Minnesota
New York Sirens shutout short-handed Minnesota Frost 5-0
MINNEAPOLIS — Jessie Eldridge scored the fastest goal in franchise history and Alex Carpenter added to her league-leading scoring totals as the New York Sirens shut out the short-handed Minnesota Frost 5-0 on Saturday.
The loss is the first time the Frost have failed to score at least two goals in a game and the first time they have trailed by as many as three goals.
Already missing a growing list of players to injury and illness, league-leading Minnesota lost starting goalkeeper Nicole Hensley to an injury during warm-ups. Maddie Rooney is battling illness and was not in the building after being given the day off and the Frost turned to Lucy Morgan, who was signed to a 10-day contract Thursday, as a last-minute starter while recalling Rooney to serve as the emergency back-up.
Eldridge directed a shot past Morgan, the 23-year-old former University of Minnesota keeper, just 70 seconds into the game. But Morgan did not allow another goal in the first period. The Sirens scored twice on the power play in the second. Sarah Fillier scored her fourth goal, whistling a shot past Morgan from the bottom of the face-off circle and Carpenter tallied her fifth on the power play in the final minute to make it 3-0 after two. Chloe Aurard and Abby Roque each scored third-period goals.
Corinne Schroeder earned the shutout for her league-leading fourth win, making saves on several Minnesota breakaway chances in the second period and stonewalling three Frost power-play opportunities while making 26 saves.
Morgan faced 34 shots and made 29 saves in her league debut.
New York has now beaten the Frost twice on its home ice this season, posting a 4-3 overtime win December 1. Neither team has won on its home ice in three meetings.
Already missing forward Grace Zumwinkle, who could be heading to the injured list with a shoulder issue, and struggling with a virus that has affected several players, Minnesota will have three days to get healthier before facing Boston for the second time in less than a week.
Ohio State will look for some Big Ten consistency on the road against Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers are struggling to keep up with high-end competition, yet to beat a top 80 team in the country thus far. Can the team score a home upset against Ohio State? The Buckeyes have yet to win a true road game but are laying a handful of points on the road on Monday night.
Here’s our best bet for this one.
Spread
Moneyline
Total: 136.5 (Over -110/Under -110)
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook
Ohio State
Bruce Thornton: Enjoying a career-best year, Thornton is up to nearly 17 points per game while shooting 54% from the field and 44% from three. The veteran guard will be tasked with guiding the Buckeyes to a road win as the team looks to keep its three-point shooting at a high.
Minnesota
Dawson Garcia: The senior is averaging 19 points per game with seven rebounds while also showcasing improved playmaking with two assists per game. The Gophers are struggling to find consistency on offense, but a lot of it is coming from the 6’11” senior.
Ohio State continues to be an overvalued commodity after a strong start to the season. The team is ripe for regression, including three percent overall with a massive drop-off expected from beyond the arc (four percent), per ShotQuality.
The team will face a Minnesota team that grades out as a better defense according to shot quality and does a great job of contesting perimeter shots, which is a key to Ohio State’s offense. The Gophers are 38th in the country in three-point rate allowed, which can slow down Ohio State’s offense that ranks top 30 in three-point percentage.
The Gophers play at a prodding pace, bottom 10 in the country in adjusted tempo, and Ohio State’s defense continues to be overvalued due to poor shot-making marks, ranking 14th in effective field goal percentage. However, the team is outside of the top half of the country in turnover percentage, defensive rebounding rate, and opponent free throw rate.
In a low possession battle, give me the home underdog to keep this close.
PICK: Minnesota +5.5
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Detroit’s next series was upended by another turnover of sorts, this time a stop on fourth-and-1 that was caused by Jonathan Bullard tipping Goff’s pass at the line of scrimmage. It returned the ball to Minnesota with three-and-a-half minutes left in the first half – and a prime opportunity to double-dip.
But they botched that chance, too, tasking Reichard with another field goal after fading at Detroit’s 13.
“This game could look differently in the end, very easily, with one or two more plays down in the red zone, being successful, and the way that works with momentum, and the way that works for the energy of your whole team. I thought the guys fought. I thought they battled,” Kevin O’Connell said. “They answered the bell, in that first half, turning the football over, giving us ops, getting stops. … We were going to go down there and try to get seven points, and we just didn’t do it. And you’re not going to beat a team like that, regardless of some of the other metrics in the game, when the weighty downs kind of go the way it did, and weighty as they get. They don’t get more weighty than scoring plays.”
Minnesota’s inability to capitalize offensively lingered in the third quarter, when Smith plucked an overthrown ball for Williams out of mid-air. Again, Reichard kicked a field goal.
To understand how well Minnesota’s defense played early look at the difference in second-quarter performance – a good indicator being it has been the most productive frame for the Lions this season in terms of yards (120.9) and points (10-plus) – Sunday and Week 7: The Vikings yielded 65 yards on 18 plays (3.6 avg.), and just three points, versus 202 yards on 17 plays (11.9 avg.) and 21 points in October.
Eventually, however, Gibbs stole the show.
The second-year phenom compiled 170 scrimmage yards and scored all four of Detroit’s touchdowns. He did it via a blend of untouchable speed, uncanny vision between the tackles and a serious finishing burst.
Minnesota
Vikings vs. Lions score, live updates: Detroit, Minnesota face off for the NFC's No. 1 seed in 2024 NFL finale
Game 272 of the 2024 NFL regular season is a special one. In a year where so much of the playoff dust settled early, one Week 18 game stands out, not just for this season but in the history of the league, with the 14-2 Minnesota Vikings taking on the 14-2 Detroit Lions in the first regular-season game between two teams with 14 wins. The stakes are simple but extremely high: the winner is the NFC North champion and the No. 1 seed, with a first-round bye in the loaded NFC; while the loser is the No. 5 seed and will open the playoffs on the road during wild-card weekend. If the game should end in a tie, Detroit would win the division and be the 1-seed, thanks to winning the first matchup between the teams back in Week 7.
No matter how the game ends, this will be the first time in league history a wild-card team will have 14 wins. The only time a wild-card team had 13 wins in a season was 1999, when the 13-3 Tennessee Titans finished second in the AFC Central to the 14-2 Jacksonville Jaguars. Tennessee won the AFC championship game in Jacksonville that season before losing to the Rams in Super Bowl 34.
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