DALLAS -- Colin Blackwell was hoping for another crack at the playoffs when he signed with the Dallas Stars in free agency last summer. This is his sixth team in seven NHL seasons, and he had only been in the postseason one other time.

After being a healthy scratch for the Stars' playoff opener, he got his shot and changed the trajectory of their first-round series against Colorado with his overtime goal for a 4-3 win in Game 2 on Monday night.

"I always felt my game's kinda built for the playoffs and stuff along those lines. I love rising to the occasion and playing in moments like this" Blackwell said. "That was a big win for us. I think if we go into Colorado down 2-0, it's a different series. I think that's why you're only as good as your next win or your next shift."

Blackwell's only previous playoff experience was a seven-game series with Toronto in a first-round loss to Tampa Bay three years ago.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer talked to Blackwell when he didn't play in Game 1 on Saturday.

"[I] said be ready, you're not going to be out long," DeBoer said. "I wanted to get him in Game 2. He's one of those energy guys. I thought after losing Game 1 we needed a little shot of energy. He's a competitive player and I thought he was effective all night. But it's also great to see a guy like that get a goal, out Game 1, work with the black aces, and then come in and play a part in playoff hockey."

Blackwell scored 17:46 into overtime after his initial shot ricocheted off teammate Sam Steel and Avs defenseman Samuel Girard in front of the net. But with the puck rolling loose on the ice, the fourth-line forward circled around and knocked it in for the winner.

The 32-year-old Blackwell, a Harvard graduate who played for Chicago the past two seasons, said he has often had to go in and out of lineups and has learned over the years to stay sharp mentally and keep working hard on and off the ice. In his first season for Dallas, he had 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) over 63 regular-season games.

"It's been a long season, and not playing the first game, stuff like that, just kind of been in and out of the lineup toward the end here," he said. "I don't really worry about making a mistake. I just go out there and play hockey and good things happen."

And they certainly did for the Stars, who were in danger of dropping their first two games at home in the first round for the second year in a row before his winning shot. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Denver.

"Colin's one of those guys, especially me being out, I get to see how hard he works every day," said Tyler Seguin, who missed 4 1/2 months after hip surgery before returning last week. "I get to see how he is in the gym. I get to see how good of a basketball player he is. There's many things that I get to see with some of these guys that are in and out of the lineup. You're just proud of a guy like him and what he did."

Manchester United are exploring the possibility of triggering the release clause in Matheus Cunha's contract at Wolves, a source has told ESPN.

United are looking to bolster their attack this summer and have identified Cunha as one of their top targets.

A source has told ESPN that the club have received positive indications about his willingness to move to Old Trafford if he is allowed to open formal negotiations.

Cunha is available in a 62.5 million ($83.6m) deal, although there is competition for his signature from a number of Premier League clubs.

The 25-year-old expects to leave Molineux ahead of next season.

He signed a new contract with Wolves in February on the understanding that he would be allowed to move in the summer.

Wolves confirmed their Premier League survival with a 1-0 win over United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Head coach Ruben Amorim was seen deep in conversation with the forward at full-time and name-checked the Brazilian in his pre-match news conference.

Since arriving in England from Atlético Madrid initially on loan in January 2023, Cunha has scored 32 league goals -- including 16 this season.

A source has told ESPN that one of the reasons he is being targeted by United is his effectiveness in the 3-4-3 system employed by coach Vitor Pereira -- the same tactical set up used by Amorim.

Cunha has been identified to fill one of the two No.10 roles behind the central striker. United are also in the market for a new centre forward in the summer with Liam Delap and Victor Osimhen two of the names in the frame.

Boulter starts her clay-court swing on Tuesday when she plays Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the Madrid Open first round.

The Briton's experience on clay is still limited, having only played four top-level main-draw matches on the surface.

After winning one and losing one of her BJK Cup singles matches last week on indoor clay in the Netherlands, Boulter went to Alicante - where her fiancé Alex de Minaur has long been based - for a training week.

She decided that was the sensible option - instead of squeezing in another WTA clay-court event before Madrid - as she continues to manage a foot injury.

The issue has left her only able to play five tournaments this season, missing almost two months of the WTA Tour between the Australian Open in January and Indian Wells in March.

"I want to see the girls going higher and higher [in the rankings], but personally I have my own goals and try to focus on those a lot," added Boulter, who secured GB's place in the BJK Cup Finals alongside Jodie Burrage in the deciding doubles.

"For me I just need to try and stay healthy. That's that most important thing and then the ranking will take care of itself.

"Obviously I've dropped a little bit from last year but due to the fact I've not been able to play.

"It's not like my level has gone anywhere. I feel like my level is great so now it's about keeping myself healthy for the most important tournaments."

New Zealand star Portia Woodman-Wickliffe has announced she will come out of international retirement and has set her sights on the 2025 World Cup.

Woodman-Wickliffe called time on her career with New Zealand after winning rugby sevens gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 33-year-old winger rolled back on her initial decision after helping Blues Women to win Sky Super Rugby Aupiki, signing an eight-month contract.

"Each week in campaign I thought about the possibility of how I could potentially go to the World Cup more and more," Woodman-Wickliffe said.

"I thought about what it would mean to me but most importantly my whanau [family]. I needed time to process everything and making myself available for this team is where I've landed."

Woodman-Wickliffe is the record try-scorer in World Cup history and helped New Zealand to the title in 2017 and 2022.

She was named by World Rugby as sevens Player of the Year in 2015, Women's Player of the Year (XVs) in 2017 and top women's sevens Player of the Decade in 2020.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings led Edmonton 4-0 moments before the second-period buzzer, and they were up 5-3 with 2 minutes left in the third. Both leads vanished under the blizzard of offense so often created by Connor McDavid and the Oilers at their playoff peak.

And then the Kings won their first-round series opener anyway on a profoundly ugly goal by Phillip Danault, who chunked a shot that somehow fluttered past Warren Foegele's leaping screen with 42 seconds left.

"I got all of it," Danault said with a smirk.

The Kings have lost three straight first-round series to the Oilers, so they'll trade any style points for wins. They improbably got the first one Monday night, shrugging off McDavid's spectacular tying goal with 1:28 left and surging past Edmonton 6-5.

"We could have made it less dramatic, but credit to them," Kings coach Jim Hiller said. "We had to do it late."

Game 2 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Zach Hyman and McDavid scored with an extra attacker to complete the Oilers' tying comeback, but Los Angeles became the fourth team in Stanley Cup playoffs history to win in regulation despite blowing a four-goal lead.

Los Angeles has home-ice advantage this spring for the first time in its tetralogy with Edmonton, and the Kings came out flying in the arena where they had the NHL's best home record this season.

Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and two assists in his playoff debut, and Adrian Kempe added another goal and two assists for the Pacific Division's No. 2 team. Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist apiece, and Darcy Kuemper made 20 saves.

"I don't think we took the foot off the gas, but that's a high-powered offensive team over there," Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. "When you give them a sniff, they'll take it, and they certainly did. Obviously being up 4-1 going into the third period, we want to lock it down and not make it interesting."

That's when the Oilers woke up and nearly made it a memorable night: Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Janmark and Corey Perry scored before Hyman and McDavid came through.

"We said it many times last year: We never give up," Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. "They're a resilient team. They stay composed. We've seen a lot of adversity over the last two playoffs, and guys stay with it. They don't get too rattled when things aren't going very well."

McDavid had a goal and three assists for the Oilers, who reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season. Skinner stopped 24 shots.

"From our group in here, the pushback was fantastic and expected," Oilers forward Adam Henrique said. "It's tough, obviously, giving up the one right after tying it up."

DENVER -- Last year at this time, Kawhi Leonard was hobbled. It was painful to watch him try to play through the inflammation in his right knee before the LA Clippers finally shut him down ahead of Game 4 of their first-round playoff loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

It took months for Leonard to recover from his injuries. So long that the Clippers had to move on and figure out how to play without him for the first part of this season and reporters basically stopped asking coach Tyronn Lue for updates.

But behind the scenes, Leonard was working to get back to a physical form so that he might have a night like he did Monday in the Clippers' 105-102 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series at Ball Arena.

"I'm just happy that I'm able to move," Leonard said after scoring 39 points on an efficient 15-for-19 from the field. "That's what I'm taking pride in is just being healthy. I sat and watched these playoff games and series the past two years. So being able to be frontline out there, it just feels good for me no matter which way the game goes."

Leonard sat out 23 days because of inflammation in his right knee trying to get himself ready for the playoffs last season, only to have the injury not respond well and finally be ruled out for the series. At the time, it felt like the closing of a championship window that had formed when he joined forces with Paul George in 2019 and then added James Harden in a trade on Oct. 31, 2023. George left as a free agent last summer. Leonard and Harden re-signed on team-friendly contracts.

Leonard was able to play in only 37 games this season, trying to get his knee in good enough shape to help the Clippers in the playoffs. So far, it's responding.

"Tonight, s---, I don't feel like he missed a shot," Harden said of Leonard, who made his first six shots, missed a 3-pointer, then hit six more in a row and ended up scoring or assisting on 51 of the Clippers' 105 points (49%).

"His shotmaking ability is elite," Harden continued. "And that's the aggressiveness that we need from him. Doesn't matter what's going on, or who's guarding him, he just got to a spot and raised up. He's a big-time player."

Leonard was equally dominant on defense, holding the Nuggets to five points (2-of-12 field goals) when he was the primary defender. He also came up with a huge steal of a Nikola Jokic pass (his seventh turnover of the game) with 38 seconds left and the Clippers clinging to a three-point lead.

Leonard said that he tries to keep his focus on what's in front of him, whether it be the next play or the next game. He doesn't allow himself to think too far ahead or reflect too deeply on where he has been. But after Monday's game -- his finest playoff game since he led the Clippers to the Western Conference finals in 2021 -- Leonard noted that he thanked several staffers for everything they'd done to help him through his injuries the past few years.

"Anybody in the business that's playing and knows how hard it is to either to come back from injury or just even playing in the NBA, they understand what we all go through, what I go through," Leonard said. "... I'm not going to play like I was before. I could be playing better. I can be playing worse. It doesn't matter. I'm just focused on it now. It's a different team in every situation and game, so I'm just taking what's in front of me and playing hard and like I said, having fun and just living with the results."

Harden has been with the Clippers for only two seasons but said he has come to appreciate all the work Leonard puts in behind the scenes just to get back to play.

"It's every single day," Harden said of Leonard. "It's the preparation. It's like the treatment, it's strengthening, you know what I mean, of body, it's correctives and then it's going on court and putting it all together. Luck hasn't been on his side or whatever case you might call it. But he loves to hoop. And as you see, when he's on the court, he's a killer. So I'm glad he's in a good space right now."

"I'm just happy that I'm able to move. That's what I'm taking pride in is just being healthy. I sat and watched these playoff games and series the past two years. So being able to be frontline out there, it just feels good for me no matter which way the game goes."

Kawhi Leonard

Harden also used the opportunity to defend Leonard from critics who talk about the perception that he and the Clippers have "load managed" his injuries over the years.

"It's always negative. It's always what he's been through and what he's not able to do just because of something that he can't control," Harden said. "But we don't appreciate how great he is when he's actually out there and putting on performances like this tonight. I feel like that about everybody that's in the league that goes through something that is out of their hands where they can't control. It's like it's always the negative -- which is something that we got to live with, I guess, in the world. But as for me, being close to him every single day and seeing the work that he puts in, you appreciate him."

Leonard had a stellar last month of the regular season, building to a night like Monday. But the Clippers needed every ounce of what he gave them to beat the Nuggets.

Jokic recorded another triple-double (26 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) but was clearly frustrated by the defensive coverages and physicality the Clippers threw at him. He finished with an uncharacteristic seven turnovers and even missed four free throws.

Jamal Murray added 23 points and Michael Porter Jr. had 15, but Denver had no answer for Leonard on Monday night and couldn't recover from its 20 turnovers, which led to 21 Clippers points.

The teams will have two days off before resuming their series Thursday night in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES -- Edmonton Oilers forward Jeff Skinner has finally made his Stanley Cup playoff debut after 15 seasons and a league-record 1,078 regular-season games.

Skinner was in Edmonton's lineup for Game 1 of its first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, ending the longest wait for a postseason debut in NHL history.

Skinner, who turns 33 years old next month, has been an NHL regular since he was 18. He has racked up six 30-goal seasons and 699 total points while scoring 373 goals in a standout career.

But Skinner spent his first eight seasons of that career with Carolina, which missed nine consecutive postseasons during the 2010s, and the next six with the woebegone Buffalo Sabres, whose current 14-season playoff drought is the league's longest.

Skinner signed with Edmonton as a free agent last summer but struggled to nail down a consistent role in the Oilers' lineup in the first half of the season. His game improved markedly in the second half, and he scored 16 goals this season while entering the playoffs as Edmonton's third-line left wing.

Skinner's teammates have been thrilled to end his drought this month. Connor McDavid presented Skinner with their player of the game award after the Oilers clinched their sixth straight playoff berth two weeks ago.

NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks left the court for halftime down by six on the scoreboard and way behind in the free throw statistics.

The Detroit Pistons wound up shooting 34 free throws Monday night in their 100-94 victory over the Knicks, who took 19 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup.

The series is even, and Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said afterward the free throws need to be as well.

"Obviously huge discrepancy in free throws," Thibodeau said. "Huge. I've got to take a look at that."

Thibodeau felt that Jalen Brunson, his point guard, wasn't getting the same type of calls that fellow All-Star Cade Cunningham received. The Knicks clearly want to be physical with Cunningham, as they were in their Game 1 victory, but struggled to do it without being whistled for fouls Monday.

"I don't understand how on one side you talk about direct line drives. The guy is getting fouled and it's not being called," Thibodeau said. "And look, I don't really give a crap how they call the game, as long as it's consistent on both sides. So, if Cunningham is driving and there is marginal contact and he is getting to the line, then Jalen deserves to be getting to the line. It's really that simple."

The free throws for those two players were actually about even. Cunningham finished 10-for-12, while Brunson was 9-for-11. And Ausar Thompson, the primary defender on Brunson, fouled out of the game.

But the Knicks struggled to shake their frustration with the officiating in the first half. The Pistons took 14 free throws in the first two quarters and Brunson attempted the only two given to the Knicks.

Thibodeau frequently complains about the pounding Brunson takes, and the Knicks keep a close eye on the officiating, even taking the rare step of including a breakdown of the game's three officials and some of their relevant stats in their pregame media notes.

Brunson thinks maybe they need to worry less during the games.

"Regardless if fouls are being called or not called, we've got to adjust, and I feel like we did that a little too late into the game," he said. "And so regardless of how it's reffed, we've got to adjust and we've got to adapt to that and go on from there."

NEW YORK -- Francisco Lindor is off to a smashing start, for a change. And on Monday night, he picked up right where he left off against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The star shortstop stayed red-hot by homering twice and finishing with four RBIs as the New York Mets held off their NL East rivals 5-4 in the opener of a three-game series.

New York (16-7) extended its division lead to three games over Philadelphia in the first meeting between the teams since last October, when the Mets eliminated the Phillies from the playoffs with a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of their Division Series at Citi Field.

Lindor delivered the knockout blow in that one with a sixth-inning grand slam. This time, he launched his second consecutive leadoff homer and then a three-run shot in the seventh that landed around the same spot in right-center as his pivotal drive in the NLDS.

"Pretty similar to what happened last year," Mets pitcher Tylor Megill said.

It was the 20th multihomer game for Lindor at shortstop. The only players with more are Alex Rodriguez (33) and Ernie Banks (24).

The four-time All-Star has four home runs in the last four games, including a walk-off shot. He's batting .325 with five homers and 13 RBIs since he went 0 for 11 in the first series of the season against the Houston Astros.

"That was nasty," Lindor said. "They got me. They got me. It's in the past."

So, too, are the memories of last year's lengthy slump to begin the season. Lindor went 1 for 31 in New York's first eight games of 2024 and was hitting .195 through 44 games before moving into the leadoff spot May 18.

He batted .304 with 26 homers and 70 RBIs the rest of the way and finished second behind Shohei Ohtani in NL MVP balloting.

"I think he's just focusing on the process, not so much results," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "I think when you start thinking about, well, I've always been a slow starter and the more you think about it -- as opposed to (saying), you know what? I'm going to prepare, I'm going to do everything I need to before the game and then I'm going to go out and compete and concentrate on having quality at-bats, concentrate on playing quality defense, as opposed to trying too hard or just having that in the back of your mind."

Lindor sent Sonny Gray's fourth pitch into the second deck in right field Sunday and finished with three hits and three runs in a 7-4 victory over St. Louis.

He followed that up by driving Aaron Nola's fifth pitch off the facing of the second deck in right Monday. That gave Lindor 23 career leadoff homers, including three this season, and he joined Kaz Matsui (2004) and Curtis Granderson (2017) as the only Mets players to hit one in consecutive games.

"He's free in a way where it's like, you know what? I'm just going to be myself," Mendoza said. "And that's what he's doing right now. He's getting results."

And in doing so, he extended a slow start for Nola.

"Got to keep competing, keep trying, and keep pitching," said Nola, who fell to 0-5, walking two along the way. "I know I haven't done that so far this year, but keep competing and win the game. Can't control the results, but can control the walks."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.