Amid the scars left by a life in the second row, Steve Borthwick has a good poker face.

He doesn't have many tells, keeping his emotions under tight rein and his thoughts to himself.

But Tuesday was no bluff.

By naming his team two days early, Borthwick put his cards on the table and challenged Ireland to prove him wrong.

England stuck with Marcus Smith at fly-half and Freddie Steward at full-back, picked debutant Cadan Murley on the wing and bet the house on a back row of Ben Earl, Tom Curry and his twin brother Ben.

The selection was a statement of intent; to win the air, to sap Ireland's speed with a nuisance ground game and throw a defensive blanket over their attack.

For 40 minutes, Borthwick's plan paid out.

England scored the opening try early as Smith ran back a kick, Ollie Lawrence busted a hole and Henry Slade's cute grubber put the ball on a platter for Murley.

Earl and the Twindaloo Sale fans' nickname for the Curry brothers were causing Ireland's attack indigestion.

They steamed into the breakdown, slowing the ball as potential attackers were drawn in to secure the supply lines.

The defence was up flat and fast, scattering Ireland's attacking patterns. And by shortening the line-out a potential area of weakness - they thinned out Ireland's thicket of jumpers.

New skipper Maro Itoje showed his captaincy smarts, making sure that Ben O'Keeffe saw and heard the sly hold that Tadhg Beirne had of his leg, leaving the referee no option but to chalk off an Ireland try.

It was promising.

Having trailed at the break in every Six Nations match last year, England reached 40 minutes five ahead.

It could have been even better.

They were hobbled by Smith's sin-binning for 10 minutes.

After some courageous defence it was only on the last passage of that power-play that Ireland managed to score, as James Lowe shrugged off Alex Mitchell like a wet cagoule to put in Jamison Gibson Park.

The Aviva jangled with nerves at the interval.

Memories of 2019, when an unfancied England side plotted the perfect opening-day heist to derail Ireland, suddenly seemed more vivid.

By full-time though they, like England, had disintegrated.

The injury-plagued Dallas Stars are loading up with reinforcements, acquiring forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks on Saturday in exchange for a 2025 first-round draft choice and 2025 fourth-round selection.

The fourth-round pick becomes a third-round choice if Dallas advances to the Stanley Cup Final.

Granlund and Ceci were pending unrestricted free agents and tapped as ideal rental players ahead of the NHL's March 7 trade deadline. Dallas needs the helps now, anyway: The Stars' top defenseman, Miro Heiskanen, is out for several weeks with a knee issue, Nils Lundqvist just had season-ending shoulder surgery, and Tyler Seguin has been on the shelf since December and isn't expected to be back until the playoffs. Mason Marchment has also missed extensive time with an injury, although he is closing in on a return.

Ceci is a veteran, right-shot blueliner who can plug in almost anywhere for Dallas coach Pete DeBoer. He can handle a heavy workload if needed and eat up minutes on the penalty kill. For now, at least, that's what the Stars need to patch up the holes on their backend until Heiskanen can get healthy.

Dallas should get a boost up front from Granlund. The 32-year-old is having a strong season with 15 goals and 45 points in 52 games. He paced San Jose in short-handed minutes and on the power play while also actively contributing at 5-on-5. Granlund's versatility will be a valuable asset for DeBoer as he navigates the Stars' injury woes.

"We see both players as addressing immediate needs for our team," Dallas general manager Jim Nill said. "Mikael is a proven scorer who will bolster our forward group at both even strength and on the power play, and Cody will add a stabilizing and physical presence to our blueline. Both players will bring valuable postseason experience to our group, and we are looking forward to seeing their contributions to the Stars as the season continues."

Meanwhile, San Jose remains in rebuilding mode and is smartly collecting assets it can use to build a foundation for the future.

"In a perfect world, I maybe would've held on to Granny and Cece closer to the deadline so our group could have them for a little bit longer," Sharks GM Mike Grier said, referring to trading Mackenzie Blackwood in December ahead of schedule to Colorado in a similar vein. "But it doesn't always work out that way and the market just kind of heated up over the last week. We kind of took advantage of the opportunity that came my way."

Grier is likely to remain active before and after the NHL breaks mid-month for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- After seven seconds: Chicago 1, Florida 0.

After 60 minutes: Florida 5, Chicago 1.

Landon Slaggert got himself a piece of Blackhawks history Saturday, scoring seven seconds into the team's game at the Panthers -- the fastest goal to start a game ever for the Blackhawks, according to the NHL record book.

"That's pretty wild," Slaggert said.

But Florida equalized 5 minutes later, took the lead for good 5 minutes after that and coasted to a 5-1 win.

The Blackhawks became the first team in NHL history to score within the first eight seconds of a game and then not score another goal after that, according to ESPN Research.

Sam Reinhart got his 30th goal of the season and added two assists, and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the third time in the past four games for Florida.

Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues and Jonah Gadjovich also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots for the Panthers, who ensured they would remain atop the Atlantic Division.

The win was the 900th regular-season victory as a coach for Florida's Paul Maurice, who is the fourth to hit that milestone. The others: Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969) and Barry Trotz (914).

"It's never a good feeling," Florida's Carter Verhaeghe said of giving up the quick goal. "But we kind of just reset from there and played it like a normal game."

The previous Blackhawks record for fastest goal was set by Brent Sutter, who scored eight seconds into Chicago's 9-4 win over Vancouver on Feb. 5, 1995.

Slaggert's score was the fastest goal to start a game in the NHL this season, edging a goal at the nine-second mark by St. Louis' Robert Thomas against New Jersey on Nov. 27.

Ryan Donato won the opening faceoff, then played the puck into the Florida zone. Slaggert -- getting his second goal in just his third game of the season -- skated past two Panthers defenders, collected the puck and beat Bobrovsky with a backhander.

It was the fastest goal allowed at the start of a game in Florida history, three seconds quicker than Mike Knuble's score for Boston against the Panthers on Feb. 14, 2003. And Donato quickly realized that the goal might be historic for Chicago.

"He was saying in the little pile there that it might be the fastest," Slaggert said. "It's kind of funny to hear."

Only seven regular-season goals have been scored more quickly in NHL history, the most recent of those being a goal six seconds into a game by Vancouver's Alexandre Burrows in what became a 5-2 loss to Detroit on March 16, 2013.

There have been four goals scored five seconds into games -- those by Merlyn Phillips of the Montreal Maroons on Dec. 29, 1926, Doug Smail of the Winnipeg Jets on Dec, 20, 1981, Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders on March 22, 1984, and Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres on Dec. 21, 1991.

Three goals have been scored at the six-second mark: Burrows had one, while Henry Boucha of the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 28, 1973 and Jean Pronovost of the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 25, 1976 had the others.

Slaggert's goal is the eighth scored at the :07 mark of the first period, the NHL said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Finland ruled out Jani Hakanpaa for the 4 Nations Face-Off, making management find replacements for two injured defensemen.

The Finnish Ice Hockey Federation confirmed Saturday that Hakanpää will not play in the NHL-run tournament later this month in Montreal and Boston. Hakanpää has appeared in only two games this season for Toronto and none since mid-November because of a lower-body injury.

Miro Heiskanen would have been Finland's No. 1 defenseman, but he was injured on a hit by Mark Stone in Dallas' game against Vegas on Tuesday night. The Stars listed Heiskanen as week to week with a lower-body injury, and Finland acknowledged he won't be playing 4 Nations.

"He's that type of player that any team in the world would love to have," captain Aleksander Barkov said Thursday of Heiskanen. "He is a leader defensively and really good offensively, so he's a huge part of Team Finland's success. ... All the best and try and get back as soon as possible and as healthy as possible. Health is the most important thing."

General manager Jere Lehtinen, who built Finland's roster that won Olympic gold in Beijing in 2022 when the NHL pulled out late because of pandemic-related scheduling reasons, said replacements would be named next week for Heiskanen and Hakanpää. There are only four eligible players to choose from for the two spots; only 11 Finnish defensemen have played in the league this season.

Buffalo's Henri Jokiharju, Ottawa's Nikolas Matinpalo, Winnipeg's Ville Heinola and the New York Rangers' Urho Vaakanainen are the possible replacements. Jokiharju and Vaakanainen, who was traded from Anaheim to New York in December, have the most professional experience of the four.

Finland opens Feb. 13 against the U.S., plays rival Sweden on Feb. 15 and finishes round-robin play Feb. 17 against Canada.

Sweden also has a few injury situations to monitor. Vegas' William Karlsson and Minnesota's Jonas Brodin remain out, and Boston's Hampus Lindholm is close to returning from his absence. Canada must still name a replacement for two-time Stanley Cup champion and 2014 Olympic gold medalist Alex Pietrangelo, who withdrew "to tend to an ailment and prepare for the remainder of the regular season," the Golden Knights said.

Barcelona's 46-game unbeaten streak in Liga F was ended by struggling Levante on Saturday as they lost 2-1 to suffer their first ever defeat at the Estadi Johan Cruyff.

María Alharilla opened the scoring in the 50th minute and Ivonne Chacón doubled Levante's lead in stoppage time after they had withstood wave after wave of Barça attacks.

There was still time for Fridolina Rolfö to pull one back and for Ainhoa Bascuñán to be sent off for the visitors, but Barça could not rescue a point.

Levante, who are in the bottom two in Liga F, have become the first side to beat Barça in the league since Madrid CFF in May 2023 and the first to ever beat them at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, where they have played home games since 2019.

It's the second time Pere Romeu's side have lost this season in any competition. Their only other defeat came against Manchester City in the Champions League, although they recovered to progress to the quarterfinals as group winners.

Barça went unbeaten through 30 matches as they won the league last season and had won all 16 of their fixtures so far this term.

They will wonder how that did not become 17 wins after accumulating a remarkable 47 shots against Levante.

After dominating the first half, they fell behind early in the second period to Alharilla's goal.

Romeu responded by bringing on Rolfö, Alexia Putellas, Ewa Pajor, Cláudia Pina and Mapi León.

However, an equaliser continued to elude them, with their luck clearly evading them when even Putellas missed an easy chance late on.

Chacón then appeared to seal the points for Levante on the counter attack, but Rolfö's goal set up a late onslaught as the game passed 100 minutes and the away side were reduced to 10.

Levante held, though, on to move within two points of safety, while Barça remain eight points clear of Real Madrid having played a game more.

Arne Slot has said he "would be surprised" if Trent Alexander-Arnold is able to play in Liverpool's Carabao Cup semifinal second leg clash against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday after the right-back limped off in the 70th minute of the team's win over Bournemouth on Saturday.

Alexander-Arnold was forced off with 20 minutes to go at the Vitality Stadium after pulling up with an apparent issue with his thigh.

"The situation was that he said to me: 'You have to take me off' and he sat on the floor and we took him off," Slot told a news conference.

"He felt something, I can't tell you exactly what and how bad it is of course because we are one hour after the game, but it is never a good sign if a player is asking for a substitution.

"This is not a fact but I would be surprised if he plays on Thursday, but let's hope he is back with us as soon as possible."

If Alexander-Arnold is unable to recover in time for the visit of Ange Postecoglou's struggling Spurs side, Connor Bradley would likely take his place on the right of the back four. Spurs hold a 1-0 lead from the first leg thanks to Lucas Bergvall's late goal.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah continued his fine form this season as his brace inspired Liverpool to victory over an in-form Bournemouth side.

Salah's goals saw him leapfrog Chelsea legend Frank Lampard into sixth place the Premier League's all-time goalscoring charts. The Egypt international netted his 178th goal with a fine curling effort that sealed the points at the Vitality Stadium and left him six behind former Manchester City forward Sergio Agüero (184).

Asked about Salah's devastating consistency in front of goal, Slot told the BBC: "Yeah -- especially the second goal of course. First one, the penalty, big moment so then you have to step up as well. But the second one, that was maybe the difference between the two teams because they were in those positions once in a while as well, and the way Mo finishes that ball it pure pure pure quality."

LaLiga leaders Real Madrid were stunned at lowly Espanyol on Saturday after losing 1-0 thanks to a late Carlos Romero strike.

Vinicius Jr. appeared to have given Madrid the lead in the 21st minute after latching onto Kylian Mbappe's pass. However, the goal was disallowed after the France forward had been adjudged to have fouled Espanyol's Pol Lozano in the build-up.

The hosts kept Madrid at bay in the second half, with Lucas Vazquez, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham all having efforts brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Joan Garcia. Romero netted the winner in the 85th minute after latching onto Omar El Hilali's pass.

The result means Madrid, on 49 points, are one point clear of Atletico Madrid, who beat Mallorca 2-0 earlier on Saturday. Espanyol moved up to 17th in the table with 23 points.