Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk will be a game-time decision for Tuesday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round series versus the host Tampa Bay Lightning.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday morning that Tkachuk's availability will be determined after warmups.

Tkachuk, 27, has been sidelined since sustaining a groin injury on Feb. 15 while playing for the United States during the 4 Nations Face-Off. He returned to action five days later and logged 6:47 of ice time in the Americans' 3-2 loss to Canada in the championship game.

He totaled 57 points (22 goals, 35 assists) in 52 games this season for the Panthers.

A 2024 Stanley Cup champion with Florida, Tkachuk has totaled 636 points (240 goals, 396 assists) in 642 career games with the Calgary Flames (2016-22) and Panthers.

The seven-on-seven soccer teams led by Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo, Ali Krieger, Luis Nani, Miguel Layún, Sergio Agüero and other stars learned their fate for The Soccer Tournament from June 4-9 in Cary, North Carolina, as tournament organizers released the group matchups for the $1 million, winner-take-all event for both men and women.

The men's event features 48 teams while the women's field has doubled to 16.

The women's tournament will feature defending champions= US Women, who added U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) legend Carli Lloyd to a roster that includes her former teammates Ali Krieger and Heather O'Reilly. US Women will begin its title defense on June 5 against Austin Rise, a new entrant from the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL)

This year's women's field will also feature Solo FC, organized by former USWNT goalkeeper and World Cup winner Hope Solo, who will play on the team as well. Solo's side kicks off against Speedy Turtles on June 5.

Returning teams from TST's 2024 women's field include entries from National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) clubs Angel City FC and North Carolina Courage, and the Wrexham Red Dragons, who will be the only professional club represented in both the men's and women's events.

NWSL's Kansas City Current will send their second team, KC Current II.

In the men's event Agüero will lead his Seleccion Potrero side against a team from his former club Atlético Madrid on June 4.

"TST soccer is electrifying," said TST CEO Jon Mugar. "Our goal is to become the preeminent soccer festival in the world. Judging by the number of returning fans and teams, we are well on our way."

The men's and women's tournaments will feature teams representing 13 countries and 12 prominent European and North American professional teams. New club additions to this year's field include English Premier League's AFC Bournemouth, LaLiga's Atlético Madrid, Liga MX's Club América, and English Championship's Plymouth Argyle.

After appearing in TST's inaugural event in 2023, English Premier League club West Ham United will also return to the men's field. Returning clubs from TST 2024 include Bundesliga's Borussia Dortmund, LaLiga's Villarreal, Serie A's Cagliari Calcio as well as English League One's Wrexham Red Dragons.

United States men's national team midfielder Tyler Adams will lead the recruitment for Bournemouth. It will be the first time Adams has a role in the annual $1 million winner-take-all event, which is taking place for the third time.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has suggested he won't be resting Bukayo Saka for their upcoming Premier League games as they prepare for their Champions League semifinal showdown against Paris Saint-Germain.

The north London club's 5-1 aggregate win over holders Real Madrid in the quarterfinal has raised hopes of the club winning the competition for the first time in their history.

However their form in Europe hasn't translated on to their domestic campaign, with Mikel Arteta's side trailing leaders Liverpool by 13 points with five games to go. The Merseyside club could be crowned champions on Wednesday if Arsenal lose to Crystal Palace.

Despite the Premier League title out of their grasp, Arteta remains reluctant to rest his talisman Saka, who has only recently returned from an injury layoff that kept him out for three months.

"We cannot think in those terms, when the players are fit and available and want to play, they have to play," Arteta told a news conference on Wednesday.

"They are at their best when they are playing and they have consistency in their performances and physically and emotionally they are good. They have the rhythm and that is when they are at their best.

"If they are not available, there is no discussion. If they are not in a good condition to perform we are not going to play them. But if they are we will play them."

Saka has 25 goal contributions across 30 appearances in all competitions this season. He starred in Arsenal's 2-1 win at the Bernabéu last week, and also impressed in the 4-0 win at Ipswich Town on the weekend.

At Portman Road, Saka received a hefty challenge from Leif Davis in the first half that saw the defender sent off.

When asked on if he's fit to play Palace, Arteta said: "We have to wait and see now how he reacts after the [training] session, but it's nothing too serious.

"If we want to [select him], I think we'll have a good chance to play tomorrow."

However, Arteta's diagnosis on Jorginho was more bleak. The Italy international went off in the draw to Brentford earlier this month with a suspected rib injury.

"I think Jorginho will be out for a few weeks," he said.

"I hope so, but I'm not certain [if he will play again this season]. We have to see how he evolves in the next few days," he added.

As an Olympic gold medalist and Champions League winner, Almuth Schult was one of the top goalkeepers in women's soccer. She believes her career ended early because European clubs were reluctant to sign a player with children.

The 34-year-old former Germany goalkeeper announced her retirement in March, three months after her contract ended with the Kansas City Current in the National Women's Soccer League in the United States.

"I feel like in Europe it is still not yet normal for a female soccer player to have children. Whether the clubs admit it or not, that's my subjective impression," Schult told Germany's Kicker magazine in an interview published on Tuesday. "Many clubs worry that there could be adversity and difficulties with mothers even though that doesn't have to be the case."

Schult said she felt she could have played another "one, two years at the highest level" and that she believes being a mother was "the main reason" talks didn't work out. Schult said top clubs only offered her the role of a third-choice backup.

Schult gave birth to twins in 2020 and a third child in 2023.

"I was already out of contract after my second pregnancy," said Schult, who played 66 times for the German national team. "No club believed I could still help, even though I had already proven it after my first pregnancy."

Schult won the Champions League with Wolfsburg in 2014 and the Olympic gold medal with Germany at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro and has also built a career as an expert commentator on German TV.

She suggested that European clubs could have something to learn from those in the U.S. in helping players to continue their careers after having children.

"My career would presumably have taken a different course if I'd had the same support as I recently received in the U.S.," she said.

Kirk Cousins is in attendance on the first day of the Atlanta Falcons' voluntary offseason program, sources confirmed to ESPN. The news was first reported by Atlanta's WSB-TV.

The quarterback was not expected to be present for any of the team's voluntary workouts. Head coach Raheem Morris said as much last month at the NFL's annual league meeting.

Cousins and the Falcons are at an impasse with regard to his future with the team. Cousins lost his starting job in Week 16 last season to then-rookie Michael Penix Jr., whom Atlanta has pegged as the franchise's quarterback of the present and future. The Falcons are comfortable with bringing Cousins back as Penix's backup, but Cousins would prefer to be released so he can be a starter somewhere in the NFL in 2025.

Atlanta does not want to release Cousins, who is owed a guaranteed $27.5 million this coming season. Cousins also has a no-trade clause and would have to clear any kind of swap. The Falcons would not mind trading Cousins as long as a team is willing to take on some of that guaranteed money, which includes a $10 million roster bonus in 2026.

For those reasons, the expectation was that Cousins would not come to Flowery Branch, Georgia, for the voluntary portion of the offseason program.

"I'm not going to be foolish to think that he's going to show up for voluntary work," Morris said at the league meeting. "Right now, we're dealing with a businesslike mode. ... We're dealing with that type of feel. I don't think he'll be there. If he is, we'll welcome him with open arms. But I'm not going to be foolish enough to make myself get worked up and angry about Kirk Cousins missing voluntary workouts."

But Cousins is indeed present, one day after the Falcons signed another quarterback, Easton Stick, as a likely reserve behind Penix and potentially Cousins if a deal cannot get done. Stick spent last season as the No. 3 quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers behind Justin Herbert and former Falcons quarterback Taylor Heinicke.

The Falcons signed Cousins last offseason to a $100 million guaranteed contract and then stunningly drafted Penix at No. 8 a few weeks later. Cousins, coming off a torn Achilles, played well early last season, leading Atlanta to a 6-3 start, its best since the 2016 Super Bowl team.

But, beginning in Week 10, Cousins struggled. He went on a five-game stretch with nine interceptions and just one touchdown pass before being benched in favor of Penix.

The Falcons lost four straight during that span and finished 8-9, short of a playoff berth. Atlanta has not had a winning record or made the playoffs since 2017.

BOSTON -- Celtics veteran Al Horford reiterated his belief on Tuesday that the Orlando Magic stepped over the line with their physicality on Jayson Tatum in Boston's Game 1 win Sunday.

"Yeah, there was something extra," Horford said. "There was a lot. It was the second or third time that -- especially [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope] -- went at him in that way."

The play that appeared to irk Horford the most was one in which Caldwell-Pope and Wendell Carter Jr. collided with Tatum midair while the Celtics forward was driving for a two-handed dunk in the fourth quarter. The usually stoic Horford expressed his outrage following the play and gestured toward nearby Magic players, especially Caldwell-Pope, who was called for a flagrant foul.

"I'm not sure what goes into [plays like that]," Horford said. "[The] only thing I would say is that it's the playoffs, so the game is going to be more physical, it's going to be more intense. I feel like those plays are probably going to happen more often than not."

Tatum landed hard on his right wrist on the play but remained in the game. He finished with 17 points on 8-of-22 shooting to go along with a game-high 14 rebounds but was seen favoring his wrist.

While X-rays on the wrist were negative, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania that Tatum suffered a bone bruise and his status for Game 2 on Wednesday is up in the air as its a pain tolerance injury. On Tuesday, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Tatum was able to do "some stuff" at practice and that he was "day-to-day."

"Just sore after the game; it's gotten a little better today," Mazzulla said Tuesday. "He's going to go through some on-court work and go from there."

When asked if he believed the seventh-seeded Magic were trying to intimidate the second-seeded Celtics with physical play, Boston reserve guard Payton Pritchard said Tuesday, "I don't feel intimidated."

"Obviously, they fouled him hard, and then he had a little fall, but It's not going to stop us from what we're trying to achieve," he said. "It's not going to knock us off our path."

Immediately after Tatum went down on the play, Mazzulla appeared to briefly hold a Celtics training official back from attending to Tatum before yelling "get up" at Tatum, who remained on the floor. When asked about the moment Tuesday, Mazzulla offered a one-word answer: "Love."

"I think at the end of the day I'm grateful for the relationship that I have with the guys," he said. "I'm grateful for the relationship that I have with him. And you love guys in different ways. But everything is built on love. Everything is built on the relationship that we have, their self-expression.

"They allow me to be who I am. And they trust [me and] we have a trust for each other, but it all starts with love. And so in that moment it looks different in different moments, but I appreciate who he is as a competitor and our team in that moment, but it all starts with that."

FRISCO, Texas -- The NFL draft is two days away, but the Dallas Cowboys are still looking at ways to improve other than the 10 current selections they have over seven rounds on Thursday through Saturday.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said after Tuesday's predraft news conference that the Cowboys are working on "pretty substantive trades" regarding players, although he offered no specifics other than saying they are taking calls with teams.

The Cowboys have made trades for quarterback Trey Lance, wide receiver Jonathan Mingo, wide receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerback Stephon Gilmore in recent years but have not made a blockbuster deal since the midseason addition of Amari Cooper at the trade deadline in 2018. Earlier this offseason the Cowboys made trades for linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. (Tennessee Titans) and cornerback Kaiir Elam (Buffalo Bills).

The Cowboys have more than $37 million in salary cap space, according to NFLPA figures, although a chunk of that will go to draft picks, practice squad additions, injury settlements and incentives.

Jones has long had a history of making draft-day trades. Since Jones took over the Cowboys in 1989, the team has made 72 trades. Their last trade involving a first-round pick came in 2021 when they moved down to No. 12 overall in a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles and still came away with Micah Parsons.

The Cowboys and Parsons are working on a long-term extension that would make him potentially they highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. Speaking at the annual league meeting last month, Jones said he and Parsons met for "five or six hours" and came to an agreement on the length of a deal, guaranteed money and overall money, but the finer details of the contract needed to be worked out between executive vice president Stephen Jones and Parsons' agent, David Mulugheta.

"Believe me, if we could sign Micah to a number we wanted to sign him to, we'd do it right now," Stephen Jones said Tuesday. "But right now there's a difference in what we feel like is the right number and what he feels like is the right number."

Parsons has been involved in the early portion of the Cowboys' offseason program that began last week. Jerry Jones said he is "not surprised," Parsons has been participating and believes it will help Parsons long-term.

"The assumption here is that we're going to get something done and so he knows or should know how important his work is around here and how important his being around here working is to leadership," Jerry Jones said. "It's a big deal. It's the main reason why I've kind of taken some of the attitude I've taken about this thing. Micah just has to be elevated in his leadership and will be, or it will be a downer when he gets his anticipated contract. It will be a downer if he does not elevate leadership."

The Cleveland Browns and New York Giants are fielding trade inquiries for their early picks in the NFL draft, sources told ESPN's Peter Schrager.

Although the Tennessee Titans announced Tuesday that they are not entertaining offers for the first overall pick, sources told Schrager that the Browns, who have the second pick, and the Giants, who pick third, have received trade calls over the past 48 hours -- and that neither team is outwardly rejecting those overtures.

The expectation, sources told Schrager, is that those teams looking to trade up to the No. 2 or No. 3 pick are pursuing Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, Penn State pass rusher Abdul Carter or Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.

All 32 teams in the NFL still have their original first-round pick this year, which has seen a historic lack of trades in the lead-up to the draft. With Thursday's first round just two days away, this is the closest to the start of a draft without any trades involving first-round picks in the common draft era (since 1967), according to ESPN Research.

In what is widely perceived as a weak quarterback draft class, the Browns and Giants -- who both face uncertainty at quarterback -- have been projected to use their first-round picks to address other needs.

ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. predicted Cleveland to select Hunter at No. 2, New York to take Carter at No. 3 and the Las Vegas Raiders to pick Jeanty at No. 6 in his latest mock draft. ESPN's Jordan Reid made identical predictions for all three in his latest mock draft.

Hunter, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, played a combined 1,481 snaps on offense and defense last season at Colorado, nearly 300 more than any other player in the FBS. The current betting favorite to be selected by the Browns with the No. 2 pick, Hunter has said he hopes to continue playing both offense and defense in the NFL.

Browns general manager Andrew Berry said last week that he believes Hunter is worth one of the top picks in the draft, comparing him to two-way baseball star Shohei Ohtani. Giants GM Joe Schoen also praised Hunter's unique ability last week and said New York would "not be afraid to play him on both sides of the ball."

Although Cleveland and New York both already boast a strong pass rush, they have been linked to Carter as well after the former Penn State star's breakout 2024 season.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday that television ratings from the opening weekend of the playoffs were the best the league has seen in about a quarter century.

Speaking at the CAA World Congress of Sports presented by the Sports Business Journal on an array of topics, Silver seemed particularly pleased with the ratings from the first eight games -- four on Saturday, four more on Sunday.

"Highest-rated opening weekend in 25 years ... so the numbers are fantastic," Silver said before the NBA released the official ratings.

The league said the eight games over the weekend averaged 4.4 million viewers, the highest average in 25 years and a 17% increase over the opening weekend of last season's playoffs.

ESPN added that it was the most-watched opening weekend ever on its platforms, with nearly 6.7 million people on average watching Sunday's Orlando-Boston game on ABC and a peak of just over 8 million for that game.

Silver said what really excites him moving to a digital world is the ability to reach fans in a variety of ways.

"I say think of the ManningCast but on steroids," Silver said. "Essentially unlimited numbers of alternative channels."

The NBA acknowledged that ratings got off to a slow start this season, which it attributed in part to a World Series going on between two huge media markets -- New York and Los Angeles -- and additional attention being placed on the presidential election.

The numbers ticked upward throughout the season, and Silver recently said the league was down only about 2% year over year going into the final weeks of the regular season.

NEW YORK -- Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves has been fined $50,000 for directing inappropriate language and making an obscene gesture toward a fan during a playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, NBA president of league operations Byron Spruell announced Tuesday.

Edwards intervened when teammate Rudy Gobert was being heckled in the third quarter of the Timberwolves' 117-95 win in Game 1 of their first-round series on Saturday in Los Angeles.

Edwards, standing along the sideline, told the nearby fan how many millions of dollars Gobert has. The exchange ended with Gobert making a lewd gesture and comment.

The teams were to play Game 2 on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.