MONDAY SPORTS: BILLS, LIONS MOVE ON
NFL
No matter the setting — Arrowhead Stadium or Orchard Park — Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs keep finding ways to beat Josh Allen and Buffalo Bills in the playoffs.
Mahomes threw two touchdown passes to Travis Kelce and the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs advanced to their sixth straight AFC championship game with a 27-24 win over the Bills on Sunday night.
The Chiefs move on to Baltimore to face Lamar Jackson and the conference’s top-seeded Ravens, who beat Houston 34-10 on Saturday.
The Chiefs scored on five of their first six possessions, not including a kneeldown at halftime, and went ahead for good on Isiah Pacheco’s 4-yard touchdown run 40 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Neither team led by more than seven points and they traded leads five times. The outcome was decided when Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass missed a potential game-tying field goal wide right from 44 yards, allowing the Chiefs to run out the remaining 1:47.
Meanwhile Jared Goff threw his second touchdown pass with 6:22 left and the Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 in the divisional round on Sunday, lifting Detroit into the NFC championship for the first time in 32 years and just the second time in franchise history.
The Lions (14-5) won two playoff games in a season for the first time since 1957, the last year they won the NFL title, and had two postseason games at home for the first time.
Now they have to travel to face San Francisco, the NFC’s top seed, next Sunday for a spot in the Super Bowl — a game they have never played in.
NHL
ISLANDERS 3 STARS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored 41 seconds into overtime and the New York Islanders beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 Sunday night to win in new coach Patrick Roy’s debut.
Roy, who went 130-92-24 in three NHL seasons coaching Colorado from 2013-16, was hired on Saturday to replace Lane Lambert after the Islanders went 0-3-1 on a four-game trip.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Sunday:
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WILD 5 HURRICANES 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov scored three goals for his second career hat trick, and Joel Eriksson Ek had the tiebreaking goal in the third period to lead Minnesota to a 5-2 win over Carolina.
RED WINGS 2 LIGHTNING 1
DETROIT (AP) — Daniel Sprong scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Detroit snapped Tampa Bay’s five-game winning streak, beating them 2-1.
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SENATORS 5 FLYERS 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Vladimir Tarasenko and Claude Giroux scored third-period goals and Ottawa rallied to win in Shane Pinto’s return to the lineup from a gambling suspension, beating Philadelphia 5-3.
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MAPLE LEAFS 3 KRAKEN 1
SEATTLE (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 38th goal in the first period, Ilya Samsonov got his first win since early December, and Toronto beat Seattle 3-1. Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle, and Joe Daccord made 23 saves.
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RANGERS 5 DUCKS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Artemi Panarin scored the tiebreaking goal with less than six minutes to go in the third period, Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck each had a goal and an assist, and New York rallied to beat Anaheim.
WHL
BLADES 4 OIL KINGS 1
EDMONTON, Alta. — Tyler Parr had a goal and assist as the visiting Saskatoon Blades defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-1.
Fraser Minten, Rowan Calvert and Brandon Lisowsky also scored for the East Division-leading Blades (31-9-2-2), who led 1-0 after the first period and 3-0 heading into the third.
Elsewhere in the Dub on Sunday:
GIANTS 4 ROCKETS 2
LANGLEY, B.C. – Cameron Schmidt scored twice, Ty Halaburda and Samuel Honzek each had two assists and the Vancouver Giants defeated the visiting Kelowna Rockets 4-2 in Western Hockey League action on Sunday afternoon at Langley Events Centre.
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TIGERS 7 WHEAT KINGS 3
BRANDON, Man. — Hayden Harsanyi and Oasiz Wiesblatt each scored twice as the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers plowed past the Brandon Wheat Kings 7-3.
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BLAZERS 6 ROYALS 2
VICTORIA, B.C. — Blake Swetlikoff scored twice and added two assists as the visiting Kamloops Blazers surprised the Victoria Royals 6-2 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena.
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BLADES 4 OIL KINGS 1
EDMONTON, Alta. — Tyler Parr had a goal and assist as the visiting Saskatoon Blades defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-1.
Fraser Minten, Rowan Calvert and Brandon Lisowsky also scored for the East Division-leading Blades (31-9-2-2), who led 1-0 after the first period and 3-0 heading into the third.
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HITMEN 5 RAIDERS 4 (OT)
CALGARY, Alta. — Maxim Muranov scored 29 seconds into overtime to give the Calgary Hitmen a 5-4 victory over the visiting Prince Albert Raiders.
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SILVERTIPS 3 AMERICANS 2
EVERETT, Wash. — Beau Courtney had a goal and assist as the Everett Silvertips edged the visiting Tri-City Americans 3-2 at Angel of the Winds Arena.
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WILD 9 THUNDERBIRDS 3
SEATTLE, Wash. — The visiting Wenatchee Wild erupted for five unanswered goals in the second period then coasted to a 9-3 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.
CURLING
RED DEER, Alta. – Rachel Homan’s emotional roller-coaster ride ended on a happy note Sunday as the Ottawa skip engineered a steal of one in an extra end to edge Silvana Tirinzoni’s Switzerland squad 5-4 in the women’s Grand Slam of Curling Co-op Canadian Open final.
Trailing 4-2 heading into the eighth end, Homan counted her only deuce of the game to force an extra end against Tirinzoni, who had been near flawless with the hammer all week at Servus Arena.
Homan, with third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes, beat the odds by counting one to capture the fourth Grand Slam event of the 2023-24 season.
Earlier Sunday, Scotland’s Bruce Mouat defeated Canada’s Brendan Bottcher 6-5 to win the men’s title.
Bottcher, who curls out of Calgary, has Marc Kennedy at third, Brett Gallant at second, and lead Ben Hebert.
(Canadian Press)
