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Washington forward Alex Ovechkin will try to end the longest goalless drought of his 19-year NHL career when the Capitals visit the Nashville Predators on Saturday night. Ovechkin has gone 11 straight games without a goal, keeping the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer stuck on five for the season since scoring in a 4-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 18. The dry spell has stalled Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal

Kansas State, which has won five straight games, has not been making things easy on itself. In each of their last three home games, the Wildcats found themselves in overtime. They’ll put that run of good fortune to the test when they host longtime rival Nebraska on Sunday in Manhattan, Kan. Last week, the Wildcats (8-2) won their third straight overtime game in as many contests when they edged Villanova 72-71. They followed that up

Oregon State will look to remain undefeated at home and build momentum for the upcoming Pac-12 schedule when it hosts enigmatic UTSA on Sunday afternoon in Corvallis, Ore. The Beavers (6-3) had to fight back from an 11-point first-half deficit to beat Utah Valley 74-71 at home on Dec. 9 in its most recent outing. Tyler Bilodeau led Oregon State with 19 points in the victory and canned two free throws with 6 seconds remaining

If expectations weren’t particularly high for Louisville in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, the Cardinals’ 4-6 start has fueled speculation that coach Kenny Payne’s job is in jeopardy. Louisville, picked to finish 14th in the 15-team ACC, hosts Pepperdine Sunday having lost three straight games. The last two have come to nonconference foes DePaul on the road and Arkansas State in Louisville on Wednesday. Payne, in his second season at his alma mater, is

Auburn aims for its third consecutive win on Sunday when welcomes a Southern California team looking to avoid a third straight loss. The Tigers (7-2) bounced back from a Dec. 3 loss at Appalachian State with a 104-76 rout of Indiana on Dec. 9 and an 87-62 blowout of UNC Asheville on Wednesday. Auburn’s two high-scoring wins improved its offensive output this season to 82.3 points per game, with seven Tigers contributing an average of

Riding some momentum from recent wins, Oregon and Syracuse will converge in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Sunday for a neutral-court nonconference matchup. The Ducks (7-2) enter on a three-game winning streak. They slipped past Michigan in overtime on Dec. 2 and then routed UTEP on Dec. 9 before defeating California Baptist 76-55 on Tuesday. Kario Oquendo supplied 20 points off the bench in that contest, while Jackson Shelstad had 17 points and eight assists. Oregon

With a week to stew over its only loss of the season, No. 17 Colorado State figures to be a handful when it plays host to CSU-Pueblo on Sunday at Fort Collins, Colo. Colorado State (9-1) has victories over Creighton, Washington and in-state rival Colorado, but it was against Saint Mary’s last Saturday at home when it met its match in a 64-61 defeat. The Rams led 57-56 with 2:10 remaining then missed two 3-point

The San Antonio Spurs will try to build on a rare win when they host the surging New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday afternoon in a Western Conference matchup. The Spurs bring some momentum from a victory into a game for the first time in a month-and-a-half after dominating the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers 129-115 on Friday and snapping a franchise-high 18-game losing streak. Devin Vassell scored a career-high 36 points in the win — which

If the Orlando Magic want to avoid falling to the Celtics for the second time in three days, they’ll have to put an end to one of the most historic runs in Boston franchise history. By blowing by Orlando on Friday, the Celtics improved to 13-0 at home for just the second time ever, and they will look to keep rolling on Sunday when the Magic pay another visit. Friday’s 128-111 victory put Boston in

The Los Angeles Clippers will take a season-best six-game winning streak into a meeting against the visiting New York Knicks on Saturday night. The Clippers’ 121-113 victory at home against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday came without Paul George, who missed his first game of the season with a sore left hip. With plenty of pure scorers at its disposal, Los Angeles leaned into James Harden, and he delivered season highs with 28 points