Sports News Roundup: Auston Matthews scores Nos. 50, 51; Kings, Pierre-Luc Dubois look to stay hot vs. Predators and more

Leafs After learning captain and top scorer Mark Stone will be sidelined "for a while," the Vegas Golden Knights will try to snap a season-worst, three-game home losing streak on Thursday night when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Las Vegas.

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

NHL roundup: Auston Matthews scores Nos. 50, 51

Auston Matthews scored twice, surpassing the 50-goal mark, as the Toronto Maple Leafs stretched their win streak to a season-best five games with a 6-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday in Tempe, Ariz. William Nylander also had two goals, while Bobby McMann and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist for Toronto. Mitchell Marner added three assists, and Timothy Liljegren and TJ Brodie each had two assists. Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for his fifth straight victory.

Facing last-place Spurs, Kings look to move up standings

The Sacramento Kings are 31-23 after 54 games for the second consecutive season. But last season, Sacramento was in third place in the Western Conference en route to ending a 16-season streak of missing the playoffs. This season, the Kings are just eighth in the West entering Thursday night's home matchup against the San Antonio Spurs.

Brazil's Dani Alves gets 4-1/2 years for rape in Spain, will appeal

Brazilian footballer Dani Alves was convicted of raping a woman in the restroom of a Barcelona nightclub in 2022 and sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison on Thursday, which he will appeal. The top court in Spain's Catalonia region also ordered Alves, who has been jailed on remand for over a year and repeatedly changed his story, to pay 150,000 euros ($163,000) to the victim.

Knights, without Mark Stone, look to end home skid vs. Leafs

After learning captain and top scorer Mark Stone will be sidelined "for a while," the Vegas Golden Knights will try to snap a season-worst, three-game home losing streak on Thursday night when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Las Vegas. Stone, who has scored 16 goals and totaled 53 points, sustained an upper-body injury during a collision with Nashville's Yakov Trenin late in the second period of Vegas' 5-3 loss to the Predators on Tuesday.

Kings, Pierre-Luc Dubois look to stay hot vs. Predators

It wasn't long ago when Los Angeles Kings forward Pierre-Luc Dubois was receiving some of the blame for the team's sudden downturn, a 2-8-6 stretch after the Christmas break that ultimately led to the firing of coach Todd McLellan. Dubois appears to have turned things around under interim coach Jim Hiller and he'll try to stay the course when the Kings host the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Canucks, on season-worst skid, aim to recover at Seattle

In Major League Soccer, the teams from Seattle, Vancouver and Portland play for the Cascadia Cup. The cities tucked away in the Pacific Northwest -- or in Vancouver's case, just north of the U.S. border -- have long had rivalries, whether in minor league baseball, minor league hockey or even, for a few years, the NBA (remember the Grizzlies and SuperSonics?).

LeBron James (ankle) out for Lakers game vs. Warriors

Two of the NBA's hottest teams entering the All-Star break hope the week off hasn't stalled their momentum as they go head-to-head Thursday night when the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. The Lakers, though, will be missing LeBron James due to a lingering left ankle injury.

Tennis-Gauff 'fuelled' by umpire row to advance in Dubai

Coco Gauff said a heated exchange with the chair umpire midway through her match with Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday had spurred her on to complete a 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory and reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. The U.S. Open champion lost the first set but was leading 4-2 in the second when her first serve at deuce, which Pliskova returned into the net, was called out.

Bruins, facing Flames, shoot for Alberta sweep

The Boston Bruins have put a swoon to the side with consecutive victories. The next order of business for the Eastern Conference leaders is to maintain their winning ways when they visit the Calgary Flames on Thursday. The Bruins kicked off a four-game road trip with a thrilling 6-5 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.

Panthers F Ryan Lomberg fined $2K for elbowing

Florida Panthers winger Ryan Lomberg was fined $2,083.83, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, for elbowing Ottawa Senators defenseman Jakob Chychrun during Tuesday night's game. Lomberg was not penalized for the incident, which happened early in the third period of the Panthers' 3-2 overtime victory.