver. How about the work Scott Wedgewood has put in this year, posting a .938 SV% and 1.48 goals-against average while No. 1 guy Mackenzie Blackwood is sidelined.

• We get a classic QEW back-to-back with the Leafs in Buffalo on Friday before a return tilt in Toronto on Saturday.

• Sunday brings one more awesome game to close out the week, as the Avs are in New Jersey to face the Devils.

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After two straight games chasing their opponents, trying and failing to mount comebacks, what the Vancouver Canucks desperately needed in their fourth game of 82 was a swing in momentum — a lucky bounce, a strong shift, anything that could inject and sustain life into this lineup.

On Thursday night against the Dallas Stars, however, it seemed to be getting late early.

An unfortunate own-goal tip from Elias Pettersson got the Stars on the board, a Mikko Rantanen power-play snipe doubled their lead and it looked like the Canucks were headed towards another too-little-too-late effort after barely surviving the first period.

Then, the momentum swing came, and it came in the form of a penalty kill.

The Canucks just had their best scoring chance after being thoroughly hemmed in their own zone when Conor Garland took a slashing penalty against Sam Steel in the early minutes of the middle frame. It could have been a nail in the coffin for Vancouver, could have made the hill to climb that much steeper. Instead, the penalty killers dug in and prevented the Stars from producing any dangerous chances.

Suddenly, it was an entirely different game.

Evander Kane sprung Filip Chytil just after Garland’s penalty came to an end, who tucked one in blocker-side on former Canuck goalie Casey DeSmith for his third of the season. Then, Brock Boeser tipped home a Quinn Hughes shot on the power play for his third marker this year just over two minutes later, followed quickly by Max Sasson’s first in his season debut. In the span of 3:26, the Canucks turned a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead — a lead they would not surrender en route to a gusty 5-3 win.

“The guys stuck with it. The start of the game didn’t go how we wanted,” Adam Foote told reporters in Dallas after the game. “But I give the guys a lot of credit. They hung in there at intermission and stayed with their game.”

In a market so accustomed to gloom, doom and endless disappointment, it’s easy to catastrophize after two straight losses. But it’s only Game 4, and this win returned the team to .500. More importantly, the Canucks put together their most dominant period of the season in the second and held strong in the final frame in the face of pressure, and a goal, from the Stars.

“We just fought our way back,” said Conor Garland, who scored the game-winner to close out the dominant second period. “That Sasson line kind of carried the pace for us, let us get our legs under us, and we had a really good game. Really good finish to it as well.”

That this performance came against a Western Conference juggernaut like the Stars should do loads to boost the Canucks’ confidence as they continue along their five-game road trip, with upcoming stops in Chicago, Washington, Pittsburgh and Nashville.

Is this the type of performance we should expect from the Canucks going forward? We’ll find out on Friday night, when they take on the Blackhawks.

“We’re 2-2 now,” said Garland. “We had no panic. It’s early. We’re trying to find our game. A lot of young guys in the lineup just getting used to the league. To hang in there tonight against one of the best teams in the Western Conference was a good statement by us.”

It took four games, but the Canucks power play finally got on the board.

The Canucks have suffered from a lack of production from their top players, and the same can be said about their power play, which went 0-for-7 prior to Thursday night.

While going 2-for-3 on the man-advantage against the Stars won’t magically fix the power-play woes, which date back to the latter half of last season, it’s encouraging to see them finally find success and string together high-danger chances on each chance.

“I thought they were moving the puck pretty good tonight,” Foote said.

The Canucks scored on their first opportunity, with Boeser, Hughes and Elias Pettersson combining to finally score for the snake-bitten unit.

They were stymied on their second chance, but looked dangerous throughout, forcing DeSmith to stay on his toes and make some tough saves, and on their third try, with the Stars’ goalie pulled to pull to five-on-five, Hughes sent one into the empty net for his first of the year.

The power play still sits at a dismal 20 per cent, but for the first time this season, there is a glimmer of hope that they can find this success consistently.

With just one assist through three games — albeit a record-breaking assist — the Canucks captain was off to an uncharacteristically slow start to the season.

Of course, ‘slow’ for the 2024 Norris Trophy winner is a relative term, and he still led the team in ice time prior to Thursday, smooth skating even if the points weren’t coming with it — very much the case for the entire top-end of the lineup.

Nobody who watches Hughes play regularly thought this mini-slump would at all extend to the point of concern, but it was still a relief to see the defenceman impact the scorecard in the way we’ve grown accustomed.

Hughes finished the night with a goal and an assist, bringing his point total up to three in four games this year, while launching a team-high four shots in over 25 minutes on ice.

If there were any questions surrounding Thatcher Demko’s ability to man the crease after an injury-plagued 2024-25, he has very quickly provided answers.

The 29-year-old has far and away been the Canucks’ MVP through his three games played this season, looking much like the Vezina Trophy runner-up of two years ago, and on Thursday night, he provided yet another first-star performance.

His .903 save percentage is a little misleading, as he kept the Canucks competitive even as the Stars were throwing everything at him. He had to be sharp early, too, with Dallas outshooting his squad 8-1 before the halfway point of the first period, including a Grade-A chance from Adam Erne less than three minutes into the game.

“I think he’s the best in the world. So big, so mobile, tracks every puck,” Garland said of his goaltender. “We feel very confident any time he’s in the net and we’re fortunate to have (Lankinen) tomorrow night, so we feel great about our goalies.”

“He’s unbelievable,” Sasson added. “The saves he makes just look… They’re really hard saves, and he makes them look routine. It’s just a testament to his professionalism.”

In his past two games combined, against the Stars and the Oilers on Sunday, he’s been tested 67 times and made 62 saves.

It’s early, but Demko is already in mid-season form.

Compliments to the Calder Cup line

Foote, on the Arshdeep Bains-Sasson-Linus Karlsson line: “I thought they had some jump. You saw it in pre-season and then you saw it tonight. That speed on the goal —(Sasson) almost had another chance — with that speed, defencemen will back off when he’s out there. He spread the D out, they weren’t playing up when that line was out there. They had to be cautious of that speed.”

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  Jesse RogersOct 11, 2025, 11:04 PM ET

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  Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.

MILWAUKEE — Perhaps some divine intervention had a hand in the Milwaukee Brewers advancing to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2018 after they defeated the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the NLDS on Saturday night. More than once, general manager Matt Arnold said he looked “to the heavens’ for some inspiration from former Brewers icon Bob Uecker who passed away last offseason.

“I kept saying ‘Bob we need you,'” Arnold said in the Brewers’ champagne-soaked clubhouse following the tense 3-1 win in Game 5. “We know he’s with us.”

His prayers were answered as Milwaukee hit three solo home runs while perfectly navigating their own bullpen game — just as the Cubs were attempting to do — holding Chicago to just a solo home run of their own. Midseason pick-up Andrew Vaughn went deep again, while midseason call-up Jacob Misiorowski pitched the bulk of the game — four innings — allowing just that one Cubs run.

Vaughn, in particular, felt the meaning of the moment more than most. Discarded by the Chicago White Sox after a terrible start to his season, he found new life with the Brewers. He compiled a 1.126 OPS in the series which included two home runs.

“The journey has been kind of crazy,” Vaughn said. “But not taking anything for granted. The opportunity to be with this group, it’s changed my life.”

For Misiorowski, it was the first time in 17 appearances dating back to the regular season that he didn’t issue a free pass. He gave up three hits and struck out three in a masterful performance.

“I think I was giving everything I’ve got,” he said. “And I think I left everything out there.”

The other four Brewers pitchers held the Cubs scoreless.

“It kind of went according to plan,” manager Pat Murphy said. “But then, we saw (Aaron Ashby) was a little bit not as sharp as he could have been. It’s his fourth time seeing them. And then Chad Patrick was maybe the player of the game because you don’t expect him to be that good, pitching an innings plus.”

Patrick relieved Ashby in a potential turning point moment in the sixth. With Milwaukee up 2-1, Ashby gave up a hit and then hit a batter, putting runners on first and second with no outs. But then he threw the pitch of the game, a nasty 98.6 mph fastball on the edge of the zone to Kyle Tucker on a 3-2 count which he swung through. Patrick entered next, getting Seiya Suzuki to fly out and then caught Ian Happ looking. It would be the last rally of the season for the Cubs.

“Ashby made a pretty darned good pitch, 3-2, to Tucker,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. ‘Looked like right down away on the corner. It was a nasty pitch. Seiya had a good at-bat against Patrick…And then they got out of it essentially.

“It’s really the only inning you could talk about. We just didn’t do much. We had six base runners. You’re going to have to hit homers to have any runs scoring in scenarios like that.”

The win completed a back-and-forth series where the home team held serve throughout. The Brewers admitted the environment in Games 3 and 4 in Chicago got to them, allowing the Cubs to even the series after Milwaukee took a 2-0 lead. Would Milwaukee give it away, just as they did in the wild card round last year when New York Mets star Pete Alonso beat them with a late home run in the deciding game?

Longtime Brewers star Chrisitan Yelich was asked what he learned from that heartbreaking experience.

“Just go at it fearless,” he said during the postgame, clubhouse party. “You can’t really lose them tougher than we did last year. So going into the night, you just play with a bunch of freedom. You know you’ve got belief and trust in your teammates that we’re going to be able to get the job done. That’s exactly what we’re able to do.’

The Brewers said all the right things about beating the Cubs though it had to feel extra special taking down a big market payroll whose manager left them for greener pastures just two years ago. As has become the norm since he took the job in Chicago, Counsell was booed every time he poked his head out of the dugout.

Milwaukee owner Mark Attanasio was asked if he had any doubts about his team continuing its winning ways after Counsell left the organization before the 2024 season.

“I believed in the process and the system and the people,” he answered. “The Cubs were really good this year. It’s just a testament to this whole organization.”

In terms of big market/high payroll teams, the Cubs were just the appetizer. Next up for the Brewers are the defending world champion Los Angeles Dodgers who reside in the sport’s second largest market, and own the highest team payroll in the sport, more than $200 million ahead of the Brewers.

“It doesn’t get any more big market and small market than Brewers-Dodgers,” Yelich said with a smile. “We’re up against it. We know it. We love being in those situations. It’s fitting the season for us is going to come down to that series, that team and all that star power. You have the average Joe’s coming there. We’re going to do what we did all year, compete are asses off, go hard and see what happens.”

Attanasio added: “Let’s go! I can’t wait.”

The Brewers went 6-0 against the Dodgers in the regular season and have home-field advantage in the series, but will be the decided underdogs. Uecker’s spirit might be needed now more than ever as taking down the Dodgers despite everything that Milwaukee has accomplished will be their toughest task yet.

“I’m grateful for the guys we’ve had in the room,” Murphy said. “They’ve been doubted every year. Everyone. There’s no one predicting the Brewers playing the Dodgers in the series.”

Arnold added: “We’ve been planning for this. You can’t just roll out of bed and play the Dodgers.”

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At some point during the Lakers†preseason, Luka Doncic will play in a game.

The question is when.

Even after being a full participant in practice Saturday, Lakers coach JJ Redick said that Doncic was “TBD†(to be determined) when asked if his star guard would play in Sundayâ€s exhibition game against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.

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Redick said Austin Reaves will play and that Marcus Smart will see action in his first preseason game of the season.

The Lakers will play six preseason games, three of them coming after the game against the Warriors.

After practice, Doncic was asked when he would play.

“I donâ€t know yet,†he said. “We got to talk about it — JJ and my team. So, I donâ€t know yet. But Iâ€m probably going to end up playing two games of the preseason.â€

When the regular season starts Oct. 21 at home against the Warriors, Doncic will not have running mate LeBron James beside him.

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James was diagnosed with sciatica nerve issue on his right side, the Lakers announced to the media Thursday, saying that heâ€ll be re-evaluated in approximately three to four weeks.

James and Doncic formed a great partnership when they played together after the shocking blockbuster trade last February.

Not having James to start the season has to be unsettling for Doncic and the Lakers.

“Itâ€s a big change,†Doncic said. “Heâ€s a great player. He can help us a lot. But at the end of the day, our mentality needs to be next man up. We got a group of guys that have been practicing and hopefully LeBron can join us as soon as possible. We are going to obviously need him. But our mentality has got to be next man up. Thatâ€s it.â€

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Doncic will get plenty of help from Reaves, Smart, Deandre Ayton, Jared Vanderbilt and others with James out.

Still, the assumption is that Doncic will have to carry a heavy load with James sidelined.

“No. I donâ€t view it that way,†Doncic said. “I just want to play basketball. If I do less, if I do more, whatever it takes for me to get a win.â€

James hasnâ€t practiced at all, but Doncic said that hasnâ€t stopped the two of them from figuring out the team can still function at a high level.

“Itâ€s not everything about on the court. Thatâ€s what Iâ€ve been saying,†Doncic said. “Itâ€s about chemistry off the court, too. So, obviously, now itâ€s a little more off the court, but while we watched practices this week, we talked a lot about it.â€

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Lakers keep moving ahead without James

They had known over the summer that James had been dealing with “the nerve irritation,†Redick said, and so it wasnâ€t a total surprise James is going to be out with a sciatica issue.

Redick said James has been on the court “every day†doing individual work. He just hasnâ€t been able to practice with his teammates.

Redick was asked how James’ inability to participate in practice affected his game planning for practice and going into the season knowing that he wonâ€t be available for a while.

” No, no effect on practice planning,†Redick said. “And we haven’t game-planned yet, so, no effect.â€

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Redick had not put too much emphasis on his starting lineup during training camp and during the preseason games.

But with James turning 41 in December, entering his 23rd season and being injured in training camp, Redick was asked if he could foresee having a lineup with James starting and another with him out.

“Potentially. Yeah,†he said. “Something that certainly has crossed my mind in the last couple days. Yeah…You hope that he’s back soon. That’s, those things are, those things can be tricky. So it, I don’t think it’s …

“We knew this going into camp, so it wasn’t like it’s changed anything for how we want to practice or what our philosophies are with the preseason games. It is unclear who’s gonna be, what the starting lineup is gonna be. That’s the reality until he is back. We’ll have to figure that out.â€

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Seth Rollins is the new Crown Jewel Champion.

The Architect went into the latest WWE PLE with a lot of questions. Having never beat Cody Rhodes in singles action, Rollins had a lot to prove in this main event match both to his fans and The Vision faction.

The Heavyweight Champion did not leave any stone unturned in his quest, and he busted out a number of high-risk moves to try and put the WWE Champion away.

When the American Nightmare refused to quit, however, Seth was forced to use the object the whole feud was built around – the Rolex watch gifted to him by Cody after WrestleMania 40.

Seth Rollins had hesitated in using the watch he wore to the ring to his advantage earlier in the match. He finally gave in to the temptation and quietly grabbed it from the ringside.

The World Champion first knocked the referee out with a push and then hit Cody with the watch as the Quarterback went for a Cross-Rhodes. Seth then hit his opponent with not one but two stomps to finally pick up the victory.

Triple H came out to award him the Crown Jewel title as well as the diamond ring, and the show ended with Seth Rollins standing tall with Stephanie Vaquer who won the Women’s Crown Jewel title match earlier in the night.

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In 2022, quarterback Trevor Lawrence performed at a Pro Bowl level, throwing for 4,113 yards, 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions. In that campaign, he led the Jaguars to the playoffs and completed an epic comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC Wild Card Round.

Lawrence hasn’t been able to match that year in terms of his passing numbers, and he’s turned the ball over at an alarming rate. Former Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson called him out for his carelessness with the ball.

Liam Coen must figure out a way to help his quarterback cut down on turnovers. Lawrence ranks fourth in interceptions with five, behind Geno Smith (nine), Jake Browning (eight) and Joe Flacco (six). He’s also fumbled twice and lost one of them.

Yet Lawrence has engineered two game-winning drives. Against the Chiefs, he stumbled out of the pocket and made something out of nothing for the go-ahead score.Â

Lawrence may not play up to transcendent talent expectations, as many once thought when he came out of Clemson, but the fifth-year signal-caller can play better than what we’ve seen through the first five weeks. If Coen gets the best out of him, the Jaguars offense will make exponential leaps and bounds.

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Those Rangers fans who are almost as old as the Campsie Fells, the hills sitting above the club training ground just north of Glasgow, will tell you that Martin was the worst manager they’ve ever known. And that’s saying something.

One of his predecessors, Pedro Caixinha, once lost to Progres Niederkorn, the fourth best team in Luxembourg at the time, and ended the night by rowing with Rangers fans while standing in a bush.

Martin’s end was chaotic. A draw at Falkirk saw fans once again screeching for his sacking, a pretty much constant and venomous refrain in recent times. He was smuggled out a back exit at the Falkirk Stadium with a police escort. It was unseemly. It couldn’t go on.

The draw with Falkirk followed on from other league draws against Motherwell, Dundee, St Mirren and Celtic. Hearts beat them at Ibrox. Brugge beat them 6-0 and 3-1 in Europe. Rangers had the devil’s own job in defeating Livingston. Every game was the football equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard. It was excruciating.

As were the Martin explanations in the aftermath. He ran the gamut. He spoke about his players being anxious and scared, he talked about them not doing the things they were doing in training and not listening to the messages they were being told. It was impossible to avoid the conclusion that Martin thought it was always the fault of others.

After the Falkirk draw, he mentioned Falkirk’s deflected goal and their artificial pitch. After the loss to Sturm Graz on Thursday night he banged on about a throw-in that went wrong and cost Rangers a goal. “Somebody didn’t do their job,” he said.

The excuses flowed like lava. The one person he singularly failed to put in the frame was himself. Ibrox turned against him in the most vicious way, He was booed on and booed off. When Rangers scored a late winner against Livingston the cry that went up from fans seconds later was about Martin. It wasn’t nice, put it that way.

When you win a game and they still want your head on a spike, there’s no coming back from that. He lasted 17 games. It doesn’t seem like a lot but in the world of the Old Firm it really is. Old Firm managers get judged early. Gordon Strachan once said that there were calls for his head after a friendly prior to his first season as Celtic manager.

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CLEVELAND — It wasnâ€t the “Guards Ball” weâ€ve grown accustomed to watching and marveling at, but maybe thatâ€s for the best.

On the brink of elimination against the Detroit Tigers in the AL wild-card series, the Cleveland Guardians†offense exploded for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday in Game 2, supplying all the scoring required for a 6-1 victory to force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday.

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All season, the Guardians have struggled in nearly every facet of production at the plate. Getting on base consistently has been a chore. Crooked numbers have been rare. Slugging has been a tall task. Instead, Cleveland leaned heavily on its standout pitching staff to fuel an unlikely surge up the standings and into the postseason. Its run production was timely but rarely bountiful. The Guardians found ways to manufacture just enough scoring to secure close victories, but it was fair to wonder whether such a style could survive once the October tournament began.

And while Tarik Skubalâ€s outright domination of Cleveland in Game 1 was more reflective of his brilliance than the Guardians†offensive ineptitude, it pushed the Guardians into a win-or-go-home scenario, with time running out for their bats to show up on the big stage. After all, you can get by on conveniently placed soft contact and aggressive baserunning for only so long. At some point, you need to hit some baseballs with authority and drive in runs the old-fashioned way.

In the bottom of the first inning Wednesday, rookie outfielder George Valera provided the first hint that Cleveland was ready to break through in this regard. The 24-year-old rookie with one of the sweetest left-handed swings youâ€ll ever see smashed a fastball from Tigers starter Casey Mize well beyond the center-field fence for a solo homer and a 1-0 Guardians lead.

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But after Valeraâ€s opening blast raised the volume at Progressive Field tenfold, the Cleveland bats reverted into hibernation. Mize settled in before turning the ball over to Detroit relievers Tyler Holton and Kyle Finnegan, who continued to keep Cleveland in check. The Tigers, meanwhile, werenâ€t faring any better in the batterâ€s box. While Cleveland was barely mustering baserunners, Detroit created several chances, only to squander them, with Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee plus a brilliant showing from the bullpen stifling the Tigers over and over. The Tigers ultimately finished the day 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position, and the one such hit they did collect — a Javier Baez two-out single with the bases loaded in the fourth — preceded an inning-ending out when Zach McKinstry was thrown out at third.

So with the wind blowing in and the shadows creeping into place over Progressive Field to make the hitters†jobs on both sides even more daunting, the 1-1 stalemate looked to be the status quo for the foreseeable future, with extra innings beckoning.

Enter Brayan Rocchio — or, as heâ€s known this time of year in Cleveland, “Playoff Rocchio.â€

[Get more Cleveland news: Guardians team feed]

Itâ€s a moniker the switch-hitting infielder earned a year ago, when he recorded hits in his first eight postseason games, elevating his offensive performance after a regular season in which his .206 batting average and 79 wRC+ both ranked in the bottom 10 in MLB among hitters with at least 400 plate appearances. The Guardians were optimistic entering 2025 that Rocchio could carry that October momentum into a more steady showing at the plate, but roughly the opposite occurred: Rocchio hit .165/.235/.198 over his first 35 games and was optioned to Triple-A on May 12.

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He resurfaced in early July and immediately looked more comfortable in his at-bats. The numbers were still fairly pedestrian on the surface, but the reset in the minors helped instill enough confidence for Rocchio to become a more reliable contributor at the bottom of the lineup, especially amidst Clevelandâ€s chase for a playoff spot. His signature moment came in the final game of the regular season, when he clobbered a walk-off home run against Texas to punctuate the Guardians†magical September run to an AL Central title. The blast also got fans excited about the possibility of Rocchio finding his groove as the calendar flipped to his favorite month.

Still, the substantial sample of lackluster production had Rocchio batting ninth on Wednesday. But with no other Guardians besides Valera managing to do much of anything with the bat, someone needed to step up to break the deadlock. And facing rookie right-hander Troy Melton with one out in the eighth inning, Playoff Rocchio struck again.

Melton started Rocchio off with a slider for a called strike one. Rocchio then fouled off a splitter to fall into an 0-2 hole. Melton reared back and unleashed a four-seam fastball at 99.9 mph. Rocchio was ready.

He connected cleanly, sending the ball on a picturesque trajectory toward the right-field seats. It landed three seconds later in a sea of red pandemonium. 2-1 Guardians.

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“It was huge,†manager Stephen Vogt said postgame. “An 0-2 count, and he was ready to fire.â€

“Funny enough, when the game started, I was thinking, with this wind, we have to put the ball on the ground, try to get ground balls,†Rocchio said afterward through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “When I get that mindset to get the ball on the ground is when I get better and better results.â€

Added outfielder Steven Kwan: “We were waiting for the big hit. Playoff Rocc came up and did his thing.â€

The Guardians werenâ€t finished. With the crowd of nearly 30,000 fans still audibly ecstatic at the possibility that the offseason had been extended at least one more day, Kwan followed Rocchioâ€s homer with a line-drive double into the right-field corner. Daniel Schneemann smoked Troy Meltonâ€s next pitch to the same spot to score Kwan, marking a third consecutive extra-base hit after Cleveland had produced zero in the first 16 innings of this series.

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Suddenly, hitting didnâ€t seem so hard.

After an intentional walk to José Ramírez and a pitching change, catcher Bo Naylor provided the exclamation point. Facing a tough southpaw in Brant Hurter, the lefty-hitting Naylor — who has historically scuffled to an extreme degree against same-handed hurlers — battled for seven pitches before lofting a sweeper over the right-field fence for a three-run homer, giving Cleveland a commanding 6-1 lead it would not relinquish.

“As our bullpen is keeping them off the board, we feel like we have a knack to do it late in the game,†Vogt said. “Whether we saw a five-run explosion coming or not, we felt like as our outs came off the board and their outs came off the board, we felt really good about it.

“Rocchio kind of broke the tension with the homer, and the boys let loose.â€

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Detroit made it a dramatic finish, loading the bases in the ninth against closer Cade Smith, but the Tigers once again failed to cash in — a fitting finale to a game filled with missed opportunities.

And if the nature of Detroitâ€s Game 2 loss with the ALDS within reach wasn’t frustrating enough, the Tigers now have to suppress the bad memories from a year ago, when they were seven outs away from eliminating Cleveland in the ALDS before they blew a late lead in Game 4 and lost soundly in Game 5. The Guardians, meanwhile, have recaptured that winning feeling that defined their past month of play, perhaps just in time.

On Thursday, the Guards will give the ball to Slade Cecconi for Game 3, while the Tigers will counter with veteran Jack Flaherty. It will be Cecconiâ€s first career postseason start and Flahertyâ€s 10th, setting up an intriguing contrast for two pitchers tasked with the high stakes of a winner-take-all affair.

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FRISCO, Texas — Mikko Rantanen can really settle in now, knowing where he will be for quite a while after going from Colorado to Carolina to Dallas in a six-week span last season.

“It was way different than all the other (seasons), because going through three teams and all the mental side of the things where you donâ€t know whatâ€s going to happen and get surprised by a couple of things,†Rantanen said. “Hopefully, I don’t have go to go through that again.â€

The winger who has averaged more than a point a game in his 10 NHL seasons isn’t going anywhere else anytime soon.

Rantanen has already become a big presence for the Stars. The six-foot-four Finn had a spectacular playoff performance after arriving last winter. He’s had a full off-season before the start of his $96 million, eight-year extension, the most expensive contract in franchise history that was part of the blockbuster deal at the trade deadline March 7 that sent him to Dallas.

“We know who he is. Weâ€ve watched him, weâ€ve had to play against him. … He’s had a chance now to kind of debrief,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said at the start of training camp.

“Mental side of the sport, it’s easier when you know where youâ€re going to go or where youâ€re going to be,” said Rantanen, who turns 29 on Oct. 29. “When you’re feeling good mentally, I think it helps on the ice.â€

While Rantanen provides plenty of points, Nill also looks forward to leadership from the player he describes as very focused, very dedicated, and driven to win.

“Tenth year in the league now, and so I think more with the experience, obviously try to be vocal in the locker room and stuff like that,†Rantanen said. “But itâ€s just natural. Iâ€m not trying to overthink it. Try to do the same things I did in the previous teams and just be myself.â€

Goalie Jake Oettinger said Rantanen is always with teammates, both on the ice and wanting to hang out as a group away from the rink.

“From the time he came here, it felt like heâ€d been on our team for a long time,†Oettinger said.

Rantanen was part of Colorado’s 2022 Stanley Cup title. Tyler Seguin is the only other current Stars player to win a Cup, and his came as a rookie with Boston in 2011.

“You get to see guys like that a few times in your career, not often. But you get to see behind doors what heâ€s like and how hard he works and what he can do in the gym, and just really his work ethic,†Seguin said. “Heâ€s a leader in all those things. If youâ€re a kid, just kind of watch Mikko throughout his six hours at the rink.”

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Rantanen had 18 points (five goals) in 20 games at the end of the regular season for the Stars. He added 22 points (nine goals) in 18 playoff games, including a stretch with back-to-back hat tricks and being involved in 13 consecutive Dallas goals, an NHL playoff record.

In the Stars†first-round series against the Avalanche, Rantanen had a four-point second period in Game 6, then in Game 7 finished off his former team with four points in the third period, including his first career post-season hat trick and an assist on the tie-breaking power-play goal for a series-clinching 4-2 win.

After being the first NHL player ever in the regular season or playoffs to have four-point periods in consecutive games, he opened the second round with a hat trick against Winnipeg.

Rantanen has 705 points (294 goals, 411 assists) in 652 career regular-season games, all but 33 of those with Colorado. He has another 123 points (43 goals) in 99 playoff games.

“It was always hard to play against that guy,†said Stars defenceman Miro Heiskanen, a fellow Finn.

Before being traded twice, Rantanen had been with Colorado for nine-and-a-half seasons, making his NHL debut with the Avalanche just weeks before his 19th birthday. They traded him Jan. 24, but he played only 13 games for Carolina, which like the Avs was unable to work out a long-term deal before he could potentially become an unrestricted free agent.

Dallas did so with the most expensive contract in its franchise history while also giving up promising young forward Logan Stankoven, two first-round and two third-round picks.

New Stars coach Glen Gulutzan was on Edmonton’s staff the past seven seasons, and the past two the Oilers beat Dallas in the Western Conference Final. He told Rantanen how glad he was after the trade to the East, then how sad he was after the deal brought him back to the West.

“Then I got to coach Dallas, and now I’m happy that you’re here,†Gulutzan said, relaying the rest of that conversation.

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