DENVER (AP) — Valeri Nichushkin completed a hat trick with an empty-net score after Nathan MacKinnon knocked in the go-ahead goal with 4:15 remaining and the Colorado Avalanche rallied from two goals down to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-4 on Saturday night.

It was Nichushkin's first three-goal game in the regular season. He also had a hat trick in Game 4 of a first-round playoff series in 2024. Nichushkin tied his career-high with four points.

With Colorado on the power play, MacKinnon sent a wrist shot over the glove of Anthony Stolarz to give Colorado the lead. The Avalanche tied the game on Jonathan Drouin’s goal with 8:05 left. It was part of five consecutive goals for Colorado after trailing 4-2 in the second period.

Joel Kiviranta also scored and MacKinnon closed it out with an empty-netter for the Avalanche, who improved to 5-0 on their six-game homestand.

MacKinnon's two scores extended his home points streak to 19 games. He also moved one point away from 1,000 for his career.

Mackenzie Blackwood allowed four goals on 21 shots.

Mitch Marner and John Tavares each had two goals and Auston Matthews added three assists for Toronto. Stolarz finished with 27 saves.

Both teams featured new-look lineups following Friday’s trade deadline. The Avalanche added centers Charlie Coyle and Brock Nelson. The Maple Leafs brought in defenseman Brandon Carlo and forward Scott Laughton.

Takeaways

Maple Leafs: Marner's two goals gave him 21 for the season for his fifth straight 20-goal season.

Avalanche: The Avalanche have used 46 players this season. It's the most since the team moved to Denver in 1995-96.

Key moment

Nelson and Coyle recorded assists in their debuts with the Avalanche.

Key stat

Matthews had his 56th career three-point game.

Up next

Avalanche host Chicago on Monday to conclude a six-game homestand, and Maple Leafs visit Utah to finish a three-game trip.

Gilgeous-Alexander scores 40 as Thunder top Nuggets 127-103 in matchup of West leaders

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets 127-103 on Sunday in a matchup between the top two teams in the Western Conference.

Gilgeous-Alexander had eight assists and made all eight of his free throws for the West-leading Thunder, who won their seventh straight game and improved to 53-11. Jalen Williams added 26 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Denver's Nikola Jokic, who along with Gilgeous-Alexander is a top contender in the NBA MVP race, had 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. He was coming off the league’s first 30-20-20 triple-double in his team's 149-141 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.

Michael Porter Jr. had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets.

Denver went up 10-0 early as it took the Thunder nearly three minutes to score, but Oklahoma City cut its deficit to 29-28 by the end of the quarter.

The Thunder led 61-60 at halftime and took an 86-83 lead into the fourth quarter.

In a key sequence, Oklahoma City’s Aaron Wiggins stole the ball from Denver's Russell Westbrook, then Chet Holmgren dunked at the other end to give the Thunder a 98-91 lead with just under nine minutes remaining. Denver coach Michael Malone was called for a technical foul, and Williams made the free throw. Oklahoma City controlled the game from there.

Takeaways

Nuggets: Jokic, normally the bully on the court, seemingly got frustrated with Oklahoma's 7-footers, Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. He put up numbers but wasn't as dominant or smooth as he often is.

Thunder: Oklahoma City played at full strength after resting its key players, including Gilgeous-Alexander, during Friday's win against Portland.

Key mo

ment

Williams stole the ball from Jokic to spark a fast break. Oklahoma City's Lu Dort went up for a one-handed dunk that would have ignited the crowd, but he missed. Williams collected the rebound, then found Dort open in the corner. Dort knocked down a 3 that put the Thunder ahead 112-99 with just over four minutes remaining.

Key stat

The Thunder committed just five turnovers.

Up next

The teams meet again Monday night in Oklahoma City.

Buffalo Bills release NFL's active sacks leader Von Miller in a salary cap-saving move

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills announced the long-anticipated decision to release Von Miller on Sunday, parting ways with the aging edge rusher whose contract proved too expensive for his dwindling playing time and production.

The move allows the Bills to free up about $8.4 million in salary cap space, which comes close to matching how much the team was projected to be over the limit before the NFL’s new year begins Wednesday. Nevertheless, a portion of Miller’s contract will remain on Buffalo’s books this year and is projected to count more than $15 million against the cap.

The Bills posted a picture of Miller with the words “Thank You Von” in making the announcement on their X account.

The 14-year veteran is the NFL's active leader in sacks and set to turn 36 in two weeks. Miller avoided being released a year ago by agreeing to take a substantial pay cut to lower his cap number. It’s unclear if the two sides considered a similar contract restructuring this offseason.

Miller expressed optimism he’d remain in Buffalo for a fourth season after the Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game in January.

“There’s always some stuff that you can work out or something that you can do,” Miller said.

“I want to be here. I don’t want to speak for them, but I think they want me here, too,” he added. “If you want to make God laugh, start making plans. But I plan on being a Buffalo Bill for sure.”

General manager Brandon Beane was vague in saying the team was still working through its roster plans when specifically asked about Miller's status at the NFL combine in Indianapolis last month.

Beane has since placed his priority on locking in his young core by signing fourth-year edge rusher Greg Rousseau and third-year players linebacker Terrel Bernard and receiver Khalil Shakir to four-year contract extensions.

Miller failed to play to the high expectations Beane had in making the bold gamble to sign the player to a six-year, $120 million contract three years ago. Miller chose Buffalo instead of re-signing with the Los Angeles Rams after winning his second Super Bowl.

After leading the Bills with eight sacks through his first 10 games in 2022, Miller tore the ACL in his right knee in Week 11, an injury from which he never fully recovered.

He failed to register a sack in 12 regular-season and two playoff games in 2023. Miller had six sacks in 15 games, including playoffs, last season. His playing time was severely limited to mostly pass-rush situations in averaging 21 1/2 snaps per regular-season outing.

Miller also missed four games because of an NFL suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The suspension stemmed from allegations that Miller assaulted his pregnant girlfriend a year earlier. He was arrested but never charged.

The future is cloudy for a player who enters free agency for just the second time entering what would become his 15th season. His 129 1/2 sacks rank 16th — two behind Lawrence Taylor and Leslie O’Neal since sacks became an official stat in 1982.

Miller was the No. 2 pick in the 2011 draft and spent his first 10-plus seasons with the Denver Broncos. He earned NFL defensive rookie of the year honors and appeared in two Super Bowls with Denver, including the Broncos' win in the 2015 season.

Fast-flying Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon closing in on 1,000-point milestone

DENVER (AP) — Let’s make this quick: Nathan MacKinnon's fast. Every defenseman and goaltender around the league knows about his elite speed all too well.

Knowing that doesn’t make containing the hard-charging, fast-flying Colorado Avalanche forward any easier.

MacKinnon’s swiftness on the ice has led to an accelerated pace through the record books. His next goal or assist will join him with Hall of Famers Joe Sakic and Peter Stastny as the only skaters in franchise history to reach 1,000 points.

The reigning NHL MVP also became the first player in the league this season to reach 100 points.

“He continues to impress me,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar, whose team is 5-0 on a six-game homestand that concludes Monday against Chicago. “He’s grown a lot as a player, as a leader, his consistency, the way he’s dangerous every time he touches the ice.

“It’s a tough league, and he still finds a way every night to get on the board and make an impact on the offensive side, all while being a good defender and growing his defensive game, too.”

MacKinnon's not one to focus on individual milestones. But he will about team success. He likes the makeup of this new-look Avalanche squad, which in recent days has acquired Charlie Coyle, Brock Nelson, Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey and former teammate Erik Johnson.

“It's great to get some veterans in, honestly,” MacKinnon said Saturday night after a 7-4 win over Toronto in which he had two goals. “They come in, they're chatting, they're getting to know everybody, they're not shy at all, they've been around and they're great players. ... It's a big change. It's pretty cool how well we played."

MacKinnon's proven a quick study, too. When the Avalanche sent Mikko Rantanen to Carolina (Rantanen was later traded to Dallas ) as part of a deal for Martin Necas on Jan. 24, MacKinnon brushed up on the tendencies of his newest linemate.

It's led to quick chemistry with Necas, who has five goals and 11 assists over 15 games since joining the Avalanche.

“He’s an elite player,” Necas said of MacKinnon. “So fun to watch him.”

Unless, of course, you’re the opposition.

“If you don’t respect (his speed), he’s going to burn right by you,” said San Jose rookie Macklin Celebrini, the top overall pick in 2024.

Celebrini studies MacKinnon’s game to pick up tips.

“Nate’s speed, it’s not really something you can kind of replicate, just how powerful he is and how strong he is,” Celebrini said. “But his habits and his routes and his tendencies you can look at and see if you can try to emulate a little bit or fit some of that into your game.”

MacKinnon has 27 goals and 73 assists this season to reach 100 points for a third straight season. The only other Avalanche/Nordiques player to accomplish a streak like that was Stastny, who had six straight 100-point seasons from 1980-81 to 1985-86.

The top pick in 2013, the 29-year-old MacKinnon also is on the precipice of becoming the first player in his draft class to reach 1,000 points (362 goals, 637 assists). The next closest is Florida center Aleksander Barkov — the second overall pick — with 771 points.

In addition, MacKinnon has notched at least a point in 19 straight home games. It’s the second-longest home points streak of the season, trailing only Zach Werenski’s 22-game string from Nov. 1 to Feb. 22 for Columbus.

“We kind of see it every night, so we’re used to it almost,” teammate Jonathan Drouin said. “Someone that watches him once or every two weeks is probably like, ‘Oh, wow.’ For us, we’re used to how he plays, and you kind of expect that from him.

“We’re going to look back when we’re all done playing, look back at those years he had, and that’s when you will know how special of player he is.”

Sidney Crosby sees the intensity of MacKinnon each offseason when they train together. The Pittsburgh Penguins standout joked about how difficult it was to keep up with MacKinnon's speed when the tandem helped Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

“Anytime you see guys up close and how hard they work and how much they put into it, you want to see them get rewarded,” Crosby said of MacKinnon's quest for 1,000 points. “He’s somebody that’s continued to want to get better every single year.”

MacKinnon's drive has certainly been contagious among teammates.

“You want to make sure you’re good, because he’s going to be good every night," Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood said. "He brings out the best in everybody, because he expects the best of himself.

“It’s a lot better to have him on your side than facing him.”

Top-seed Northern Colorado routs Weber State 76-52 in Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinal

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Isaiah Hawthorne had 29 points to lead Northern Colorado to a 76-52 victory over Weber State on Sunday night in a Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinal.

The top-seeded Bears (24-8) move on to Tuesday's semifinals where they will play the winner of Monday's quarterfinal matchup between No. 4 seed Idaho State and fifth-seeded Montana State.

Hawthorne also grabbed seven rebounds for the Bears. Brock Wisne scored 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting. Jaron Rillie pitched in with 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

The ninth-seeded Wildcats (12-22) were led by Blaise Threatt with 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Viljami Vartiainen and Vasilije Vucinic added 10 points apiece.

Northern Colorado took the lead with 19:45 left in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 42-22 at halftime behind 17 points from Hawthorne.