logo
Los Angeles visits Minnesota after Jackson's 30-point game

Los Angeles visits Minnesota after Jackson's 30-point game

Los Angeles Sparks (4-7, 3-6 Western Conference) at Minnesota Lynx (9-1, 8-1 Western Conference)
Minneapolis; Saturday, 1 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Los Angeles Sparks visits the Minnesota Lynx after Rickea Jackson scored 30 points in the Sparks' 97-89 victory over the Las Vegas Aces.
Minnesota went 14-6 in Western Conference action and 16-4 at home during the 2024-25 season. The Lynx averaged 8.6 steals, 4.2 blocks and 13.4 turnovers per game last season.
Los Angeles finished 8-32 overall last season while going 5-15 in Western Conference play. The Sparks averaged 78.4 points per game while shooting 42.3% from the field and 32.0% from 3-point distance last season.
INJURIES: Lynx: None listed.
Sparks: Cameron Brink: out (knee), Rae Burrell: out (leg).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Dallas Stars re-sign Mavrik Bourque and Nils Lundkvist, young players still searching for roles
Dallas Stars re-sign Mavrik Bourque and Nils Lundkvist, young players still searching for roles

Winnipeg Free Press

time4 hours ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Dallas Stars re-sign Mavrik Bourque and Nils Lundkvist, young players still searching for roles

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Stars have re-signed two young players still searching for roles, with forward Mavrik Bourque and defenseman Nils Lundkvist agreeing to one-year contracts. Bourque played in 73 regular-season games in 2024-25, but dressed for just three playoff games as the Stars lost in the Western Conference final for the third consecutive year. Edmonton beat Dallas in five games after winning in six last year. The 23-year-old Bourque signed for $950,000, the Stars said Friday. He tallied 25 points (11 goals) last season. Bourque was the 30th overall pick in the first round by Dallas in 2020. Bourque made his NHL debut on April 6, 2024, the only game he played in 2023-24. He also made one playoff appearance that season. Lundkvist has been a disappointment since the Stars traded a first-round pick for him before the 2022-23 season. He was drafted in the first round by the New York Rangers in 2018. Injuries limited the 24-year-old to 39 games in the regular season, and Lundkvist didn't appear in the postseason after playing sparingly in most of his 12 playoff appearances in 2024. His second consecutive one-year contract is for $1.25 million. Lundkvist has 44 points (nine goals) in 183 games over four seasons. ___ AP NHL:

'Not trying to take a different route': Oilers GM isn't planning major changes
'Not trying to take a different route': Oilers GM isn't planning major changes

Ottawa Citizen

time5 hours ago

  • Ottawa Citizen

'Not trying to take a different route': Oilers GM isn't planning major changes

Connor McDavid isn't waiting for a cavalry of reinforcements to gallop over the horizon and lift the Edmonton Oilers to a championship. Article content Which is good, because general manager Stan Bowman isn't promising one. Article content Aside from a mid-level move here and there, it will be pretty much the same team coming back to try again next year. Article content 'We come back and we do it again,' McDavid said about his expectations for next season. 'It's not like we have a ton of cap room and a long list of highly-touted prospects knocking on the door. It has to come from within the players who are playing. Everyone has to find a new level, myself included. Article content Article content 'Ultimately, it's on every person in that room and that organization to dust themselves off and come back and be better.' Article content Article content That's the company message Bowman reinforced when he met with the media for a 25-minute post-mortem/look ahead Friday. He sees a team that is THIS close to a championship and doesn't want to fix what isn't necessarily broken. Article content 'The way it ended certainly feels like a disappointment. It's hard, in the moment, to reflect on how great a season it was. We fell short, but we did a lot of great things. There are 30 other teams that would trade with where we were.' Article content Bowman saw a team where goaltending, depth, puck movers and star players combined to go on a 12-2 run in the Western Conference playoffs, blowing through the Kings, Golden Knights and Stars like it was easy. Article content 'We left those teams, L.A., Vegas and Dallas, scratching their heads like, 'What happened?'' said Bowman. 'We did to those other teams what Florida did to us.' Article content Article content So you don't blow that up. But standing pat isn't an option, either. Bowman said talks are already underway in advance of the free agent market opening on July 1, with the focus being at forward and in goal. Article content Article content 'The area with the least amount of change will be defence,' he said. 'We have guys under contract and they played very well. Probably won't be big changes there. Article content 'Up front, we need some different players. I wouldn't expect wholesale charges, we're not going to have nine or 10 new players, but I do think we're going to have some changes. More likely, the forwards and the goalies are the ones we're going to evaluate the most deeply.' Article content The Oilers also need to get younger and faster, but that's easier said than done when you're in the middle of a Win Now window. This isn't the time to be breaking in rookies, but they also can't ignore the future. Article content 'We're going to do our best to give opportunities to players,' said Bowman. 'But it's not like we're going to put a bunch of inexperienced guys in the lineup. Our objective is to win next year. We're not trying to take a different route, we want to be playing in the final next year.'

Stuart Skinner's future with Oilers a key consideration for GM Bowman
Stuart Skinner's future with Oilers a key consideration for GM Bowman

Ottawa Citizen

time5 hours ago

  • Ottawa Citizen

Stuart Skinner's future with Oilers a key consideration for GM Bowman

So, will Stu Skinner be back in net next season as the No. 1? Article content Or will he be sharing the crease in a 1 and 1a scenario, but not with the good soldier Calvin Pickard as a partner? Maybe they trade for somebody who is or was a starter. Article content Article content Enquiring minds want to know, and they're all wearing Edmonton Oilers jerseys. Article content There's this feeling that fixing the goaltending here is as simple as looking up plumbers on Google and having somebody come by to fix the leaking toilet. Article content Article content It's not. Article content Article content For sure, Skinner was outplayed by Sergei Bobrovsky in the final against Florida, but Bob's arguably on a career path to the Hall of Fame with his two Cup rings and his two Vezina trophies, plus his 445 regular-season wins, top 10 all-time. Article content Skinner has only played three NHL seasons (189 regular-season games, 50 in the playoffs), not Bob's 15 years (777 regular-season games and 117 in the playoffs). But he did get the Oilers to the last two Cup finals, with ample help from Pickard along the way this spring. He was definitely better than the ballyhooed Jake Oettinger in the Western Conference final against Dallas, not just this year, but last spring. Article content So, how bad can Skinner be? He wasn't the reason the Oilers lost to Florida this June; they're just too deep, reminding people of the early 80s New York Islanders with their talent and their wear-you-down philosophy of play. Article content Article content Again, Skinner is a good goalie who is in the mix for one of the three Olympic spots next February. But, there still could be a different configuration in net, like maybe somebody to push Skinner for playing time. Article content Article content 'I don't want to single the goaltending out,' said Bowman, who balked at trading for goaltending help at the deadline, maybe because he won three Cups in Chicago with Corey Crawford and Antti Niemi in net, so good goalies but not great ones. Article content But, he knows the narrative in this city, where Skinner, an accountable, nice guy with lots of ability, gave up two goals in the first period of all five starts in the final series after outplaying Oettinger and Hill, specifically, in heavyweight matchups earlier. Article content 'It's something we'll investigate this summer — what's the best path moving forward for our team. It's hard to predict where that's going to go. We have to have lots of conversations about what other teams are looking to do,' said Bowman, who did concede that the forward group and the goalies would be evaluated most deeply.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store