Dylan Coghlan scored his first playoff goal to get Vegas rolling, Carter Hart made 36 saves and the Golden Knights opened the Western Conference Final by holding off the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Wednesday night.Trailing 3-0 in the third period, Colorado made it 3-2 with 2:21 remaining on a power-play goal from Gabriel Landeskog. Nic Dowd sealed it for Vegas with an empty-net goal.Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden also scored for the Golden Knights, who took advantage of several defensive miscommunications by the Avalanche as they juggled their blue-line pairings with Cale Makar sidelined by an upper-body injury. Coghlan scored his first NHL goal since Dec. 17, 2021. The 28-year-old defenseman spent most of the season in the American Hockey League. He's played the last five postseason games with the recent injury to Jeremy Lauzon.When you say Dylan Coghlan to me, I think of no fear, Vegas coach John Tortorella said. I think he's one of our best defensemen since he's been with us and in the lineup. ... He's a bit unflappable."It was a smothering performance most of the game by the Golden Knights as they kept the pressure on goaltender Scott Wedgewood, while controlling the Avalanche's speed through the neutral zone. Vegas also had 23 blocked shots.We didn't play a flawless game by any means, Tortorella said. We have work to do.Valeri Nichushkin had a goal at 5:53 of the third to make it 3-1.Hart was stellar most of the evening, making one sprawling save after another. He got some help from his post, too, when Logan OConnor's liner clanged off it in the first period. We know they've got a lot of skill on their team, and we respect that, Hart said. But you cant respect them too much, and I thought we did a good job of defending and limiting their time and space.Mitch Marner added an assist for Vegas to give him 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in this postseason. It was Dorofeyevs NHL-leading 10th goal of this postseason. The Golden Knights didnt have injured captain Mark Stone.Were trying to play our game, not worrying too much about countering off another team," Tortorella explained. "They feel very comfortable in it. Game 2 is Friday night in Denver.The Avalanche dropped their first game at home after winning five straight through the first two rounds. Wedgewood made 24 saves.It was kind of a nothing game, and then they got a few goals, Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. "Really good team, obviously, but I thought we did a lot of damage to ourselves. Just guys kind of everywhere. Execution, like I said, needs to be better. Obviously, were capable of being a lot better than that. Colorado tried some different combinations without Makar. It led to some confusion, with Coghlan sneaking into the middle of the ice and lining a shot through the pads of Wedgewood to break a scoreless game in the second period. There's definitely a trickle-down effect to that," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of not having Makar. But he's not playing. We have find a way. Coghlan has bounced around over his career, spending his first two seasons with Vegas before stints with Carolina and Winnipeg. He returned to the Golden Knights last July in part, he said, because of the bonds he'd formed.This is probably the best I've felt in my whole career, said Coghlan, who played in three regular-season games for Vegas this season. Whoever it is I'm playing with I'm very comfortable out there with them. They make it pretty easy on me. We have some pretty world-class players.The Golden Knights and Avalanche are meeting in a best-of-seven series for the second time. In 2021, Colorado won the opening two games of their second-round series before Vegas captured four straight. Definitely things we can get better at, Landeskog said. But we knew it was (going to) be a long series.___AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

As momentum builds behind the Big Tens idea of doubling the College Football Playoff to 24 teams, one critical question remains: Who wants to televise it?Fox has indicated it likes the 24-team idea, but embedded within that equation is the critical calculation of how much that network, or any broadcast partner, would pay for a new set of games involving second-tier teams that might not garner the same TV ratings as some of the biggest programs in the sport.The answer is less, but not nothing,'" said Ed Desser, a former NBA executive and media rights expert who co-authored a paper about the value of college football on TV with former ESPN executive John Kosner. There will be perceived value. It becomes a question of, on the margin, can you create good, meaningful games that enhance the value of the playoff? Or are you just kind of making people wait longer for the entree, for the game they really want?The CFP deal that starts this season with ESPN is worth $7.8 billion over six seasons. That network would have first dibs on the first two games added to any package. The rest are up for grabs.I want to see whoever is committed to making it work, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said this week when asked which TV partner he'd like to see jump in. I think it's about whoever has the commitment to scheduling it right and who's going to bring the right resources.Figuring the size of the playoff is a puzzle that continues to confound the sport. On one side is the Southeastern Conference, which has held steady to the idea of not expanding past 16 teams though commissioner Greg Sankey teased that some might come around to 24 at meetings next week.On the other is the Big Ten, which now also has backing from the Atlantic Coast and Big 12 conferences for a move to 24.The SECs idea would more or less keep the overall schedule where it is, including preserving the conference championship games that Petitti estimated to be worth a combined $200 million to the four power conferences. Sankey has said the league has contracts for its title game and it has to honor those contracts; Petitti didn't seem as tied to the title games, saying he thought the Big Ten could undo our championship games as soon as the 2027 season if needed. The conferences are already working on a plan in which the Power 4 would pool their non-playoff teams to feed a new system for a further diluted bowl system, The Athletic reported last week. A 24-team playoff would eliminate automatic qualifiers and render conference title games virtually meaningless. According to many in the Big Ten, they would give all programs what they crave more access to the playoff, and a reason for fans and boosters to keep bankrolling all those player salaries.I think if we went to 24 teams, there might be 24 teams that could win the national championship, said Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who is on the board of the American Football Coaches Association that also recently voiced support for the expanded field. I dont know if that was true 10 years ago.There is still the issue of paying for it.While popular, college football only captures a fraction of the viewers as the NFL. The 30.1 million who tuned into last seasons college final between Indiana and Miami would have ranked fifth on the NFLs list of most-watched regular-season offerings. The Super Bowl drew more than 125 million viewers.For the weeks when the CFP goes against NFL regular-season games first-round contests the past two years have taken place opposite NFL games on Saturdays the NFL games have drawn between 2.5 times and 5 times the viewers. Part of this is because the NFL games are over-the-air on Fox and the college games were on cable, TNT/TBS/TruTv.There is also the issue of how much networks or streamers will have to spend. The NFL's recent move into streaming and adding new broadcast windows for example, Christmas Day and the days before and after Thanksgiving has led to thoughts that the league will press for sooner renegotiations of its own deals that currently have an opt-out clause in 2029.While the league controls all its games, college football's rights are spread out among the individual conferences and the CFP. We dont feel that the current Balkanized state of college football lends itself to maximizing (revenue) across the board, Kosner said. Nor do I think that just doubling the CFP at this stage is going to be such a revenue motherlode that it's going to make a difference."Pettiti views filling the gaps from the lost title-game revenue differently. He sees an influx of on-campus games, which generate $6 million or more in ticket sales and other receipts, as part of the equation. The SEC, once seemingly in the majority in seeking a move to 16 teams, is now in the minority. Sankey said the league will have to do its own research to see how a bigger expansion would impact the college football calendar, the title games and, of course, the financial bottom line. I think there's going to be a lot of pressure on the commissioners to help make it happen," Kosner said. "I would kind of be surprised if, within two years, it hasnt happened. But Id also be surprised if it winds up being the sort of business boom that they might hope that it would be.___AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Ferrari have expressed their displeasure at a late regulatory adjustment by the FIA which they believe has disadvantaged both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.The Scuderia opted for a smaller turbo configuration during pre-season development, a decision that yielded impressive getaways at the opening rounds in Australia and China, where both drivers topped the timesheets after the first lap.Speaking to The Race, a team representative branded the intervention "unfair," stating: "It was a bit harsh for us, I understand what they did for safety grounds, but the other option would have been to ask [the other cars] to start from the pit-lane if they think it was not safe."The regulatory row comes as Formula One prepares to resume action following a fortnight's hiatus, with Mercedes' teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli sitting atop the drivers' championship.Hamilton currently finds himself 49 points adrift of the 19-year-old Italian, while also trailing his Ferrari teammate Leclerc by eight points in the standings.The seven-time world champion's campaign has shown glimpses of promise despite a difficult transition to Maranello. He secured fourth place at the season opener in Melbourne before claiming his maiden Ferrari podium with third in Shanghai.However, subsequent outings in Japan and Miami yielded only sixth-place finishes, leaving the 41-year-old with ground to make up as the season progresses.Jenson Button has backed Hamilton to extend his career beyond the current campaign, though the 2009 world champion cautioned that Ferrari will ultimately determine his future if results fail to materialise.Button acknowledged the difficulties Hamilton faced during his maiden season at Maranello, telling the Press Association: "Obviously, last year was not the easiest for Lewis. "He spent so many years in a team (Mercedes) that he knew really well, and had a lot of support from that team."The former McLaren driver noted that adapting at 40 presents greater challenges than earlier in one's career, but expressed satisfaction at Hamilton's improved competitiveness this term."If he is not quick, the team will make a decision," Button added."You can't just leave it up to a driver when they retire."The debate over regulations extends beyond Ferrari's specific grievance, with several leading drivers demanding greater involvement in shaping the sport's direction.Hamilton has been vocal about the need for change, declaring: "We do engage with the FIA and F1; F1's more often a little bit more responsive. But being that we're not stakeholders - we don't have a seat at the table currently, which I think needs to change."Reigning world champion Lando Norris has echoed those sentiments, telling RacingNews365 that drivers want "flat-out racing" rather than the current "yo-yo racing" created by battery management systems.The McLaren driver advocated for lighter cars and improved tyres to allow closer competition, likening his ideal vision to karting where vehicles can follow bumper-to-bumper.Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter

Avalon Airport's domestic terminal was closed for several hours on Thursday after a suspicious item was found.

U.S. officials are warning Americans not to visit a Central African nation, home to the world's second-largest rainforest, amid a deadly Ebola outbreak.The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Level 3 to Level 4 on Sunday.The advisory emphasizes Congo's Ituri Province, which is located in the northeast region, though Ebola cases have also been reported in Goma and the capital city of Kinshasa.EBOLA OUTBREAK REPORTED IN AFRICAN COUNTRY HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOWOfficials said the outbreak was caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, a rarer variant for which existing vaccines may be less effective.As of Monday, Congo's Health Cluster reported over 390 suspected cases and 105 deaths in Congo, according to the Associated Press.The State Department warns that Ebola is a "rare, severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever illness."The virus can spread through direct contact with infected individuals, bodily fluids, infected corpses and objects contaminated with the virus."The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Ituri province," the advisory noted. "Do not travel to this area for any reason."Though the outbreak appears to be the main cause of the advisory escalation, officials are also warning Americans about crime and civil unrest in the country.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIESThe advisory noted that U.S. government employees in Kinshasa need special permission to travel outside the city "due to safety risks.""The U.S. embassy has extremely limited ability to provide routine or emergency consular services outside of Kinshasa," the advisory warned."The local health infrastructure is inadequate. Health services, hygiene and quality control do not meet U.S. standards of care. Pharmacies are not well-regulated. Locally available medications may be unsafe," the advisory noted.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTERThe advisory also stated that petty crimes including pickpocketing and burglary are common. Violent crimes, including armed robbery and armed home invasion, were also noted."Criminals may pose as police or security agents," the State Department warned."Local police donot always inform the U.S. embassy when they arrest a U.S. citizen. They may also delay access to detained U.S. citizensoruseviolence and threats during interrogations."While not a mainstream tourist destination, Congo attracts adventure travelers drawn to its volcanoes, rainforests and rare mountain gorillas.The country is known for the Congo Basin, the world's second-largest rainforest after the Amazon.Scenic destinations in the country include Virunga National Park and Mount Nyiragongo, which contains one of the world's largest active lava lakes.TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZThe Associated Press, along with Melissa Rudy and Michael Sinkiewicz of Fox News Digital, contributed reporting.

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