RALEIGH, N.C. — Seth Jarvis scored on the power play in overtime after Carolina erased a deficit in regulation only to give up a late tying goal, and the Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night.

The series is now tied 1-1. Game 3 is at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday in Vegas.

Jarvis’ heroics 3:56 into OT came after a thrilling third period that included four goals being scored and another getting called off because of goaltender interference.

“It was a Iot,” said Jarvis, who scored for just the fourth time this playoffs. “We did a great job controlling our emotions. We never got too high, never got too low. Just kept responding, and that’s what I love about this group is we always bounce back.”

The Hurricanes had almost nothing going for the first 45 minutes, falling behind by two goals as the Golden Knights took advantage of a couple of scoring chances and locked down defensively. A couple of strong shifts in the offensive zone just before the midway point of the third brought the crowd back to life because the Hurricanes were buzzing.

Logan Stankoven made a terrific individual effort to get Carolina on the board, taking the puck away from Rasmus Andersson, going to the net and banking a shot off Jeremy Lauzon and in with 9:40 remaining in regulation. Less than three minutes later, Mark Jankowski fired a shot past Carter Hart to tie it, flipping the script from Game 1, when Vegas erased a multigoal deficit and won.

“Stanky did a great job getting it going and Janks with a great shot, and it just carried on from there,” Jarvis said.

This is the first time each of the first two games of a Cup Final featured a team falling behind by more than a goal and winning.

A big decision by Vegas coach John Tortorella with five minutes left paved the way for it to hpen.

Frederik Andersen initially went full extension to deny Ivan Barbashev with the paddle of his stick, and a scrum ensued in the crease that ended with the puck eventually in the net. Referee Jean Hebert waved it off immediately, saying Andersen was pushed into the net and ruling it was goaltender interference.

Tortorella after some deliberation opted to use his coach’s challenge, and the on-ice officials in consultation with the NHL’s situation room confirmed the call on the ice stood.

The punishment for a failed challenge is a two-minute minor penalty. The Hurricanes went on the power play, where they had been so ineffective all night and most of the playoffs.

Not this time. Jordan Staal redirected Shayne Gostisbehere‘s point shot in on the power play with 4:35 left in regulation.

The Hurricanes killed off a penalty in the intervening time before allowing Mark Stone to tie it with 1:21 left at 6-on-5 with Hart pulled for an extra skater. Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin actually knocked the puck into his own net on the play.

Early in overtime, Tomas Hertl tripped Staal to put Carolina back on the power play. That allowed Jarvis to score just Carolina’s ninth power-play goal of the playoffs.

“That’s a step in the right direction,” Jarvis said. “Our power play found our groove tonight. It started with Jordo in the third, and they’re just making the right plays, playing smart and being aggressive and it worked out.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

INDIANOLIS — Just about the only thing that went wrong for the Indiana Fever on Thursday night was Caitlin Clark vomiting at halftime.

Bouncing back from a two-game losing streak, the Fever had their best defensive performance of the season in an 83-71 victory over the Atlanta Dream.

Clark turned the hallway corner for her postgame media session with a white towel dred over her shoulders as she held it across her mouth. The Fever star’s voice sounded gravelly as she told reporters she was a little ill at halftime. That, however, didn’t stop her from playing on and finishing with 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

“I haven’t puked that much in a really long time,” Clark said. “But then I felt fine. I felt light. So, I was running around feeling good in the second half, but [I] feel OK. Obviously, I’m losing my voice a little bit. But I’ll be good.”

At the end of a six-day stretch filled with drama, from a heated sideline exchange between Clark and coach Stephanie White to a team meeting to discuss recent troubles, the Fever (5-4) had their best win of the season, leading to what felt like a teamwide exhale of relief.

It was also the fewest points the Fever have allowed this season after they entered the day 13th in the league in defensive scoring at 89.0 points per game. The Dream, who were held to 29 first-half points, had their lowest-scoring game of the season.

“I liked our activity level,” White said. “Figuratively, of course, we hit first. We were the aggressor. We were active. We were anticipating. They felt us; they felt our energy. Our grit and our toughness was as good as it’s been all year long.”

On Monday, a day after a 100-84 loss to the Portland Fire that marked the low point of their season so far, the Fever had a heart-to-heart in what proved to be a productive team meeting free of intrasquad bickering. The session was used to identify shortcomings and deal head-on with other lingering issues.

“I think it speaks to our culture,” said Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 25 points on Thursday night and surpassed 5,000 career points. “Over the last couple of days … our energy shifted as a group. I think that our culture constantly made changes. When you have hard conversations as a group, you pour into one another. You get days like this because you actually poured in. We did the work the right way.

“Talent gets us there, but team camaraderie and just being honest about where we are as a group keeps us there.”

The matchup was the opener to Commissioner’s Cup play for Indiana. Atlanta was already 1-0 in Cup play with a 91-75 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday.

The Fever are the reigning Cup champions and knocked the Dream out of the 2025 playoffs in the first round.

So, there was plenty of juice inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse for a game that featured two of the league’s biggest names in Clark and Dream center Angel Reese, who was booed from the start of pregame introductions.

“Any small little championship, we want to have and we want to take,” Reese told ESPN at shootaround. “All of us are competitors and … all of us want to win as many games and as many things that we can get. Atlanta hasn’t won a Commissioner’s Cup championship before, so we want to do that.”

Nothing went well for the Dream on the offensive end as they shot a season-low 34.3% and were 6-for-21 from behind the arc. Three-time All-Star Rhyne Howard (eight points) and Eastern Conference Player of the Month Allisha Gray (13) were both held to season lows in points.

Aliyah Boston finished with 19 points and seven rebounds for the Fever.

Colombian pop star Shakira will perform her official song for the 2026 World Cup at the competition’s opening ceremony in Mexico.

Shakira will perform Dai Dai, along with Burna Boy, on Thursday, 11 June at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, before Mexico and South Africa play the first of the tournament’s 104 games (20:00 BST).

Dai Dai – an Italian phrase meaning “let’s go” or “come on”.

Colombian reggaeton star J Balvin and South African singer-songwriter Tyla will also perform at the show in Mexico.

Opening ceremonies will precede each of the first matches played in the host nations of USA, Canada and Mexico.

Canadian singer-songwriters Michael Buble and Alanis Morissette will headline the opening ceremony at BMO Field in Toronto before Canada take on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday, 12 June (20:00 BST).

In the USA, pop star Katy Perry and rper Future will perform before the USA take on Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, 12 June (Saturday, 02:00 BST).

Shakira, along with Madonna and K-pop boyband BTS, will also co-headline the Super Bowl-style half-time show at this summer’s World Cup final on 19 July.

Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals was a tactical defensive slugfest more emblematic of the 1990s, when the New York Knicks last made the Finals, than of 2026.

The Knicks’ 105.0 offensive rating in the game would have ranked 30th in this regular season, and the San Antonio Spurs‘ 96.0 offensive rating also would have ranked last, by a double-digit margin in their case. The two teams shot a combined 39% from the field and 28% from 3-point range.

Thanks to superior performances from their stars and a tremendous closing kick, the Knicks overcame a 14-point deficit to steal Game 1 on the road, winning 105-95. New York has now won 12 games in a row and needs just three more victories to claim its first championship in 53 years.

Let’s break down Game 1 from all angles, from its most important plays to the key indicators and matchups to watch in Game 2 (Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN p).

Quick links:
Schedule | Bracket | Takeaways
Sights, sounds | Playoff coverage

The most important plays of Game 1

The home team was in control for most of Game 1. San Antonio led by 14 points midway through the third quarter, 65-51, before New York came alive.

With Spurs backup center Luke Kornet in the game in place of Victor Wembanyama, Karl-Anthony Towns found a curling Mikal Bridges for a jumper. Then Towns dished to a cutting Landry Shamet — who benefited from no Wembanyama blockading the rim — for two more points. Towns then blew past Kornet for an and-1 layup on the next trip down the floor.

— KramClips (@KramClips) June 4, 2026

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson called a timeout and reinserted Wembanyama, but Towns’ hot hand didn’t evorate. He grabbed an offensive rebound over the young Frenchman for a putback layup, and on the next possession he showed why the Spurs have such difficult matchup choices in these Finals.

With Wembanyama nominally guarding Josh Hart — the Spurs’ preferred assignment because it allows the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year to roam the baseline in a free safety role — the Knicks’ offense struggled to create an opening. Wembanyama corralled a Jalen Brunson pick-and-roll, halted a Hart drive and deterred Shamet from venturing into the lane. The shot clock wound down, and Hart was forced to launch a semi-contested 3-pointer over Wembanyama’s outstretched left arm. That’s normally a great outcome for San Antonio.

And indeed, Hart’s shot missed. With Wembanyama now on the perimeter, though, Towns had precious room to work down low. He outmuscled Keldon Johnson for another offensive rebound, shook off the contact and scored another and-1 layup. A 14-point lead had dwindled to two in less than four minutes.

— KramClips (@KramClips) June 4, 2026

When Towns is at his best, he blends force at the basket with a reliable 3-pointer with a newly discovered playmaking spark. Spurs wings such as Johnson, Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie aren’t big enough to stop him, and Kornet isn’t fast enough. That leaves Wembanyama as perhs the only Spur who can keep him off the scoreboard.

The Spurs used Wembanyama on Towns more than expected in Game 1, but they create the most defensive havoc when Wembanyama can serve as the league’s best backline helper rather than spacing out with a shooter. They want to match him with Hart. Yet, as Towns showed on this key play in the Knicks’ crucial third-quarter run, he might be too tricky a matchup for anyone else to handle.

That difference between Towns and Chet Holmgren — who did not make the Spurs pay for guarding him with a wing — is why the Knicks won Game 1 in the Finals (and the Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t win Game 7 of the Western Conference finals).

Towns’ final stat line of 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists doesn’t cture his holistic impact Wednesday night. He wasn’t solely a one-way player; if anything, he excelled even more on the defensive end, where he held up better than expected against Wembanyama.

The Knicks almost exclusively defended Wembanyama with centers (Towns and Mitchell Robinson), rather than mixing in coverage from a physical wing such as Hart or OG Anunoby. And that proach worked. Wembanyama drew several fouls on Towns, but he shot just 2-for-13 from the field when Towns was his primary defender, according to GeniusIQ . He had nine points and five turnovers against Towns.

Overall, Wembanyama finished Game 1 with his most turnovers (six) and missed shots (15) in any game this postseason. He’ll need to solve Towns’ challenge — on both ends — going forward.

Three key Game 1 lessons

1. Hart continues to struggle with his jumper in this postseason — he’s now down to 29% on 3-pointers — but he remains the Knicks’ most important glue guy, and he has a clear place in this series. Although he ended Game 1 with just three points, he contributed 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals, and he was a game-high plus-22.

Larry Bird is the only other player in NBA Finals history with at least 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals in a game. And Hart is the first player to lead a Finals game outright in all three categories, per ESPN Research.

It’s no coincidence that the Spurs won the first half (when Hart played just seven minutes due to foul trouble) but lost the second half (when Hart played 20 minutes) convincingly.

2. De’Aaron Fox made a couple of huge plays to end the first half: He swiped the ball from Brunson, converted a fast-break dunk and made a nifty kickout pass to Julian Champagnie for a corner 3.

But Fox was otherwise invisible in Game 1. His seven points was the fewest for any Spurs starter, and he recorded as many turnovers (three) as made field goals. (So did Wembanyama, with six of each.) Immediately after Brunson made a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minutes, Fox missed an open pull-up jumper that would have tied the score.

Put another way, one lefty All-Star point guard made his clutch shot, and one lefty All-Star point guard didn’t. Sometimes, the sport is that simple.

Meanwhile, another dynamic lefty point guard — Spurs rookie Dylan Harper — was arguably San Antonio’s best player Wednesday. The 20-year-old backup was aggressive and fearless in his first Finals game, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting; he was the only Spur who made at least half of his shot attempts.

Fox is a veteran with a solid end-of-game reputation — who can forget that he was the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year winner in 2023, two years before Brunson claimed that award? — but it was still a surprise that Harper wasn’t in Mitch Johnson’s closing group. That dynamic is worth watching if a g between the two players’ performances persists.

3. “Our transition defense was terrible in the first half,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said to sideline reporter Lisa Salters at halftime.

He wasn’t wrong. According to ESPN Research, the Spurs had 16 transition plays in the first half, which was tied for the most by any team in a Finals half in the era (since 2013-14). They scored 21 points on those plays.

Given how much the Spurs struggled to score in the half court in Game 1, they needed to run to generate offense. But New York has allowed the second-fewest fast-break points in the playoffs, behind only Toronto. (San Antonio ranks third.) The Spurs need to identify more opportunities to push the pace throughout Game 2.

Notes and loose ends looking ahead to Game 2

• One encouraging sign for San Antonio is that its offensive process wasn’t as dire as its offensive results. According to GeniusIQ, the two teams were just about equal in quantified shot probability, which estimates a team’s “expected” effective field goal percentage based on factors like shooter identity and defender location.

The Spurs underperformed their expected effective field goal percentage by 10.1%, their second-worst mark in any game this season, and their worst in the postseason. The Knicks also underperformed, but by a less outlier-y 5.1%.

Better shooting luck for the Spurs in Game 2 would go a long way toward evening the Finals.

• The Spurs attempted to defend Brunson with rookie Carter Bryant for a stretch in the second quarter. Bryant is the sort of big, physical wing who can slow Brunson in theory.

But in practice, Brunson torched the rookie with repeated drives to the basket. He shot 3-for-4 with Bryant as his primary defender, and Bryant didn’t get off the bench in the second half.

Add in an ineffective stint from Harrison Barnes and just eight minutes for Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson, his fewest in any playoff game, and the Spurs are looking thin at the forward positions.

• Beyond that abbreviated stretch with Bryant, however, the Spurs made Brunson work for every one of his 30 points in Game 1. He wasn’t very efficient, with 31 field goal attempts, and his quantified shot probability was just 48%, per GeniusIQ — his lowest mark in any game this postseason.

Such is life against the Spurs’ defense. Out of the 15 games that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played in these playoffs, the bottom six in shot quality all came against San Antonio last round.

Brunson has demonstrated, time and again, his ability to make tough shots. But the shot diet in Game 1 was difficult even for him.

• One of the main battlegrounds in this series is the Knicks’ relentless rim attacks versus the Spurs’ dominant rim defense. Entering the Finals, New York led all playoff offenses with 54.8 points in the paint per 100 possessions, while the Spurs led all playoff defenses by allowing just 40.9.

The Knicks won that battle in Game 1, with 50 points in the paint, and that stat continues to be predictive of San Antonio’s results this spring. The Spurs are now 3-6 in the playoffs when they allow at least 40 points in the paint, versus 9-1 when they hold teams below 40.

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva reached her first Grand Slam final with a dominant victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk at the French Open.

A beaten semi-finalist in 2024, Andreeva was hugely impressive throughout her 6-1 6-3 victory and will await compatriot Diana Shnaider, the 25th seed, or Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in Saturday’s final.

The 19-year-old is the fourth-youngest woman to reach the Roland Garros showpiece in the past 30 years, after Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Coco Gauff.

Should she prevail, Andreeva would become the third-youngest first-time Grand Slam champion this century, after Maria Sharova and Emma Raducanu.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine provided an unavoidable backdrop to the contest, with Kostyuk regularly denouncing the war since it began in February 2022 – and being highly critical of athletes from Russia who have failed to do so.

In keeping with the stance taken by Ukrainian players over the past four years, Kostyuk did not pose for a pre-match photo with Andreeva, and the players did not shake hands afterwards.