Where things stand in the NHL as it returns post-Olympics

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🚨 Headlines

⚾️ Griffin’s viral outbreak: 19-year-old superstar Konnor Griffin stoked the hype machine by hitting two huge blasts at Fenway South in the Pirates’ spring training win over the Red Sox on Tuesday. Everyone, let’s get to know this name. Scouts call him the best hitting prospect in at least a decade.

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🏒 Ratings near record: On Sunday, 20.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the United States beat Canada for the gold medal, making the game the second-most-watched hockey game ever on NBC. Only the 2010 gold medal game drew more viewers (27.6 million).

⚽️ Survive and advance: Bode/Glimt (beat Inter Milan), Atletico Madrid (beat Club Brugge), Newcastle United (beat Qarabag) and Bayer Leverkusen (beat Olympiakos) advanced to the last 16 of the Champions League after winning the play-offs.

🇺🇸 Another medal for Hailey: Team USA goaltender Connor Helleback will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his performance in the gold medal game by President Trump as he welcomes the men’s hockey team to the Capitol for Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

🏈”Is the “American Game” underway? The Army-Navy game, held annually in mid-December, may be moved up a few weeks to account for conference title contention and potential CFP inclusion. It would also provide the playoffs with more schedule wiggle room as they prepare for expansion.

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🏒 Back to Play: NHL resumes play

The 2025-26 NHL regular season resumes tonight after a 19-day break due to the Winter Olympics. eight games are scheduled return, marking the move towards March 6 trade deadline.

Eastern Conference: Parity, or “competitive balance,” as Commissioner Gary Bettman calls it, has played out well this season. This is especially true in the East, where 15 of 16 teams have a scoring percentage above .500. Unite, Rangers! You ruin the whole atmosphere.

Western Conference: The West is home to a Stanley Cup favorite (the Avalanche) and three of the top four Hart Trophy contenders, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (BetMGM -225), San Jose’s MacLean Celebrini (+325) and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (+850). The only other serious contender is Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (+550).

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⚾️ Mount Rushmore Home Run

After the recent passing of Pirates legend Bill Mazeroski, we thought it prudent to commemorate his iconic World Series victory with its rightful place on MLB’s Mount Rushmore.

Top four: Maz’s World Series game-winner ranks with three other home runs that, in our humble opinion, represent some of the most iconic in the 150-year history of the game.

1. Bill Mazewski (1960): World Series, Game 7 … The first home run to win the Fall Classic, and the only one in Game 7, gave the Pirates their first championship in 35 years. The slugging second baseman is inducted into the Hall of Fame for his glove, but he will always be remembered for his hit against Yankees reliever Ralph Terry.

2. Bobby Thomson (1951): Gunshots are heard around the world … On August 11, Thomson’s Giants trailed the Dodgers by 13 games, finishing the season with a 37-7 record and tying the Dodgers on the final day, forcing them to compete for a World Series berth in a best-of-three playoff series. In Game 3, Thomson’s three-point shot off Ralph Branca sparked the all-time great call from Russ Hodges: “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”

3. Joe Carter (1993): Touch them, Joe! … The only other game-winning home run in the World Series came in Game 6, when Carter came from a 5-3 deficit to beat the Phillies 6-5 to capture Toronto’s second consecutive championship. A quick word of praise for the Blue Jays roster, which includes three Future Hall of Famers include Ricky Henderson, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar.

4. Hank Aaron (1974): No. 715 … Before Hammerin’ Hank hit his 715th home run, Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homers stood for nearly four decades. Naturally, Vin Scully was involved:

“What a wonderful moment for baseball. What a wonderful moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a wonderful moment for the country and the world. A black man earning a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking the record of a historical baseball icon.”

Honorable mentions: Kirk Gibson, 1988 (Humble Heroes); Carlton Fisk, 1975 (Waves it fair); Barry Bonds, 2007 (No. 755); Mark McGuire, 1998 (No. 62); Babe Ruth, 1932 (Called Shot*); Kirby Puckett, 1991 (“See you tomorrow night!”); Aaron Boone, 2003 (ALCS playoff game); Ted Williams, 1960 (last career at-bat)

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*If it weren’t for Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, Babe’s legendary “pit call” would likely be on Mount Rushmore The mystery surrounding its true nature. Accounts vary as to whether the Yankees slugger was calling the shots or simply pointing toward the Cubs dugout to remind his opponent, who had been cussing him all game, that he had one hit left. As they say, “print the legend”.

💯 Big numbers

⛸️ 5.4 million new followers

Since the opening of the Cortina Olympics in Milan, figure skating gold medalist Ellie Liu has had a staggering 5.4 million followers on Instagram, up from 211,000 before the Olympics to 5.6 million this morning.

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Olympic Impact: Liu isn’t the only American hero to see a surge in IG followers. Jack Hughes’ goal tally jumped from 681,000 to over 1 million in Sunday’s Hockey Final. This makes the Devils star the third active NHL player to surpass this mark, following Alexander Ovechkin (1.7 million) and Connor McDavid (1.4 million).

⚾️-105

The Americans have won just one of the previous five World Baseball Classics, but their roster makes them the favorite to win the 20-team tournament starting next week (-105 at BetMGM).

Top Contenders: Defending champion Japan (+350) and 2013 champion Dominican Republic (+425) are considered Team USA’s strongest competitors. The only other countries with odds better than 50 to 1 are Venezuela (+900), Puerto Rico (+2000) and Mexico (+2000).

⚽️ 16 Americans

Atletico Madrid midfielder Johnny Cardoso scored a beautiful goal in Tuesday’s win over Club Brugge, making him the 16th American to score in the Champions League.

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Full list: Christian Pulisic leads the way (12 goals), followed by Weston McKennie (10), Ricardo Pepi (6), Folarin Balogun (5), Malik Tillman (5), DaMarcus Beasley (4), Jordan Sibacho (2), Tim Weah (2), Fabian Johnson (2), Jermaine Jones (2), one each from Tyler Adams, Serginho Dest, Maurice Edu, Jovan Kirovski, Sasha Klestan and Cardoso.

🏀 655 appearances

UConn’s Geno Auriemma cracks the AP Top 25 for the 655th time this week, breaking a tie with Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer for the most by a head coach in the women’s poll’s history.

Husky on fire: The defending champion Huskies (29-0) have been ranked No. 1 all season and have won 45 consecutive games since last February. It’s the seventh-longest winning streak in DI women’s basketball history, and four of the longer six-game winning streak also belong to UConn.

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📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, February 25

🏀 NBA on ESPN

Tonight’s heavyweight doubleheader will begin in Detroit. The Pistons will face the Thunder at home to start a championship battle. (7:30 p.m. ET). Then head to Denver for a game between the second-place Celtics and fourth-place Nuggets (10 p.m.).

Championship Contenders: Oklahoma City (+135 at BetMGM), Denver (+550), Boston (+1200) and Detroit (+1200) are four of the five betting favorites to win the NBA championship.

🏒 NHL on TNT

The NHL’s first post-Olympics doubleheader is a blast as the No. 1 Lightning host the Maple Leafs (7:30 p.m.) and No. 1 Golden Knights visit Kings (10 p.m.).

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Team USA shows: Four U.S. gold medalists will be on the ice tonight, including Team USA captain Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs). Others: Jack Eichel (Golden Knights), Noah Hanifin (Golden Knights) and Jack Guentzel (Lightnings).

⚽️Champions League

The knockout round ends today with four second-leg matches featuring a host of Europe’s biggest clubs, including the defending champions (Paris Saint-Germain) and the winningest club in the competition’s history (Real Madrid). The winner advances to the top 16.

Complete slate: Atalanta (0-2) vs Borussia Dortmund (12:45 p.m., Paramount+);Real Madrid (1-0) vs Benfica (3 p.m., Paramount+); Paris Saint-Germain (3-2) vs Monaco (3 p.m., Paramount+);Juventus(2-5) vs Galatasaray (3 p.m., CBSSN).

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More to watch:

• 🏀 National Aeronautics Association: St. John’s University ranked 15th, University of Connecticut ranked 6th (7 p.m., NBCSN) … The Johannes (22-5) finished 15-1 in the Big East for the first time since the 1984-1985 season, when they last reached the Final Four.

• 🏀 National Union of Auto Workers: No. 8 Michigan, No. 13 Ohio State (8 p.m., Peacock) … Sophomores Jaloni Cambridge (Ohio State) and Olivia Olson (Michigan) both rank among the top 20 mid-late Wooden Award season.

• ⛳️ LPGA: HSBC Women’s World Championship (9:30 p.m., golf) …Nine of the world’s top 10 golfers dominate the course at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore.

Any plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to get last minute tickets to events in your city. Get your tickets now!

⚾️ MLB Trivia

Norway is one of eight countries whose territory lies within the Arctic Circle.

question: Can you name the other seven?

The answer is at the bottom.

📸 Photo completed

I have seen thousands of photos from the Milan Cortina Olympics. There are more iconic shots…more unforgettable moments…but this is my favorite photo.

Australia’s Abbey Willcox (aerial shot) looks like it was hand-grown in the mountains!

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Trivia Answers: Ken Griffey Jr. (Marineers)

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