A stunning last-minute comeback at the Final Four, plus Ovi’s epic chase

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Good morning! Make history today.

Final Two: Madness, finally

For much of Saturday night, it looked like we were destined for the championship game we all expected: Florida vs. Duke. The Gators pulled away from Auburn late thanks to more Walter Clayton Jr. heroics, while the Blue Devils had built a commanding 14-point lead in the second half. Cue the madness…

Duke made just two field goals in the last 13 minutes of the game. Houston responded with timely buckets, ultimately going on an 11-1 run in the final 1:14. And Cooper Flagg – who had 27 points on the night – saw his go-ahead jumper fall short in the final seconds. Oof.

Back to Clayton and the Gators. Auburn led by eight at the half, but Clayton simply wouldn’t let Florida lose. His 34 points make him the first player to have back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four since Larry Bird in 1979. 🤯

Phew. Florida opened as a -1.5 favorite (via BetMGM) in the title game Monday. More madness, please.

Great Chase: Two ways of framing Ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin is right there. His two goals against the Blackhawks on Friday got him to 894, tied with Wayne Gretzky for the NHL record. The late third period was thrilling as the Capitals tried (and very nearly succeeded) to set up Ovechkin to break the record at home.

Whether or not the Capitals rest Ovechkin at the Islanders today to improve the chances that he sets the record at home, the moment is imminent. The NHL has reoriented itself around the chase in the season’s final days. Gretzky is in the building for his games, broadcast partners are scrambling to capture the moment and fans are hoping to get lucky and be in the building.

If you’ve followed Ovechkin’s whole career:

You might still be surprised by just how strong his charge at the record has been. He has carried more of the play this year than in a lot of seasons closer to his prime. Only 12 of his 41 goals (including one of two on Friday) have come on the power play, where he has spent two decades teeing off from the left faceoff dot. Ovechkin’s 29 goals at even strength are almost exactly his career median total.

He’s playing less than ever (under 18 minutes per night) and not throwing as many hits as he used to, but the Capitals’ possession and play-driving figures with him on the ice look stirringly similar to how they looked eight or 12 years ago. At 39, he hasn’t stopped the aging curve, but he’s slowed it, and he’s remained the heart and soul of a team that could win the Stanley Cup in June.

If you are not a big hockey person:

Just know that, yes, breaking Gretzy’s record is every bit as absurd and improbable as hockey people are making it sound. All the way back in 2010, when Ovechkin was half a decade into his run of already-torrid scoring, John Buccigross wrote a column at ESPN, wondering if getting here was possible. Yes, he wrote, but the best he could offer was to say that it was “not farfetched.” Few serious people thought it was even close to likely, and Ovechkin’s great pace back then did not support him catching Gretzky.

As recently as 14 or 15 months ago, when Ovechkin started last season on a downturn, his hopes looked to be fading.

The main hockey arrow being slung at Ovechkin lately is about his record 65 empty-net goals, scored on desperate teams that had yanked their netminders near the end of Capitals wins. Nobody likes an empty netter narc, though. Read The Athletic’s fun examination of empty-netters’ place in the goal-scorer’s psyche, and I think you’ll have a hard time reaching a conclusion about them, other than that there are no pictures on the scoreboard. Gretzky is next on the list with 56 goals into empty cages, so perhaps we can just note Ovechkin’s record a second time next year, when he moves 10 “real” goals ahead of The Great One.

There’s an off-ice caveat coming up a lot these days, too.Ovechkin’s friendship with Vladimir Putin got a lot of press when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and is starting to get more attention again, as Putin joins the rest of us in watching the athlete’s hunt. You can be your own judge of the most common reasoning given for Ovechkin’s action and inaction. (Gretzky is a political topic now, too, for his own reasons.)

Can’t get enough Ovi content? We’re launching a hockey newsletter just for you. Sign up here to get the first edition on April 18.

News to Know

Straight to Springfield

The 2025 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class is set. Let’s start with the headliners: Carmelo Anthony (deservedly) gets in on his first try despite never winning a championship. Three-time DPOY Dwight Howard, who people forget was First Team All-NBA for five straight seasons early in his career. The WNBA’s all-time assists leader and four-time champion Sue Bird.

Speaking of four-time WNBA champions: Maya Moore, who built an equally impressive legacy off the court. Other notable honorees: Sylvia Fowles, coach Billy Donovan and the 2008 “Redeem Team.” More reaction here.

More news:

What to Watch

📺 NHL: Capitals at Islanders

12:30 p.m. ET on TNT

The count is down to one. Alex Ovechkin needs one goal Sunday to stand alone atop the NHL’s all-time goals leaderboard. Ticket prices for this one have soared since Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky with a two-goal showing Friday.

📺 NCAAW: No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 2 UConn

3 p.m. ET on ABC

Will Paige Bueckers cap off a storied career with a trophy, or will Dawn Staley win her third in four years? Either way, you won’t want to miss this one. Don’t forget: This game tips at 3 p.m. ET (even though it probably shouldn’t, as Richard Deitsch wrote earlier this week).

📺 NBA: Lakers at Thunder

3:30 p.m. ET on NBATV

Sunday’s contest will mark the first of two meetings this week between these Western Conference powerhouses. The Lakers need a couple wins to hang onto third in the West, while the Thunder simply want to prove they’re still the team to beat.

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

This Marcus Thompson II special on this afternoon’s battle between two iconic coaches.

You have one week to catch up on “The Pitt” before the season finale (April 10) of the show that has everyone from my friend’s retired-army-nurse boomer dad to my favorite Gen Z podcaster locked in. “The Pitt” is “just” a medical drama the way Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding is “just” banana pudding or a hot-now Krispy Kreme donut is “just” a donut. — Hannah Vanbiber

Boiled crawfish. It’s crawfish season. Truly a delight. — Chris Branch

The Skylight calendar and app(!) has me finally on top of the 647 youth teams and activities my very small children are committed to. (Is that bad?) I too said “Serious?” on price but here I am. (And the Chores tab is *chef’s kiss* … a little digital threat.) — Chris Sprow 

Chantel Jennings’ great piece on Paige Bueckers, who has 40 minutes left in her college career to try to win a national championship. 

Is it poker? Is it solitaire? Is it a puzzle? It’s hard to explain, but the video game Balatro has absolutely consumed me for the past several months. If you treasure your friends, family and free time, do not download this game on your phone. — Alex Iniguez

Remember: Costco’s $10 pizza is so big, it might not fit in your fridge. — Jason Kirk

Jayson Stark’s always-delightful Weird & Wild column from the first week of the MLB season. 

The standard, simple black mandoline that you can buy at IKEA – Alex Kirshner

I forgot how fun (and ridiculous) the NBA Jam arcade game is. You can get one at home for less than $600! (Or simply play at your local arcade bar for much less than that.) — Sam Settleman

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on torpedo bats setting record sales figures.

Most-read on the website yesterday: The newser on UConn routing UCLA on Friday in the women’s Final Four.

Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Top photo: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)

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