Wales head coach Wayne Pivac spoke for a nation when he described himself as feeling "numb" as midnight approached in Paris on Saturday.

With 72 minutes gone, Wales led 30-20 and stood on the cusp of a second Grand Slam in three seasons, some transformation for a team who had won only once in last year's competition.

But those aspirations went up in flames in a chaotic finish.

First their discipline deserted them, with Taulupe Faletau and Liam Williams receiving Wales' first yellow cards of the entire Six Nations, reducing them to 13 men.

Then France pounced, scoring first through captain Charles Ollivon, and then deep into added time, Brice Dulin touched down to seal the most dramatic of French victories - and puncture Welsh dreams of a first Grand Slam secured on foreign soil since 1971.

Wales' players fell to the turf in exhausted despair, the silence of an empty Stade de France interrupted by the celebratory howls of their jubilant opponents.

"It's quite a numb feeling really," Pivac said.

"The boys have put in such a fantastic effort. We were down on players at that point. We were quite down on the penalty count at that point, 15-5 I think it was.

"We were on a final warning and we lost two players so it was very difficult to defend at that point, 13 on 14.

"The guys had done tremendously well to hold out the French attempts at the goal line, which were several in the last few minutes.

"But it was just one too many."

That was the overriding feeling for Wales after a thrilling encounter in which they had gone toe to toe with one of the world's most potent attacking teams.

It also felt like a fitting summation of Wales' Championship, which they had started with next to no expectations.

Pivac lost seven of his first 10 Tests in charge last year, with Wales enduring their worst Six Nations since 2007.

It was a surprise, therefore, when they beat Ireland in this year's opening fixture, and even more so when they overcame Scotland a week later.

After a comprehensive win over England and a thrashing of Italy, performances were improving and Wales suddenly found themselves playing for a fifth Grand Slam in 16 years.

They took their game to another level again in Paris, playing with the kind of tempo and attacking fluency that many had hoped for when Wales appointed Pivac.

"It's just desperately frustrating and the players got so close and yet so far," the New Zealander added.

"It's a tough time for them, but we have to be proud of the performance, proud of the effort we put in throughout the Championship."

Pivac was remarkably calm considering the mayhem of which he had just been a part.

But having come so close, it was difficult not wonder what if, what might have been.

"For us to go ahead 27-20 with 20 minutes to go, there was a major point for us," Pivac said.

"We got a fantastic drive going and there was a yellow card and I was expecting a bit more than the yellow card, maybe a penalty try, but it wasn't given.

"That was frustrating because at 34-20 I think it's probably Championship and possibly Grand Slam."

As it was, the chance slipped away - but not all is lost.

When Wales wake up on Sunday morning, bodies aching, emotionally spent, they can at least console themselves with the knowledge they could still win the Six Nations Championship.

France's celebrations were particularly wild because this bonus-point victory kept alive their own hopes of winning the title.

Les Bleus must now beat Scotland in Friday's rearranged final game of the tournament, with a bonus point and a points difference of at least 21 to be crowned champions.

"I hope they don't," Pivac said with a laugh when he was asked about France's chances of pipping Wales to the title.

"Look, it's a tough one. It's a very good French side as you saw today.

"When we got to a position in the game when we should have kicked on, they just kept coming and coming. They've got a lot of big men and they come hard on to the ball.

"Especially at home, they're a quality side and it's going to be a tough ask for Scotland to come here and win the game.

"But we'll be watching eagerly and we'll just wait and see what happens."

HAMPTON, Ga. – Kyle Busch dominated when it mattered to collect his milestone 60th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory on Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Though his young protégé, John Hunter Nemechek, swept the first two stages of the Fr8Auctions 200 at the 1.54-mile quad-oval, Busch’s No. 51 Toyota Tundra was flawless down the home stretch.

The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion led 102 of 130 laps, including the final 25, for his sixth career Atlanta Truck Series victory and second in the last three years.

Busch beat runner-up Austin Hill to the finish line by 4.133 seconds in a commanding performance.

“It’s a great opportunity to race in great equipment,” said Busch in victory lane. “This Toyota Tundra was awesome. I can’t say enough about my guys. Everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports has put in a lot of hard work, and without all their preparation and dedication, we wouldn’t be as successful as we’ve been.

“It’s really neat to get back to victory lane in the Truck Series, especially in (former team owner) Billy Ballew’s backyard.”

Busch’s win gave crew chief Mardy Lindley his first victory since the reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion crew chief moved from GMS Racing to Kyle Busch Motorsports during the offseason.

“It’s a product of having good people,” said Busch of the team’s success. “Coach (Joe Gibbs) always says you have to have good people to have success, and we’ve had a lot of great people at KBM through the years. It’s just a matter of evolving. The sport is ever-changing, and six months from now it’ll be different again.

“It’s cool to have fresh ideas, different concepts and things that we can work on and try,” Busch added. “It’s good to see John Hunter (Nemechek) get another top-three (finish) today; with him running for a championship this year, that’s really important as well. A great day all around for us.”

Saturday’s Truck Series event was only interrupted three times by the yellow flag, and none of those were cautions for incident.

A lap-15 competition caution was followed by the two stage breaks at laps 30 and 60. Once the final stage kicked off at lap 68, the race ran uninterrupted to its conclusion.

Hattori Racing Enterprises’ Hill chased down Las Vegas winner Nemechek over the long run to the checkered flag, leapfrogging Nemechek during the final round of green-flag pit stops and ending up second in the No. 16 Toyota Tundra at his home track.

The Winston, Ga., native was bested at Atlanta on a late restart last season, and lamented coming up just short of a victory for the second year in a row.

“The last restart we had, I was trying to save my tires a little bit; I didn’t want to kill them right off the bat,” Hill noted. “Whenever it was go time, I started matching Kyle’s lap times … and we had the green-flag stops and I just could never close the gap. I was even with him, but I needed to be a little quicker.

“Our United Rentals Toyota Tundra was really fast all day. We had to fight a little adversity just with the restarts and some things that happened on track, but all in all, it was solid,” Hill added. “I wish we were racing here again. I love my home track and all the fans here. It was awesome to have them back. Wish we could have gotten the job done for them but we’ll move on to the next one.”

Nemechek crossed the line third, followed by ThorSport Racing’s Johnny Sauter as Toyota drivers swept the top four finishing positions. Sheldon Creed, in a GMS Racing Chevrolet, filled out the top five.

Sixth through 10th were Zane Smith, Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton, Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen, who rallied back from an uncontrolled tire penalty on pit road for a 10th-place finish.

Busch’s torrid pace left just 12 of the 40 starters on the lead lap at the end of Saturday’s race.

Making his first Truck Series start since 2007, Bill Lester – who previously raced full time in the division – ended up seven laps down in 36th for David Gilliland Racing.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season continues March 27 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway with the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt.

Friesen is the most recent Truck Series winner on a dirt surface, topping the action at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in 2019.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

SEBRING, Fla. – In a race that ran nearly flat out from the beginning, the defending Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts champion No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda RT24P DPi held a narrow lead after eight hours Saturday evening.

The No. 55 – with co-drivers Oliver Jarvis, Harry Tincknell and Jonathan Bomarito – was also the leader after four hours, but it’s been a highly competitive race up front in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class.

Five of the seven DPi cars have led during the race and five cars remained on the lead lap and within seven seconds of each other as the 69th endurance race at Sebring Int’l Raceway headed to its closing four hours.

The middle third of the race ran nearly issue-free, with just a single full-course caution over the four-hour stretch. The yellow was necessitated when the No. 83 WIN Autosport Duqueine D08 Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) slid into the turn 13 tire barrier.

The Twelve Hours of Sebring is the second race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season and the second event in IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup competition, where separate points are awarded at specified junctures of each endurance event.

Earning five Michelin Endurance Cup points for leading their class at the eight-hour mark were: the No. 55 Mazda in DPi, the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 in LMP3, the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE in GT Le Mans (GTLM) and the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R in GT Daytona (GTD).

Final Michelin Endurance Cup points from Sebring will be awarded at the conclusion of the race.

A penalty cost the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 valuable seconds as the race neared its halfway point.

Alexander Rossi was called back to the pits to serve a penalty for leaving the pit stall a lap prior with equipment attached to the car.

The penalty cost the team 30 seconds and pushed the No. 10 car further behind leader Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.

“The penalty was deserved because you can’t roll away and have something attached to the car,” team owner Wayne Taylor said. “It was clearly a problem by us. But we’ve still got a fast car. … It’s [just] a bit of a setback.”

Already two laps behind from an incident less than an hour into the race, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi suffered another setback when driver Felipe Nasr slid into the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac as the latter was exiting the pits with four hours and 20 minutes left in the race.

Nasr attempted to brake as he approached the turn, but the No. 31 scooted over the bumps, collected the No. 5 and both cars slid off track.

Nasr was assessed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility and the No. 31 was four laps off the pace at the eight-hour mark.

As the race approached its final four hours, the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 held a comfortable lead in the LMP2 class.

“No drama,” said Scott Huffaker, one of the No. 52 car’s co-drivers. “We had a drive-through penalty early, but ever since then we’ve kept our nose clean. It’s been trying to run fast laps. We seem to be running really good right now with Mikkel (Jensen) in the car.”

The team, including Ben Keating and Jensen, had lapped the field in LMP2.

Riley Motorsports continued to display its strength in the LMP3 class. After winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona with the No. 74 Ligier JS P320, the Nos. 74 and 91 Riley entries were running 1-2 at the Sebring eight-hour mark.

The No. 7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqueine ran third, ironically with Oliver Askew as one of its drivers. Askew teamed with No. 74 Riley co-drivers Gar Robinson, Spencer Pigot and Scott Andrews to win at Daytona.

A miscommunication between driver and crew cost the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R the lead in GT Le Mans.

During the lone yellow of the middle four hours, driver Nicky Catsburg wasn’t clear whether to stop from the lead when the pits were opened for GT cars, so he stayed out while the other GTLM cars headed to pit lane.

Forced to make his stop on the succeeding lap, Catsburg dropped to fourth in GTLM and had to make up a deficit of nearly 30 seconds when the green flag waved for the restart.

Prior to the gaffe, the No. 3 had led the vast majority of the race.

Paul Miller Racing was looking for a déjà vu performance in GTD. In 2018, the team followed up a third-place Rolex 24 finish with a Twelve Hours of Sebring victory in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3.

The drivers who won at Sebring then – Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis – are back this year and trying to win at Sebring after placing third at Daytona.

At the eight-hour mark, the No. 1 Lamborghini was running second, less than a second behind the leading No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R.

CONCORD, N.C. – Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli drivers battled unseasonably low temperatures at Charlotte Motor Speedway during qualifying Saturday for the series’ newest championship, the Trans-Am Pro-Am Challenge.

The 16-minute combined session started with TA2 drivers Sam Mayer and Ty Gibbs outpacing the faster TA class around the cold, 19-turn ROVAL.

But as the Pirelli tires came to temperature on Oscar Teran’s 850-horsepower No. 3 Breathless Racing Ford Mustang, the Panama local edged out Mayer for overall pole position with a fast-time of 1:20.196, just .112 seconds ahead of the up-and-coming NASCAR star.

“I am feeling great after that run,” Teran said. “The team has worked a lot on the car since our test yesterday. It took some time to warm up the tires, so we had to be careful on the first few laps, but then we were able to give it full gas to take the pole. Our goal for tomorrow is to finish the race and a podium would be great too.”

Mayer set the benchmark early, clocking his personal best time of 1:20.308 on lap three in the No. 8 M1-SLR/Fields Chevrolet Camaro.

After losing the top spot at the halfway mark, Mayer scrambled to reclaim the position, but a black flag halted his progress and ended the session prematurely.

“Our session was nice, short and sweet,” said Mayer. “We only ran three laps and had speed right away out of the car which was good. It’s going to be a good race. We are going to be the dominate one to beat, so hopefully we end up with the win.”

Mike Cope Racing drivers will make up the second row. Gibbs qualified with the third-fastest overall time of 1:20.760 in the No. 26 Mike Cope Race Cars.

Exiting the final chicane onto the front-straight, Corey Heim lost control of his No. 99 Mike Cope Race Cars making contact with the barrier.

He emerged unscathed, and is set to start from fourth on the grid after having clocked a fast lap time of 1:22.447 before the incident.

“I just tried to push it too hard at the end and lost it,” said Heim. “It’s my first time here, and I am still getting used to the car and track. As a driver, you always want to be better, be faster. Fourth place is not where we wanted to end up, but we will regroup tonight and be quick tomorrow.”

ECC Motorsports made a last-minute driver change for the No. 44 ECC/AnchorBolt&Screw Chevrolet Corvette, swapping out A.J. Henriksen for the team’s part-time national driver Adam Andretti, who took fifth with a quick time of 1:24.012.

On her final lap, Natalie Decker edged out long-time Trans Am driver Mark Brummond by just .024 seconds to claim her first pole of the season in the SGT class.

The first Trans Am event at Charlotte in more than two decades will likely see a lot of passing, as the grid will be bolstered by several hard chargers on Sunday.

Silver Hare Racing drivers Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones did not qualify as they were at Atlanta Motor Speedway competing in Saturday’s Xfinity NASCAR race. The pair will return for Sunday’s Trans-Am Pro-Am Challenge, but will start from the back of the field.

TeamSLR owner Scott Lagasse Jr. elected to save tires for Sunday’s 100-mile feature and did not run Conner Mosack in Saturday’s qualifying session.

Mosack will start from the back of the field tomorrow with Burton and Jones.

Simon Gregg, who was quickest in Friday’s afternoon test, turned laps in qualifying, however, a faulty transponder on the No. 59 Peter Gregg Foundation Chevrolet Camaro did not record times.

Partnering with SCCA, Trans-Am launched the crossover program during the offseason.

Making an easy path for road racing teams to crossover to Trans-Am is the primary focus of the new Pro-Am Challenge, with the schedule and rules package providing flexibility for teams and drivers to chase both their Pro-Am Challenge and SCCA road yacing goals in the same year.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is the only stand-alone Pro-Am Challenge event, as the Sonoma Raceway round will be held in conjunction with the Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli West Coast Championship season opener in April.

National drivers participating in the rounds will not earn points toward the class title chase.

HAMPTON, Ga. – After a sluggish start to the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier knew coming into Atlanta Motor Speedway that he needed to find a way to bounce back.

The Riverton, Ill., native got that rebound in the form of an impressive triumph over a former NASCAR Cup Series champion, punching his ticket to the playoffs in the process.

Allgaier held off a hard-charging Martin Truex Jr. in the final laps of Saturday evening’s EchoPark 250 to earn his 15th career Xfinity Series win and first victory in 13 races, dating back to last season.

He assumed control of the race with 50 laps left, when Truex was busted for speeding entering pit road during a caution-flag pit sequence, and led all but three laps the rest of the way.

Driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, Allgaier fended off every advance Truex made over the final 10 laps and then pulled away to win by 1.449 seconds.

“We didn’t start out the day like we wanted to — these guys persevered through it,” said Allgaier. “They pushed and made great adjustments on pit road — (crew chief) Jason Burdett and all the guys on the team did a great job. My wife and daughter are here. They may not be able to come out here (to victory lane), but I get to go celebrate with them. Just proud of the effort that we put in today.

“Martin had a great race car. They definitely had the car to beat at the beginning,” Allgaier added. “We made good adjustments, and that’s what it came down to at the end.”

Prior to his speeding penalty, Truex dominated Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, his first series start since 2010. He led 103 of the first 113 laps and swept both stages with Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Toyota.

But following a caution for a spinning Mason Massey, Truex was shuffled back outside the top 20 due to the speeding ticket, leading to a furious rally back through traffic down the stretch run to the finish.

Truex caught a break with a quick caution on the next restart with 46 to go, when Jeb Burton and Jeremy Clements made contact and ended up in the outside wall, and then carved through the field.

He rocketed from 20th to sixth in three laps after the green flag waved with 40 to go, holding serve there after a short battle with Noah Gragson until the seventh and final yellow flag of the day with 32 laps left when Josh Berry spun and had the front end of his Chevrolet demolished by the infield grass.

That generated a final round of pit stops for fresh tires and a 26-lap run to the finish, during which Truex got back to second but couldn’t get close enough to do anything with Allgaier over the final 12 circuits.

“We got back up there, but obviously, we were kind of out of tires at that point,” said Truex, a two-time Xfinity Series champion. “Got close, and then the last 10 (laps), the right rear was completely smoked off. I just had to use too much to get there.

“Thanks to (sponsor) Stanley and everyone else at JGR for letting me go do this. It was fun until I screwed it up. Just came up a little short at the end there.”

Truex’s teammate, Harrison Burton, crossed third ahead of Noah Gragson and A.J. Allmendinger.

Riley Herbst, Michael Annett, Justin Haley, Daniel Hemric and Ryan Sieg filled out the top 10.

Gragson and Hemric exchanged blows on pit road after the race due to an incident between the pair during a mid-race round of pit stops, when Gragson backed up in his pit stall and hit Hemric’s Toyota.

Saturday’s race was also the qualifying event for the Dash4Cash bonus program, which pays out $100,000 bonuses to Xfinity Series regulars over a four-race stretch of the regular season.

Allgaier, Burton, Gragson and Allmendinger made themselves eligible to chase the first bonus as the four highest points-eligible finishers in the Atlanta event.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series gets two weeks off before resuming action April 9 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

To view complete race results, advance to the next page.

PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Earlier in the week, Justin Peck made sure to watch two to three hours a day of old race footage from Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway.

If the 22-year-old were to be in position to win, he needed to learn the intricacies of what he considers one of the trickiest tracks in the country.

On Saturday night, all those hours of study paid off for Peck, who set a swift pace and managed lapped traffic well enough to win the 25-lap, $4,000-to-win sprint car feature at the Port Royal half mile.

It’s Peck’s first win of the year, his first win in the Buch Motorsports No. 13, and his first sprint car win in central Pennsylvania.

He had to hold off Anthony Macri, who finished 1.316 seconds behind, to do it.

“This is my favorite track in Pennsylvania, so it’s nice to get the first [win] here,” Peck said. “I actually spent all week watching [race] film here. That’s what I pride myself on, having that mindset that thinks ahead, maybe more than the next guy in the pit area, going into the weekend.”

On the initial start, pole-sitter Dylan Cisney got the jump over Peck, who spun his tires and fell behind early. But a caution for Lance Dewease and Pat Cannon battling for eighth, before the first lap could be completed, forced a second try.

That’s when, on the second attempt at the start, Peck corrected himself to set up the go-ahead pass around Cisney. Peck sagged off Cisney going into turn one to jump off the cushion and set up the crossover out of turn two.

“That’s what I was able to do,” Peck said. “I felt I was so good out in clean air.”

Peck raced to a two-second lead, but when he caught lapped traffic, Cisney cut the margin in half as Peck struggled to make quick work of slower cars.

“I wasn’t getting through lapped traffic like I needed to,” Peck said. “I wasn’t picking and choosing my lines correctly when I got to them. I didn’t think too far ahead.”

A lap-eight caution for Jason Shultz bailed Peck out of the situation and he extended his lead to two seconds shortly after the final restart.

But over the final eight laps, that advantage evaporated and things got dicey in traffic, this time with the track’s winningest driver from a year ago in Macri applying pressure.

Twice in the closing laps, Peck made the gutsy move to pass lapped cars on the inside in turns one and two – usually the place for a huge run around the top, where Macri excels.

But Peck never faltered and hit his marks smoothly, just as he learned in those hours of film study.

“As long as I hit it with my left side I knew I would get a good launch down the backstretch,” Peck said of leaving the top in turns one and two to navigate lapped traffic. “That was key because [Macri] probably would’ve gotten that run.”

Macri, meanwhile, hustled around the top and pulled alongside Peck several times, but couldn’t complete the go-ahead pass.

It’s a confidence booster for Peck, who’s gearing up for his first full run with the All Star Circuit of Champions in just two weeks.

“It’s good to feel like I know how to win races,” Peck said. “I feel like I’ve had the same speed about everywhere we went with the exception of [Port Royal] last week. … With the All Star [Circuit of Champions tour] coming up, it’s nice to be able to know how to win races. In this game, confidence is everything.

“To have that mindset going into it, it will pay dividends later on,” he added.

Macri and Logan Wagner finished on the podium. Cisney settled for fourth, while Mike Wagner crossed the finish line in fifth.

Blane Heimbach, Ryan Taylor, 20th-starting George Hobaugh, Jeff Halligan, and Mike Walter II rounded out the top 10.

Dewease couldn’t get his No. 69K fixed after the lap-one wreck and finished 24th.

The finish:

1. 13-Justin Peck, 2. 39m-Anthony Macri, 3. 1-Logan Wagner, 4. 5-Dylan Cisney, 5. 55-Mike Wagner, 6. 12-Blane Heimbach, 7. 20-Ryan Taylor, 8. 40-George Hobaugh, 9. 45-Jeff Halligan, 10. 33w-Mike Walter II, 11. 33-Gerard McIntyre, 12. 67-Justin Whittal, 13. 98-Jared Esh, 14. 14t-Tyler Walton, 15. 24-Kerry Madsen, 16. 2-A.J. Flick, 17. 19-Curt Stroup, 18. 55k-Robbie Kendall, 19. 29-Michael Bauer, 20. 07-Lucas Wolfe, 21. 35s-Jason Shultz, 22. 35-Tyler Reeser, 23. 23-Pat Cannon, 24. 69k-Lance Dewease.

DENVER -- — The Colorado Avalanche acquired Jonas Johansson from the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in a bid to shore up their shaky backup goaltending.

The Sabres received Colorado's sixth-round draft pick in a trade agreed to a day earlier. The Sabres had to wait for COVID-19 testing results after the Boston Bruins, their most recent opponent, had four players enter the NHL protocol Friday.

Buffalo also had to wait for goaltender Michael Houser, who was signed Friday, to clear waivers to avoid having to call up a goalie from the minors.

The Avalanche have relied heavily on starter Philipp Grubauer this season, with backup Pavel Francouz sidelined by a lower-body injury. Hunter Miska has filled in for Grubauer at times, but he’s struggled and has a 4.16 goals-against average.

Miska was recently sent down to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League, with Adam Werner recalled from the Eagles.

Johansson was 0-5-1 in seven games for the Sabres this season, with a 3.79 goals-against average and an .884 save percentage and has an overall record of 1-8-2. The 25-year-old was a third-round pick by Buffalo in 2014.

“We’ll look at him here first and make a decision on what our plan is for him,” coach Jared Bednar said after the Avalanche beat Minnesota 6-0 on Saturday behind a 31-save performance from Grubauer. “He’s been on a steady progression getting better and on a good development path.”

Johansson received increased playing time with the Sabres after starter Linus Ullmark sustained a lower-body injury last month. Ullmark is expected to miss another few weeks.

Grubauer has been spectacular despite the heavy workload. He’s the first Colorado goaltender to start at least 20 of the team’s first 25 games since Semyon Varlamov in 2012-13.

The 29-year-old Grubauer has 18 wins this season, which ties a career high. Saturday marked his fifth shutout this season — the most by an Avalanche goaltender since Varlamov had five in '14-15.

“It's awesome to have that reliable goaltender in the back end there," forward Tyson Jost said. “He’s been great all year. We need that from him to continue throughout the year.”

Colorado’s defense has been a big help, too. The team had held opponents to under 30 shots in a franchise-record 18 straight games before it was snapped by the Wild on Saturday.

The Avalanche boasted an 18-8-2 halfway through the season. Their .679 percentage was the third-best mark at the midway point since the team moved to Denver.

The Sabres are in sell-off mode while in an 0-11-2 skid and in jeopardy of extending their playoff drought to an NHL-record matching 10th season.

This is expected to be the first of many trades for Buffalo. It comes three days since first-year general manager Kevyn Adams hinted a roster shakeup was coming after firing coach Ralph Krueger.

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AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report.

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Manchester City needed late goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne to secure a 2-0 win over Everton to reach the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.

The victory keeps City's quadruple hopes alive this season as they managed to break Everton's defensive shape late on.

- Ogden: For City, another domestic Treble feels inevitable
- FA Cup on ESPN+: Stream LIVE games and replays (U.S. only)

Pep Guardiola has now guided City to the FA Cup semifinals for a third season in a row.

Despite City's dominance of possession, there was a lack of goalscoring opportunities from both teams in the first half.

Everton came closest to breaking the deadlock just before the break when Oleksandr Zinchenko cleared Yerry Mina's header off the line from a corner.

Raheem Sterling had the best opportunity to score before the hour mark but Joao Virginia produced a stunning save to deny him from close range.

Phil Foden went close after 67 minutes but his strike from outside of the area went narrowly wide.

City finally broke Everton's resistance after 84 minutes when Gundogan reacted quickest inside the area after Aymeric Laporte's shot came off the crossbar.

De Bruyne grabbed a second on the counter attack on 90 minutes to wrap up the win.

Everton did their best to halt the City bandwagon with a disciplined defensive display that drew praise from Guardiola.

"It was a really tough game. We saw the commitment from Everton, how focused they were, they defended really aggressively," Guardiola said.

"It was one of the toughest games we've played in the last four months."

Guardiola said his only current concern is hoping that all of his players return from international duty ready to continue City's charge.

"Hopefully the [COVID-19] bubbles are controlled. I'm looking forward to everyone coming back safe," he said.

For Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti, he accepted that his side had been beaten by "the best team in the world."

"It was a good experience for us and there are no regrets," the Italian said. "We have 10 games in the league and we want to fight for our position in Europe next season."

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

Zinedine Zidane has said he can't understand why Karim Benzema doesn't play for France after the striker grabbed two goals and an assist in Real Madrid's 3-1 win at Celta Vigo in their last La Liga game before the international break.

Benzema scored his first after 20 minutes at Balaidos, and another 10 minutes later -- both from Toni Kroos passes -- as Madrid moved ahead of Barcelona into second place and within three points of leaders Atletico Madrid.

- Ratings: Benzema 9/10 as Ream Madrid beat Celta Vigo

The brace means Benzema -- who hasn't been called up by France coach Didier Deschamps since 2015 -- has 17 league goals this season, and has scored eight in his last six games in all competitions.

"You don't understand it, I don't understand it, there are many people who don't," Zidane said, when asked about Deschamps' refusal to call on Benzema. "For me as Real Madrid coach, it's better he stays with us, that's for sure. What he did today with his teammates was spectacular. He's hard-working and he wants more."

Benzema's exclusion from the France national team in 2015 has stemmed from his alleged involvement -- for which he is due to stand trial -- in a conspiracy to blackmail former international teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

The French Football Federation's initial decision to suspend Benzema was followed by Deschamps omitting Benzema from their Euro 2016 squad.

The striker responded by claiming that Deschamps had "bowed to the pressure of a racist part of France" in leaving him out.

"As long as Deschamps is the national team coach, I won't have a chance of coming back," Benzema said in 2017.

While Benzema stays in Madrid during next week's international window, teammates Raphael Varane and Ferland Mendy will join up with France -- while Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Thibaut Courtois have also been called up by their countries.

"We know the calendar, there are a lot of games, but we'll keep going, for now the players are fine," Zidane said, when asked about the busy fixture list. "[Modric and Kroos] will go away with their national teams and they'll play games, for me as Real Madrid coach that isn't ideal, but we can't do anything about it."

Zidane also confirmed that Ramos should be fit to feature for Spain, despite missing Real Madrid's win in Vigo with a knock.

Erling Haaland scored a late equaliser to earn Borussia Dortmund a 2-2 draw against Cologne in the Bundesliga before furiously heading straight down the tunnel at the final whistle on Saturday.

The result saw fifth-placed Dortmund lose further ground in the hunt for a top-four finish and Champions League football next season. They have 43 points from 26 games, four less than Eintracht Frankfurt in fourth who celebrated a 5-2 home win over Union Berlin.

Haaland didn't look happy after the full time whistle ? pic.twitter.com/xNz2mVrGLi

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 20, 2021

Haaland posted a message on Twitter an hour after the final whistle. He said: "Not a great result. We will use this as motivation to be back stronger! Thanks to all the @BVB fans for your continued support. We'll be back soon!"

Dortmund goalkeeper Marwin Hitz was disappointed with the outcome as the visitors allowed Cologne to turn the match on its head after Haaland struck a superb third-minute opener.

"We started really well and scored a nice first goal but then we disappeared," Hitz said.

"We sat back and lost possession too many times so it was definitely not a good afternoon for us. It's inexplicable that we made so many mistakes as we really needed to win this game."

Left-back Nico Shultz added: "We got too passive after taking the lead and we let Cologne back into the game. We needed to move the ball a lot better and we also weren't active enough defensively."

Haaland gave Dortmund a third-minute lead with a sublime finish as he took a long Emre Can ball in his stride and held off Jorge Mere's challenge before he steered a low shot through the legs of goalkeeper Timo Horn.

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Ondrej Duda levelled with a 35th-minute penalty as Noah Katterbach's shot hit Jude Bellingham in the arm, with the spot kick given after a delayed VAR check.

With Dortmund rattled, Ismail Jacobs turned the tide as he capped a fast break with an unstoppable shot from 15 metres in the 65th minute before Haaland hit the post at the other end.

Just when it seemed Cologne would complete the league double over Dortmund having beaten them 2-1 in the reverse fixture, Haaland popped up in front of goal to bundle in a 90th-minute assist by Ansgar Knauff.

Cologne stayed 14th on 23 points, two above the relegation spots.