TORONTO — William Nylander broke a tie on a power play 36 seconds into the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ducks6-4 on Thursday night to end an eight-game losing streak.
The victory was tempered by the loss of captain Auston Matthews on a knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas with four minutes left in the second period. Matthews stayed down favoring his left leg before being helped to the locker room. Gudas was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.
Matthews scored earlier to end a 12-game goal drought.
Matias Maccell had a goal and two assists, and John Tavares and Benoit-Olivier Groulx also scored. Matthew Knies had three assists to go along with an empty-net goal, and Nylander added two assists. Joseph Woll made 36 saves.
Cutter Gauthier, Ian Moore, Pavel Mintyukov and Alex Killorn scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. Lukas Dostal stopped 23 shots.
The Maple Leafs are 1-6-2 since the Olympic break to sink any realistic hope of a 10th straight playoff appearance. They won at home for the first time since Jan. 10.
BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Jai Opetaia is set to lose his IBF cruiserweight title if he goes ahead with a fight against Brandon Glanton on Sunday.
Opetaia is scheduled to fight Glanton for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing World Cruiserweight title but the IBF said it has “withdrawn sanction of the optional defence” for its belt.
The IBF said that it had initially approved the bout as Opetaia’s team had told them the Zuffa Boxing fight in Las Vegas would not be a unification bout and that any belt awarded would be “characterised as a trophy or token of recognition”.
However, it added that following a news conference on Friday, it was “made it clear that the Zuffa World Cruiserweight title would still be contested” and, as the IBF does not recognise Zuffa Boxing, it was now an unsanctioned fight.
“For the purpose of unification of titles, the preeminent champions of the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) may be designated as ‘elite contenders’ and may be permitted to fight for the unified title,” said the IBF in a statement.
It added: “An unsanctioned contest is a fight which the IBF has not formally approved for sanction or where sanction has been formally withdrawn.
“If a champion participates in an unsanctioned contest within his prescribed weight limit, the title will be declared vacant whether the champion wins or loses the bout.”
Australian Opetaia, 30, also holds the Ring cruiserweight title.
WE’VE all seen the headline of £14 flights plastered across airline websites, social media and publications – but what does a £14 flight actually look like and can you really get it for that price?
When it comes to booking a holiday, we all love a bargain.
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Budget airlines often show cheap flights as low as £14 on social media and websitesCredit: Getty
And in the UK we aren’t short of budget airlines to choose from, such as Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air.
But the reality is that airlines actually often lose money on £14 flights if you book them without extras.
This is because the flight tends to be listed at cost or below cost to entice people in to go on the website.
According to The Flight Club, Ryanair has previously claimed that each passenger costs them about €34 (£29.55) to fly each way, excluding fuel.
Broken down, this is about €8 (£6.95) for staff, €8 (£6.95) for airport and handling costs, €6 (£5.21) for travelling in the air space, €8 (£6.95) for aircraft ownership and maintenance and €4 (£3.48) for other expenses.
On the other hand, Wizz Air’s costs are around €52 (£45.19) per passenger per flight and easyJet’s are around €79 (£68.66) (again, both excluding fuel).
When looking at flights, once on an airline’s website you can get hooked in and before you know it you’re adding a return flight and luggage adding up to a figure far from that original £14 fare.
At the moment, the cheapest flight available is with Wizz Air to Gdansk in Poland, costing just £13.99 one-way.
Other Wizz Air options include Seville in Spain for £19.99 one-way, or Barcelona and Valencia – also both in Spain – return flights for £40 each.
EasyJet has the second cheapest flight on offer, which is to Nice in France, costing £14.49 one-way.
Other cheap easyJet options include Fuerteventura in Spain for £16.99, Innsbruck in Austria for £16.99, Palma de Mallorca in Spain for £16.99 and Pisa in Italy for £16.99 – all one-way flights.
Ryanair then comes in a touch more expensive, with flights to to Alicante and Barcelona in Spain starting from £14.99 one-way.
The main issue with these flights from the offset? All of them except a handful fly out from London airports.
For those who don’t live in or near the capital, this is where your first additional cost will come in.
Either you spend money travelling to the London airports or you opt to fly from your local airport, but at the sacrifice of your ticket being more expensive.
The second cost on top of the flight price are add-ons.
And whilst these flights do exist, there are a lot of caveatsCredit: Getty
For example, to add cabin luggage to each a Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair flight it would cost around an additional £32.97, £17.20 and £43.98 per person, per flight respectively.
These additional costs do also include standard seat selection and ‘speedy’ boarding for each airline.
Though if you want extra legroom, then again that will come at a price.
So if you intended to take anything more than a handbag, your flight will already be costing you a lot more.
Another issue is getting a flight back.
While one-way flights can be a bargain, prices tend to rise when you book a return.
For Gdansk, for example, the return leg costs around £28.99.
For example, they will mainly be from London AirportsCredit: Alamy
So the basic flight costs you more like £42 and with cabin luggage it would sit more around the £75 return mark.
One way to get around this is by having flexible holiday dates, as then you can choose the day with the cheapest return flight.
Other hidden costs include checking in at the airport, which Wizz Air charges €40 (£34.78) to do – more than double the price of the actual flight!
If you are travelling light and able to fit your stuff into a small bag (45cm x 36cm x 20cm for easyJet or 40cm x 30cm x 20cm for Wizz Air and Ryanair), then the cheap flights are worth it.
One centimetre bigger than this though, and it could cost you an additional £70 at the gate.
But if you do choose to fly with just a handbag that fits under the seat in front of you, then perhaps opt for easyJet to make the most of those extra few centimetres allowance.
On the other hand, if you are travelling as a family with extra luggage, who want to sit together and have fixed holiday dates, then maybe this isn’t the best offer.
If we take the £75 per person price for return flights to Gdansk as an example, a family of four, with two children aged over two (under twos don’t need their own plane seat), you could be looking at £300 for return flights.
Sometimes package holidays can be better value for moneyCredit: Alamy
And that’s before your hotel booking.
The better option for families is to book a package holiday that includes flights.
For example, you could stay in a sea view studio at Albatros Family Hotel in Salou, Costa Dorada in Spain for four nights, flying from London Gatwick on April 20 with four 10kg cabin bags and four 22kg hold suitcases and airport transfers for £573 total or just £143 each.
And for that price, you get hold luggage, which if you booked on a flight separately, it would cost you even more.
Of course, with a holiday package you also get peace of mind in case of things going wrong, as you’ll have ATOL Protection, which helps in cases of your travel operator going bust.
The bottom line?
If you are travelling with a backpack, and live near an airport, go for it.
For those who like to pack more or are travelling as a family, perhaps book a package to avoid the headache.
PHOENIX — Two nights after losing to the Orlando Magic in a heartbreaker, the Lakers focused on trying to beat a Phoenix Suns team missing key players.
In the end, the result was the same — disappointment.
The Lakers lost 113-110 after Austin Reaves missed a three-pointer as time expired, the Suns coming up with the clutch shot on Royce O’Neale‘s three with nine-tenths of a second left to send the Lakers to their third consecutive loss Thursday night.
On the final play, Marcus Smart inbounded the ball and LeBron James and Maxi Kleber set a double-screen to get Reaves open. Reaves floated to the corner and took a cross-court pass but his shot bounced off the rim, sending the Lakers to another loss despite Luka Doncic‘s 41 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair before the Suns built a 12-point lead with 6:28 left. The Lakers quickly recovered and tied the score on a Reaves three-pointer with one minute left. O’Neale scored on an offensive rebound to give the Suns a 110-108 lead before James scored on a put-back to tie the score.
The Suns then called a timeout to set up O’Neale’s winning shot.
Phoenix, which had lost six of eight, played without All-Star guard Devin Booker (right hip strain), Dillon Brooks (left hand fracture) and Jordan Goodwin (left calf strain).
Still, the Lakers (34-24) knew the Suns (34-26) would play hard and throw up a lot of three-pointers — Phoenix shot 22 for 50 from three-point range.
When the Lakers went up by three early in the fourth, things looked good. But then the Suns went on a 13-3 run.
Lakers coach JJ Redick was forced to call a timeout after Oso Ighodaro rolled in for an uncontested dunk, putting the Lakers down 96-86 with 7:43 left.
The Lakers went down by 10 points in the second quarter, but took a two-point lead late in the quarter on a Reaves three-pointer. But Grayson Allen scored on a layup to tie the score 49-49 at halftime.
The Lakers opened a 13-point lead in the third quarter, but ended up tied 80-80 entering the fourth.
Allen carried the Suns in the third, scoring 16 points. He missed just one of his shots and just one of his five three-pointers in the third.
James finished with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. Reaves scored 14 points and Smart had 13 points.
The Lakers lost to Orlando on Tuesday by one point on a botched play when Doncic didn’t shoot a three-pointer and instead passed the ball to James, who missed a last-second three-point attempt.
It was a tough way for the Lakers to end their eight-game homestand, going 4-4 over that stretch.
Redick was asked if it is easy to move on after a tough loss.
“Well, I think that’s not in general,” Redick said. “I think there are specific times throughout the season where you talk about what just happened, more than just your normal review. You’re not going to do that after every game. So, we had a great practice and meeting on Monday after the Boston game and you don’t need to belabor every single loss.”
ETC.
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura didn’t play against the Suns because of an illness, the team said. But backup center Jaxson Hayes, who missed the last game with right ankle soreness, played 21 minutes against the Suns, finishing with eight points and three rebounds.
McInnes says he hopes Findlay and captain Lawrence Shankland, who has been missing since 17 January with a hamstring injury, will be back for the final pre-split game against Motherwell on 11 April.
Another key figure, midfielder Cammy Devlin, is due back in “two or three weeks” according to McInnes, as is defender Stephen Kingsley.
Hearts are four points clear of Rangers at the top of the Premiership.
“As it stands we had 11 players unavailable to train today, but we’ve still got enough to train and put a strong team out and a strong squad out on Saturday,” McInnes said.
“So my focus is the ones that are available, and just trying to get one or two who are in the 50-50 category available for the weekend.
“It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself, easy to think: ‘why us? why me?’ But it’s unrealistic to go through a full campaign [without injuries].
“It’s a league for as reason, you have to go through these different tests and challenges.
“There’s no doubt we’re getting challenged at the minute. Once we get through the next four games we will ideally be a bit stronger going into the final run in.
“It will almost feel like a transfer window opening up in April. So you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”
Midfielder McEntee went to see a specialist on Wednesday morning for a shoulder issue after a scan revealed “fairly positive” news.
Baningime has some bruising on his lower leg and McInnes says the midfielder is hopeful he can train on Friday and feature at Tynecastle against Aberdeen.
Kerjota, meanwhile, picked up a hip strain in a closed door friendly against Dundee on Tuesday but may well be fit to play too.
Celtic say VAR in Scotland “needs urgently reviewed” after their unsuccessful appeal against the red card shown to Auston Trusty in their Scottish Premiership defeat by Hibernian, with the defender now to serve a three-match ban.
St Mirren were successful in challenging Richard King’s sending off in Saturday’s loss to Motherwell and his ban was overturned.
Trusty, 27, was dismissed with the score 1-1 at Celtic Park following an incident with Hibs’ Jamie McGrath as the pair jostled at a corner. The defending champions lost 2-1.
The defender will be banned for three games, including Sunday’s Old Firm derby at Rangers, before Scottish Premiership games away at Aberdeen and at home to Motherwell.
Barca miss a chance to move above Real Madrid in the Spanish league as Catalan neighbours Girona climb to 12th.
Published On 17 Feb 202617 Feb 2026
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Lamine Yamal missed a penalty as Barcelona lost to Girona 2-1, passing up a chance to overtake Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. The defeat was the second in less than a week for Barca and left them second in the table, two points behind Madrid.
A win on Monday would have taken the defending champions above their archrivals, but, instead, a crisis brewed for coach Hansi Flick, whose side lost to Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the Copa del Rey last week.
The second loss came even though Barcelona took the lead early in the second half.
Yamal hit the post with his spot kick on the stroke of half-time, but 14 minutes into the second period, Pau Cubarsi met Jules Kounde’s cross from the right and placed his header perfectly into the top corner.
The goal was Barcelona’s 100th in all competitions this season, making them the second club in Europe’s big five domestic leagues to hit the century mark after Bayern Munich.
However, Girona roared back into the game just three minutes later.
Barcelona’s Joan Garcia was already the busier of the two goalkeepers, but he could not stop Thomas Lemar side-footing home from close range after nice work from Vladyslav Vanat on the left wing.
Both sides pushed for a decisive second, and it was Girona who executed with three minutes remaining, substitute Fran Beltran scoring with a low shot from just inside the box.
Girona’s Joel Roca was sent off in the dying seconds, but there were no more goals.
The victory ended a three-game winless streak for Girona and lifted them by three places into 12th, equal on points with Getafe.
Only seven points separate the 11 clubs from eighth to 18th in La Liga.
Nissanka’s unbeaten century batters former cricket champions Australia, who now need other results to go their way to survive.
Published On 16 Feb 202616 Feb 2026
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Sri Lanka’s opener Pathum Nissanka scored the first century of the T20 World Cup to put his side into the Super Eights of the cricket tournament and leave Australia on the brink of elimination.
Nissanka scored 100 not out off 52 balls with five sixes and 10 fours as Sri Lanka, chasing Australia’s 181, reached 184-2 with two overs to spare in Kandy to win by eight wickets on Monday.
“We’re in the lap of the gods now, I think,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said after the match.
“Lot of emotions in the room right now,” he said of the 2021 champions. “Haven’t been at our best. Disappointed bunch at the moment.”
Nissanka was involved in a 97-run stand off 66 balls with Kusal Mendis for the second wicket, with the wicketkeeper-batsman posting his third fifty in the competition.
Nissanka became the first Sri Lankan to score two hundreds in T20 internationals.
After Mendis’s dismissal, Nissanka and Pavan Rathnayake put on 76 off 34 balls to see Sri Lanka to victory.
Nissanka played some glorious cover drives off the spinners and played some elegant flicks against the quicks.
Rathnayake hit the winning runs straight after Nissanka reached his century off 52 balls and was greeted by massive cheers in Pallekele International Stadium.
The packed crowd roared again one delivery later when Rathnayake finished the match with a boundary to deep square.
Sri Lanka came into the World Cup after a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of England, but have gained momentum and have won all three games so far.
Australia’s campaign has been plagued by injuries.
Their captain Marsh, who missed the first two games, returned and gave them a rollicking start by scoring 54.
Marsh and Travis Head (56) scored 104 runs off 51 balls for the first wicket.
With Australia eyeing a total in excess of 200, Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers kept them to 181 with leg spinner Dushan Hemantha picking up 3-37.
Australia collapsed as they looked for quick runs, losing their last six wickets for 21 in 24 balls.
Australia’s captain Mitchell Marsh looks on after his team’s loss against Sri Lanka [Ishara S Kodikara/AFP]
Super Eights: Sri Lanka through; Australia on the brink of elimination
A victory by Zimbabwe over Ireland in Group B on Tuesday, or against Sri Lanka on Thursday, would eliminate Australia.
If Zimbabwe lose both matches, Australia will need to beat Oman in their final game on Friday by a big margin to get through on net run rate.
Meanwhile, Australia could fail to get out of the group stage for the first time since 2009 if unbeaten Zimbabwe beats Ireland on Tuesday.
England have also reached the Super Eights after surviving a scare from Italy in Kolkata. England came back from 105-5 to post 202-7. Italy were cut short on 178.
In New Delhi, Afghanistan shrugged off back-to-back defeats to finally register a win after beating the United Arab Emirates by five wickets. That helped them stay in the tournament and saw South Africa secure a spot in the Super Eights.
