Quick Hitters
Coyotes rout Blackhawks
GLENDALE — The Arizona Coyotes haven’t had many nights like this one. Same for the Chicago Blackhawks, at least before this season.
Max Domi, Clayton Keller, Alex Goligoski and Tobias Rieder each had a goal and an assist, and the Coyotes pounded the slumping Blackhawks 6-1 on Monday.
The Coyotes ended a nine-game losing streak to the Blackhawks and sent last-place Chicago to its season-high sixth straight loss.
Antti Raanta had 37 saves for Arizona. The Coyotes’ six goals were their highest total of the season.
“Sometimes you’re a little bit lucky and you can make the saves,” said Raanta, who had 40 saves in a shootout loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night. “Play a couple of years, you kind of have a taste for what they can do.”
Domi put Arizona ahead to stay just 92 seconds into the game. Zac Rinaldo provided a screen in front of Blackhawks goalie Anton Forsberg, and Domi’s shot went in for his fourth goal of the season.
The 22-year-old Domi stopped a 21-game drought with his first goal since Dec. 16.
“Winning’s fun, so it was just a lot of fun out there,” Domi said. “Everyone was contributing and everyone wanted to be a part of it. No one let up.”
Keller’s 16th goal made it 2-0 at 9:22 of the first. Keller passed from behind the net to Derek Stepan, and Stepan’s shot bounced off Forsberg’s pads to Keller for a backhand follow.
Virginia atop AP poll for first time since 1982
RALEIGH, N.C. — A loss didn’t prevent Virginia from climbing to No. 1 in AP men’s basketball poll for the first time in more than 35 years after all.
The Cavaliers rose a slot to sit atop Monday’s AP Top 25 despite an overtime home loss Saturday to Virginia Tech, part of an upset-filled week that allowed for plenty of uncertainty in the poll. The Cavaliers (23-2, 12-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) earned 30 of 65 first-place votes to outdistance No. 2 Michigan State and rise above the turmoil that included last week’s top three teams all losing.
Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers had been at No. 2 before this season, but this is the first time the program has reached No. 1 since December 1982 — the senior season of 7-foot-4 great Ralph Sampson — back when the poll ranked only 20 teams. And that team fell out of that spot after its improbable upset loss to Chaminade in Hawaii, regarded by many as the biggest upset in the history of college sports.
Virginia looked set to reach the No. 1 spot after Villanova’s home loss to St. John’s before losing to the Hokies . Still, the Cavaliers ended up there a day after the NCAA selection committee had them as the No. 1 overall seed in its reveal of the top 16 seeds to date.