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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The accomplishment was special. The result disappointing.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby sat slumped at his locker stall Thursday night focused more on his team’s latest lopsided loss than the personal milestone of breaking an NHL record he shared with Wayne Gretzky for point-per-game consistency.

“It’s tough when you play to win. And obviously it’s a special milestone,” Crosby said following a 7-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, inching the Penguins closer to missing the playoffs for a third straight season.

“But you know in a game like that, it’s not really the same. So, yeah, just a tough night. Yeah, tough night.”

With his parents in the Buffalo stands, Crosby provided the Penguins’ lone highlight by scoring 8:49 into the first period to cut the Sabres’ lead to 2-1. Set up in front by Rickard Rackell, Crosby used his right skate to kick the puck onto his stick and in one motion snapped a shot inside the right post.

It was his 26th goal and 80th point of the season in his 72nd game, after missing two with injury. With eight games left in Pittsburgh’s season, Crosby is assured of finishing his 20th NHL season averaging at least a point per outing.

The Penguins captain surpassed the mark first set by Gretzky, who finished all but his 20th and final NHL season in 1998-99 averaging a point a game.

“He’s a tremendous, special player and person,” teammate Bryan Rust said. “There’s a lot of people who can be good for one, two, five years. But to do it for that long, I think is incredibly special.”

What stands out beyond the consistency to coach Mike Sullivan is Crosby’s competitive drive.

“I’ve said it on so many occasions, just his passion for the game and his willingness to put the work in to continue to be at his best. It’s just remarkable,” Sullivan said.

This, after all, is a player who has upped his game since the 4 Nations tournament by combining for nine goals and 22 points in his past 17 outings in a bid to carry the Penguins back into playoff contention.

“I think when you’re in circumstances like this, you find out a lot about people,” Sullivan said. “And I think it exemplifies his leadership.”

Since being selected by Pittsburgh with the No. 1 pick in 2005 draft, Crosby has led the franchise to win three Stanley Cup championships. He’s a two-time NHL regular season MVP and twice won the league’s regular-season points race.

“I think you have to continue to get better and learn, even after thjs long, you’ve got to continue to evolve and adjust,” Crosby said of the keys to his consistency. “But I’ve been pretty lucky to play with some great players over that 20 years. And I think that’s a big part of it, too.”

Crosby’s feat comes as Washington’s Alex Ovechkin is five goals from breaking Gretzky’s NHL career record of 894 career goals.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Crosby scored against Buffalo. He has made a career of producing against the non-division rivals in leading all active players with 86 points (30 goals, 56 assists) in 61 career games against the Sabres.

Loss aside, the consolation for Crosby was having his parents on hand to share yet another memorable moment in a career that included him scoring the gold-medal clinching goal in a 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

“They’ve been to a lot of games over the years and they’ve sacrificed so much and been so, so supportive,” Crosby said. “To have them here for a moment like this is really special. And it’s the least I could do.”

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Devers fans twice more, now at 12 K’s this year

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Devers fans twice more, now at 12 K's this year

ARLINGTON, Texas — Boston Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers became the first major leaguer to strike out 12 times in a season’s first four games.

Devers went 0-for-4 with two more strikeouts Sunday in Boston’s 3-2 loss to the Texas Rangers.

Devers’ latest mark for futility came a day after he became the first big leaguer to be fanned 10 times in the first three games of a season.

He’s 0-for-16, though he did draw a two-out walk in the ninth Sunday to keep the inning alive and put the potential tying run in scoring position.

The 12 strikeouts broke the previous record of 11 in the first four games, which had been done four times previously since 1901, according to SportRadar.

Brent Rooker of the Athletics struck out 11 times to open last season. The others were Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2020, Minnesota’s Byron Buxton in 2017 and Houston’s Brett Wallace in 2013.

Devers is now solely the Red Sox DH after their offseason acquisition of third baseman Alex Bregman.

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Hamlin gets 1st win at Martinsville in 10 years

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Hamlin gets 1st win at Martinsville in 10 years

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin ended an agonizing 10-year winless streak at Martinsville Speedway, holding off teammate Christopher Bell in his home state.

The Joe Gibbs Racing star, who was raised a few hours away in the Richmond suburb of Chesterfield, leads active Cup drivers with six victories at Martinsville. But Sunday was Hamlin’s first checkered flag on the 0.526-mile oval in southwest Virginia since March 29, 2015 and also his first with crew chief Chris Gayle, who joined the No. 11 team this season.

With the 55th victory of his career (tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time list), Hamlin also snapped a 31-race winless streak since last April at Dover. He led a race-high 274 of the final 275 laps after taking the lead from Chase Elliott.

“Chris Gayle, all the engineers, the pit crew, everybody really just deciding they were going to come here with a different approach than what we’ve been over the last few years,” said Hamlin, who was a frequent contender during his 19-race win drought at Martinsville with 10 top fives. “It was just amazing. The car was great. It did everything I needed it do to. Just so happy to win with Chris, get 55. Gosh, I love winning here.”

Bell, who leads the Cup Series with three wins in 2025, finished second after starting from the pole position, and Bubba Wallace took third as Toyotas swept the top three. The Chevrolets of Elliott and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.

“It was a great weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Bell, who had finished outside the top 10 the past two weeks. “Showed a lot of pace. All four of the cars were really good. Really happy to get back up front. The last two weeks have been rough for this 20 team. Really happy for Denny. He’s the Martinsville master. Second is not that bad.”

Hamlin had to survive four restarts — and a few strong challenges from Bell — in the final 125 laps as Martinsville produced the typical short-track skirmishes between several drivers.

The most notable multicar accident involved Toyota drivers Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick, who had a civil postrace discussion in the pits.

Bubba’s big day Bubba Wallace tied a season best and improved to eighth in the Cup points standings but was left lamenting his lack of speed on restarts after being unable to pressure Hamlin.

“I’m trying to scratch my head on what I could have done different,” said Wallace, who drives the No. 23 Toyota for the 23XI Racing team co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. “My restarts were terrible. One of my best traits, so I need to go back and study that. The final restart, I let that second get away. I don’t know if I had anything for Denny. It would have been fun to try. But all in all, a hell of a day for Toyota.”

Special day turns sour

After being honored Sunday morning with a Virginia General Assembly proclamation commending Wood Brothers Racing’s 75th anniversary, Josh Berry led 40 laps in the team’s hometown race before disaster struck. Berry’s No. 21 Ford was hit in the left rear by the No. 23 Toyota of Wallace while exiting the pits, causing Berry’s car to stall in Turn 2.

Berry, who can withstand a poor finish because his Las Vegas victory qualified him for the playoffs, returned after losing two laps for repairs. He still managed to lead the most laps for Wood Brothers Racing at Martinsville since NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson led 180 on April 29, 1973 (the team’s most recent victory at the track just east of its museum in Stuart, Virginia).

Up next

The Cup Series will race next Sunday at historic Darlington Raceway, the South Carolina track that will celebrate a “throwback weekend” that encourages teams to feature vintage paint schemes and crew uniforms.

It’s the first of two annual races on the 1.366-mile oval that dates to 1950. Brad Keselowski won last year’s throwback race, and Chase Briscoe won the Southern 500 last September.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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23XI, Front Row want countersuit to be dismissed

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23XI, Front Row want countersuit to be dismissed

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The two teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations said Wednesday in a filing that a countersuit against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and Michael Jordan’s manager is “an act of desperation” and asked that it be dismissed.

NASCAR’s countersuit contends that Jordan business manager Curtis Polk “willfully” violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements.

23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer 48 hours before the start of NASCAR’s playoffs.

The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week’s field to the teams that hold the charters, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI — co-owned by Jordan — and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the stock car series are a monopoly.

Wednesday’s filing claims that NASCAR’s counterclaim is “retaliatory” and “does not allege the facts necessary to state a claim.”

“NASCAR is using the counterclaim to engage in litigation gamesmanship, with the transparent objective of intimidating the other racing teams by threatening them with severe consequences if they support Plaintiffs’ challenge to the unlawful NASCAR monopoly,” the response says.

23XI and Front Row have requested NASCAR’s counterclaim be dismissed because it “fails at the threshold because it does not allege facts plausibly showing a contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade.

“The counterclaim allegations instead show each racing team individually determining whether or not to agree to NASCAR’s demands through individual negotiations — the opposite of a conspiracy.”

The filing also defends Polk, who was specifically targeted in NASCAR’s counterclaim as the mastermind of the contentious two-year battle between the teams and the stock car series. NASCAR claimed in its countersuit that Polk threatened a team boycott of Daytona 500 qualifying races, but the teams argued Wednesday “there is no allegation that such a threatened boycott of qualifying races ever took place.”

“None of NASCAR’s factual claims fit into the very narrow categories of blatantly anti-competitive agreements that courts summarily condemn as per se unlawful,” the teams said.

Jordan, through a spokesperson, sent word to The Associated Press that Polk speaks for him and the NBA icon views any attack on Polk as “personal.”

NASCAR’s attorney has warned that a consequence of the 23XI and Front Row lawsuit could lead to the abolishment of the charter system outright — NASCAR argues it would be a consequence and not what NASCAR actually wants to do — and that 23XI first made this personal by naming NASCAR chairman Jim France in the original antitrust lawsuit.

The teams struck back at the threat to eliminate the charter system in Wednesday’s filing. It alleges it is an empty threat meant to scare the 13 organizations that did sign the charter agreements.

The claim also says Front Row should be dismissed from NASCAR’s countersuit because “NASCAR does not allege any specific conduct by Front Row or its owners or employees to support a claim that it participated in the alleged conspiracy.”

“The other allegations in the counterclaim against Front Row are all entirely conclusory or improper group pleading that seeks to lump in Front Row with 23XI Racing, Mr. Polk, and “others,” while never identifying what — if anything — Front Row Motorsports itself has done to purportedly participate in the alleged conspiracy.”

There is no deadline for a judge’s decision.

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