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For the second time in three years, the Vegas Golden Knights are back in the second round.

The Golden Knights continued their offensive assault on the Winnipeg Jets with a commanding 4-1 clinching win in Game 5 of their first-round series Thursday at T-Mobile Arena. This will be the fourth time the NHL’s 31st team will play in the second round since it entered the league in the 2017-18 season, when it reached the Stanley Cup finals.

The Golden Knights closed out the series following the same formula they used after losing Game 1: They grounded the Jets on the tarmac.

Chandler Stephenson scored his first of two goals to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead. Captain Mark Stone doubled the lead, followed by a goal from William Karlsson before Stephenson grabbed his second to push it to 4-0 to end the second. Goaltender Laurent Brossoit, who started all five games in the series, finished with 30 saves and nearly recorded his first career postseason shutout.

The Golden Knights entering the third period with a four-goal advantage was in stark contrast to how the series started. The Jets opened with a 5-1 win in Game 1. But the Golden Knights responded by winning the next four games by scoring 22 goals while allowing only eight goals to the Jets — a team that entered the postseason facing questions about how it could consistently score goals over the course of a series.

Now the Golden Knights will await the winner of the Edmonton OilersLos Angeles Kings series. The Oilers have a 3-2 series lead and will seek to advance to the second round with a win Saturday.

Last season was the first time the Golden Knights missed the Stanley Cup playoffs, after they came up three points short of the final Western Conference wild-card spot. Missing the playoffs led to the Golden Knights changing coaches and hiring former Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy while signing forward Phil Kessel in free agency.

They also added goaltender Adin Hill to have one more option in what became a platoon effort to fill in for Robin Lehner, who missed the entirety of the 2022-23 season to recover from a hip injury.

Under Cassidy, the Golden Knights were one of the most balanced teams in the NHL. They had 12 players who scored more than 10 goals while having 20 players who finished the regular season with more than 10 points.

In net, they largely relied on a tandem of Hill and rookie Logan Thompson, who was named to the NHL All-Star Game. The Golden Knights eventually introduced veteran Jonathan Quick into the group at the trade deadline while Brossoit returned after recovering from a lower-body injury that saw him play in the AHL before coming back to the NHL.

It led to the Golden Knights consistently grappling for position in the contentious Western Conference playoff race. The Golden Knights came away with the best record in the West.

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Rich Rod bans Mountaineers from TikTok dancing

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Rich Rod bans Mountaineers from TikTok dancing

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, like all football coaches, wants his players to show up on time, work hard and play their best.

Oh, and another thing: Don’t dance on TikTok.

“They’re going to be on it, so I’m not banning them from it,” he said Monday. “I’m just banning them from dancing on it. It’s like, look, we try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok, ain’t quite the image of our program that I want.”

Making TikTok dance videos is a popular activity among high school- and college-age users of the social media platform. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, Boise State star Ashton Jeanty and Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola are among college football players who have posted dance videos.

Rodriguez is beginning his second stint as Mountaineers coach. He said he has talked to his players about the tendency in society to emphasize the individual rather than the team and that banning TikTok dancing is something he can do to put the focus where he thinks it belongs.

“I’m allowed to do that. I can have rules,” he said. “Twenty years from now, if they want to be sitting in their pajamas in the basement eating Cheetos and watching TikTok or whatever the hell, they can go at it, smoking cannabis, whatever. Knock yourself out.”

As for now, he said: “I hope our focus can be on winning football games. How about let’s win the football game and not worry about winning the TikTok?”

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Battle, DB star at USC and former Jet, dies at 78

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Battle, DB star at USC and former Jet, dies at 78

LOS ANGELES — Mike Battle, an All-American defensive back and a member of USC‘s 1967 national championship team who later played two seasons for the New York Jets, has died. He was 78.

He died of natural causes on March 6 in Nellysford, Virginia, the school said Tuesday.

In 1967, Battle led a USC defense that allowed only 87 points all season. The Trojans were 26-6-1 and won three conference titles during his three-year career. Battle played in the 1967, 1968 and 1969 Rose Bowl games, all won by the Trojans.

Battle was USC’s annual punt return leader in each of his three seasons and still owns the school record for most punts returned in a season. He was the NCAA statistical champion in 1967, when he had 49 returns for 608 yards, a 12.4-yard average. He also holds the school mark for most punts returned, with 99 during his three years.

He was chosen in the 12th round of the 1969 NFL draft by the Jets and played for two seasons in 1969 and 1970.

Battle appeared in the 1970 film “C.C. and Company,” a biker film starring Jets teammate Joe Namath and actor Ann-Margret.

He is survived by his wife Laura and children Christian Michael, Hunter, Frank, Michael, Kathleen, Murphy and Annie.

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Stars forward Hintz out a week with facial injury

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Stars forward Hintz out a week with facial injury

Dallas Stars forward Roope Hintz will be sidelined for a week with a facial injury but avoided a fracture.

General manager Jim Nill said Tuesday that Hintz has to keep his heart rate down for 5-7 days to avoid pressure or swelling.

Hintz, 28, was struck in the face by a puck midway through the second period in Saturday’s 5-4 loss at Edmonton. He did not return.

Hintz is tied for second on the Stars in goals (25) and is fourth in points (52) through 59 games this season.

He has 362 points (172 goals, 190 assists) in 451 career games in seven NHL seasons. Dallas drafted him in the second round in 2015.

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