Sports briefs
Johnson wins 2018 opener at Kapalua
A new year brought out the best in Dustin Johnson, who powered his way to an 8-under 65 and an eight-shot victory Sunday in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
In a field that featured the top five players in the world, Johnson made a strong opening statement that the No. 1 ranking he has held for nearly a year might be difficult to take away.
Johnson stretched a two-shot lead to six strokes at the turn, then delivered the biggest moment of the week with a drive on the par-4 12th hole that stopped 6 inches from the cup for a tap-in eagle.
He finished at 24-under 268 for his 17th career victory.
Jon Rahm closed with a 69 to finish second and move to No. 3 in the world.
In the NHL
Brock Nelson scored the only goal in the shootout to lift the New York Islanders over the New Jersey Devils 5-4 on Sunday.
The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Islanders, who trailed 4-2 early in the third period.
Nelson beat Devils netminder Cory Schneider in the fifth round of the shootout.
Jaroslav Halak made 42 saves for the Islanders.
- Barely a month removed from a 10-game losing streak, the Philadelphia Flyers have climbed back into playoff contention.
They can thank the high-scoring trio of Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
Couturier scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and added an empty-netter to put it away and the Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Sunday for their third straight victory.
The Flyers (19-15-8) entered their NHL-mandated five-day break in a logjam with Carolina, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh for the second wild-card spot.
- Nicklas Backstrom scored at 4:17 of overtime and Alex Ovechkin had a power-play goal and an assist to help the Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.
Recognizing a change of possession in Washington’s end late in overtime, Backstrom headed down ice, received a long pass from T.J. Oshie and beat goalie Carter Hutton for his ninth goal of the season.
- Matthieu Perreault scored twice, Connor Hellebuyck made 31 saves and the Winnipeg Jets beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 to extend their home winning streak to five games.
Matt Hendricks and Marko Dano also scored to help the Central Division-leading Jets improve to 16-3-1 at home and 25-11-7 overall. Logan Couture had a power-play goal for San Jose.
- Anton Forsberg made 32 saves, Nick Schmaltz and Alex DeBrincat scored in the first period, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the slumping Edmonton Oilers 4-1.
Brandon Saad and Jordan Oesterle also scored for the Blackhawks, who got their first home win since a 4-1 victory against Minnesota on Dec. 17. Jonathan Toews extended his point streak to four games.
In the NBA
Josh Richardson’s layup with 5.1 seconds left capped a Miami rally from eight points down in the fourth, Donovan Mitchell missed what would have been the winner at the buzzer and the Heat beat the Utah Jazz 103-102 Sunday.
Tyler Johnson and Goran Dragic each scored 16 points for Miami, which has won four straight – all by single digits, the Heat’s longest stretch of such games since November 2012.
Richardson and Hassan Whiteside each had 14 points, James Johnson scored 13 and Kelly Olynyk had 12.
- Kristaps Porzingis scored 29 points and Jarrett Jack made the tiebreaking basket with 31.2 seconds left as the New York Knicks beat the Dallas Mavericks 100-96.
Kyle O’Quinn had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Enes Kanter added 13 points and 18 boards for the Knicks, who ended a three-game losing streak and sent the Mavericks to their third straight loss – all at home.