Matthew Tkachuk's 2 goals lead Panthers past Wild 6-1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves and the Florida Panthers beat the Minnesota Wild 6-1 on Wednesday night.

Aaron Ekblad added his second goal of the season to go with two assists, and Mackie Samoskevich, Niko Mikkola and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for Florida. Tkachuk has 13 goals this season and has scored eight times in his past eight games.

Marco Rossi scored his 12th goal of the season for Minnesota. He has five goals in nine games since joining the top line with Kirill Kaprizov after Joel Eriksson Ek was injured.

Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots while making his 1,004th career start, surpassing Patrick Roy for third all-time. Only Martin Brodeur (1,251 starts) and Roberto Luongo (1,014) have more.

Panthers: Florida was closer to being at full strength with Aleksander Barkov’s return after missing two games with an illness, but Sam Bennett missed the game with an illness. Barkov’s line with Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe generated plenty of pressure in the offensive zone.

Wild: Losses in four of six — and two in a row in regulation for the first time this season — have come with Minnesota dealing with its own short-handed squad. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Eriksson Ek has missed seven games in a row with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Jake Middleton was out for the third straight game with an upper-body injury.

Tkachuk’s first goal with 4:32 remaining in the second came after Florida had a goal negated via replay for offside. He added his second goal 3:26 later after serving a roughing penalty.

The physical Panthers had a 37-21 edge in hits and lead the league in hits with 942.

The Panthers host St. Louis on Friday, while the Wild host Utah on the same night.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) defends his net against Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers players get into a scrum after Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk's (19) goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno, middle left, and Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) compete for the puck as Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky defends his net during the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad is congratulated for his goal against the Minnesota Wild during the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (25) is congratulated for his goal against the Minnesota Wild during the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) looks on during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, right, makes a save on a shot by Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov (97) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi, left, celebrates his power-play goal with left wing Kirill Kaprizov (97) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, left, and center Carter Verhaeghe (23) defend the puck from Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) makes a save on a shot by Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk, left, celebrates his goal with center Aleksander Barkov during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Hajj-Malik Williams passed for two touchdowns, Kylin James ran for another and No. 24 UNLV pulled away in the second half for a 24-13 victory over California in the LA Bowl on Wednesday night.

UNLV won for the first time in a bowl game since 2000 and the first outside of the Las Vegas Bowl. It also gave the Rebels (11-3) 11 wins for the first time as an FBS program.

Del Alexander, an assistant when UNLV last won a bowl game, was the interim head coach after Barry Odom departed for the vacancy at Purdue on Dec. 8.

Dan Mullen, who will take over UNLV's program next season after being hired last Thursday, was in attendance.

Cal (6-7), which hasn’t had a winning season since 2019, was missing quarterback Fernando Mendoza and leading wide receiver Nyziah Hunter, after both entered the transfer portal.

UNLV took a 7-3 lead during the first quarter when Williams connected with Kayden McGee for a 49-yard touchdown strike. The freshman got behind Cal’s secondary on a post pattern, caught the ball at the 13 and easily ran into the end zone for his first collegiate TD.

The Rebels went back on top 14-10 early in the second quarter as Jacob De Jesus took a shovel pass 12 yards and then did a backflip after scoring. The touchdown came a play after a successful fake punt when Marshall Nichols lobbed the ball to Cameron Oliver for a 52-yard gain to the Cal 9.

De Jesus also had a 38-yard punt return during the fourth quarter to set up a field goal by Caden Chittenden.

UNLV had a 14-13 lead at halftime but extended its lead to eight with 2:13 remaining in the third quarter when James went 23 yards up the middle. The Rebels regained possession after Jett Elad recovered the ball after Cal quarterback EJ Caminong fumbled on a lateral.

Williams was 5 of 18 for 96 yards while Jai'Den Thomas had 18 carries for 72 yards.

CJ Harris got his first start at Cal and completed 13 of 20 passes for 109 yards in 2 1/2 quarters of action. Caminong went the rest of the way and was 6 of 19 for 57 yards.

Jayden Ott rushed for 84 yards on 11 carries.

The Golden Bears' lone touchdown came with 19 seconds remaining in the first quarter when Josiah Martin went 29 yards on a reverse to give Cal a short-lived 10-7 advantage.

Cal: The Golden Bears got into UNLV territory only once on their eight second half drives.

UNLV: The victory should also mean the Rebels will be ranked in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time. A Mountain West team has won three of the four LA Bowls.

Both teams are slated to open the 2025 season on the road on Aug. 30. UNLV will be at Sam Houston State and Cal faces former Pac-12 foe Oregon State.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

California quarterback CJ Harris, left, stiff arms UNLV linebacker Marsel McDuffie during the first half of the LA Bowl NCAA college football game Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)