May 27, 2026 4:35 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin is staying in Pittsburgh. The Penguins have re-signed the franchise icon to a one-year, $5.5 million deal. Malkin, who turns 40 in August, was due to become a free agent on July 1 but had expressed repeatedly a desire to stay. General Manager Kyle Dubas had been noncommittal but confirmed the team’s interest in keeping Malkin, though he said recently the club would “love” to have him back. The signing means Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Kris Letang will continue their historic partnership. All three are now under contract for a record 21st season together.
May 27, 2026 4:38 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Stone and Cole Smith scored for Vegas and the Golden Knights suffocated Colorado’s high-powered offense to beat the Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night and for an unthinkable sweep to make their third Stanley Cup Final in nine seasons. The Golden Knights will get a break while they watch to see whether Carolina or Montreal emerge from the Eastern Conference Final. This is a crushing end for an Avalanche team that won the Presidents’ Trophy and had blown through the playoffs with an 8-1 record. Chicago in 2013 was the last team to claim the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.
May 27, 2026 4:36 am
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points, Alex Caruso led another strong bench effort with 22 and the Oklahoma City Thunder moved one win away from a return trip to the NBA Finals by beating the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 on Tuesday night. Jared McCain — getting the call with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell both sidelined — scored 20 in his first playoff start for the Thunder, who now lead the Western Conference finals 3-2. Stephon Castle scored 24 points for San Antonio, which got 22 points from Julian Champagnie and 20 points from Victor Wembanyama — who was held to 4 of 15 shooting.
May 26, 2026 5:54 pm
PITTSBURGH — Veteran Penguins center Evgeni Malkin has re-signed for one more year. The team confirmed on Tuesday, first in an email to season ticketholders, then in a release to the public, that 39-year-old Malkin is returning on a one-year contract extension with an AAV of $5.5 million. Insiders report that the contract could go up to $9 million with bonuses. The Penguins shared a video of Malkin signing his contract, where he says, “Best city, best fans, I stay one more year…Best day in my life.”
May 26, 2026 4:32 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Henry Davis hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Davis turned on a 91 mph cutter from Cubs reliever Trent Thornton and sent it 427 feet over the fence in left field for his fourth homer of the season. Pittsburgh’s bullpen did the rest. Wilber Dotel earned his first big-league win with three innings of scoreless relief. Michael Busch homered for Chicago, but couldn’t stop the Cubs from dropping their ninth straight game, the club’s longest skid since a 10-game slide in 2022.
May 26, 2026 4:36 am
MONTREAL (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov scored at 14:06 of overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Final. Shayne Gostisbehere and Taylor Hall scored in regulation for Carolina. Frederik Andersen made 11 saves. Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson scored for Montreal, which got 35 stops from Jakub Dobes. Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday at the Bell Centre.
May 26, 2026 4:33 am
CLEVELAND (AP) — Karl Anthony-Towns had 19 points and 14 rebounds, OG Anunoby scored 17 and the New York Knicks routed the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-93 Monday night to complete a four-game sweep of the Eastern Conference finals and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. Landry Shamet scored 16 off the bench while Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson had 15 apiece for the Knicks, who became the fourth team to have an 11-game winning streak during their postseason run. The last to do it was Golden State, which had a 15-game run en route to its second title in three seasons in 2017. Donovan MItchell had 31 points for Cleveland, which was swept in a postseason series for the first time since the 2018 NBA finals against Golden State.
May 26, 2026 4:36 am
PARIS (AP) — Tennis players at the French Open say they haven’t experienced conditions this hot at Roland Garros since the 2024 Paris Olympics. And the Olympics were held in July and August. Temperatures for the opening two days of the clay-court Grand Slam have soared to 33 degrees C (91 F). That’s far beyond normal for late May in the French capital. And it’s forecast to stay that way for the entire first week. Besides making it uncomfortable for fans and players alike the sultry conditions have also created faster conditions on court. Russian-born Australian player Daria Kasatkina says “I don’t remember the last time it was so hot at Roland Garros.”
May 25, 2026 12:31 am
TORONTO (AP) — Esmerlyn Valdez homered for his first career hit, Spencer Horwitz and Oneil Cruz also connected and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep. Valdez was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday and had gone 0 for 7 before hitting a two-run homer off Chase Lee in the sixth inning. Pirates reliever Dennis Santana brokered a trade with a young fan for the ball, handing over a bat signed by Valdez and a Pirates cap in exchange for Valdez’s keepsake. Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease left the game after 4 2/3 innings because of a sore left hamstring. Cease (3-3) allowed two runs and four hits before departing. He walked one and struck out eight. Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. left in the bottom of the fifth after being hit on the inside of his right elbow by a pitch from Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller. Lenyn Sosa came in to run for Guerrero and took over at first base. The Blue Jays said an X-ray of Guerrero’s elbow did not reveal a fracture. Keller (5-2) allowed one run and four hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out five. Gregory Soto finished in the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances, striking out Daulton Varsho for the final out and stranding two runners. Horwitz homered on Cease’s first pitch of the game, his fifth of the season. Cruz hit a leadoff blast in the second, his 11th of the year. Infielder Ernie Clement drove in Toronto’s only run with an RBI single in the fourth.
May 25, 2026 4:17 am
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Wyndham Clark shot 11-under 60 to win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday, overtaking Si Woo Kim by three strokes and pulling away from defending champion Scottie Scheffler after starting the day tied with the top-ranked hometown favorite. The 2023 U.S. Open champion, who shot 30-under 254, went in front for the first time in the final round with an eagle at the par-5 12th and twice took two-shot leads with clutch birdie putts over the final four holes while shooting 28 on the back nine. Kim and Scheffler shot matching 65s.
