Sports

Utah Mammoth is the permanent name of the NHL team in Salt Lake City

The NHL team in Salt Lake City is now known as the Utah Mammoth. Owners Ryan and Ashley Smith unveiled the franchise’s permanent name Thursday morning after more than a year of fan input and voting. Mammoth replaces the inaugural season placeholder name Utah Hockey Club, which was also one of the three finalists, along with Outlaws. Yeti was taken out of consideration when the cooler company bearing that name could not come to a copyright agreement with Utah ownership. The Mammoth are maintaining the same black, light blue and white color scheme and the road jerseys with UTAH diagonally down the front.

Curry leaves Warriors’ win vs. Wolves with hamstring strain, putting rest of series in question

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Golden State star Stephen Curry was sidelined by a strained left hamstring early in the second quarter at Minnesota and the Warriors were bracing for an extended absence of their sharpshooting leader after opening the series by beating the Timberwolves 99-88. Curry will have an MRI exam. His status is day to day, but coach Steve Kerr acknowledged it’s unlikely he’ll be available to play in Game 2. Curry grabbed at the back of his left leg after hitting a 14-foot floater and immediately headed back to the locker room. He had 13 points in 13 minutes on 5-for-9 shooting.

Haliburton’s 3 with 1.1 seconds left gives Pacers 120-119 stunning win over Cavs and 2-0 series lead

CLEVELAND (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton made a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining and the Indiana Pacers scored the final eight points in 47.9 seconds to stun the short handed and top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 120-119 to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinals series. Haliburton scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 12 minutes. Donovan Mitchell scored 48 points for Cleveland, who were missing three key players, including two starters. Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith led Indiana with 23 points apiece. It’s the first time the Pacers won the first two games of a playoff series on the road since 1994 against Orlando.

The Steelers move on from George Pickens by trading mercurial receiver to Cowboys

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers have run out of patience with wide receiver George Pickens. The team has agreed on a trade that sends the talented but mercurial 24-year-old to the Dallas Cowboys. The Steelers will get a third-round pick in the 2026 draft and a fifth-rounder in 2027. The Cowboys get a sixth-round choice in two years. Pickens has spent his first three seasons in the NFL being equal parts productive and petulant, mixing highlight-reel catches with bouts of immaturity along the way. Pickens joins a Cowboys offense that could use another downfield threat to pair with star CeeDee Lamb.

‘Hands tied’: Athletes left in dark as NCAA settlement leaves murky future for non-revenue sports

Pending approval, the $2.8 billion House settlement will allow schools to share revenue with athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness. That could secure generational wealth for some but not others, and replacing scholarship caps with roster limitations is expected to leave walk-ons, partial scholarship earners, non-revenue sport athletes and high school recruits at risk. There are deep concerns about the potential impact on sports that feed the U.S. Olympic teams. Some athletes say they have little knowledge of what’s happening now, much less what’s ahead.

No Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty in Preakness highlights some philosophical horse racing changes

Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty is not running in the Preakness Stakes and that means for a fifth time in the past seven years there is no chance of a Triple Crown champion going into the race. It’s the third time since 2019 the Derby winner has not even entered the Preakness. That only happened once in the previous 33 years. Why is that? Some trainers think the short, two-week turnaround is bad for the horses. This follows decades of debate about spacing out the Derby, Preakness and Belmont.

Inter stuns Barcelona with improbable comeback to reach another Champions League final

MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan beat Barcelona 4-3 after extra time in another rollercoaster encounter to reach a second Champions League final in three years. In the end it took extra time, two astonishing Barcelona comebacks and 13 goals to separate the teams and see Inter prevail 7-6 on aggregate. Substitute Davide Frattesi was the extra-time star for Inter, firing home in the 99th minute to leave the Barcelona players slumped to the ground while his Nerazzurri teammates were racing to celebrate with him. Inter will face either Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in Munich on May 31 for the title. Inter lost to Manchester City in the showpiece match in 2023.

Road, sweet road: Visiting teams go 4-0 in Game 1 of NBA conference semifinals, a league first

Road, sweet road. Home-court advantage? It doesn’t exist so far in the NBA conference semifinals where visiting teams combined to go 4-0 in Game 1s, the first time that has happened during this round in the league’s playoff history. Indiana beat top-seeded Cleveland on Sunday in the opener of that East series, New York beat defending champion Boston and Denver beat West top-seeded Oklahoma City in their respective openers Monday, and Golden State topped Minnesota in Game 1 of their matchup on Tuesday.

Jaccob Slavin scores in OT as the Hurricanes beat the Capitals in Game 1 of their 2nd-round series

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jaccob Slavin scored in overtime, Frederik Andersen made 13 saves in his return from injury and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 2-1 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. Logan Stankoven started the comeback with his goal midway through the third period off a turnover. After failing to score on a power play late in regulation, Slavin scored 3:06 into OT from just inside the blue line to give Carolina the series lead.

Oilers rally for NHL-record fifth straight time to beat Golden Knights 4-2 in Game 1

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Zach Hyman scored from just above the right circle with 3:02 left to put Edmonton ahead for good, and the Oilers rallied yet again this postseason to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in Game 1 of the second-round series. The Oilers, who came back from 2-0 down, set an NHL record with their fifth consecutive playoff comeback victory. Vegas, which had just seven shots on goal over the final two periods, lost a playoff game in regulation after leading by at least two goals for the first time. The Golden Knights are 47-4 overall in the postseason with such leads. Game 2 is Thursday night in Las Vegas. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, and Corey Perry and Connor Brown also scored. Mark Stone scored twice for Vegas.