Off the goaltender’s mask, off a defenseman’s back, nothing but net. Well, at least in the net.

That is how Colorado’s Casey Mittelstadt got his first goal of the NHL playoffs this year, and it is not the only one. Several players have scored by ricocheting the puck in off a goalie’s head, including Dallas’ Evgenii Dadonov against Vegas earlier this week.

It is an art that is becoming more and more refined as skaters find ways to score against the best netminders in the world. Sniping goals in from near-impossible angles — Mario Lemieux was remarkable at it — is now common and even expected for NHL forwards. Maybe banking shots in off a goalie’s mask was the inevitable next step in a league that saw its first “Michigan” — the lacrosse-style goal done from behind the net — only in 2019.

“Some guys seem to be really good at it,” New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey said. “It seems like some guys are starting to perfect it.”

Goalies say they have learned to expect it, or at least not get salty about pucks intentionally directed at their noggins, a notable concern in hockey as the league has taken steps to cut down on concussions and other head injuries.

“You’ve got to be prepared for anything,” Washington’s Charlie Lindgren said. “You see shooters are so good now where all they need is the smallest little corner.”

Mittelstadt’s goal, batted out of the air, clanked off the front of the mask of Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, one of the league’s best goalies, off Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon and into the net.

“Interesting way,” he said. “I haven’t scored very many like that in my life, but (I will) definitely take it, for sure.”

After Dadonov shot from a bad angle off the mask of the Golden Knights’ Logan Thompson in the Stars’ Game 4 victory, Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger theorized that half the goals this time of year are about just getting the puck on net and hoping you get a good bounce.

“Just throw pucks at the net and you’re going to score dirty goals like that in the playoffs,” said Oettinger, who also made two big saves with his mask in winning Game 5.

Colorado counterpart Alexandar Georgiev speaks for his masked brethren when he says he doesn’t mind when opponents take aim for the back of his helmet in games. That is just part of the deal.

If Avalanche players do it in practice? Not so cool.

“Guys do a really good here with trying to avoid the mask in practice, at least,” Georgiev said. “When it’s the game, it’s part of the game. It doesn’t bother me. The equipment is pretty good, luckily.”

Georgiev, whose team is pursuing its second championship in three years, has tried different mask brands over the years, settling on a commonly used heavier Bauer model with “no complaints” when it comes to safety.

“It works great,” he said. “I feel the one I’m using now is is very solid and blocks of the shots pretty good. You don’t feel the impact that much.”

Dallas’ Jason Robertson tried to beat Thompson with a shot off his mask in Game 1 of their series. In hindsight, he wishes he would have tried something different. That’s because it’s so rare to score that way.

“When you just have time, pick your head up, see if it can happen,” Robertson said. “I think goalies understand. It’s tough now. … The goalies are good.”

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AP Sports Writers Pat Graham in Denver and Stephen Hawkins in Frisco, Texas, contributed.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

PARIS (AP) — Victor Wembanyama will return to Paris, he hopes as an Olympic champion, when the San Antonio Spurs face the Indiana Pacers in two regular-season NBA games early next year.

The NBA announced Thursday that the teams will play on Jan. 23 and Jan. 25, marking the first time two regular-season games will be held in Paris in the same season.

Wembanyama was the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, when the 7-foot-4 Frenchman joined the Spurs from Paris-based team Boulogne-Levallois.

The Spurs are returning to Paris for the first time since 2006, when another Frenchman, Tony Parker, starred for the team as a point guard.

The Pacers are playing their first games in France.

Before that, Wembanyama is expected be one of the stars at the Paris Olympics, where France hopes to win the gold medal for the first time after losing in the final to the United States in Tokyo.

The NBA staged its third regular-season game in Paris on Jan. 11 when the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Brooklyn Nets 111-102.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Walker Buehler will return to the mound for the first time since June 2022 on Monday.

Manager Dave Roberts said the two-time All-Star right-hander will start at home against the Miami Marlins.

“The plan is Walker’s going to start on Monday,” Roberts said following the Dodgers’ 8-0 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night. “We’re excited about that. Everything checked out. It’ll be good.”

Buehler, 29, has been sidelined for nearly two years since undergoing his second Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.

He is 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA in six starts — one at Class A Rancho Cucamonga and five at Triple-A Oklahoma City — on a rehab assignment this season. He has struck out 21 batters and walked nine in 21 2/3 innings.

During his last full season in 2021, Buehler made his second All-Star team (also 2019) and finished 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 33 starts.

Buehler owns a 46-16 record with a 3.02 ERA in 115 games (106 starts) since making his major league debut with the Dodgers in 2017. He helped Los Angeles win the World Series in 2020.

–Field Level Media

(Reuters) – Top seed Iga Swiatek made light work of Madison Keys to book a place in back-to-back finals of the Madrid Open as she beat the American 6-1 6-3 after 70 minutes in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Up next for Swiatek is the winner of the clash between second seed Aryna Sabalenka and number four Elena Rybakina, who meet later on Thursday.

Heading into the contest having won two of their last three meetings, the 22-year-old Pole dominated from the start and wrapped up the opener in just over half an hour against the 18th seed.

The second set was no different with Keys causing little trouble to Swiatek, who lost last year’s final to world number two Aryna Sabalenka, as the world number one broke early and raced into a 5-3 lead before breaking again to secure the win.

“I feel really good,” Swiatek said. “I wasn’t really thinking about what happened last year. But repeating this result is a great thing.

“I’ll have a chance to play a nice match in two days. So it’s really exciting. I’m happy overall with the whole tournament.”

Swiatek, a four-times Grand Slam champion, is now the youngest player to reach 10 WTA level finals on clay since Swiss Martina Hingis in 2000.

(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers off-court strategy heading into Game 6 of their NBA playoff series is to keep New York Knicks fans out of Wells Fargo Arena on Thursday night.

Team owners Josh Harris, David Blitzer and David Adelman and former minority owner Michael Rubin joined forces Wednesday to buy more than 2,000 tickets they handed out to people who serve the Philadelphia community.

Wells Fargo Arena seemed more like Madison Square Garden South during the Knicks’ 97-92 win in Game 4 on Sunday, prompting 76ers star Joel Embiid to express frustration about the home-court disadvantage.

On Tuesday, the 76ers won 112-106 in overtime in New York to cut their deficit to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

After the 2,000-plus Game 6 tickets were bought in bulk, Rubin announced on social media they would be given to first responders, health care professionals and other Philadelphia-based organizations.

Dawn Staley, coach of the NCAA champion South Carolina women’s basketball team and a Philadelphia native, also asked fans to not sell their tickets to Knicks fans.

“We need everybody’s support, man,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

NEW YORK (AP) — The final cost of the New York Mets’ sorry 2023 season has been totaled: $420 million.

Major League Baseball finalized its payroll figures for last year, and the Mets finished at a record $319.5 million. In addition to the payroll, New York paid a record luxury tax of $100.8 million after finishing fourth in the NL East at 75-87 — 29 games behind first-place Atlanta and nine games back of the last wild card berth.

New York’s spending would have been even higher if not for summer trades that jettisoned pitchers Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Robertson along with other veterans.

The Mets topped the previous payroll high of $291.1 million by the 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers, who paid a tax of just over $43.5 million for a total player expense of $334.6 million.

The three-highest spenders all missed the playoffs last year. The New York Yankees were second at $283.8 million, followed by San Diego at $257.2 million.

Philadelphia was fourth at $249.2 million, followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers at $241.3 million.

World Series champion Texas was sixth at $241.1 million and National League champion Arizona 20th at $128.9 million.

Oakland had the lowest payroll for the second straight season at $62.7 million — less than one-fifth the Mets’ total.

AL East champion Baltimore was 28th at $79.2 million and Tampa Bay, which earned an AL wild card berth, was 27th at $83.8 million.

Payrolls increased 11% to $5.07 billion from $4.56 billion, and MLB calculated the average salary at $4,411,753.

The players’ association, which uses a slightly different methodology, announced its average of $4,525,719 in February.

Payrolls are based on 2023 salaries, earned bonuses and escalators, option buyouts and prorated shares of signing bonuses for 40-man rosters, and cash transactions in trades are factored in the calculations. In some cases, parts of salaries that are deferred are discounted to reflect present-day values.

They differ from luxury tax payrolls, which are based on average annual values and also include benefits. The Mets set a luxury tax payroll record of $374.7 million.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics ran away from the rest of the NBA in the regular season. So far, the playoffs have been more of the same.

The team that won 64 games to claim the league’s overall top seed dumped the Miami Heat in five games, winning 118-84 on Wednesday night to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. In their four wins, the Celtics’ biggest leads were 34, 29, 28 and 37.

“We got past the first step,” said Celtics guard Derrick White, who scored 25 points. “We don’t start the next series up 1-0 because of what we did here today.”

Boston is the first team in the East to advance. It will meet the winner of the series between Orlando and Cleveland, which heads to Game 6 on Friday night with the Cavaliers up 3-2.

“They’ve been the best team all season long. And in four of the five games, they played as such,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They took control of this game. You could sense that they wanted this to end right now, tonight, and not let this thing get back to Miami. That’s a sign of a mature team.”

One night after the Boston Bruins failed to close out the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series in the same building, the Celtics had no difficulty eliminating the Heat.

The top-seeded Celtics pounced on injury-plagued Miami, which was without postseason star Jimmy Butler and No. 2 scorer Tyler Herro, who hit six of the Heat’s franchise playoff record 23 3-pointers in Game 2 for their only win of the series.

Jaylen Brown also scored 25 points for Boston and Jayson Tatum had 16 points and 12 rebounds on Wednesday night. Reserve Sam Hauser scored 17 points in the extended garbage time for deep bench players while Xavier Tillman and Jaden Springer got their first playing time in the postseason.

The Celtics never trailed, leading by 18 in the first quarter, 30 in the second, 34 in the third and 37 in the fourth – even after all of the starters headed to the bench. And they did it without center Kristaps Porzingis, who strained his right calf in Game 4 and missed the clincher. Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said Porzingis will be re-evaluated in a week, with no other timetable for his recovery and return.

“It’s good we did our work early. Wish it could have been four, but we’ll take five,” Brown said. “We still have tests to go through, throughout this playoffs, especially now with KP being out. But I think we’re up to the challenge.”

Bam Adebayo scored 23 points and Herro had 15 for Miami, which went 3 for 29 from 3-point range. Asked afterward about the number of shots Adebayo took — 26 in three quarters — Spoelstra said, “You think I looked at the box score? We were down a thousand.”

“They probably had something to motivate them even more against us,” Spoelstra said.

The Celtics – and the rest of the league — let the Heat sneak up on them last year, when eighth-seeded Miami won Game 7 in Boston and went all the way to the NBA Finals. The Celtics weren’t about to make the same mistake this season.

“We’ve had such great battles against them,” White said. “In the past, we’ve had opportunities to close them out, especially on our home court, and that failed. To close them out tonight, especially the way we did it, was big.”

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

(Reuters) – Victor Wembanyama will return to his native France in January as his San Antonio Spurs will play two regular season games against the Indiana Pacers in Paris, the National Basketball Association said on Thursday.

The games on Jan. 23 and Jan. 25 will mark the first time the NBA has held two regular-season games in the French capital in the same season. The NBA did not disclose venues for the games.

Wembanyama was the first overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft and is the clear favourite to be named rookie of the year after averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and a league-high 3.6 blocks per game this season.

The Pacers, who will be playing their first games in France, have a roster that currently features 2024 All-Star Tyrese Haliburton as well as former NBA champion and twice All-Star Pascal Siakam.

“The return of the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama to Paris to face Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers will be a landmark moment for the growth of basketball in Europe,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said in a news release.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)

(Reuters) – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen can complete a hat-trick of Miami Grand Prix victories on Sunday but the announced departure of his team’s star designer Adrian Newey is the big talking point going into the weekend.

The sixth round of the season is, for the second weekend in a row, run to the sprint format with only one practice session and a 100km race on Saturday before qualifying for the main event.

Verstappen won the first sprint in China last month and arrives in Florida with four wins from five races and a 25 point lead over team mate Sergio Perez.

The Dutch 26-year-old won the first race around the Hard Rock Stadium in 2022 and then again from ninth last May, a big blow for Perez after the Mexican started on pole with a chance to take the overall lead and ended up second.

“It should normally be a good race for us,” said Verstappen after winning in Shanghai.

“It’s normally a little bit more straightforward with the strategy, but it’s always quite a difficult track, you know, so I’m excited. It’s always quite a crazy weekend there, so it’s going to be quite a busy one.”

Verstappen has started all five races this season from pole position, making him the only driver this century to achieve that feat. French great Alain Prost, with Williams in 1993, was the last driver to take the first six poles of a season.

Versatappen is also on a run of six successive wins in the United States.

In a blow to Red Bull away from the track, the team confirmed on Wednesday that Newey, the sport’s highest-rated and multiple title-winning designer, would be leaving next year.

Red Bull said the 65-year-old would step back from Formula One design duties but would continue to attend specific races until the end of the current season.

McLaren, who had Lando Norris finish second in China, and Ferrari are likely to be battling for best of the rest in Miami but Mercedes are bringing a big upgrade for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

“Our challenge will be to make sure we don’t try and replay China at a Miami that is a very, very different beast and wants different things from the car than China will,” Mercedes technical director James Allison said last week.

“We definitely learnt during this weekend (in Shanghai) that if you’re going to be ambitious, be ambitious in the sprint race and then tune it down for the main race rather than the opposite way around.”

Seven times world champion Hamilton was second in the sprint but then qualified only 18th for the main race and finished ninth.

Logan Sargeant, at Williams, is the only local driver in the race with his team still searching for their first point of the campaign.

Renault-owned Alpine and Swiss-based Sauber are also yet to open their accounts.

(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Peter Rutherford)

(Reuters) – Statistics for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix at the Hard Rock Stadium, round six of the 24-race Formula One championship:

Lap distance: 5.412km. Total distance: 308.326km (57 laps)

2023 pole position: Sergio Perez (Mexico) Red Bull One minute, 26.841 seconds

2023 winner: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull

Lap record: Verstappen 1:29.708 (2023)

Start time: 2000 GMT (1600 local)

MIAMI

The race is the third to be held in Miami and Verstappen won the previous two in 2022 and 2023.

Miami is also the first of three U.S. rounds on the calendar, with Austin and Las Vegas, and is being held in the sprint format for the first time.

The Hard Rock Stadium is usually home to the Miami Dolphins NFL team. The temporary street circuit has three straights and 19 corners, with cars reaching top speeds of 340kph.

A one-stop strategy is generally the favoured approach, with most going from medium to hard tyres.

Last year the track temperature hit 55 Celsius (131F).

CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD

Verstappen has led the championship for a record 44 successive races dating back to Spain in May 2022 and arrives in Miami 25 points clear of Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez and 34 ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull are 44 points clear of Ferrari.

SPRINT

Miami hosts the second of the season’s six sprint weekends, with just one practice session on Friday.

Verstappen won the season’s first in China and Red Bull won five of six sprints last year.

WINS

Verstappen has won four of five races this season, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz triumphant in Australia.

Sainz is the only driver to have beaten Red Bull since 2022.

Hamilton has a record 103 career victories from 337 starts but is chasing his first since 2021 — a run of 50 races without a win.

Red Bull won 21 of 22 races last year, with Verstappen victorious in a record 19, and have won 35 of the last 38.

The team have won 117 races and are fourth in the all-time list of winners. Ferrari lead with 244, McLaren have 183 and Mercedes 125.

Verstappen has won 58 grands prix and is third on the all-time list. Michael Schumacher is second on 91.

POLE POSITION

Hamilton has a record 104 career poles, his most recent in Hungary last year.

Verstappen is the first driver this century to take the first five poles of a season. Another on Saturday would be his seventh in a row, including the last race of 2023.

The last driver to take pole in the first five races was Mika Hakkinen with McLaren in 1999. The last to take the first six poles of a season was Alain Prost with Williams in 1993.

PODIUMS

Verstappen has 102 career podiums, Hamilton 197.

The Red Bull driver set a record of 21 podiums in a season last year but Michael Schumacher remains the only driver to have stood on the podium in every race of a season (2002).

MILESTONE

Ferrari are starting a new title partnership with HP and will have a special Miami livery this weekend.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Peter Rutherford)