Rantanen scores hat trick, Avalanche beat Sharks 6-2

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Rantanen scores hat trick, Avalanche beat Sharks 6-2 SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Mikko Rantanen scored a hat-trick to lead the Colorado Avalanche past the San Jose Sharks 6-2 Thursday night.Rantanen reached 52 goals on the season and finished with four points in the game. Nathan MacKinnon also scored a goal and had four points. Ben Meyers scored the other two goals for Colorado, and Alexandar Georgiev made 21 saves.Erik Karlsson had a goal and assist to up his point total to 98 for the season. Steven Lorentz also scored for San Jose. Kaapo Kahkonen made 15 saves before he was pulled. Karlsson scored his 23rd goal of the season when he crashed the net to find a loose puck to slot home at 15:43 of the first. Forward Jacob Peterson earned a secondary assist on the play extending his point streak to five.Rantanen scored his 50th of the season at 16:45 of the first period by cleaning up a rebound in front.During the second period, both MacKinnon and Rantanen had three points. Rantanen finished the second with two goals and one assist, while Ma...

Robertson scores 2, Stars keep pace with 4-1 win over Flyers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Robertson scores 2, Stars keep pace with 4-1 win over Flyers DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson beat the first-period buzzer while scoring twice and the Dallas Stars kept pace in the tight Central Division playoff race with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night. Joe Pavelski had a goal and two assists to get to 999 career points and Colin Miller scored as the Stars reached 100 points and stayed even with defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado on a night that started with Minnesota also in a three-way logjam atop the Central.The Avalanche routed San Jose 6-2, while the Wild dropped two points back with a 4-1 loss at Pittsburgh. Colorado has a game in hand on the Stars and Wild, but Dallas owns the tiebreaker against both teams with more regulation wins.“You work all year to try to get the best seeding possible,” Pavelski said. “It’s tight right now, so you’re still going. It gives us something to play for and stay sharp. All those things hopefully can help us build to being ready.”Kevin Hayes prevented Jake Oettinger’s...

May throws 6 impressive innings, Dodgers beat D-backs 5-2

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

May throws 6 impressive innings, Dodgers beat D-backs 5-2 PHOENIX (AP) — Dustin May threw six dominant innings, Freddie Freeman hit a solo homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers won 5-2 in the home opener for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night.May (1-0) gave up one run on just two hits, striking out five and walking two.The 25-year-old May — whose fastball occasionally hits 100 mph — threw seven scoreless innings against the D-backs last week in the season’s opening series. The former top prospect had Tommy John surgery in 2021, which briefly derailed his career, but looks like he could be one of L.A.’s best pitchers this season.The Dodgers jumped on top 1-0 in the second on Chris Taylor’s two-out single that brought home Max Muncy, who led off the inning with a walk. Los Angeles pushed ahead 3-0 in the third. Freeman, who got on base with a one-out double, scored after a throwing error by D-backs shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. J.D. Martinez added an RBI single.Evan Phillips threw the ninth for his second save.It was another tou...

Golden Knights close in on West with 5-2 win over Kings

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Golden Knights close in on West with 5-2 win over Kings LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights scored four goals on their first six shots and took a major step toward clinching the Pacific Division and the top seed in the Western Conference with a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.The third line shined for the Knights with Phil Kessel, Ivan Barbashev and Chandler Stephenson each finishing with a goal and an assist. Vegas’ other two goals came from Nicolas Roy and Jonathan Marchessault.Laurent Brossoit, competing to be the Knights’ starting goalie in the playoffs, made 30 saves and remained unbeaten in regulation this season at 5-0-3.Anze Kopitar and Vladislav Gavrikov scored for the Kings.The Knights, 11-2-2 in their past 15 games, have 106 points to lead Edmonton by three and the Kings by six in the Pacific with three games to go. Vegas also is six points clear of Dallas out of the Central Division.Los Angeles appeared to strike first, but Quinton Byfield’s goal at 2:33 was challenged by Vegas...

Div. 3-5 baseball preview: With Prep moving on, Div. 3 field up for grabs

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Div. 3-5 baseball preview: With Prep moving on, Div. 3 field up for grabs Austin Prep’s departure to the NEPSAC after rolling to an undefeated season and the Div. 3 state title last year has left a void that many MIAA schools are hoping to fill.One team who has to be considered a contender is Newburyport. The Clippers advanced to the state finals where they gave Austin Prep all it could handle before falling, 2-1. Harvard-bound Owen Tahnk will be a force on the mound and when he’s playing first base. Charlie Forrest is an experienced arm and Connor Stick returns at second.Pitcher Hayden Bessette and shortstop Benjamin Miller are the top returnees for a Dighton-Rehoboth team which advanced to the Div. 3 state semifinals. UMass-Lowell-bound third baseman Sean O’Leary and pitcher Nolan Gordon are among the key players back for state semifinalist Foxboro.Medfield has been a Div. 3 power the past two seasons and pitcher Jack Collins and catcher Scott Donahue lead a group hoping to maintain the recent tradition of excellence. Aiden Cardoza fig...

Asian stocks mixed ahead of US job market update

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Asian stocks mixed ahead of US job market update BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Friday ahead of a United States job market update that traders hope might encourage the Federal Reserve to ease off plans for more interest rate hikes.Shanghai and Seoul rose while Tokyo declined. Markets in Hong Kong, India and Australia were closed for a holiday.Traders who worry higher interest rates might tip the global economy into recession looked ahead to U.S. government data that are expected to show the job market is cooling. They hope that might prompt the Fed to decide aggressive rate hikes are no longer needed to extinguish inflation.Other data have “confirmed a clear trend that a labor market slowdown has begun,” said Edward Moya of Oanda in a report.The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4% to 3,324.39 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost less than 0.1% to 27,466.88. The Kospi in Seoul rose 1.3% to 2,490.37. Bangkok also gained.On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.4% on Thursday to 4,105.02 after a U.S. government ...

Afghan women-run radio resumes broadcasts after shutdown

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Afghan women-run radio resumes broadcasts after shutdown ISLAMABAD (AP) — A women-run radio station in northeastern Afghanistan has resumed its broadcasts, after officials shut it down for a week for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official and the head of the station said Friday.Sadai Banowan, which means “women’s voice” in Dari, was launched 10 years ago in Badakhshan province and is Afghanistan’s only women-run radio station. Six of its eight staff members are women.Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for Information and Culture in Badakhshan, said the station was allowed to resume activities on Thursday after it had obeyed the “laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” and agreed to stop broadcasting any kind of music.Station head Najia Sorosh said after the station “gave a commitment to officials at the information and culture department, they unlocked the door of the station,” and they started broadcasting again.The Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, an Afghan watchdog organization that promotes the safety o...

Bosnia regional PM jailed for embezzlement over COVID ventilators

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Bosnia regional PM jailed for embezzlement over COVID ventilators Two men, a Bosnian regional premier and a second man were sentenced on Wednesday (5 April) to up to six year imprisonment on charges of embezzlement in relation to the purchase of defective ventilators in 2020 for COVID patients by a raspberry-processing company.Fadil Novalic was the prime minister of Bosnia's Bosniak-Croat Federation. He was sentenced for abuse of office as well as violations of a law regarding public tenders.The lawyers for all three men denied wrongdoing and said they would appeal the verdict. They remain free for now.This is the first time a Bosnian senior official has been sentenced for embezzlement. Bosnia has been plagued with corruption scandals.Vasvija Vidovic, Novalic's lawyer, claimed that the case was staged by the media and that Novalic was sentenced because of political motivations.Novalic was briefly detained along with Fahrudin Sokal, an official responsible for procuring equipment to fight the pandemic, as well as Fikret Hodzic (the manager of the c...

Northern Ireland victims' families feel justice further away than ever

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

Northern Ireland victims' families feel justice further away than ever While the Good Friday Agreement ended decades of bloodshed and violence in Northern Ireland, it has not provided closure for the families of more than 3600 victims.The deal stated that it was crucial to address victims' suffering as an element of reconciliation.According to the families of the victims of the British army, pro-British unionist militants, and nationalist militants seeking Irish unity who were fighting to keep the United Kingdom united, the patchwork of subsequent measures failed to achieve that goal.The British government proposed legislation to amnesty former soldiers and other individuals who were involved in the conflict. Those still grieving are afraid that all hope of finding justice and truth will vanish forever.Andrea Brown spoke out about how the peace process treated her and other loved ones who have lost their loved ones.Brown from Moira said that it was very, very hard to live knowing that my entire life was changed by one bullet, and that the people respon...

11-year-old killed, father hospitalized in Los Angeles County hit-and-run crash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:03 GMT

11-year-old killed, father hospitalized in Los Angeles County hit-and-run crash A couple was arrested Monday for a wrong-way hit-and-run crash that killed an 11-year-old girl and left her father hospitalized in Los Angeles County.The suspects were identified as Priscilla Marie Cornejo, 39, and her husband Johnathan David Cornejo, 33, by California Highway Patrol.The couple was arrested for their alleged involvement in a fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred on the 60 Freeway, near Crossroads Parkway on March 22, 2023.Priscilla was driving in a sedan going westbound on the 60 Freeway as she was being followed by her husband who was driving a pickup truck.Around 4:06 a.m., Priscilla collided with the rear end of a tractor-trailer vehicle while driving, said CHP. The impact caused the tractor-trailer to jack-knife while spinning Priscilla’s sedan around until it stopped facing the wrong direction (eastbound) in the westbound lanes.Johnathan, who witnessed the collision, made a U-turn on the freeway and followed Priscilla as both vehicles began driving the wrong wa...