Golf: Spieth coasts to Pebble Beach victory. C2

ø College hoops: Northwestern takes it to Wisconsin. C3

Winner, Top 10 Sports section in the nationAwarded by the Associated Press Sports Editors (2016)

SPORTSS TA R T R I B U N E . C O M / S P O R T S • S E C T I O N C

W O LV E S 1 1 7, C H I C A G O 8 9 Tuesday: 7 p.m. vs. Cleveland (FSN)

By MICHAEL RUSSO mrusso@startribune.com

With 37 victories and 80 points in 55 games, this season’s Wild is the fastest ever to reach those thresholds and is, amazingly, one win and seven points from last sea-son’s 82-game totals.

The latest victory, a 6-3 pound-ing of Detroit at Xcel Energy Cen-ter, didn’t feel like a 6-3 game. The Red Wings made life difficult on the Western Conference-leading Wild, three times going from two goals down to one down before the Wild finally pulled away late.

“It was ugly,” coach Bruce Bou-dreau said. “It was a really sloppy game for both teams.”

But a win’s a win, and the highest-scoring team in the West got a bunch of terrific offensive performances

in scoring at least five goals for 12th time in the past 28 games . The Wild has picked up points in 29 of its past 33 games (26-4-3).

Zach Parise, one game after Boudreau said he never saw a player work harder without being rewarded, scored twice, including the Wild’s third power-play goal of the game. Charlie Coyle scored a beautiful goal and had an assist.

Mikko Koivu and Jason Pomin-ville each had two assists, as did Gustav Olofsson, the first two points of the rookie defenseman’s NHL career.

Mikael Granlund and Nino Nie-derreiter also scored power-play goals, defenseman Christian Folin scored and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves for his league-leading 31st vic-tory. He is 24-3-2 in his past 29 starts.

W I L D 6 , D E T R O I T 3Tuesday: 7 p.m. vs. Anaheim (FSN Plus)

Photos by CARLOS GONZALEZ • cgonzalez@startribune.comZach Parise batted down the puck and poked it past Detroit goalie Jared Coreau for his second goal in the third period of the Wild’s 6-3 victory Sunday.

A victory with oops and aahsWild’s power-play success makes up for scattered messiness vs. Red Wings

J I M S O U H A N

Mikko Koivu gulped what looked like a protein shake. In front of his locker sat full and empty bottles of water and other sports drinks.

Just how many different liquids does he consume after a game?

“That’s a secret,” he said, smiling.For Koivu, this is stand-up

comedy. As earnest an athlete as you’ll meet, Koivu isn’t the kind of guy who’s going to make you slap your knee but this season he has earned pats on the back.

Remember what we used to say, or hear, about Koivu?

He had not aged well. He was no longer a first-line center. He

didn’t deserve the captain’s C. His shot was too balky for the power play. He was overpaid, expendable.

This season, Koivu has dropped gloves and pummeled every criticism ever leveled at him. He might not be the Wild’s best player but he is centering the best line on the Western Confer-ence’s best team, he is his team’s best faceoff specialist and his calm

and two-way tenacity have proved ideal in Bruce Boudreau’s room and system.

This is where players, fans and homers might argue that Koivu has proved everyone wrong. They might even use words such as “doubters” and “haters,” two of the silliest in the English and perhaps Finnish languages.

Koivu’s inspired play at both ends is no joking matter

The Wolves coach downplayed beating the Bulls, but both teams’ players sensed it meant more.

By JERRY ZGODA jzgoda@startribune.com

The Timberwolves’ 117-89 victory Sunday didn’t deliver the same come-back drama as their December vic-tory at Chicago, but it nonetheless kept coach Tom Thibodeau perfect against the Bulls team he once coached.

Two months ago, the Wolves trailed 26-6, yet still won at United Cen-ter, which Thibodeau called home for five seasons.

Sunday, the Bulls came to Target Center with four players injured or ill, including All-Star Jimmy Butler and superstar Dwyane Wade. It was the last game of a six-game trip that started 12 days before — although it seemed like “35 days ago,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.

The Wolves welcomed them by leading 31-12 early and 115-85 late, with Thibodeau keeping starters Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio on the floor until three minutes or fewer remained

Thibodeau wins again against his former team

Thibodeau

There are no shortcuts to building a team and a brand.

By MEGAN RYAN megan.ryan@startribune.com

PORTLAND, ORE. – In the end, every expansion team probably wants to be like Chicago Fire.

The Chicago Fire of 1998, that is, which won the Major League Soccer Cup and U.S. Open Cup in its first season — not the present Chicago Fire, which has finished dead last the past two seasons.

Of the 13 expansion sides that have joined MLS since its founding with 10 clubs in 1996, only Chicago has man-aged such a stellar first year. Seattle Sounders FC turned in the next-best season, losing in the first round of the playoffs in 2009 and winning the U.S. Open Cup. No other expansion team has made the playoffs, and two don’t even exist anymore .

So as far as first-year expectations for Minnesota United FC this season, making the playoffs would be a great success. But building for the future is the necessity.

Expansion teams look part in MLS

See LOONS on C3 ØSee SOUHAN on C6 Ø

See WILD on C6 Ø

See WOLVES on C4 Ø

Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon was helped off after taking a stick to the face, a play that earned Gustav Nyquist a double-minor.

ZSW [C M Y K] C1 Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

M O N DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

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VOICES

By MICHAEL RAND mrand@startribune.com

Anyone who has ever played pickup basketball has felt a little like Russell Westbrook felt Saturday night.

You show up to a familiar court with a buddy who’s pretty good. You’re used to being on the same team. But sides get chosen — maybe by shooting free throws, maybe just random assign-ment — and you’re on different teams. And it doesn’t take long to figure out that your friend’s team is much, much better than yours.

If you have a little (or a lot) of alpha dog in you, maybe you start trying to do too much. When that inevitably doesn’t work, your frustration begins to show in obvious ways. You gripe about every foul. You talk trash when it’s not appropriate.

It’s not fun on a random Saturday with nothing more than pride at stake at a local court. It looked like a barrel of not fun Saturday in Oklahoma City, when Kevin Durant returned for the first time since leaving Westbrook and the Thunder to join the greatest team (regular-season edition, of course) in NBA history.

Predictably, the Warriors carved up the Thunder with their usual dizzying array of three-pointers and easy layups. The final score was 130-114; Durant had 34 points in 33 minutes.

And Westbrook? Well, maybe we shouldn’t exactly feel sorry for the guy. But it’s hard not to feel some-thing.

Part of him wants this, sure. This is Westbrook’s show now in Oklahoma City, and he’s free to pursue all the triple-doubles a boxscore can handle. He can put up absurd stat lines like 47 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists (and 11 turnovers) as he did Saturday in a classic “Russ against the world” performance.

He can do this, more often than not, in victories. The Thunder is 31-24 this season, after all. But he also plays with such a conviction and belief in his own abilities as to think all of the grinding and hero ball should lead to a perfect record — or at least one that’s better than Durant’s Warriors.

That’s absurd, but that’s Westbrook. It seems like it’s killing him — not softly nor slowly.

This is not to begrudge Durant for his decision to sign with the Warriors.

There are probably quite a few 28-year-olds who, if given the choice between struggling uphill in a midmarket fran-chise or joining a potential dynasty in progress out in the Bay Area, would do the same thing.

But it is a shame that had to come at the expense of breaking up the Durant/Westbrook duo — an uneasy but fas-cinating alliance for so many wonder-ful years.

And it’s a shame that it had to come at the expense of the rest of the NBA, really. Barring injuries, nobody is touching the Warriors this season — and perhaps for many more to come. LeBron James probably knows this, which is part of the reason he’s been particularly frustrated this season with the Cavaliers’ roster.

At least LeBron got Cleveland a ring last year, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals to defeat Golden State — after the Warriors had done the same to Durant and Westbrook’s Thunder.

Now Westbrook is the guy at the playground who just lost his best team-mate to the other team.

His pride tells him he doesn’t need any help. The results tell the truth.

Doing it all can be too much

TALKER RUSSELL WESTBROOK’S DURANT-LESS DILEMMA

SUE OGROCKI • Associated PressThunder guard Russell Westbrook, left, and Warriors forward Kevin Durant — teammates once, now with different support.

RANDBALL

Let’s face it: Some aspects of the roughly $140 million renovation of Target Center are more interesting and visually appealing than others.

The new scoreboard? That was easy to showcase. But a lot of what happens during a renovation can be pretty mundane. For every splashy big-ticket item there are countless other little things that go on behind the scenes.

The multimedia crew over at the Timberwolves website wants you to know this: Those small details deserve love, too. Case in point: a hilarious video celebrat-ing … new railings at Target Center that will go in this summer.

How do you make it interest-ing? Call the video “Epic Rails” and don’t be shy about having a little fun with the blandness of it all.

Wolves VP of communications Brad Ruiter said the organization will “ look for some creative ways, such as this, to help tell our reno-vation story on topics that may typically be a bit ‘dry.’ ”

Read Michael Rand’s blog at startribune.com/randball. mrand@startribune.com

Wolves spice up mundane of remodeling

T h e m u c h - a n t i c i p a t e d Gophers-North Dakota 2018 men’s hockey showdown in Las Vegas sold out to the general public immediately when tickets went on sale Friday afternoon.

Fans eager to see the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game on Oct. 27, 2018, at the Orleans Arena reported minimal success when trying to buy tickets at Ticketmaster.com around the 2 p.m. CST release time.

But they are holding out hope for a venue change to open up more seats. The Orleans Arena seats 7,773 for hockey, while the nearby T-Mobile Arena — where the NHL’s Golden Knights will play — can seat 17,500.

North Dakota’s news release this week announcing ticket sales stated it would limit four per transaction to provide as many fans as possible the opportunity to attend the game. North Dakota offered pre-sale tickets to mem-bers of its champions club in early January and it was reported 6,000-plus seats were already sold.

JASON GONZALEZ

F R O M O U R B L O G S S T R I B S P O R T S U P L O A D

Gophers/UND a hot ticket out in Las Vegas

TIPSHEETCompiled by Ken Chia

K N O W T H I SThree of the top four scoring teams in college men’s hockey are in the Big Ten: Penn State is first at 4.27 goals per game, Ohio State second at 4.14 and the Gophers, after their six-goal effort vs. the Buck-eyes on Saturday, are fourth at 3.89.

WAT C H T H I SKansas last didn’t win the Big 12 regular-season men’s basketball title in 2004, Bill Self’s first year as coach. The Jay-hawks can come closer to their 13th in a row if they can beat West Virginia at home (8 p.m., ESPN).

R A N D O M FA N D O M“Believe it or not, there is little that we can do about last year, let’s move on. Molitor knows that the first month of the season is ‘critical’ for him. Falvey has done a fine job in a tough situation. Looking forward to a new start.”“jbrennanfl” on Twins spring training at startribune.com.

T W E E T E D“If He’s a ‘cupcake’ OKC … I’ll take a Dozen to go”— Gophers great Mychal Thomp-son, on Kevin Durant’s return with the Warriors. (Son Klay’s response: “Tell that guy to get off Twitter.”)@champagnennnuts

M. Thompson

Bill Self

BRIEFLY

Lindsey Vonn became the oldest female to medal at the world championships, taking bronze in the downhill on Sun-day in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

“I’m old and I’m proud!” joked the 32-year-old Minne-sota native, who has four career medals in worlds downhills. She won her only gold in 2009.

The gold medal winners were Ilka Stuhec for the women and Beat Feuz of Swit-zerland for the men.

G O L F

McCarron triumphsScott McCarron eagled the

par-5 18th hole to win the Alli-anz Championship in Boca Raton, Fla., for his third PGA Champions Tour victory in his last 17 starts. McCarron closed with a 5-under 67 for a one-stroke victory.

• Fabrizio Zanotti of Para-guay shot a final-round 63 to win his second European Tour title at the Maybank Cham-pionship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Overnight leader Danny Willett shot a 73.

• Ethan Tracy won the Web.com Tour tournament in Bogota, Colombia, holing out from 101 yards for eagle on the 18th to get into a play-off and sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to get the victory.

B A S E B A L L

Braves get PhillipsThe Atlanta Braves

acquired three-time All-Star second baseman Brandon Phillips from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for pitchers Andrew McKirahan and Car-los Portuondo.

Phillips, 35, is an Atlanta-area native. In 2016 he batted .291 with 34 doubles, 11 homers and a .320 on-base percentage in 141 games.

O B I T UA R Y

Fab Melo dead at 26Former Syracuse star Fab

Melo died in his native Brazil, military police said. He was 26.

The 7-foot Melo was drafted in the first round by the Bos-ton Celtics in 2012 but played in only six career NBA games.

“We don’t know the cause yet. It’s so hard right now, so hard to believe,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim told ESPN.

M M A

Holm loses againHolly Holm, hoping to

become the fourth two-division champion in UFC history, lost to Germaine de Randamie in the inaugural women’s feath-erweight title bout late Satur-day in New York.

The loss was Holm’s third in a row since her memorable knockout of Ronda Rousey in November 2015.

A series of apparent late shots from de Randamie at the end of the second and third rounds went unpunished.

A R O U N D T H E H O R NNFL: Former Miami Dol-

phins linebacker Quentin Moses died in a house fire in Monroe, Ga. Moses was 33.

Tennis: CoCo Vandeweghe beat Germany’s Andrea Pet-kovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 to give the United States an insurmount-able 3-0 advantage in their Fed Cup quarterfinal match in Kaanapali, Hawaii.

NEWS SERVICES

Vonn takes bronze in women’s downhill

ALEXANDRA WEY • Keystone via APLindsey Vonn has won four medals in the downhill in world championships.

GOLF

Pebble Beach “is a bucket-list place to win.”

By DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF. – Jor-dan Spieth soaked up every step of scenery on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach on a Sun-day when the only work left was to hoist the crystal trophy.

All that was missing from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am were the highlights.

That’s just how Spieth wanted it.

Staked to a six-shot lead, Spieth never gave anyone much of a chance, putting for birdie on all but one hole. The lone highlight was his 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, and by then it was already over.

“Played a lot of boring golf today,” Spieth said, “which was exactly what we needed.”

He closed with a 2-under 70 for a 268 total and a four-shot victory over former U.S. Amateur champion

Kelly Kraft, a close friend from Dallas who couldn’t get a putt to fall that might have put a little pressure on Spieth.

As easy and clinical as Spieth made it look, it was no less special.

“This is a bucket-list place to win — here, Augusta National, St. Andrews, there’s only a few in the world. It feels really special. It was amazing walking up the 18th green knowing that we were going to win. It’s just such a unique position. I tried to soak it in.”

The 23-year-old won for the ninth time in his PGA

Tour and became the first player since Tiger Woods with that many victories before turning 24. Woods won 15 times. Equally impressive is that Spieth won for the fifth time by at least three shots.

Kraft, who closed with a 67, settled for a couple of con-solation prizes. The $777,600 for second place was nearly double his earnings from his rookie season last year. He also earned a spot at Riviera next week in the Genesis Open.

U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson closed with a 68 to finish alone in third.

Spieth cruises to victory

ERIC RISBERG • Associated PressJordan Spieth closed with a conventional 2-under-par 70 Sun-day and won for the ninth time in his young PGA Tour career.

ZSW [C M Y K] C2 Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

C2 • S TA R T R I B U N E S P O R T S M O N DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

“The harsh realities of expansion are that it’s diffi-cult,” Portland Timbers Gen-eral Manager Gavin Wilkinson said. “And when you face those realities, you either solve them and solve them quickly, or you have to look to rebrand, change direction as far as the philoso-phy on the field.”

The Portland modelPortland, which plays host

to United in the 2017 league opener on March 3 , joined the league in 2011 with Vancouver Whitecaps FC. While Vancou-ver finished last in the league, Portland finished one spot out of the playoffs’ play-in round.

Wilkinson said the team focused initially on build-ing an entertaining, attack-minded and athletic team, but that became more refined after two years in the league. In hindsight, Wilkinson said that first roster had many hard-working players with great belief and character, but it lacked “difference-makers.”

However, Wilkinson also said overinvesting in players at the start can be high-risk if they turn out to be bad fits .

In many ways, Minnesota seems to be mirroring what Portland is trying to do, espe-cially in comparison to 2017’s other expansion team, Atlanta United FC. While Atlanta has signed flashy designated play-ers and made quite the state-ment ahead of its first season, the Loons have churned out a slower and more low-key ros-ter build.

Wilkinson said he has spent countless hours on the phone with Minnesota sport-ing director Manny Lagos and director of player personnel Amos Magee, while Port-land’s president of business, Mike Golub, said he has also spoken with Minnesota Presi-dent Nick Rogers.

While finding the right venue and generating revenue are all big parts of becoming a MLS team, Golub said a team shouldn’t overlook figuring out the club’s identity and how that will relate to the commu-nity and fans. For Portland, that’s about being “authentic.”

“There’s lots of pressure on all of us … to produce now, win now and to be profitable now,” Golub said. “And one of

the things we continue to talk about, because this is an ongo-ing process, is, yeah, we want to win now, and we want to produce results on and off the field now. But we are building this for the long term.”

Stick to the planUnited coach Adrian Heath

echoed that sentiment when talking about what he learned as Orlando City SC’s coach when the team joined MLS in 2015.

“We had a three-year plan in Orlando that lasted about 15

months, so it wasn’t much of a plan,” Heath said. “I think the most important thing is, we stick to what the plan is because you can’t keep chopping and changing halfway through, and that’s what we did down there. Suddenly, you get caught in between a little bit of what you were trying to do and a little bit of what you’re hoping to do. And in the end, it doesn’t work.”

Loons midfielder Collen Warner was a part of Mon-treal Impact’s first season in MLS in 2012 and also played

for Toronto in 2015 when the team signed big-name des-ignated players Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore. He said stars like that don’t always guarantee immediate success, as they have to adjust to playing in a new league and the core group of players still needs developing.

But Warner has felt good about how United has taken on the expansion process so far.

“One difference I’ve noticed is there’s a collective energy focused inwards, more so than at Montreal,” Warner said. “I was really happy to see when we were down in Arizona with the other teams that were there, everybody was really focused on what we were doing and trying to accomplish instead of looking across the field and seeing how other players are doing.”

So while 2017’s results might not quite be on that 1998 level, the Loons’ future just might be.

“If we allow this process to go straight through,” Heath said, “I expect us to be capable, in three years’ time, of chal-lenging at the top of this divi-sion.”

MLS expansion teams look partø LOONS from C1 FIRST-YEAR EXPANSION BLUES

How the last five Major League Soccer expansion teams fared in their first season: 2011: Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Portland Timbers join. Vancouver was 6-8-10, finishing last in the Western Con-ference and last overall. Portland was 11-14-9 for sixth in the West, one spot out of the playoffs’ play-in round.2012: Montreal Impact goes 12-16-6 and finishes seventh out of 10 teams in the Eastern Conference. 2015: New York City FC and Orlando City SC join. New York was 10-17-7 for eighth in the Eastern Conference. Orlando, under current Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath, was 12-14-8 for seventh in the East, one spot out of the playoffs.

Preview: This game had been scheduled for Jan. 11, but it was postponed after North-western player Jordan Hankins died at age 19 on Jan. 9. A memorial service was held Wednesday. Both teams played Saturday and play again Thursday; for North-western (17-7, 6-5 Big Ten), which has lost two in a row, it makes for three road games in six days. The Gophers (13-12, 4-8) beat Rutgers 80-46 at home Saturday, marking their fewest points allowed under coach Marlene Stollings.

Players to watch: Gophers G Kenisha Bell scored 19 points Saturday, going 11-for-12 on free throws; the Gophers were 27-for-34 on foul shots overall. Bell is aver-aging 16.7 points per game, second on the team to Carlie Wagner’s 19.4. Wagner has struggled the past two games, shooting a combined 6-for-34. … Northwestern senior F Nia Coffey (Hopkins), the daughter of former Gophers player Rich-ard Coffey, shot 3-for-13 and was held to nine points in Sat-urday’s 66-38 loss at Indiana. The 2016 first-team All-Big Ten pick is leading the Wildcats in both scoring (18.5 average) and rebounding (11.0 per game). The other Northwestern player from Minnesota is freshman F/C Abi Scheid (Elk River), who is averaging 5.1 points and 3.7 rebounds over 21 games.

Numbers: With four games left in the regular season, the Gophers have yet to play a Big Ten game decided by single digits. They went to overtime at Nebraska but won 79-69.

STAFF REPORTS

GOPHERS WOMEN’S GAMEDAY6 p.m. vs. Northwestern • Williams Arena • 1570-AM

Makeup game after tragedy

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma took a moment to enjoy his team’s 99th straight victory on Sat-urday — then turned his attention to Monday night’s nationally televised game vs. sixth-ranked South Carolina.

“We’re not where I want to be right now,” Auriemma said after the Huskies’ 83-41 victory over SMU. “A game like Monday night comes at a perfect time for us. Maybe it’s exactly the game we need at exactly the right time.”

The Huskies, 23-0 this season, already own the longest winning streak in NCAA history, so of course, a 100th consecutive victory would be unprecedented.

South Carolina comes to Storrs with a 21-2 record that includes victories over four top 25 teams.No. 3 Maryland 89, Michigan State 72: The host Spartans (16-9, 6-6 Big Ten) lost to the Terrapins (25-1, 13-0) in coach Suzy Merchant’s return to the sideline. Merchant had been on medical leave since Jan. 14. Merchant said she’s on medi-cation to keep her blood pres-sure up and had a heart moni-tor implanted.No. 13 Ohio State 88, Iowa 81: The host Buckeyes (22-5, 12-1 Big Ten) beat the Hawkeyes (15-10, 6-6) for their eighth victory in a row.No. 21 Michigan 75, Wiscon-sin 66: Katelynn Flaherty scored 35 points as the Wol-verines (21-5, 10-2 Big Ten) won their sixth game in a row.

Flaherty was 12-for-17 from the floor, including 6-for-10 from three-point range.No. 9 Oregon State 68, No. 15 UCLA 61: Sydney Wiese had 10 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists as the host Bea-vers (23-3, 12-2 Pac-12) beat the Bruins (18-7, 9-5). Wiese has 585 career assists, break-ing the school mark.Texas A&M 61, No. 24 Ten-nessee 59: The Aggies (19-6, 9-3 SEC) gave coach Gary Blair his first victory over the Lady Volunteers (16-9, 7-5) at Knoxville in eight attempts.

MenNo. 25 SMU 60, No. 11 Cincin-nati 51: The host Mustangs (22-4, 12-1 American) used a 15-0 run to beat Cincin-nati (22-3, 11-1) and end the Bearcats’ 15-game winning streak. Virginia Tech 80, No. 12 Vir-ginia 78 (2OT): Seth Allen hit a jumper in the lane with 3.2 seconds left in the second overtime as the host Hokies (17-7, 6-6 ACC) beat the Cava-liers (18-6, 8-4). Ty Outlaw’s tip-in with 1 second left in regulation forced the over-time.Vermont 77, Maryland-Baltimore County 74: The visiting Catamounts (23-5, 13-0 America East) tied a pro-gram record with their 15th straight victory.Sooners star done: Oklaho-ma’s leading scorer, guard Jordan Woodard, is out for the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, effectively ending his college career.

UConn women take shot at 100

ROUNDUP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Northwestern Wildcats were dancing on the sideline before the second half started. They were downright giddy by the end of the game, stomping off the Kohl Center court.

In beating No. 7 Wisconsin 66-59 on Sunday, Northwest-ern secured an important win for the school’s bid to make its first-ever NCAA tournament.

Bryant McIntosh scored 25 points for the Wildcats (19-6, 8-4), who confounded the Big Ten-leading Badgers in part by doubling dominant big man Ethan Happ.

“I’ve talked about it since I’ve been here,” fourth-year coach Chris Collins said. “We’re trying to build a pro-gram to emulate what Wis-consin has done.”

Nigel Hayes scored nine of his 13 points in the second half for the Badgers (21-4, 10-2), who had won eight in a row and now lead Maryland and Purdue by a half-game. Bronson Koenig scored two points on 1-for-8 shooting, missing all five of his three-point attempts.

“For us, getting every-body’s best shots, knowing that we’re marked is good for us,” coach Greg Gard said. “Nothing that happened this game is surprising, areas we need to improve upon.” Michigan 75, Indiana 63: Derrick Walton Jr. scored 25 points to lead the Wolverines to their first road win of the season, and their first victory in Bloomington since Jan. 7, 2009.

Michigan (16-9, 6-6) came into the game 0-6 on the road

this season, 1-17 in Blooming-ton since 1996-97 and with-out a season sweep of the Hoosiers since 1994-95.

By keeping the struggling Hoosiers (15-11, 5-8) at an arm’s length, they erased all those bitter memories.

Walton topped the 20-point mark for the fifth consecutive game — Michi-gan’s longest streak since Nik Stauskas also did it in five straight games during 2013-14. He also had five rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore Moe Wagner recorded his first career double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds), and D.J. Wilson added 13 points, three blocks and three steals.

Indiana, which committed 15 turnovers to Michigan’s eight, has lost five of six.

Northwestern gets big résumé booster

ANDY MANIS • Associated PressNorthwestern’s Dererk Pardon, second from left, celebrated with Nathan Taphorn on Sunday.

BIG TEN MEN

By MEGAN RYAN megan.ryan@startribune.com

PORTLAND, ORE. – Only 32 minutes into his Minnesota United FC playing career, and Johan Venegas had already scored twice.

And after playing only 45 minutes and projecting that kind of goal production into the regular season, the Costa Rican would smash the Major League Soccer single-season goals record by, like, more than 100 goals.

That’s hardly realistic , but those two goals represented United’s only scoring in a 2-2 draw Sunday against the Portland Timbers. And while Minnesota rested most of its starters from Thursday’s game against Vancouver and Portland didn’t sub on many of its starters until later in the second half, it was still a good peek at the atmosphere — an announced 13,461 fans attended this preseason match — to expect in the MLS season opener back at Providence Park on March 3.

Venegas, playing as a striker, owed his first goal largely to winger Kevin Molino. One-time Loons keeper Jeff Atti-nella blocked Molino’s shot in the 25th, leaving Venegas to head in the rebound at the back post. But the 32nd-minute strike was all Venegas.

“The pleasing part was some of the combination play in the first half — with

[Bashkim] Kadrii, with Molino, with Venegas — was outstand-ing,” United coach Adrian Heath said. “They haven’t played together. They’ve hardly trained together. So the understanding was terrific.”

Venegas hadn’t played previously because of a groin issue. Heath also com-plimented the play of mid-fielder Ibson and defenders Brent Kallman and Thomas de Villardi.

“It felt really good to play today,” Venegas said through a translator. “I hope to con-tinue to grow with the team to make it the best I can at the beginning of the season.”

Notes• Minnesota United has

signed forward/defender Ish Jome. Jome had been listed as a preseason invitee on trial with the team since Arizona in January, but the Prairie Seeds Academy product is now officially under contract.

• Forward Abu Danladi and midfielder Bernardo Anor were not with the team Sunday. Danladi traveled for the rookie symposium, and Anor went back to Minnesota for a doctor’s appointment.

• A handout ahead of the game listed winger Josh Gatt as a bench player. While Gatt was, in fact, not on the bench or available to play Sunday, a source close to the team did confirm Friday that Gatt is expected to sign soon.

Venegas scores twice in draw with Portland

U N I T E D O N T H E W E B Follow pro soccer writer Megan Ryan on Twitter @theothermegryan and read her United Beat soccer blog at startribune.com/soccer.

UNITED FC 2, PORTLAND 2 (EXHIB.)Wednesday: 7 p.m. vs. Salt Lake (exhib.) • Portland, Ore. • no TV

ELIZABETH FLORES • liz.flores@startribune.com Minnesota United FC’s Johan Venegas celebrated one of his two first-half goals on Sunday night at Portland.

ZSW [C M Y K] C3 Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

M O N DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 3 , 2 0 1 7 S P O R T S S TA R T R I B U N E • C3

NBA MLB

By La VELLE E. NEAL III lneal@startribune.com

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Twins lefthander Glen Perkins said Sunday that he plans to throw off a mound Tuesday as he works his way back from off-season surgery to repair a torn labrum.

Perkins was supposed to throw Friday but backed off, opt-ing to give his arm more rest after several long-toss throw-ing sessions in recent weeks. The drills are designed to build arm strength, but the three-time All-Star closer — who pitched in only two games for the Twins last season — said he believed it wasn’t time for a mound test just yet.

But Perkins said Sunday he felt much better and wants to give it a shot.

“I didn’t throw on Friday but I played catch and it felt good,” Perkins said. “I just wasn’t at the point to where I could throw off the mound. Hope-fully Tuesday.”

Perkins, 33, is not predicting when he will be ready for the regular season, but maintains he did not have a setback last week.

“It will get there,” he said. “Everything is going well so far. I said at TwinsFest that I have been able to check off every box the whole offseason. That was the first time I said, ‘We’re not quite there yet.’ ”

Perkins will throw 15 pitches in his session Tuesday, all fast-balls.

Belisle chooses No. 9Righthander Matt Belisle

was on the phone with Twins officials shorty after signing with them earlier this month, trying to figure out which uni-form number to wear.

Among the options was No. 9. Belisle last wore the num-ber as a Little Leaguer but, for some reason, it was jumping out at him.

So Belisle, who has worn Nos. 70, 31, 28, 34, 37 and 18 during his 13-year career, will become only the second Twins pitcher ever to wear a single-digit number once he appears in a major league game. Pat Mahomes was the other, after he wore No. 5 for a brief time during the 1996 season.

“I simply liked the number and it felt good,” Belisle said, “and I went with it.”

Single-digit numbers usu-ally are handed out to utility infielders and speedy outfield-ers. There were just a handful of pitchers in the league last season who wore single-digit numbers, including Toron-to’s Marcus Stroman (6), the Dodgers’ Julio Urias (7) and St. Louis’ Mike Leake (8). And there’s Colorado’s Adam Ottavino, who is the first major league pitcher to wear No. 0.

The number of pitchers wearing single digit numbers in 2016 actually was an increase from previous seasons.

Belisle, 36, was one of the few Twins players to work out at the Lee County Sports Complex on Sunday. He is expected to fill a setup role in the bullpen while provid-ing veteran leadership to the developing relievers.

When asked if he had a connection to anyone in the clubhouse, Belisle motioned toward the coaches’ dressing room. Belisle was teammates with Twins bullpen coach Eddie Guardado in 2006 and ’07 with Cincinnati.

Meetings aheadThe Twins are holding staff

meetings Monday and Tues-day to go over plans for the first camp under new Chief Base-ball Officer Derek Falvey and General Manager Thad Levine.

Players usually work out in the mornings at the Lee County Sports Complex, but some might switch to the afternoon over the next two days to accom-modate the staff meetings.

Perkins’ plan: work off mound on Tuesday

TWINS NOTES

Perkins

W E S T E R N C O N F E R E N C ENORTHWEST W L PCT GB L10 STR HOME AWAY CONFUtah 34 21 .618 — 5-5 L-2 19-10 15-11 20-14Oklahoma City 31 24 .564 3 5-5 L-1 19-8 12-16 19-14Denver 24 30 .444 9½ 5-5 L-1 14-12 10-18 15-19Portland 23 31 .426 10½ 5-5 L-1 14-12 9-19 16-19Timberwolves 21 34 .382 13 4-6 W-1 14-17 7-17 10-21

SOUTHWEST W L PCT GB L10 STR HOME AWAY CONFSan Antonio 41 13 .759 — 6-4 L-1 19-6 22-7 22-8Houston 40 17 .702 2½ 6-4 W-4 21-6 19-11 23-9Memphis 33 23 .589 9 7-3 L-1 18-10 15-13 24-12Dallas 22 32 .407 19 7-3 W-2 14-13 8-19 13-22New Orleans 21 34 .382 20½ 3-7 L-1 14-15 7-19 9-21

PACIFIC W L PCT GB L10 STR HOME AWAY CONFGolden St. 46 8 .852 — 8-2 W-3 23-3 23-5 29-6L.A. Clippers 33 21 .611 13 4-6 W-2 17-8 16-13 21-13Sacramento 23 32 .418 23½ 5-5 W-3 12-15 11-17 13-17L.A. Lakers 19 37 .339 28 4-6 W-1 12-13 7-24 9-23Phoenix 17 38 .309 29½ 2-8 L-1 9-17 8-21 6-31

E A S T E R N C O N F E R E N C EATLANTIC W L PCT GB L10 STR HOME AWAY CONFBoston 35 19 .648 — 9-1 W-2 19-8 16-11 23-9Toronto 32 23 .582 3½ 4-6 L-2 18-10 14-13 19-11New York 23 33 .411 13 3-7 W-1 14-15 9-18 14-19Philadelphia 20 34 .370 15 3-7 W-2 13-16 7-18 13-18Brooklyn 9 45 .167 26 0-10 L-12 7-22 2-23 3-32

SOUTHEAST W L PCT GB L10 STR HOME AWAY CONFWashington 32 21 .604 — 9-1 W-2 23-7 9-14 22-14Atlanta 31 23 .574 1½ 5-5 L-1 16-11 15-12 22-11Charlotte 24 30 .444 8½ 1-9 L-2 16-12 8-18 16-17Miami 24 31 .436 9 9-1 L-1 13-13 11-18 14-18Orlando 20 36 .357 13½ 2-8 L-4 9-17 11-19 12-20

CENTRAL W L PCT GB L10 STR HOME AWAY CONFCleveland 37 16 .698 — 7-3 W-1 23-5 14-11 24-6Indiana 29 25 .537 8½ 7-3 L-3 20-8 9-17 16-16Chicago 26 29 .473 12 4-6 L-3 15-11 11-18 17-16Detroit 26 29 .473 12 5-5 W-1 16-11 10-18 15-17Milwaukee 23 30 .434 14 3-7 W-1 13-14 10-16 15-21

SUNDAYTimberwolves 117, Chicago 89Detroit 102, Toronto 101New York 94, San Antonio 90Sacramento 105, New Orleans 9

SATURDAYBoston 112, Utah 104Cleveland 125, Denver 109Dallas 112, Orlando 80Golden St. 130, Okla. City 114Houston 133, Phoenix 102L.A. Clippers 107, Charlotte 102Milwaukee 116, Indiana 100Philadelphia 117, Miami 109

MONDAYPhila. at Charlotte, 6 pmSan Antonio at Indiana, 6 pmMemphis at Brooklyn, 6:30 pmOrlando at Miami, 6:30 pmDetroit at Milwaukee, 7 pmOkla. City at Washington, 7 pmBoston at Dallas, 7:30 pmGolden St. at Denver, 8 pmLA. Clippers at Utah, 8 pmNew Orleans at Phoenix, 8 pmAtlanta at Portland, 9:30 pm

TUESDAYCleveland at Wolves, 7 pmToronto at Chicago, 7 pmSac. at L.A. Lakers, 9:30 pm

STANDINGS SUMMARIES

NEW YORK 94, SAN ANTONIO 90San Antonio........................................................... 21 27 17 25 — 90New York ............................................................... 18 24 27 25 — 94San Antonio: Leonard 13-27 9-11 36, Aldridge 5-16 5-6 15, Ded-mon 1-2 1-2 3, Parker 0-3 0-0 0, Green 2-13 0-0 6, Anderson 1-3 3-3 5, Bertans 1-2 0-0 3, D.Lee 5-8 0-0 10, Murray 0-0 0-0 0, Mills 3-8 0-0 8, Ginobili 2-9 0-0 4. Totals 33-91 18-22 90.New York: C.Anthony 9-21 4-6 25, Porzingis 4-10 5-5 16, Her-nangomez 6-8 0-0 12, Rose 6-11 6-8 18, C.Lee 4-9 0-0 9, Thomas 1-2 0-0 2, O’Quinn 1-3 2-2 4, Jennings 1-1 0-0 2, Holiday 2-3 0-0 6. Totals 34-68 17-21 94.Three-pointers: San Antonio 6-29 (Mills 2-5, Green 2-10, Ber-tans 1-1, Leonard 1-7, Parker 0-1, Aldridge 0-1, Ginobili 0-4), New York 9-14 (Porzingis 3-5, C.Anthony 3-5, Holiday 2-2, C.Lee 1-2). Fouled Out: None. Rebounds: San Antonio 46 (Al-dridge 10), New York 44 (Hernangomez 9). Assists: San Anto-nio 17 (Parker, Leonard, Ginobili 4), New York 18 (C.Lee 5). To-tal Fouls: San Antonio 16, New York 19. Technicals: San Antonio defensive three second, San Antonio team. A: 19,812 (19,763)

DETROIT 102, TORONTO 101Detroit.................................................................. 25 20 21 36 — 102Toronto ................................................................ 27 24 31 19 — 101Detroit: Morris 3-9 5-6 11, Leuer 1-5 0-0 2, Drummond 3-10 4-8 10, Jackson 1-5 4-4 6, Caldwell-Pope 8-22 3-3 21, Harris 9-13 4-4 24, Johnson 4-9 0-0 11, Baynes 1-1 0-0 2, Smith 6-10 2-4 15. To-tals 36-84 22-29 102.Toronto: Carroll 6-9 1-4 15, Valanciunas 7-14 3-4 17, Poeltl 2-3 1-2 5, Lowry 5-10 1-2 15, DeRozan 10-21 6-7 26, Ross 3-6 0-0 7, Nogueira 1-1 4-4 6, Joseph 3-8 1-2 8, Powell 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 38-75 17-25 101.Three-pointers: Detroit 8-31 (Johnson 3-5, Harris 2-4, Caldwell-Pope 2-12, Smith 1-2, Jackson 0-2, Leuer 0-2, Morris 0-4), To-ronto 8-16 (Lowry 4-6, Carroll 2-4, Joseph 1-2, Ross 1-2, Pow-ell 0-1, DeRozan 0-1). Fouled Out: None. Rebounds: Detroit 41 (Drummond 18), Toronto 38 (Valanciunas 9). Assists: Detroit 12 (Smith 5), Toronto 18 (Lowry 5). Total Fouls: Detroit 18, Toron-to 18. Technicals: DeRozan. A: 19,800 (19,800).

SACRAMENTO 105, NEW ORLEANS 99New Orleans ....................................................... 29 27 17 26 — 99Sacramento ......................................................... 23 30 23 29 — 105New Orleans: Cunningham 5-12 0-0 14, Hill 3-5 0-0 9, Davis 11-24 9-9 32, Holiday 6-14 3-3 16, Hield 2-5 0-0 5, Motiejunas 2-6 3-4 7, Frazier 0-2 0-0 0, Galloway 3-8 0-1 9, Evans 2-6 3-4 7. To-tals 34-82 18-21 99.Sacramento: Cousins 7-14 14-16 28, Koufos 2-6 0-0 4, Collison 7-16 4-5 20, McLemore 4-7 0-0 11, Affl alo 3-7 3-3 10, Barnes 5-9 0-0 12, Tolliver 3-9 0-0 9, Cauley-Stein 3-6 2-2 8, Richardson 1-4 1-1 3. Totals 35-78 24-27 105.Three-pointers: New Orleans 13-31 (Cunningham 4-7, Hill 3-5, Galloway 3-6, Davis 1-2, Hield 1-3, Holiday 1-4, Evans 0-1, Mo-tiejunas 0-3), Sacramento 11-31 (McLemore 3-5, Tolliver 3-7, Collison 2-4, Barnes 2-6, Affl alo 1-3, Richardson 0-2, Cousins 0-4). Fouled Out: None. Rebounds: New Orleans 36 (Davis 10), Sacramento 46 (Cousins 14). Assists: New Orleans 23 (Holi-day 11), Sacramento 23 (Collison 8). Total Fouls: New Orleans 23, Sacramento 18. Technicals: New Orleans defensive three second, New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry, New Orleans team, Cousins, Barnes. Ejected: Hield. A: 17,608 (17,500).

By JERRY ZGODA jzgoda@startribune.com

While injured Timber-wolves guard Zach LaVine heads toward left knee sur-gery Tuesday in Los Angeles, his team thumped a depleted Chicago team 117-89 Sunday at Target Center.

With their best long-range shooter done for the season, the Wolves have been out-done 58-34 in made three-pointers since LaVine was injured at Detroit on Feb. 3.

They made only two of their first 16 three-point tries, but ultimately were only out-shot 10-6 on threes Sunday after forward Nemanja Bjel-ica rediscovered his shooting touch and made three of four threes in the fourth quarter.

“ That’s just the way of the league,” coach Tom Thi-bodeau said. “[LaVine] was averaging 19 points a game, so he was a primary scorer. We can’t replace Zach indi-vidually. We have to do that collectively. Everyone’s capa-ble of playing defense. Every-one’s capable of rebounding. Everyone’s capable of shar-ing the ball. So if we do those things, we’ll be in position to win. That’s what it takes to win.”

Thibodeau has been through this before, with Der-rick Rose in Chicago.

“Every situation is dif-ferent,” Thibodeau said. “[LaVine is] doing well. He’s in a good place. He’s really a tough guy mentally. I think he has a great understand-ing how he wants to work and approach this. I think there’s a lot for him to gain.”

LaVine will have his torn anterior cruciate ligament repaired at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in collabora-tion with Wolves team ortho-pedic surgeon Diane Dahm

of the Mayo Clinic, the Wolves announced.

Bjeli betterThibodeau praised Bjeli-

ca’s play, particularly when he scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter when he went 5-for-9 from the field.

“If you keep working, your shot will come,” Bjelica said. “Season is too long, so there’s always ups and down and you just need to be ready.”

HurtingChicago played without four

injured or ill players, includ-ing All-Star guard Jimmy But-ler, superstar Dwyane Wade and forward Nikola Mirotic.

Butler has missed four of the past five games because of a sore heel. Wade fell on his hands Friday at Phoenix; the left wrist merely hurt Sunday, the right one was still swollen.

Etc.• Bulls coach Fred Hoi-

berg returned to Minnesota, where he played from 2003 to ’05 and was a front-office executive from 2006 to ’10. “The ’03-’04 season was one of the most fun seasons I’ve ever been a part of,” he said, “and if Sam Cassell had stayed healthy, I think we would have had a real shot of winning a championship that year. But the love we had, the fan support we had … the two years I had an opportunity to play here were really special.”

• Wolves rookie point guard Kris Dunn played his second consecutive game after miss-ing four games because of a bruised hand. He played 12½ minutes, missed both shots he took and had a rebound, an assist and three turnovers.

• Hoiberg, after saying for-ward Paul Zipser wouldn’t play because he was ill: “He thinks it may be something he ate, bad walleye or something.”

LaVine’s knee surgery to take place Tuesday

WOLVES NOTES

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points and the host New York Knicks salvaged the finale of a tumultuous five-game home-stand by beating the San Anto-nio Spurs 94-90 on Sunday.

Two nights after yielding 131 points in a dismal defen-sive performance against Denver, the Knicks limited the Spurs to 36 percent shoot-ing and didn’t let them reach 70 points until fewer than eight minutes remained.

“That’s great to watch. That’s the right way to play basketball,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. Sacramento 105, New Orleans 99: DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and one technical for the host Kings, who beat the Pelicans for their third consecutive victory. Cousins received a questionable technical late in the first quarter, his NBA-leading 17th of the season. Pelicans guard Buddy Hield

was ejected after a flagrant-2 foul, a low blow to Cousins, late in the first half.

NotesNo Love on Tuesday: Cavaliers forward Kevin Love injured his left knee in Saturday’s victory over the Nuggets and has already been ruled out for Tuesday’s game against the Wolves at Target Center.Swapping bigs: The Nuggets traded big man Jusuf Nurkic to the Trail Blazers for center Mason Plumlee.

Anthony, Knicks clamp down to defeat SpursROUNDUP

TIMBERWOLVES 117, CHICAGO 89Chicago 17 23 25 24 — 89Timberwolves 34 23 27 33 — 117

CHICAGO FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTGibson 17:25 1-4 0-0 2-5 1 3 2McDermott 29:35 6-15 0-0 0-1 2 1 16Lopez 23:58 5-11 0-1 3-4 2 3 10Carter-Williams 29:36 4-12 3-5 0-7 6 3 12Grant 19:55 3-5 0-0 0-1 3 2 8Portis 30:35 6-10 3-3 2-6 0 2 16Felicio 24:02 3-7 1-2 1-4 0 4 7Rondo 23:48 5-9 0-0 0-3 6 3 10Valentine 22:41 1-4 0-0 1-4 1 2 3Canaan 18:25 1-6 2-2 0-0 1 1 5Totals 240 35-83 9-13 9-35 22 24 89Percentages: FG .422, FT .692. Three-point-ers: 10-24, .417 (McDermott 4-7, Grant 2-3, Carter-Williams 1-1, Canaan 1-3, Portis 1-3, Valentine 1-4, Rondo 0-3). Team rebounds: 6. Team turnovers: 18 (0 pts.). Blocks: 1 (Lo-pez). Turnovers: 18 (Carter-Williams 6, Ron-do 5, Gibson 2, McDermott 2, Felicio, Lopez, Valentine). Steals: 7 (Canaan 3, Carter-Wil-liams 2, Valentine 2).

TIMBERWOLVES FG FT Reb Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTTowns 34:17 8-11 6-6 1-7 4 1 22Wiggins 33:37 10-18 5-6 2-6 4 2 27Dieng 34:04 5-9 0-0 3-13 0 3 10Rubio 32:57 5-10 6-6 0-7 11 0 17Rush 29:20 1-5 3-4 1-2 1 2 5Bjelica 18:51 6-12 1-1 1-5 3 2 16Muhammad 18:40 5-7 2-3 1-2 0 2 12Stephenson 14:23 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 6Dunn 12:22 0-2 0-0 0-1 1 0 0Aldrich 8:48 1-1 0-0 1-3 1 1 2Jones 2:41 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0Totals 240 44-80 23-26 10-46 27 14 117Percentages: FG .550, FT .885. Three-pointers: 6-24, .250 (Bjelica 3-6, Wiggins 2-5, Rubio 1-3, Dieng 0-1, Dunn 0-1, Muhammad 0-2, Towns 0-2, Rush 0-4). Team rebounds: 4. Team turn-overs: 14 (0 pts.). Blocks: 3 (Bjelica, Dieng, Rush). Turnovers: 14 (Rubio 4, Dunn 3, Bjel-ica, Dieng, Muhammad, Rush, Stephenson, Towns, Wiggins). Steals: 11 (Dieng 3, Bjelica 2, Rubio 2, Wiggins 2, Muhammad, Rush). Offi cials: Mark Ayotte, Sean Corbin, Court-ney Kirkland. A: 19,356 (19,356)

GAME RECAP

I M PA C T P L AY E RRicky Rubio, WolvesHe commanded the game early, with nine points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals in the first quarter, get-ting his team off to a 34-17 lead.

B Y T H E N U M B E R S28 Margin of victory, the Wolves’ second-largest this season. They beat Memphis by 36 in November, when Mike Conley and Marc Gasol didn’t play. 25 Consecutive Wolves games with 20 or more assists after they had 27 Sunday. It’s their longest such streak since they reached 28 in 1992-93.

JERRY ZGODA

in a blowout decision. Yet afterward, he said beating the Bulls after a bitter part-ing in May 2015 doesn’t mean more to him than defeating any other NBA team.

“No,” Thibodeau said, chuckling when asked about it. “For me, I’ve been around and there are lot of those teams. It’s always hard when you’ve been through things with people. I really root for that team, especially those guys I’ve coached before, and I want them to do well, except when we play against them.

“It’s a great basketball city. It’s a great organization. I had five great years there. I pull for them when they’re not playing us.”

But Taj Gibson played all five seasons when Thibodeau coached in Chicago, and he knows better. He heard Thibodeau bark commands toward the Target Center raf-ters during the season’s first announced sellout — 19,356, including a fair number of Bulls fans — from opening tip to final buzzer. He also saw Towns, Wiggins and Rubio on the floor long after Hoiberg removed four of his five start-ers from the game for all or most of the fourth quarter.

“Without a doubt; I know him well,” Gibson said when asked if beating the Bulls means more to his former coach. “When most people think it’s not a big deal, it’s a big deal to him. You see he kept coaching the whole game. He even left some of the [start-ers] in late. I could see his hand shaking from all the way on our end. I knew he really wanted to win that game.

“Nothing is going to change. He’s going to be the same guy every day.”

This time, the Wolves took lessons learned from blowing double-digit leads through-out the season and from play-ing undermanned teams, such as New Orleans in Fri-day’s lopsided home loss,

and just kept going, all the way to the season’s second-largest margin of victory.

Young stars Towns and Wiggins (a game-high 27 points) turned playmakers when the Bulls sent multiple defenders at each. The two combined for eight assists — four each — and 49 points, too, as the Wolves built a big

lead but this time kept it.Trailing by 17 at halftime,

Chicago drew no closer than 13 late in the third quarter. The Wolves answered by scoring nine of the next 10 points to regain a 21-point lead, and that was that.

After the final buzzer, Thibodeau sought out But-ler at center court for a hug

and also greeted Bulls guard Doug McDermott before he marched out through the tun-nel.

“He has a good way of hid-ing stuff, hiding that kind of emotion,” Wiggins said when asked if his coach has extra inspiration to beat the Bulls. “I’m sure he does. I would if I was him.”

Thibodeau topples Bulls once againø WOLVES from C1

HANNAH FOSLIEN • Associated PressWolves forward Gorgui Dieng swatted away a shot by Bulls guard Michael Carter-Williams during the third quarter of Minnesota’s 117-89 rout of Chicago at Target Center on Sunday.

ZSW [C M Y K] C4 Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

C4 • S TA R T R I B U N E S P O R T S M O N DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

13MON

14TUE

15WED

16THU

17FRI

18SAT

19SUN

TIMBERWOLVES • 612-673-1234

CLEV.7 pmFSN

at Denver8 pmFSN

All-Star Game7 pmTNT

WILD • 651-222-9453

ANAHEIM7 pm

FSN PLUS

DALLAS7 pmFSN

NASH.7 pmFSN

MINNESOTA UNITED FC • 763-331-8777

at Real Salt Lake

7 pm(preseason)

GOPHERS MEN’S BASKETBALL • 612-624-8080

INDIANA8 pmBTN

MICHIGAN6 pmBTN

GOPHERS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL • 612-624-8080

NORTH-WESTERN

6 pmNo TV

at Mich. St.6 pmNo TV

GOPHERS MEN’S HOCKEY • 612-624-8080

at Penn State

5:30 pmBTN

at Penn State7 pmBTN

GOPHERS WOMEN’S HOCKEY • 612-624-8080

WIS.3:07 pm

WIS.3:07 pm

OTHER SPORTSGOPHERSBaseball: Friday at UC Irvine, 8:30 p.m. Saturday at UC Irvine, 4 p.m. Sunday at UC Irvine, 1 p.m.Men’s gymnastics: Thursday, Saturday at Winter Cup, Las VegasWomen’s gymnastics: Saturday at Denver, 7 p.m.Softball: Friday vs. Notre Dame at Raleigh, N.C., 1:30 p.m. Saturday vs. Notre Dame (11:30 a.m.) and N.C. State (4:30 p.m.) at Raleigh, N.C. Sunday at N.C. State, 11:30 a.m.Women’s swimming and diving: Wednesday-Saturday at Big Ten Championships, West Lafayette, Ind.Men’s tennis: Friday vs. Middle Tennessee, 6 p.m. Sunday vs. Oregon, 1 p.m.Women’s tennis: Friday vs. Missouri, 2 p.m. Sunday vs. Memphis (10 a.m.) and South Dakota (4 p.m.)Men’s track and field: Friday Snowshoe Open at U of M Fieldhouse Friday-Saturday at Alex Wilson Invitational, South Bend, Ind.Women’s track and fi eld: Saturday Parents Day InvitationalWrestling: Sunday at Iowa State, 2 p.m.

ON THE AIR MONDAYBASKETBALL TIME TV RADIOCollege men: Louisville at Syracuse 6 p.m. ESPNCollege men: Baylor at Texas Tech 6 p.m. ESPNUCollege men: Colgate at Bucknell 6 p.m. CBSSNCollege women: Northwestern at Gophers 6 p.m. 1570-AMCollege women: Texas at Florida State 6 p.m. ESPN2College women: LSU at Vanderbilt 6 p.m. SECNNBA: Oklahoma City at Washington 7 p.m. TNTCollege men: West Virginia at Kansas 8 p.m. ESPNCollege men: Morgan St. at Howard 8 p.m. ESPNUCollege men: Villanova at DePaul 8 p.m. CBSSNCollege women: S. Carolina at Connecticut 8 p.m. ESPN2NBA: Atlanta at Portland 9:30 p.m. TNT

GYMNASTICSCollege: Georgia at Florida 10:30 p.m. ESPN2

HOCKEYNHL: N.Y. Rangers at Columbus 6:30 p.m. NBCSN

SKIINGWorld Champ.: Men’s super combined 5:30 a.m. NBCSN

SOCCERPremier: Manchester City vs. Bournemouth 2 p.m. NBCSN

LOCAL CALENDAR HOME GAMES IN CAPS

SCOREBOARD

By DAVID LA VAQUE • dlavaque@startribune.com

Passionate play continues this week as girls’ hockey players skate, sweat and shoot their way toward the state tournament. The field will be set by Friday night and a few section final semifinals and championship games deserve closer inspection.

While six Class 2A sections are represented among the top 10 of the latest coaches poll provided by Let’s Play Hockey Magazine, the talent isn’t evenly spread out. As a result, some deserving teams won’t reach Xcel Energy Center.

The pain will be acute in Section 5, where No. 3-ranked Maple Grove plays No. 8 Centennial in the semifinals on Tuesday at Roseville Arena. No. 4 Blaine plays the early game that evening against Rogers. The winners meet in Friday’s final at Roseville Arena. Maple Grove won the section last year and took second at the state tournament.

If the rankings hold, Sections 2 and 6 will be decided by top-10 teams. In Section 2, defending champion and No. 5-ranked Eden Prairie takes on Chaska/Chanhassen at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Braemar Arena in Edina, while No. 7 Minnetonka battles Shakopee in the nightcap. The winners will play Friday at Ridder Arena.

Section 6 is home to No. 1 Edina, which lost only one game all year. The Hornets play Wednesday against Wayzata at Parade Ice Garden. The late game features No. 9 Cretin-Derham Hall against Hopkins/St. Louis Park. The section final will be Friday at Ridder Arena.

Odds are that Blake, No. 1 in Class 1A, and No. 2 Breck will decide the Section 5 championship for the 10th consecutive year. Both must win Tuesday to set up a Thursday showdown at Parade. Blake has won the past four consecutive section final meetings and leads the series 5-4.

Stakes high for Apple Valley wrestlersApple Valley has qualified for every wrestling state

tournament since 1982. The Eagles have won 11 consecu-tive Class 3A team championships and 24 overall state titles. Yet there is a very real chance that the Eagles could be left out of the 2017 state meet. No. 1, 3A Shakopee and No. 2, 3A Apple Valley are both in Section 2, which holds its team tournament Friday at Rosemount. Shakopee beat Apple Valley 29-28 in a season-opening dual.

What’s more Shakopee is now coached by Jim Jack-son, the former Apple Valley coach who was so instru-mental to the Eagles’ success. Outside of the madness and mayhem of the state meet, Friday is expected to be as good as it gets for wrestling fans.

State meet weekThis week also brings the first state tournaments of

the winter season. The Alpine skiing state meet is Wednesday at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, followed by the Nordic skiing meet on Thursday at the resort.

Friday, the dance team tournament opens with the jazz competition Friday at Target Center, followed by the high-kick tournament on Saturday.

Girls’ hockey teams facing section tests

COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS, SCHEDULE, DIVISION I MEN’S STANDINGS

S U N D AY

MENBIG TENNorthwestern 66, #7 Wisconsin 59Michigan 75, Indiana 63TOP 25#10 UCLA 78, Oregon St. 60Virginia Tech 80, #12 Virginia 78, 2OT#25 SMU 60, #11 Cincinnati 51MIDWESTN. Iowa 55, Missouri St. 52Wichita St. 81, Loyola of Chicago 64EASTHartford 87, Mass.-Lowell 84Holy Cross 61, Lehigh 45Iona 90, Niagara 76New Hampshire 63, Binghamton 55Penn 82, Cornell 63St. Peter’s 69, Manhattan 50Stony Brook 67, Maine 66Vermont 77, UMBC 74SOUTHTemple 74, Memphis 62WESTColorado 81, Washington St. 49San Diego St. 70, Nevada 56

WOMENBIG TEN Conf. Overall W L W LMaryland 13 0 25 1Ohio State 12 1 22 5Michigan 10 2 21 5Indiana 7 5 17 8Northwestern 6 5 17 7Penn State 7 6 17 8Michigan St. 6 6 16 9Iowa 6 6 15 10Purdue 6 6 15 11Gophers 4 8 13 12Illinois 3 9 8 17Rutgers 3 9 6 19Wisconsin 1 11 6 19Nebraska 1 11 5 19#3 Maryland 89, Michigan St. 72#13 Ohio State 88, Iowa 81#21 Michigan 75, Wisconsin 66TOP 25#2 Baylor 91, TCU 73#4 Mississippi St. 66, Mississippi 44#7 Notre Dame 90, Georgia Tech 69#8 Stanford 87, Utah 51#9 Oregon St. 68, #15 UCLA 61#10 Washington 70, #23 Arizona St. 57#12 Louisville 68, Boston College 43#14 Duke 62, Pittsburgh 48#16 Miami 81, Clemson 57#17 N.C. State 85, Virginia Tech 71#18 DePaul 92, Butler 62#20 Syracuse 95, North Carolina 64#22 South Florida 66, Tulane 56Texas A&M 61, #24 Tennessee 59

M O N D AY

MENMIAC Conf. Overall W L W LSt. Thomas * 13 4 17 5Bethel 13 5 17 6Carleton 11 6 14 8St.John’s 11 6 15 7Hamline 10 8 13 10Concordia 9 8 12 10St. Olaf 8 9 10 12Augsburg 7 10 9 13Gustavus 5 13 5 18Macalester 4 13 8 14St. Mary’s 4 13 6 15Note: * MIAC tournament qualifi erConcordia (Moor.) at Carleton, 7 pmGustavus at Bethel, 7 pmSt. John’s at Macalester, 7 pmSt. Mary’s at Augsburg, 7 pmSt. Thomas at St. Olaf, 7 pm

WOMENBIG TENNorthwestern at Gophers, 6 pm

B A S K E T B A L L

TIMBERWOLVES STATISTICS(Through Sunday)Player G Min Pts Reb AstTowns ...............55 36.4 23.7 8.3 2.9Wiggins ...........55 37.1 22.6 2.9 2.5LaVine ..............47 37.2 18.9 3.0 3.0Dieng ................55 32.0 10.3 5.6 1.9Muhammad .....51 19.8 9.3 1.9 0.4Rubio ................49 31.9 9.0 2.8 8.3Bjelica ..............53 17.0 5.8 2.6 1.1Stephenson .......3 15.3 1.3 2.3 1.0Payne ...............12 7.7 4.0 1.2 0.3Dunn.................51 16.7 3.6 1.8 2.5Rush .................21 16.8 3.5 1.2 0.7Jones ................34 11.4 3.2 0.7 2.3Hill ......................5 7.9 2.0 1.2 0.0Aldrich .............50 9.3 1.8 1.9 0.5Lucas III .............5 2.1 0.4 0.0 0.2Totals ...............55 241.5 104.6 42.4 23.3Opponents.......55 241.5 105.6 40.4 22.4

H O C K E Y

WILD STATISTICS(Through Saturday)Player GP G A TP +/- PIMGranlund ..........54 15 34 49 28 6 Staal .................54 16 27 43 8 20 Coyle ................54 13 29 42 15 32 Niederreiter ....54 18 23 41 21 20 Koivu ................53 16 22 38 29 20 Zucker ..............54 16 22 38 32 26 Pominville .......54 10 23 33 2 4 Suter ................54 7 23 30 31 22 Parise ...............45 11 14 25 -3 26 Spurgeon .........50 7 18 25 31 18 Dumba .............54 7 17 24 24 43 Haula ...............44 11 7 18 8 10 Brodin ..............43 3 13 16 2 16 Stewart ............54 11 3 14 0 58 Schroeder ........22 3 5 8 5 0 Scandella .........43 2 5 7 6 23 Folin .................37 1 5 6 8 20 Graovac ...........44 6 0 6 4 6 Eriksson Ek .......9 2 3 5 2 2 Dalpe .................9 1 2 3 0 9 Prosser ............24 0 3 3 -2 4 Bertschy ...........5 0 1 1 0 4 Gabriel .............13 0 1 1 0 29 Pulkkinen..........9 1 0 1 -1 2 Reilly ................17 1 0 1 1 2 Cannone ...........3 0 0 0 0 0 Mitchell ...........10 0 0 0 -1 0 Olofsson ...........3 0 0 0 0 0 Tuch ..................3 0 0 0 -2 0 Totals ...............54 178 301 479 0 450 Opponents.......54 124 221 345 0 446 GOALIES W L OT SO SV% GAADubnyk ............30 9 3 5 .934 1.96Kuemper ...........6 3 3 0 .904 3.21Totals ...............36 12 6 5 .925 2.27Opponents.......18 30 6 2 .890 3.25

COLLEGE • MENBIG TEN W L T SW Pts GF GA Gophers 9 3 0 0 27 52 40 Wisconsin 8 4 0 0 24 47 37 Penn St. 7 4 1 0 22 45 36 Ohio St. 5 6 1 1 17 48 44 Michigan 2 8 2 2 10 31 51 Michigan St. 2 8 2 0 8 30 45 Overall: Gophers 18-8-2, Wisconsin 15-10-1, Penn State 18-6-2, Ohio State 14-8-6, Michigan 9-14-3, Michigan State 6-17-3.RESULTS SATURDAYGophers 6, Ohio St. 5Michigan St. 4, Michigan 1 Penn St. 5, Wisconsin 2

NCHC W L T SW Pts GF GA Denver 12 3 3 2 41 54 31 Minn. Duluth 12 4 2 2 40 62 37 W. Michigan 9 8 1 1 29 54 57 St. Cloud St. 9 10 1 0 28 53 54 North Dakota 8 9 1 1 26 51 45 Omaha 8 10 2 0 26 65 76 Miami (Ohio) 5 9 4 2 21 43 55 Colorado College 3 13 2 0 11 32 59 Overall: Minn. Duluth 18-5-5, Denver 20-6-4, W. Michigan 16-8-4, North Dakota 15-11-3, Omaha 15-12-5, St. Cloud State 15-14-1, Miami (Ohio) 9-13-6, Colorado College 7-19-2.RESULTS SATURDAYDenver 5, Colorado College 1Omaha 6, W. Michigan 3 St. Cloud St. 3, Miami (Ohio) 1

WCHA W L T SW Pts GF GA Bemidji St. 19 5 2 2 61 68 41 Michigan Tech 14 6 6 3 51 74 52 MSU Mankato 12 8 4 2 42 74 58 Bowling Green 12 13 1 1 38 70 65 Ferris St. 9 12 3 2 32 66 68 Lake Superior St. 8 11 5 2 31 68 73 N. Michigan 9 12 3 1 31 55 57 Alaska 8 13 3 3 30 54 75 Ala.-Huntsville 9 14 3 0 30 68 86 Anchorage 6 12 6 2 26 47 69 Overall: Bemidji State 19-12-3, Michi-gan Tech 17-12-7, MSU Mankato 16-10-4, Bowling Green 15-17-2, Alaska 9-18-3, Ferris State 10-17-4, Lake Superior State 11-14-5, Ala.-Huntsville 9-20-3, N. Michi-gan 11-17-4, Anchorage 7-17-6.RESULTS SATURDAYAnchorage 4, Lake Superior St. 4Ala.-Huntsville 5, Bemidji St. 2Bowling Green 3, Mercyhurst 0 Michigan Tech 5, Ferris St. 2N. Michigan 2, Alaska 0

COLLEGE • WOMENWCHA W L T SW Pts GF GAWisconsin 22 2 2 2 70 109 23Gophers 19 4 3 2 62 87 45Minn. Duluth 17 5 4 1 56 76 45North Dakota 10 11 5 3 38 57 51St. Cloud State 7 16 3 2 26 41 76Ohio State 6 15 5 2 25 34 68Bemidji St. 6 17 3 1 22 42 76MSU Mankato 3 20 3 1 13 29 91Overall: Wisconsin 27-2-2, Gophers 23-5-3, Minn. Duluth 20-5-5, North Dakota 13-13-6, Bemidji St. 10-17-3, Ohio State 12-15-5, St. Cloud State 9-19-4, MSU Manka-to 6-23-4.RESULT SUNDAYWisconsin 8, Minn. Duluth 0RESULTS SATURDAYGophers 6, North Dakota 2Bemidji State 3, St. Cloud State 1Ohio State 4, MSU Mankato 2Wisconsin 1, Minn. Duluth 1, OT• Wisconsin wins shootout 3-2

L A C R O S S E

COLLEGE • WOMENUPPER MIDWESTConcordia (St. Paul) 10, Marian 8

S O C C E R

ENGLAND • PREMIER LEAGUE GP W D L GF GA PtsChelsea 25 19 3 3 52 18 60Tottenham 25 14 8 3 46 18 50Arsenal 25 15 5 5 54 28 50Liverpool 25 14 7 4 54 30 49Man. City 24 15 4 5 49 29 49Man. United 25 13 9 3 38 21 48Everton 25 11 8 6 40 27 41West Brom 25 10 7 8 34 31 37Stoke City 25 8 8 9 30 36 32West Ham 25 9 5 11 34 43 32Southampton 25 8 6 11 28 31 30Watford 25 8 6 11 29 42 30Burnley FC 25 9 3 13 27 36 30Bournemouth 24 7 5 12 35 47 26Swansea City 25 7 3 15 31 54 24Middlesbrough 25 4 10 11 19 27 22Leicester City 25 5 6 14 24 43 21Hull City 25 5 5 15 22 49 20Crystal Palace 25 5 4 16 32 46 19Sunderland 25 5 4 16 24 46 19RESULTS SUNDAYChelsea 1, Burnley FC 1Swansea City 2, Leicester City 0GAME MONDAYMan. City at Bournemouth, 2 pm

PREPS THE WEEK AHEAD

G O L FPGAPEBBLE BEACHFinal round • Pebble Beach, Calif.Course key: p-Pebble Beach Golf Links: 6,816 yards, par 72 (36-36); m-Monterey Peninsula Country Club: 6,958 yards, par 71 (34-37); s-Spyglass Hill Golf Course: 6,953 yards, par 72 (36-36).Purse: $7.2 millionNote: Final round played on Pebble Beach Golf LinksJordan Spieth, $1,296,000 ............ 68m-65s-65p-70—268 Kelly Kraft, $777,600 ..................... 69m-70s-66p-67—272 Dustin Johnson, $489,600 ............ 70m-69s-66p-68—273 Brandt Snedeker, $345,600 .......... 68m-69s-67p-70—274 Jason Day, $262,800 ...................... 69m-64s-75p-67—275 Jon Rahm, $262,800 ...................... 73s-67p-67m-68—275 Gary Woodland, $262,800 ............ 70m-73s-67p-65—275 Seung-Yul Noh, $216,000 .............. 68s-71p-69m-70—278 Rob Oppenheim, $216,000 ........... 69m-69s-68p-72—278 Mackenzie Hughes, $172,800 ...... 70m-70s-68p-71—279 Kevin Kisner, $172,800 ................. 72m-67s-71p-69—279 Cameron Percy, $172,800............. 73p-66m-71s-69—279 Nick Taylor, $172,800.................... 70s-70p-68m-71—279 Martin Flores, $108,160 ................ 70m-68s-72p-70—280 Shane Lowry, $108,160 ................. 70p-68m-72s-70—280 Will MacKenzie, $108,160 ............ 70m-68s-74p-68—280 Trey Mullinax, $108,160................ 73s-69p-68m-70—280 Geoff Ogilvy, $108,160.................. 71m-70s-66p-73—280 Pat Perez, $108,160 ...................... 73p-64m-74s-69—280 Scott Stallings, $108,160 .............. 72s-70p-65m-73—280 Kevin Streelman, $108,160 .......... 74m-70s-67p-69—280 Nick Watney, $108,160 ................. 70p-71m-69s-70—280 Luke Donald, $56,520 ................... 75p-69m-65s-72—281 Ken Duke, $56,520......................... 73m-70s-69p-69—281 Derek Fathauer, $56,520 .............. 70s-64p-73m-74—281 Tony Finau, $56,520 ...................... 71m-68s-72p-70—281 Robert Garrigus, $56,520 ............. 69s-71p-70m-71—281 J.B. Holmes, $56,520 ..................... 70m-75s-69p-67—281 Matt Jones, $56,520 ...................... 72p-67m-71s-71—281 Jason Kokrak, $56,520 .................. 77m-68s-69p-67—281

Patrick Reed, $56,520 ................... 71p-66m-74s-70—281 Steve Stricker, $56,520 ................ 72m-70s-70p-69—281 Brett Drewitt, $38,040 .................. 71s-74p-69m-68—282 Julian Etulain, $38,040 .................. 75p-68m-70s-69—282 Brad Fritsch, $38,040 .................... 74p-68m-69s-71—282 Andres Gonzales, $38,040 ............ 73m-69s-72p-68—282 Brandon Hagy, $38,040 ................ 71m-69s-72p-70—282 Tag Ridings, $38,040 ..................... 72p-68m-74s-68—282 Alex Cejka, $26,640....................... 72p-66m-74s-71—283 Adam Hadwin, $26,640 ................ 73m-69s-68p-73—283 Tom Hoge, $26,640 ....................... 72m-71s-71p-69—283 Chris Kirk, $26,640 ........................ 70m-73s-67p-73—283 Henrik Norlander, $26,640 ........... 76s-71p-65m-71—283 D.A. Points, $26,640 ...................... 72m-73s-69p-69—283 Seamus Power, $26,640 ............... 70s-70p-72m-71—283 Justin Rose, $26,640 ..................... 72m-70s-68p-73—283 Tim Wilkinson, $26,640 ................ 69p-70m-74s-70—283 Ricky Barnes, $17,897 .................. 71m-68s-73p-72—284 Joel Dahmen, $17,897 ................... 68s-72p-72m-72—284 Zac Blair, $17,897 ......................... 70s-75p-68m-71—284 Patrick Cantlay, $17,897 .............. 70m-71s-71p-72—284 Kevin Chappell, $17,897 ............... 73m-67s-67p-77—284 Rory Sabbatini, $17,897 ............... 74p-68m-72s-70—284 Kevin Tway, $17,897 ..................... 70p-69m-74s-71—284 Stewart Cink, $16,416 .................. 70p-70m-73s-72—285 Scott Piercy, $16,416 .................... 73m-68s-73p-71—285 Jimmy Walker, $16,416................. 72p-69m-72s-72—285 Jonas Blixt, $15,912 ...................... 75p-66m-73s-72—286 Scott Brown, $15,912 .................... 70s-71p-71m-74—286 James Hahn, $15,912 .................... 74m-67s-71p-74—286 Richy Werenski, $15,912 .............. 72s-74p-68m-72—286 Mark Hubbard, $15,408 ................ 69p-70m-75s-73—287 Rick Lamb, $15,408 ....................... 68s-70p-74m-75—287 Scott Langley, $15,408 ................. 73p-70m-71s-73—287 Phil Mickelson, $15,120 ................ 70m-72s-69p-77—288

Made cut did not fi nishTyler Aldridge, $14,184...................... 76s-68p-71m—215 Rich Berberian, Jr., $14,184 .............. 73p-72m-70s—215 Ryan Brehm, $14,184 ......................... 74s-71p-70m—215 Jim Furyk, $14,184 ............................. 70s-74p-71m—215 Brian Gay, $14,184 ............................. 70m-73s-72p—215 Martin Laird, $14,184 ........................ 71m-73s-71p—215 Steve Marino, $14,184 ....................... 74s-71p-70m—215 William McGirt, $14,184 .................... 73m-71s-71p—215 Sean O’Hair, $14,184 ......................... 76p-70m-69s—215 J.T. Poston, $14,184 ............................ 74s-74p-67m—215 Xander Schauffele, $14,184 .............. 74s-69p-72m—215 Robert Streb, $14,184 ........................ 70s-76p-69m—215

CHAMPIONSALLIANZ CHAMPIONSHIPFinal round • Boca Raton, Fla.The Old Course at Broken SoundPurse: $1.75 million Yards: 6,807 Par: 72Top 20 plus tiesScott McCarron, $262,500.........................66-66-67—199 Carlos Franco, $140,000 ............................68-67-65—200 Kenny Perry, $140,000 ...............................65-69-66—200 Paul Broadhurst, $94,500 ..........................69-68-64—201 Doug Garwood, $94,500 ............................68-64-69—201 Stephen Ames, $52,000 .............................72-63-67—202 Fred Couples, $52,000 ...............................68-65-69—202 Joe Durant, $52,000 ...................................67-65-70—202 Fred Funk, $52,000 .....................................68-66-68—202 Colin Montgomerie, $52,000 ....................68-68-66—202 Kevin Sutherland, $52,000 ........................69-69-64—202 Esteban Toledo, $52,000 ...........................69-67-66—202 Olin Browne, $33,250 .................................63-69-71—203 Tom Pernice Jr., $33,250 ...........................69-64-70—203 Willie Wood, $33,250 .................................69-69-65—203 Billy Andrade, $27,169...............................71-68-65—204 Jay Don Blake, $27,169 ..............................67-67-70—204 Scott Dunlap, $27,169 ...............................68-66-70—204 Paul Goydos, $27,169 ................................70-65-69—204 Billy Mayfair, $21,700 ................................73-65-67—205 Fran Quinn, $21,700 ...................................70-70-65—205 Wes Short, Jr., $21,700 ..............................71-69-65—205

The 12th-ranked Gophers and No. 4 Ohio State each won five bouts in their wrestling dual Sunday, but bonus points in four of the Buckeyes’ victo-ries — to two Gophers wins with bonus points — gave them a 24-20 victory in the Big Ten finale for both teams at the Sports Pavilion.

Jake Short gave the Gophers a 17-14 lead with a pin at

157 pounds, and Nick Wanzek followed with a victory at 165 that made it 20-14 with two matches left. But the Buckeyes won the last two bouts, on a pin by top-ranked 174-pounder Bo Jordan over Chris Pfarr that tied the dual, and Myles Mar-tin’s 18-6 major decision over Bobby Stevenson at 184.

The Gophers’ Brett Pfarr, ranked No. 2, won his match and

finished 9-0 in Big Ten duals at 197 for the second year in a row, and eighth-ranked Gophers heavyweight Michael Kroells, a senior, scored his fifth tech-nical fall of the season.

Etc.• The Gophers completed a

weekend softball sweep with a 10-2 victory over Maryland in Austin, Texas. Sam Macken

drove in three runs and Carlie Brandt got the victory, the Gophers’ fifth in a tournament field that also includes host Texas and Colorado State.

• Augustana sophomore Olivia Montez Brown repeated as pentathlon champion with a career-best 3,838 points on the opening weekend of the NSIC indoor track and field champi-onships in Mankato.

Bonus victories help Buckeyes defeat U wrestlersMINNESOTA SCENE

SPAIN • LA LIGA GP W D L GF GA PtsReal Madrid 20 15 4 1 54 18 49Barcelona 22 14 6 2 61 18 48Sevilla 22 14 4 4 44 28 46Atletico Madrid 22 12 6 4 39 18 42Real Sociedad 22 13 2 7 36 31 41Villarreal 22 9 9 4 29 15 36Ath. Bilbao 22 10 5 7 28 26 35Eibar 21 9 5 7 32 29 32Espanyol 22 8 8 6 30 29 32Celta Vigo 21 9 3 9 33 36 30Las Palmas 22 7 7 8 31 33 28Alaves 22 6 9 7 21 28 27Real Betis 21 6 6 9 21 31 24Malaga 22 5 8 9 29 36 23Valencia 21 5 5 11 29 40 20Deportivo 21 4 7 10 26 34 19Leganes 22 4 6 12 15 37 18Sporting 22 4 4 14 24 43 16Granada 21 2 7 12 17 44 13Osasuna 22 1 7 14 24 49 10RESULTS SUNDAYAtletico Madrid 3, Celta Vigo 2Malaga 1, Villarreal 1Sevilla 1, Las Palmas 0Sporting 2, Leganes 0

S O F T B A L LCOLLEGEBIG TENNonconferenceGophers 10, Maryland 2, 5 inn.UPPER MIDWESTSW Minn. St. 8, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 0SW Minn. St. 8, Jamestown (N.D.) 6

T E N N I S

PRO • MENECUADOR OPENChampionship • Quito, Ecuador• Victor Estrella Burgos def. Paolo Lorenzi, 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (6). GARANTI KOZA SOFIA OPENChampionship • Sofi a, Bulgaria• Grigor Dimitrov (3) def. David Goffi n (2), 7-5, 6-4.WORLD TOUR OPEN SUD DE FRANCEChampionship • Montpellier, France• Alexander Zverev (4) def. Richard Gasquet (3), 7-6 (4), 6-3.

PRO • WOMENFED CUPWorld Group • Lahaina, HawaiiUnited States 3, Germany 0Singles• Alison Riske, United States, def. Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 7-6 (10), 6-2. • CoCo Vandeweghe, United States, def. Julia Goerges, Germany, 6-3, 3-1, retired.Reverse Singles• CoCo Vandeweghe, United States, def. Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

COLLEGE • WOMENUPPER MIDWESTAugustana 5, Carleton 4Bemidji State 9, Hamline 0

T R A N S A C T I O N SBASEBALLNATIONAL LEAGUEWashington: Agreed to terms with LHP Neal Cotts and RHP Jeremy Guthrie on minor league contracts.

HOCKEYNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUEChicago: Reassigned D Gustav Forsling and Fs Vinnie Hinostroza, Tanner Kero and Nick Schmaltz to Rockford (AHL). Activated D Michal Rozsival from injured reserve. New Jersey: Activated D John Moore from injured reserve. Ottawa: Recalled F Ryan Rupert froim Wichita (ECHL) to Binghamton (AHL). Philadelphia: Assigned D Reece Will-cox from Lehigh Valley (AHL) to Read-ing (ECHL). Tampa Bay: Reassigned Fs Erik Condra and Gabriel Dumont to Syracuse (AHL).AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUEWilkes-Barre/Scranton: Recalled F Jar-rett Burton from Wheeling (ECHL).ECHLAtlanta: Loaned D Akim Aliu to Cleve-land (AHL). Indy: Claimed D Travis Armstrong off waivers from Idaho. Signed D Andrew Huckleby and F Michael Neal. Wichita: Claimed F Maxime St-Cyr off waivers from Greenville. Loaned D Jamie Doornbosch to Binghamton (AHL).

T O D AY ’ S L I N ENHLFAVORITE .............LINE .......... UNDERDOG COLUMBUS .....-125/+115 .....NY RangersCALGARY ........-180/+165 ............Arizona

NBAFAVORITE ....... LINE (O/U) .... UNDERDOG CHARLOTTE ..... 8½ (211) .... Philadelphia WASHINGTON ...5 (217) .. Oklahoma City MIAMI .............. 8 (207½) ............ Orlando Memphis.......... 9½ (209) .......BROOKLYN San Antonio....3½ (208½).......... INDIANA MILWAUKEE..... 3½ (211) .............. Detroit Boston ............. 1½ (208) .............DALLAS PHOENIX .......... 2½ (220) ....New Orleans Golden State .. 11 (239½) ...........DENVER UTAH ................ 7 (206½) ...... LA Clippers PORTLAND.........2 (217) ............... Atlanta

COLLEGE BASKETBALLFAVORITE .............LINE .......... UNDERDOGGeorgia St ..............1 . COAST. CAROLINA Baylor .....................2 ........... TEXAS TECH Louisville ................4 ...............SYRACUSE Georgia Southern 1½ .APPALACHIAN ST LA.-LAFAYETTE .... 6½ .....South Alabama Arkansas St .......... 1½ ........ TEXAS STATE Troy ....................... 2½ ........ LA.-MONROE Villanova................19 ...................DEPAUL KANSAS ..................4 ..........West Virginia TEX-.ARLINGTON 12½ .....................UALR

Note: Home teams are in CAPS.

BIG TEN Conf. Overall W L W LWisconsin 10 2 21 4Maryland 9 3 21 4Purdue 9 3 20 5Northwestern 8 4 19 6Michigan St. 7 5 15 10Gophers 6 6 18 7Michigan 6 6 16 9Iowa 6 7 14 12Penn State 6 7 14 12Indiana 5 8 15 11Ohio State 5 8 15 11Nebraska 4 8 10 14Illinois 4 9 14 12Rutgers 2 11 13 13

AMERICA EAST Conf. Overall W L W LVermont 13 0 23 5Stony Brook 10 2 15 10UMBC 7 5 16 9Albany 7 5 16 11New Hampshire 6 6 15 11UMass Lowell 5 8 11 17Hartford 3 9 8 19Binghamton 3 10 12 16Maine 2 11 6 22

AMERICAN Conf. Overall W L W LSMU 12 1 22 4Cincinnati 11 1 22 3Houston 9 4 18 7Memphis 8 5 18 8Connecticut 7 5 12 12Tulsa 6 6 12 12C. Florida 6 7 15 10Temple 5 8 14 12East Carolina 3 9 11 14Tulane 1 11 4 20South Florida 1 12 7 17

ATLANTIC 10 Conf. Overall W L W LVCU 10 2 20 5Dayton 10 2 19 5Richmond 9 3 15 9Rhode Island 8 4 16 8George Mason 7 5 17 8St. Bonaventure 7 5 15 9La Salle 7 5 13 10Davidson 5 7 12 11George Wash. 5 7 13 12Fordham 4 8 10 15St. Louis 4 8 9 16Massachusetts 3 9 13 12St. Joseph’s 3 9 10 14Duquesne 2 10 9 16

ACC Conf. Overall W L W LNorth Carolina 9 3 21 5Florida St. 9 4 21 5Duke 8 4 20 5Louisville 8 4 20 5Virginia 8 4 18 6Notre Dame 8 5 19 7Syracuse 8 5 16 10Virginia Tech 6 6 17 7Miami (Fla.) 6 6 16 8Georgia Tech 6 6 15 10Wake Forest 6 7 15 10Pittsburgh 3 9 14 11Clemson 3 9 13 11NC State 3 10 14 12Boston College 2 11 9 17

ATLANTIC SUN Conf. Overall W L W LFlorida GC 9 2 20 7Lipscomb 9 2 17 11SC UpState 7 4 17 11Kennesaw St. 6 5 12 15North Florida 6 5 11 17Jacksonville 4 7 16 12Stetson 2 9 10 18NJIT 1 10 9 18

BIG 12 Conf. Overall W L W LKansas 10 2 22 3Baylor 9 3 22 3West Virginia 8 4 20 5Iowa St. 7 5 15 9TCU 6 6 17 8Oklahoma St. 5 7 16 9Kansas St. 5 7 16 9Texas Tech 4 8 16 9Texas 4 8 10 15Oklahoma 2 10 8 16

BIG EAST Conf. Overall W L W LVillanova 11 2 24 2Creighton 8 4 21 4Xavier 8 4 18 7Butler 8 5 19 6Marquette 6 7 15 10St John’s 6 7 12 14Seton Hall 5 7 15 9Providence 5 8 15 11Georgetown 5 8 14 12DePaul 1 11 8 17

BIG SKY Conf. Overall W L W LWeber St. 10 2 15 8North Dakota 10 3 15 8E. Washington 9 4 17 9Idaho 8 5 13 11Montana 8 5 13 13Montana St. 7 6 12 14Sacramento St. 6 6 9 14Portland St. 5 7 12 11N. Colorado 4 9 8 16N. Arizona 4 9 7 19Idaho St. 3 9 5 19Southern Utah 2 11 4 22

BIG SOUTH Conf. Overall W L W LUNC Asheville 12 2 20 7Liberty 12 2 17 10Winthrop 11 3 19 6High Point 8 6 14 12Gardner-Webb 7 7 14 13Campbell 6 8 13 13Radford 6 8 11 15Charl. Southern 4 10 8 17Longwood 3 11 6 19Presbyterian 1 13 5 20

BIG WEST Conf. Overall W L W LUC Davis 8 2 16 9UC Irvine 8 3 15 12CSU Northridge 7 4 11 13Hawai’i 6 5 12 12Long Beach St. 6 5 11 16CSU Fullerton 5 5 11 12UC Riverside 5 6 7 15Cal Poly 2 8 7 17UC Santa Barbara 1 10 3 20

COLONIAL ATH. Conf. Overall W L W LUNC Wilmington 11 3 22 5Charleston 10 4 19 8Towson 9 5 17 10Elon 8 6 16 11William & Mary 8 6 14 11Northeastern 7 7 14 12Hofstra 5 9 13 14James Madison 5 9 7 20Delaware 4 10 11 16Drexel 3 11 9 18

CONF. USA Conf. Overall W L W LMiddle Tenn. 12 1 22 4La.Tech 10 3 18 8Old Dominion 8 5 15 10Ala.-Birmingham 8 5 15 11Rice 7 5 17 8Marshall 7 5 14 11UTEP 7 5 9 15W.Kentucky 6 6 12 13UT San Antonio 6 6 11 14Charlotte 5 8 11 13Florida Atlantic 4 8 8 15Southern Miss 4 9 7 18Florida Int’l 2 10 6 19North Texas 1 11 7 17

HORIZON Conf. Overall W L W LValparaiso 11 2 21 5Oakland 9 4 19 7Green Bay 9 5 15 11N.Kentucky 8 5 17 9Wright St. 8 5 17 9Ill.-Chicago 6 7 13 13Detroit Mercy 4 9 6 19Youngstown St. 4 10 10 17Cleveland St. 4 10 8 18Milwaukee 4 10 8 19

IVY LEAGUE Conf. Overall W L W LPrinceton 8 0 15 6Harvard 6 2 14 7Yale 6 2 14 7Columbia 4 4 10 11Brown 2 6 11 13Penn 2 6 9 12Cornell 2 6 6 17Dartmouth 2 6 5 16

MAAC Conf. Overall W L W LMonmouth 13 2 21 5Iona 10 5 17 9St. Peter’s 10 6 14 12Siena 9 6 12 14Canisius 8 7 15 11Fairfi eld 7 7 12 11Rider 7 8 14 12Quinnipiac 7 9 10 16Niagara 6 10 9 18Manhattan 4 12 9 18Marist 3 12 6 20

MID-AMERICAN Conf. OverallEast W L W LAkron 11 1 21 4Ohio 7 5 15 8Buffalo 7 5 13 12Kent St. 5 7 13 12Bowling Green 5 7 11 14Miami (Ohio) 3 9 10 15

West W L W LC. Michigan 6 6 16 9Ball State 6 6 15 10N. Illinois 6 6 14 11Toledo 6 6 13 12E. Michigan 5 7 13 12W. Michigan 5 7 9 15

MEAC Conf. Overall W L W LNC Central 9 1 18 6Norfolk St. 9 2 12 13Hampton 8 3 11 13Morgan St. 7 3 10 13Savannah St. 7 4 10 14Delaware St. 6 6 9 18Md-Eastern Shore 5 5 8 17Florida A&M 5 6 7 17Coppin St. 5 6 6 20South Carolina St. 4 7 7 17Bethune-Cookman 2 8 5 19Howard 2 8 5 20NC A&T 0 10 2 23

MO. VALLEY Conf. Overall W L W LWichita St. 13 1 23 4Illinois St. 13 1 21 5N. Iowa 8 6 13 12S. Illinois 7 7 14 13Loyola-Chicago 6 8 16 11Missouri St. 6 8 15 12Drake 5 9 7 19Evansville 4 10 13 14Indiana St. 4 10 10 16Bradley 4 10 9 18

MTN. WEST Conf. Overall W L W LBoise St. 9 3 16 7Colorado St. 9 4 17 9Nevada 8 4 19 6New Mexico 8 5 15 10San Diego St. 6 6 14 10San Jose St. 6 6 13 10Wyoming 6 7 16 10Fresno St. 6 7 14 11Utah St. 5 8 11 13Air Force 3 9 10 15UNLV 3 10 10 16

NORTHEAST Conf. Overall W L W LMount St Mary’s 12 2 14 13LIU Brooklyn 9 5 16 11F. Dickinson 9 5 11 14Wagner 8 6 12 12St Francis (Pa.) 8 6 11 14Sacred Heart 7 7 12 15Robert Morris 6 8 10 17Bryant 6 8 9 18C. Connecticut 3 11 5 20St Francis (N.Y.) 2 12 4 23

OHIO VALLEY Conf. OverallWest W L W LUT Martin 8 5 18 10Murray St. 7 5 13 13SE Missouri St. 7 6 12 16Eastern Illinois 5 8 13 13Austin Peay 4 8 8 18SIU Edwardsville 0 13 5 22East W L W LBelmont 12 1 18 5Morehead St. 9 3 13 12Jacksonville St. 8 5 16 12Tennessee Tech 7 6 11 17Tennessee St. 6 7 15 11E. Kentucky 3 9 10 17

PAC-12 Conf. Overall W L W LArizona 12 1 23 3Oregon 11 2 22 4UCLA 10 3 23 3California 9 4 18 7USC 8 5 21 5Utah 8 5 17 8Colorado 5 8 15 11Arizona St. 5 8 12 14Stanford 4 9 12 13Washington St. 4 9 11 14Washington 2 11 9 16Oregon St. 0 13 4 22

PATRIOT LEAGUE Conf. Overall W L W LBucknell 11 2 19 7Boston Univ. 10 4 15 11Navy 10 4 15 11Lehigh 8 6 14 11Colgate 7 6 9 17Loyola (Md.) 7 7 13 12Holy Cross 7 7 13 14Army 3 11 9 17Lafayette 3 11 7 18American 3 11 6 19

SEC Conf. Overall W L W LFlorida 10 2 20 5Kentucky 10 2 20 5South Carolina 10 2 20 5Arkansas 7 5 18 7Alabama 7 5 14 10Ole Miss 6 6 15 10Tennessee 6 6 14 11Auburn 5 7 16 9Mississippi St. 5 7 14 10Georgia 5 7 14 11Texas A&M 5 7 13 11Vanderbilt 5 7 12 13Missouri 2 10 7 17LSU 1 11 9 15

SOUTHERN Conf. Overall W L W LFurman 11 2 18 8E. Tennessee St. 10 3 20 6Chattanooga 9 4 18 7UNC Greensboro 9 4 18 8Wofford 8 6 13 14Samford 6 7 15 11Mercer 6 8 12 15VMI 3 9 6 17W.Carolina 2 11 7 19The Citadel 2 12 9 18

SOUTHLAND Conf. Overall W L W LNew Orleans 10 3 15 9Sam Houston St. 9 4 18 8S. F. Austin 8 4 13 11Texas A&M-CC 7 5 14 9Lamar 7 5 15 10Houston Baptist 7 6 11 12C.Arkansas 7 6 8 18SE Louisiana 6 7 13 13Abilene Christian 5 8 11 13Incarnate Word 5 8 10 14Nicholls 4 8 11 14McNeese 4 9 7 17Northwestern St. 3 9 9 14

SWAC Conf. Overall W L W LTexas Southern 10 1 14 10Alcorn St. 9 3 12 11Southern 7 5 11 14Jackson St. 6 6 10 15Alabama St. 6 6 8 16Ark.-Pine Bluff 6 6 7 19Prairie View A&M 5 6 8 17Grambling 5 7 10 15Miss.Valley St. 4 8 4 21Alabama A&M 1 11 1 22

SUMMIT LEAGUE Conf. Overall W L W LNorth Dakota St. 9 3 17 8South Dakota 9 4 18 10Denver 7 5 15 10Fort Wayne 6 6 17 9Omaha 6 7 13 13IUPUI 5 7 11 15W. Illinois 5 7 8 15South Dakota St. 5 8 12 16Oral Roberts 4 9 8 19

SUN BELT Conf. Overall W L W LArkansas St. 9 3 18 7Georgia St. 9 3 16 8Ga. Southern 9 3 16 9UT Arlington 8 3 18 6Texas St. 7 4 14 9Coastal Carolina 7 5 12 13Troy 5 6 13 12South Alabama 5 6 12 12UL Lafayette 4 8 14 11Ark.-Little Rock 4 8 13 12Appalachian St. 2 10 7 16La.Monroe 1 11 7 18

WEST COAST Conf. Overall W L W LGonzaga 14 0 26 0St. Mary’s 12 2 22 3BYU 9 5 18 9San Francisco 8 6 18 9Santa Clara 8 6 14 13Loyola Mary. 5 9 12 13Pepperdine 5 9 9 17San Diego 4 10 11 15Pacifi c 3 11 9 18Portland 2 12 9 17

WAC Conf. Overall W L W LCSU Bakersfi eld 8 1 17 7New Mexico St. 8 2 22 4Grand Canyon 6 3 17 9UMKC 6 4 14 13Seattle 4 5 12 12Utah Valley 3 6 11 13Rio Grande Valley 2 8 10 17Chicago St. 1 9 6 21

ZSW [C M Y K] C5 Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

M O N DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 3 , 2 0 1 7 S P O R T S S TA R T R I B U N E • C5

WILD 6, DETROIT 3Detroit..................................................... 0 2 1—3Wild ......................................................... 2 1 3—6First: 1. Wild—Granlund 16 (Koivu, Olofsson), 13:01, pp. 2. Wild—Niederreiter 19 (Prosser, Koivu), 15:47, pp. Penalties: Green, DET, (hook-ing), 11:07; Nyquist, DET, served by Mantha, (high sticking), 14:13; Nyquist, DET, (high sticking), 14:13; Stewart, Wild, (roughing), 14:13; Dekeyser, DET, (holding), 19:35.Second: 3. Det—Mantha 13 (Ouellet, Nyquist), 6:56. 4. Wild—Coyle 14 (Pominville, Olofsson), 14:14. 5. Det—Zetterberg 13 (Ouellet, Mantha), 15:39. Penalties: None.Third: 6. Wild—Parise 12 (Pominville), 3:59. 7. Det—Athanasiou 14 (Kronwall, Jensen), 4:34. 8. Wild—Folin 2 (Coyle), 7:20. 9. Wild—Parise 13 (Staal, Spurgeon), 10:50, pp. Penalties: Ouellet, DET, (tripping), 10:06; Niederreiter, Wild, (high sticking), 14:53.Shots: Detroit 5-14-15—34. Wild 12-9-9—30. Power plays: Detroit 0 of 1; Wild 3 of 4. Goal-ies: Detroit, Coreau 5-3-3 (30-24). Wild, Dub-nyk 31-9-3 (34-31). A: 19,141 (18,064). T: 2:37. Referees: Kyle Rehman, Brad Watson. Lines-men: Brandon Gawryletz, Bevan Mills.

GAME RECAP

S TA R T R I B U N E ’ S T H R E E S TA R S1. Mikko Koivu, Wild: Two assists, 596 career points, 34 points in his past 37 games.2. Zach Parise, Wild: Two goals, including the game-winner, on four shots.3. Jason Pominville, Wild: Two assists, giving him 17 points in the past 12 games.

B Y T H E N U M B E R S3 Power plays drawn by Jason Zucker.16 Game goal drought ended for Charlie Coyle.2 Assists for Gustav Olofsson, the first two points of his career.15-5-1 The Wild’s record vs. the East.

MICHAEL RUSSO

NHL

SAN JOSE 4, NEW JERSEY 1San Jose..............................................................................0 3 1—4New Jersey .........................................................................1 0 0—1First: 1. NJ—Parenteau 13 (Hall, Josefson), 11:42.Second: 2. SJ—Burns 23 (Martin, Thornton), 2:27. 3. SJ—Burns 24 (Labanc, Pavelski), 7:46. 4. SJ—Thornton 5 (Vlasic, La-banc), 11:22.Third: 5. SJ—Hertl 6 (Ward, Braun), 18:36.Shots: San Jose 19-7-12—38. New Jersey 3-12-7—22. Power-plays: San Jose 0 of 6; New Jersey 0 of 2. Goalies: San Jose, Jones 28-15-4 (22-21). New Jersey, Schneider 17-16-8 (37-34). A: 16,514 (17,625).

NASHVILLE 5, DALLAS 3Dallas ..................................................................................2 1 0—3Nashville .............................................................................0 1 4—5First: 1. Dal—Ja.Benn 18 (Faksa, Seguin), 12:24, pp. 2. Dal—Sharp 7 (Seguin, Ja.Benn), 15:46, pp. Second: 3. Dal—Shore 9 (Seguin, Ritchie), 12:02, pp. 4. Nas—Josi 8 (Arvidsson), 15:25. Third: 5. Nas—Josi 9 (Subban, Neal), 0:45, pp. 6. Nas—Jarnk-rok 11 (Subban, Neal), 4:40. 7. Nas—Forsberg 16, 6:02, sh. 8. Nas—Fisher 14, 18:22. Shots: Dallas 8-6-7—21. Nashville 6-15-15—36. Power-plays: Dallas 3 of 9; Nashville 1 of 5. Goalies: Dallas, Lehtonen 12-17-6 (35-31). Nashville, Rinne 22-14-6 (21-18). A: 17,113 (17,113).

N.Y. ISLANDERS 5, COLORADO 1Colorado .............................................................................1 0 0—1N.Y. Islanders .....................................................................1 1 3—5First: 1. Col—Colborne 4 (Martinsen, Tyutin), 8:12. 2. NYI—Led-dy 9 (Gionta, Cizikas), 12:01. Second: 3. NYI—Strome 9 (Tavares, Leddy), 14:46, pp. Third: 4. NYI—Lee 20 (Boychuk, Tavares), 1:21. 5. NYI—Lee 21 (Boychuk, Leddy), 11:22, pp. 6. NYI—Chimera 13 (Nel-son), 13:48. Shots: Colorado 11-8-8—27. N.Y. Islanders 13-9-11—33. Pow-er-plays: Colorado 0 of 3; N.Y. Islanders 2 of 5. Goalies: Colo-rado, Pickard 9-17-1 (33-28). N.Y. Islanders, Berube 2-2-2 (27-26). A: 14,107 (15,813).

VANCOUVER 4, BUFFALO 2Vancouver ..........................................................................2 2 0—4Buffalo ................................................................................2 0 0—2First: 1. Buf—Ennis 4 (Rodrigues), 4:58. 2. Van—Horvat 17 (Hut-ton, Granlund), 9:07, pp. 3. Van—Chaput 2 (D.Sedin), 16:37. 4. Buf—Okposo 18 (O’reilly, Ristolainen), 19:44.Second: 5. Van—Burrows 9 (Horvat, Stecher), 5:00. 6. Van—Chaput 3 (Edler, Burrows), 15:33.Third: No scoring.Shots: Vancouver 11-12-8—31. Buffalo 10-6-12—28. Power-plays: Vancouver 1 of 6; Buffalo 0 of 3. Goalies: Vancouver, Markstrom 10-10-3 (28-26). Buffalo, Lehner 14-16-6 (31-27). A: 18,876 (18,690).

BOSTON 4, MONTREAL 0Montreal .............................................................................0 0 0—0Boston ................................................................................1 2 1—4First: 1. Bos—McQuaid 2 (Krug, Cehlarik), 8:57.Second: 2. Bos—Chara 5 (Spooner, Marchand), 5:08, sh. 3. Bos—Krejci 14 (Backes, Cehlarik), 15:05, pp.Third: 4. Bos—Vatrano 8 (Krejci, Pastrnak), 5:00.Shots: Montreal 11-7-7—25. Boston 9-17-10—36. Power-plays: Montreal 0 of 6; Boston 1 of 7. Goalies: Montreal, Price 24-14-5 (36-32). Boston, Rask 27-13-4 (25-25). A: 17,565 (17,565).

W E S T E R N C O N F E R E N C E

CENTRAL GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVWild 55 37 12 6 80 187 129 19-6-1 18-6-5 12-4-3Chicago 57 35 17 5 75 166 147 18-7-4 17-10-1 13-8-1St. Louis 56 29 22 5 63 161 165 17-9-4 12-13-1 9-9-2Nashville 56 27 21 8 62 158 151 16-7-6 11-14-2 12-8-1Dallas 57 22 25 10 54 158 182 15-9-6 7-16-4 8-12-4Winnipeg 58 25 29 4 54 166 185 13-14-1 12-15-3 13-7-1Colorado 53 15 36 2 32 107 181 7-19-1 8-17-1 6-13-0

PACIFIC GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVSan Jose 57 34 18 5 73 156 135 18-7-2 16-11-3 10-7-3Anaheim 57 29 18 10 68 151 147 17-6-3 12-12-7 11-3-4Edmonton 56 29 19 8 66 157 146 13-10-3 16-9-5 11-4-3Los Angeles 55 28 23 4 60 138 136 15-8-1 13-15-3 8-6-0Calgary 56 28 25 3 59 149 159 14-13-0 14-12-3 9-8-2Vancouver 56 25 25 6 56 135 160 17-8-3 8-17-3 8-7-1Arizona 53 18 28 7 43 124 169 12-13-3 6-15-4 6-10-5

E A S T E R N C O N F E R E N C E

ATLANTIC GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVMontreal 58 31 19 8 70 165 150 18-7-4 13-12-4 11-3-5Ottawa 53 29 18 6 64 143 143 16-8-6 13-10-0 8-8-1Boston 58 29 23 6 64 157 155 15-13-0 14-10-6 15-6-1Toronto 54 25 18 11 61 165 161 13-9-4 12-9-7 12-5-2Florida 54 24 20 10 58 134 153 14-10-3 10-10-7 9-7-5Tampa Bay 56 25 24 7 57 154 160 14-10-2 11-14-5 9-5-3Buffalo 56 23 23 10 56 138 159 13-10-4 10-13-6 8-10-3Detroit 56 22 24 10 54 141 169 11-12-5 11-12-5 6-9-5

METROPOLITAN GP W L OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIVWashington 56 39 11 6 84 192 121 24-5-1 15-6-5 11-6-5Columbus 54 35 14 5 75 175 133 19-7-1 16-7-4 9-5-1Pittsburgh 54 34 13 7 75 193 155 22-3-3 12-10-4 13-5-0N.Y. Rangers 55 36 18 1 73 189 145 18-11-1 18-7-0 10-7-0Philadelphia 56 27 22 7 61 147 168 17-9-4 10-13-3 6-8-1N.Y. Islanders 54 25 19 10 60 161 158 18-8-6 7-11-4 7-6-4New Jersey 55 23 22 10 56 128 157 11-10-4 12-12-6 7-5-2Carolina 53 24 22 7 55 140 156 17-6-1 7-16-6 6-12-2

SUNDAYWild 6, Detroit 3Boston 4, Montreal 0Nashville 5, Dallas 3N.Y. Islanders 5, Colorado 1San Jose 4, New Jersey 1Vancouver 4, Buffalo 2

SATURDAYArizona 4, Pittsburgh 3, OTBoston 4, Vancouver 3Buffalo 3, Toronto 1Chicago 5, Edmonton 1Columbus 2, Detroit 1Dallas 5, Carolina 2Florida 7, Nashville 4N.Y. Rangers 4, Colorado 2Ottawa 3, N.Y. Islanders 0Philadelphia 2, San Jose 1, OTSt. Louis 4, Montreal 2Tampa Bay 4, Winnipeg 1Washington 6, Anaheim 4

MONDAYN.Y. Rangers at Columbus, 6:30 pmArizona at Calgary, 8 pm

TUESDAYAnaheim at Wild, 7 pmColorado at New Jersey, 6 pmVancouver at Pittsburgh, 6 pmBuffalo at Ottawa, 6:30 pmN.Y. Islanders at Toronto, 6:30 pmDallas at Winnipeg, 7 pmArizona at Edmonton, 8 pm

WEDNESDAYToronto at Columbus, 6 pmSt. Louis at Detroit, 7 pmPhiladelphia at Calgary, 8:30 pmFlorida at San Jose, 9:30 pm

STANDINGS SUMMARIES

Koivu hasn’t proved for-mer criticisms wrong. All were accurate at some point. But he has put them in the past, making the praise he’s receiving now earned and easy.

Sunday, Koivu’s play was both routine and brilliant in the Wild’s 6-3 victory over Detroit. He made two beautiful cross-ice passes in the first period that pro-duced power-play goals, and another just before the first-period horn that Mikael Granlund tipped inches wide of the post.

Koivu is on pace for a career best in goals and his best point total since 2011. He has become a fixture on the power play and no one is calling for his C to be stripped. He’s even become an author.

He wrote an article in the Players’ Tribune in which he thanked Minnesotans.

“I think for myself it was important to get my word across, the way people have always treated us, myself and my family here, and how important the city and the state are for us and what it means to us,” he said. “That’s not always easy to get across

when I talk after the game to you guys. Hopefully that is the message that people get from it and they know how much we appreciate how we’ve been treated since day one here.”

The website wouldn’t have been interested if he and his team weren’t play-ing so well. Sunday, the Wild looked sloppy and didn’t break away until the third period. The Wild remains securely in first place in the conference and keeps win-ning games that might have served as potholes in past Februarys.

Asked why he’s playing well this season, Koivu said: “Usually when the team is doing good, individuals step up as well. There are a lot of reasons. The way you prepare for the season, being able to stay healthy, knock on wood.

“Being able to play with the same guys throughout the year, for the most part. Work ethic, not just individu-ally but as a team. The way

we play the game, the way we do little things right, that’s behind the success. You see that, too, on video — the work ethic as the reason for our success.”

Boudreau noted that Koivu was successful on the power play last season. “I never even thought of him not being on the power play,” Boudreau said. “He can make a play. He’s a very smart player. I think if there was ever a problem with him, he thought so much ‘defense’ — that’s why maybe his numbers were never as good as people thought they should be.”

Koivu still plays defense but seems looser both off the ice and while moving into the offensive zone.

This month, Koivu wrote an article and cracked a joke. “Mikko: The Musical” can’t be far away.

Jim Souhan’s podcast can be heard at MalePatternPodcasts.com. On Twitter: @SouhanStrib. • jsouhan@startribune.com

Koivu’s inspired play is no jokeø SOUHAN from C1 Wild captain and center Mikko Koivu had his

best season in 2009-10 (22 goals, 49 assists, 71 points), but this season could be even better. He’s on pace to set a career high in goals, and his plus-minus sits at 28 after 54 games. His career best plus-minus is plus-13 in 2008-09.

Dubnyk was victimized by a couple of fluky goals, but he could have been sharper and joked, “Sometimes I’ve got to let them know they’re going to need six.”

The Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead with power-play goals 2:46 apart by Granlund and Niederreiter. Koivu, four points shy of 600, set up both with beautiful passing plays, one with defensive defenseman Nate Prosser taking a briefly injured Jared Spurgeon’s place on the second unit.

After Prosser assisted on Niederreiter’s team-high 19th goal, he kiddingly told team-mates during the celebra-tion line at the bench, “It’s an easy game when you’re on the power play.”

Spurgeon was getting stitches on his left cheek because skilled Detroit winger Gustav Nyquist tomahawked the defenseman in the face with the blade of his stick in retal-iation for an uncalled cross-check. Spurgeon went down in a heap of pain, bleeding.

Nyquist was assessed a double-minor, which became a two-minute Wild power play when Chris Stewart earned two for roughing.

“I just don’t understand how that’s not a five-minute penalty,” Dubnyk said. “Obvi-ously he’s not a player that is going to, I want to say do it

on purpose except anybody watching the game … it’s a five-minute penalty regard-less.”

Anthony Mantha made it 2-1 early in the second after a defensive-zone breakdown, but the lead became two again after Pominville chipped a puck up to Coyle. Coyle cor-ralled the bouncing puck, flew past defenseman Nick Jensen

and scored a beauty past Jared Coreau.

Boudreau didn’t like Coyle and Eric Staal, who has one goal and four assists in the past 14 games, in the first period together. So Coyle moved from right wing to center with Parise and Pominville, who was bumped up. Staal was dropped to the third line, with center Erik Haula moving to

left wing and Niederreiter to right.

“Charlie wasn’t skating and sometimes on the boards, when he’s playing wing, you don’t skate as much as you do at center,” Boudreau said. “I thought he needed to get his legs moving.”

Henrik Zetterberg made it 3-2, but early in the third, the red-hot Pominville forced

Coreau into a turnover and set up Parise’s first of two goals.

“It’s always nice when you feel like you’re doing the right things to get rewarded,” Parise said.

It wasn’t an easy win, but as Coyle said: “We pulled it out. That’s all that matters. A few goals, we’ve got to look at and correct and fix at prac-tice [Monday].”

Victory far from perfect, but power play shinesø WILD from C1

By MICHAEL RUSSO mrusso@startribune.com

Jared Spurgeon is lucky.In the first period of the

Wild’s 6-3 victory over Detroit on Sunday, Red Wings for-ward Gustav Nyquist lost his cool after being cross-checked by the Wild d e f e n s e m a n . Nyquist turned, turned the tip of his blade sky-ward and high-sticked Spur-geon in the face.

“Two inches closer, and the guy could have speared his eye out,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety acted quickly. Nyquist has been offered an in-person hearing at NHL headquarters. That will allow a suspension of longer than five games.

The incident was reminis-cent of last April when Chi-cago’s Duncan Keith was sus-pended five regular-season games and a playoff game for swinging his blade wildly at Charlie Coyle’s face from flat on his back.

But this one came in a controlled hockey play with Nyquist staring directly at Spurgeon. Nyquist said it was “completely accidental.”

“My stick gets caught, I’m trying to get body position on him,” Nyquist said. “It looks bad, but I’m happy he’s OK.”

Detroit coach Jeff Blashill also jumped to his player’s defense, saying, “I’ve known Nykey for six-plus years and there’s no chance there was any intent.”

Spurgeon escaped with only a fat lip and stitches to his lower left cheek.

“I’m sure something will happen and the league will do something,” Spurgeon said.

“I’m just happy it didn’t go in my eye or something like that.”

The Wild was amazed Nyquist only received a double-minor rather than a five-minute major and game misconduct. Boudreau said referee Brad Watson told him it wasn’t that bad, adding: “I said, ‘Well, watch the replay. You’ll see it deserved more than a double-minor.’ ”

Brodin getting closeWild defenseman Jonas

Brodin, who broke a finger Jan. 17 and has missed 12 games, is back practicing and is maybe a week from return-ing. Brodin said he is still hav-ing difficulty shooting and doing “one-hand stuff.”

“You worry sometimes that when he’s out you’re put-ting too much pressure and ice time on [Ryan Suter and Spurgeon],” Boudreau said. “We can tell we miss him and definitely in situations

where you’re sitting there and you don’t want to play Suter 31 minutes a night. You go, ‘Geez, here’s minutes that Brods could eat right up.’ He’s missed.”

Career highlightIn his third game since

being recalled, left-shot defenseman Gustav Olofsson assisted on two goals Sun-day, the first two points of his career. He even got power-play time, which he called an honor.

“It was a good start to kind of ease the nerves,” Olofsson said. “I think those were some of the easiest points I’ve ever gotten playing hockey.”

Defenseman Matt Dumba, who crashed awkwardly into the boards Friday against Tampa Bay on a check from Ondrej Palat, missed Sunday’s game because of a lower-body injury. Boudreau said Dumba is day-to-day .

Gaining supportThe Wild might have some

insurance policies if it runs into injuries down the stretch.

General Manager Chuck Fletcher anticipates that center Zac Dalpe (knee) and defense-man Victor Bartley (torn tri-ceps) could return to Iowa’s lineup at some point. The Wild also could also recall center Joel Eriksson Ek after Farjestad’s season ends in Sweden, but if Sweden wants the world junior captain for the world cham-pionships, the Wild would prefer him to play in that.

“Hopefully we’re still going late in the spring, and we could bring him back then,” Fletcher said.

Vanek sits outDetroit’s Thomas Vanek,

who played the past two sea-sons with the Wild, missed Sunday’s game after suffer-ing an ankle injury Saturday at Columbus.

Spurgeon dodges serious injury from a high stick to faceWILD NOTES

CARLOS GONZALEZ • cgonzalez@startribune.comCharlie Coyle flipped the puck over Red Wings goalie Jared Coreau for a Wild breakaway goal in the second period Sunday.

Brent Burns, the NHL’s leading offensive defense-man, scored two goals as the San Jose Sharks ended a season high four-game losing streak with a 4-1 road win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.

Burns erased a Devils lead with two second-period scores. The former Wild star has 24 goals and 59 points this season.Boston 4, Montreal 0: Tuukka Rask earned his first home victory over the Canadiens, helped by a shorthanded goal from 39-year-old Zdeno Chara.Nashville 5, Dallas 3: Filip Forsberg’s shorthanded goal early in the third period helped the host Predators rally from three goals down.N.Y. Islanders 5, Colorado 1: Edina’s Anders Lee scored goals 10 minutes apart in a three-goal Islanders third period.Vancouver 4, Buffalo 2: The Canucks’ Alexandre Burrows had a goal and an assist.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Burns scores two in Sharks’ victory

ROUNDUP

Spurgeon

ZSW [C M Y K] C6 Monday, Feb. 13, 2017

C6 • S TA R T R I B U N E S P O R T S M O N DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 3 , 2 0 1 7