Lightning's star goalie out 2 months after back surgery
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to miss the first two months of the NHL season after undergoing back surgery.
The team announced the stunning injury news Thursday, midway through training camp and with opening night less than two weeks away.
General manager Julien BriseBois said Vasilevskiy had a successful microdiscectomy to address a lumbar disk herniation. The recovery could sideline arguably the best goalie in the world for 25 or more games.
Tampa Bay was hoping the 29-year-old Russian would be fresh after a first-round playoff exit following three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final. Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy in 2019 as the league's top netminder and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2021 as playoff MVP.
No one played more hockey from August 2020 through the end of the playoffs last season than Vasilevskiy, who was on the ice for just more than 14,769 minutes of game action. He said after the series defeat to Toronto he struggled with a heavy workload.
Vasilevskiy's absence could push the Lightning to make a trade or sign a free agent, given their tight contending window. Journeyman Jonas Johansson, 22-year-old Hugo Alnefelt and Matt Tomkins — Canada's 2022 Olympic starter who has never played in the NHL — are the only other goaltenders Tampa Bay has under contract.
Hunter, Colorado State safety make peace
Travis Hunter and the Colorado State safety whose late hit sent the Colorado standout to the hospital have put the incident behind them by meeting up to go bowling.
Hunter and defensive back Henry Blackburn went to a bowling alley in Boulder on Wednesday to roll a few frames. The outing served as a way to make peace once and for all. Blackburn posted a video of them shaking hands and embracing.
Hunter, who has been a star on both offense and defense, was running a deep route in the first quarter of the Sept. 16 game against the Rams when he was hit by Blackburn shortly after the ball sailed by him. Blackburn drew a penalty on the play as Hunter stayed down on the turf.
Hunter briefly returned to the game before leaving to go to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a lacerated liver.
Blackburn and his family received death threats in the wake of the double-overtime win by the Buffaloes, with Colorado State coach Jay Norvell mentioning that police were contacted. Colorado coach Deion Sanders condemned the threats, saying “he does not deserve a death threat over a game.”
XFL, USFL to merge
The XFL and USFL plan to join forces. The spring pro football leagues announced in a statement they would merge going forward. The statement said details of the new league would come out at a later date.
The XFL has eight teams from Seattle, Wash., to Washington, D.C. The USFL also has eight teams that stretch from New Jersey to Memphis.
The XFL, first founded in 2001, returned to action in 2020 but had to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league eventually filed for bankruptcy. It was reborn in February.
The USFL played its first season in 2022.
De Minaur ousts Murray in China Open
Alex de Minaur rallied from a break down in the deciding set to beat threetime Grand Slam champion Andy Murray 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (6) in the first round of the China Open in Beijing.
The 12th-ranked Australian trailed 5-3 in the third set with Murray serving for the match, but broke back before winning a tense tiebreaker to advance to the second round.
Eight of the top-10 ranked players are in Beijing for the China Open, including Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev.
The second-ranked Alcaraz will open against qualifier Yannick Hanfmann today for his first competitive match since he reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open. Medvedev will play Tommy Paul in the first round with de Minaur waiting for the second-seeded Russian in the next round.
In first-round other matches, Tomas Martin Etcheverry defeated Lloyd Harris 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-3, and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Chinese wild card Yi Zhou 6-2, 6-2.
• Marcos Giron beat twotime Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) in a match at the Astana (Kazakhstan) Open, where neither player had a break or even a break-point opportunity.
In other first-round matches, sixth-seeded Adrian Mannarino defeated Arthur Rinderkneck 7-6 (4), 6-2, Gregoire Barrere eliminated qualifier Jurij Rodionov 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), and qualifier Sho Shimabukuro beat Roberto Carballes Baena 6-2, 6-4.
• Top-seeded Ons Jabeur beat Russian wild card Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals of the Ningbo (China) Open. Jabeur will next play either third-ranked Katerina Siniakova or Nadia Podoroska.
Second-seeded Petra Kvitova lost to Diana Schnaider 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. Schnaider will next play Linda Fruhvirtova, who defeated eighth-seeded Lucia Bronzetti 6-0, 6-3.
• Fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari beat Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-1 in the final match of the Japanese player's career to reach the Toray Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals in Tokyo.
Sakkari will next face fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia, who defeated Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 6-3.
Also, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Linda Noskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, and sixth-seeded Daria Kasatkina defeated qualifier Despina Papamichail 6-4, 6-4.