The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Kings blank Oilers in debut under interim coach Hiller
For at least one night, the Kings got the momentum they were looking for after a coaching change.
David Rittich stopped 27 shots for his first shutout in nearly three years, Quinton Byfield had two goals and an assist and the Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 late Saturday night, giving Jim Hiller a victory in his first game as an NHL head coach.
“This was a big win for us coming off the break and the coaching change,” said Byfield, who has four goals and four assists in his last four games. “I think we all played for each other and had a lot of fun out there.”
Hiller was named interim coach for the rest of the season after Todd Mclellan was fired on Feb. 2. The Kings had only three wins in their last 17 games going into the All-star break.
“We’ve had a tough stretch, so we’re just trying to get back to where we were. This isn’t about necessarily new. It’s just getting back there, and tonight was a good step,” said Hiller, who is the first Kings coach to win his NHL debut via shutout since Andy Murray in 1999.
It was Rittich’s fifth career shutout, and his first since Feb. 22, 2021, at Toronto when he was with the Calgary Flames.
The closest the Oilers came to scoring on Rittich was midway through the second period when Corey Perry’s shot hit the crossbar.
“We’ve never lost faith or trust in ourselves. We know we have good players and we can win,” Rittich said. “I’m just trying to do my job, be in the right spot and be good.”
Pierre Luc-dubois scored and Trevor Lewis had a goal for the second straight game for the Kings, who jumped to a 2-0 lead with goals in a 49-second span early in the second period.
Both of Byfield’s goals came in the third period.
Clippers rally behind George, beat Detroit
Paul George scored 33
points and Kawhi Leonard added 24 as the Clippers rallied in the fourth quarter to win 112-106, Saturday night, denying Detroit its first three-game win streak of the season.
George scored 15 points in the fourth, hitting backto-back 3-pointers that capped an 11-0 run and pushed the Clippers ahead to stay. James Harden finished with 14 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds.
• Jarrett Allen had 18 points and 15 rebounds, Evan Mobley added 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Cleveland extended its winning streak to a seasonhigh nine games with a 11995 victory in Toronto.
Donovan Mitchell scored 15 points and Max Strus had 14 as the surging Cavs won for the 22nd time in 26 games and improved their Nba-best road record to 17-8.
SWIMMING Chinese teen breaks world mark in 100 free
Despite the absence of many of the sport’s biggest names, the first day of the swimming events saw a world record at the World Aquatics Championships on Sunday in Doha, Qatar..
Teenager Pan Zhanle swam the fastest 100 meters in history as he led off China’s gold medal-winning 4x100 freestyle relay team.
His time of 46.80 seconds — with a split time of 22.26 — took six hundredths off Romanian David Popovici’s world record from 2022 and established the 19-yearold as one to beat in swimming’s marquee race at this year’s Paris Olympics.
“Actually, I wasn’t feeling in great form,” Pan said. “I would’ve been happy with just getting on the podium. This morning (in heats), the U.S., Great Britain and Italy were all quicker than us, and I just wanted to focus on doing my job well. I told myself, ‘Just swim hard.’ I was shocked when I saw the time; I wasn’t expecting to break the record now — I wanted to leave it for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
China won the relay in 3:11.08. Italy finished a second behind, with the United States rounding off the podium in 3:12.29.
GOLF Taylor, Theegala share lead in Phoenix Open
Scottie Scheffler surged into contention to win a third straight Phoenix Open, overcoming a huge mistake on the 18th hole to shoot a 5-under 66 in the weatherdelayed third round.
Scheffler was at 13 under, two shots behind Sahith Theegala and Nick Taylor as players struggle to avoid a Monday finish amid a second straight week of weather issues on the PGA Tour.
Scheffler is vying to become the first player to three-peat at a PGA Tour event since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic from 2009-11.
Taylor, the overnight leader, saved par on No. 18 after being forced to lay up and shot 68. Theegala matched Taylor’s two-putt birdie on the short par-4 17th to tie for the lead and shot 69.
Charley Hoffman had four straight birdies to close out a 64 and was tied with Andrew Novak at 14 under.
A week after the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am was cut short, weather again wreaked havoc at TPC Scottsdale. A long weather delay pushed the first round into Friday, and the tournament has tried to play catchup ever since. Another squall delayed play Saturday morning and frost pushed back tee times for three straight days, including more than an hour on Sunday.
The final round was already underway ad midday Sunday as the leaders were finishing third rounds.
World record-holder in marathon dies in crash
Marathon world recordholder Kelvin Kiptum died in a car crash in Kenya late Sunday, a fellow athlete who went to the hospital and saw the body said. Kiptum was 24.
Kiptum’s coach was also killed in the crash, Kenyan runner Milcah Chemos said.
Kiptum was the first man to run the marathon in under 2 hours, 1 minute. He set the world record of 2:00.35 at the Chicago Marathon in October, beating the mark of fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.