PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins put center Evgeni Malkin on injured reserve Sunday due to an upper-body injury.

Malkin missed his fourth consecutive game against Tampa Bay. He was a late scratch before Tuesday's home game against Columbus when he participated in the morning skate, but wasn't available for pregame warmups.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said before the matchup with the Lightning that Malkin's IR move was procedural to activate forward Philip Tomasino from injured reserve. Sullivan labeled Malkin as day-to-day.

Malkin had a streak of 209 consecutive games before the injury, the 12th longest in team history. Pittsburgh is 1-1-1 during the current stretch without Malkin, a two-time NHL scoring champion and 2012 Hart Trophy winner.

Malkin, who scored his 500th goal and posted his 1,300th NHL point earlier this season, has eight goals and 24 assists in 41 games.

Sullivan also said Sunday that Malkin's linemate Michael Bunting was involved in a car accident outside PPG Paints Arena before the game. Sullivan said Bunting is OK, but he did not play against Tampa Bay. Bunting has 13 goals and 12 assists in 43 games this season.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Eric Staal became the fourth player to have his number retired by the Carolina Hurricanes when his No. 12 was raised at the Lenovo Center prior to the team's 3-2 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.

The Thunder Bay, Ontario, native and former No. 2 draft pick spent 12 of his 18 NHL seasons with Carolina, recording 455 goals and 608 assists over 1,365 career games. He served as captain from 2009 to 2016 and appeared in six NHL all-star games, winning MVP honors in the 2008 contest.

The 40-year-old Staal, who retired in July after signing a one-day contract with the team, joined Rod Brind'Amour (17), Ron Francis (10) and Glen Wesley (2) in the rafters.

He set several franchise records after the team relocated from Hartford, Connecticut, in 1997, including for goals scored (322), assists (453), points (775), games played (909), power-play goals (105), power-play points (252) and hat tricks (13).

Aside from the individual accomplishments, Staal saw the franchise carve its place in history after winning a Stanley Cup in 2006. He called that the highlight of his career.

"The memory I have of a Hurricane is of a Stanley Cup champion," Staal said. "It's not easy to win one. I only have one, and I won it here."

Staal was joined for the ceremony by family, including his brothers Jordan, who is the current Hurricanes captain, and Marc, a former NHL defenseman. Current Hurricanes players took in the festivities from the bench, and several of his former teammates were also present. Cam Ward and Justin Williams, members of the Hurricanes Hall of Fame, donned varsity jackets and watched the ceremony from the ice.

A video montage was played, featuring highlights and interviews from Staal's playing days.

"Words can hardly do justice how much this means to me," said Staal, who was occasionally interrupted by fans chanting his name. "Growing up ... playing in the NHL felt like an impossible dream."

Staal was presented with a Breitling watch engraved with his name and number and the phrase "Forever a Hurricane."

Speaking with reporters afterward, Staal said he'd like to get involved with hockey again in some capacity. But for now, he's busy at home.

"I have three boys. They're 15, 13 and 10," Staal said. "I'm helping coach my oldest son and my youngest. ... Time just kind of goes fast."

The night ended when Anaheim's Cutter Gauthier scored in overtime, his seventh of the season, off assists from Jackson LaCombe and Frank Vatrano.

AC Milan are leading the chase for Kyle Walker, sources have told ESPN, after he told Manchester City he wants to leave the club.

Walker was left out of the squad for the 8-0 FA Cup victory over Salford City on Saturday after informing director of football Txiki Begiristain that he wants to move abroad in the January window.

The 34-year-old was close to joining Bayern Munich in 2023. He is under contract at the Etihad Stadium until 2026 but a source has told ESPN that Milan are open to offering Walker a deal until 2027.

"I said to him now it's a question of the market," Guardiola said.

"He is an incredible player with his incredible physicality, when he is focused he is unstoppable as a right-back, He's a top class player, if he is fit he can play one, two, three, four more years as a professional.

"I never see a player with these physical conditions in my career, and of course I never, never, never have a desire for one player, but he has to have agreement with the club and I'm sorry, I was never involved with all the players."

Guardiola revealed the uncertainty around Walker's future meant he was left out of the squad to face Salford. City face Brentford in the Premier League on Tuesday and Guardiola says Walker could miss out again.

"I don't know, it depends on how we are going to train, I don't know," Guardiola said.

"I think I was clear all the time, if he wants to explore, the club is going to explore, and he has to decide, not me. It's not my decision.

"The situation is different now but the transfer window will finish when it finishes and I don't know what's going to happen."

Mikel Arteta described Arsenal's FA Cup third-round defeat to Manchester United on Sunday as a one-in-a-thousand occurrence after losing in a dramatic penalty shootout at Emirates Stadium.

Bruno Fernandes put the visitors in front on 52 minutes before Diogo Dalot was sent off nine minutes later for a late tackle on Mikel Merino.

Gabriel Magalhães equalized in the 63rd minute, but despite playing almost an hour against 10 men, Arsenal were unable to find another breakthrough, with captain Martin Ødegaard missing a penalty 18 minutes from the end of normal time.

United felt justice was done given the spot kick was awarded despite Harry Maguire making minimal contact with Kai Havertz in the box (there is no VAR in the FA Cup until the fifth round). But United were left to defend for long periods afterward, as Arsenal probed for a winner.

The hosts registered 26 shots in total, with Havertz guilty of two bad misses. He was also the only player to fail in the shootout, as Altay Bayindir saved his spot kick to give Joshua Zirkzee the chance to win the game and set up a fourth-round tie for United at home vs. Leicester City.

"It's unbelievable," Arteta told the BBC. "Obviously, you measure the performance and what we did in relation to the position, you know, you deserve to win the game by a mile. But the reality is we are out, and the only thing that's going to be judged is that, but internally, I can't.

"I love my players. I love our team and I love how good they are and what they do because in a thousand games, you should lose one, and probably it was this one. You have to understand this as well, it's part of our industry, our game and move on because you don't have time to do that, because on Wednesday we have a massive one."

Arsenal face a home clash with north London rivals Tottenham in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Hansi Flick said he was "really proud" of an "unbelievable" performance from his Barcelona team, after they fought back from a goal down to thrash Real Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Supercopa final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Barça were up against it when Kylian Mbappé put Madrid in front after just five minutes at the Al Jawhara Stadium, Jeddah, but turned the game around thanks to a brace from Raphinha and goals from Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Alejandro Balde.

"I'm really proud," Flick said in his post-match news conference. "Proud for the team, the staff, the club, the fans, everyone. Today was an unbelievable match. For the coaches, not so much! But for the fans it's really fantastic."

Flick's team began the season strongly and were leading LaLiga before a poor run of form in November and December saw them drop points in six of their last seven league games, with Flick's tactics questioned.

"We have to learn from every match, and today's match," Flick said, when asked what the Supercopa win meant for the rest of the campaign. "We can do things better, but we have a young team. We had some weeks where we didn't perform so good, and our situation in the league now is not nice. We speak about all these things in the dressing room, but for me it's important to focus on the next match."

"We know what we have to do on the pitch. "We believe in the boss and the boss believes in us," captain Raphinha said in his post-match news conference, after being named the final's MVP. "The important thing is we can fight for titles and win them."

Despite playing with 10 men for the last half hour after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was shown a red card, Barcelona's lead never looked under threat.

Szczesny started both games in the Supercopa, after regular keeper Iñaki Peña was dropped after arriving late for a team meeting.

"When Wojciech was sent off, for us it wasn't easy," Flick said. "Iñaki did fantastic, from zero to hero. But I'm very proud of how we defended, every situation, defending the goal as one team."

It's Barcelona's second Clásico victory of the season after they won 4-0 at Madrid in October.

"I don't want to look back," Flick said. "Today is a good day, we beat one of the best teams in the world, for the second time this season, it's unbelievable, we win a title here and we're very happy. Today is a day to be positive."

Carlo Ancelotti said he was "sad and disappointed" after Real Madrid's 5-2 Supercopa final defeat to Barcelona in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, while admitting his team "didn't defend well."

Kylian Mbappé put Madrid ahead in the fifth minute before Lamine Yamal levelled and goals from Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Alejandro Balde put Barça 4-1 up at half-time. Raphinha added a fifth goal after the break before goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off, and Rodrygo pulled a goal back for Madrid.

The result was a boost for Barcelona and coach Hansi Flick after their league form had slumped in recent weeks, and a blow for Madrid, who missed out on what would have been their third trophy this season.

"We have to look at the reality. We didn't defend well," a deflated Ancelotti said in his post-match news conference. "We tried to press high and defend with a low block. They scored the goals easily, and we didn't work hard, collectively or individually.

"We lost a lot of duels. That makes us sad and disappointed, but that's football. We have to take that sadness home. I understand the sadness of our fans. We feel that, but we have to look forward, and prepare for the next game, and recover the good form we'd been in."

Madrid are next in action in the Copa del Rey last 16 on Thursday, hosting Celta Vigo at the Bernabéu, before playing Las Palmas in LaLiga.

"I won't name anyone, I'm talking about the whole team," Ancelotti said. "We didn't defend well, we weren't compact, and we have to defend better ... We had an extra man [after Szczesny's red card] and we couldn't find solutions. But that doesn't hurt more, I'm sad about the game as a whole."

The Italian coach praised Mbappé, who has now scored in all three final appearances for Madrid -- the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup and now the Spanish Supercopa -- and has found the net 14 times in all competitions this season.

"I'd focus on Mbappé, who had a very good game," Ancelotti said. "It was a great move to score the goal. But the rest we should forget about, and look forward."

Meanwhile, Luka Modric vowed that Madrid would bounce back from the heavy defeat at the hands of their arch-rivals and apologised to the club's fans.

"I'm sure we're going to react after this tough defeat," Modric told reporters. "We didn't expect to lose like that, but it's football. We're sorry to the fans. We have to keep going, stay united, there's a lot of season left ... You can't always win. If you have to lose a trophy, we'd prefer it to be this one.

"We have to congratulate Barcelona, they played a very good game, they were better and that's all. We have to improve and correct our mistakes."

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- In the historic centre of Jeddah, in the old heart of the city, there's a football pitch. It isn't much: an uneven, artificial turf surface and two undersized goals. There are floodlights, and white lines painted on the ground, but no seats for spectators. It's surrounded by crumbling walls, half-abandoned buildings, and a few palm trees. This is football, like it has always been, everywhere.

But the game has changed. The 2034 FIFA World Cup is coming. Cristiano Ronaldo plays here in the Saudi Pro League, and so does Karim Benzema, at Jeddah's Al Ittihad. And 20 miles to the north of that pitch -- an hour's drive on a good day for traffic -- there's another: inside the 62,000 capacity Al Jawhara Stadium, in King Abdullah Sports City, the venue for the 2025 Spanish Supercopa.

A football pitch in Jeddah. But not the one where tonight's Clásico was played. Piece on the Supercopa coming up for @ESPNFC... pic.twitter.com/QNTSFRX9In

Alex Kirkland (@alexkirkland) January 12, 2025

This tournament has been held in Saudi Arabia since 2020 -- with a year off for the pandemic -- switching between Jeddah and the capital, Riyadh. Its latest iteration pits last season's top two LaLiga finishers and Copa del Rey finalists against each other in a "final four." A contract signed until 2029 is worth around 40 million a year to the Spanish football federation (RFEF). Half of that goes to the clubs.

Everybody here, except the fans of the other two teams involved, wants a Real Madrid-Barcelona final. It's the revamped tournament's raison d'etre: bringing a competitive Clásico, with a trophy at stake, to Saudi Arabia, with all of the attention -- and profit -- that generates.

"Are you going to the game?" a luggage handler at Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport asked, excited. "I hope it will be Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. It would be a beautiful final."

And it was, their third Clásico Supercopa final in a row, after Barça's 3-1 win in 2023 and Madrid's 4-1 victory in 2024. Sunday's 5-2 win for Barcelona had everything. Seven goals. A penalty. A red card. These games are inherently unpredictable, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti had explained a day earlier.

"Quality prevails," Ancelotti said. "There's so much individual quality that it overcomes the collective, which is above all in defence."

As it turned out, it wasn't a bad summary. Individual quality? For Barcelona, that meant Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski. For Madrid: Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior.

Defending? Not so much.

The lapses from both teams only added to the drama. Barcelona had two chances to score in the first five minutes alone, Thibaut Courtois saving Yamal's curling shot and then Raphinha's header. But less than a minute later, Madrid went ahead on the counterattack, Mbappé sprinting from the halfway line, twisting Alejandro Balde in knots before shooting across goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Mbappé's first Clásico, in LaLiga in October, was a misfire: Madrid lost 4-0 and Mbappé experienced a mini-crisis of faith, caught a record eight times by Barcelona's ruthlessly tight offside trap. Here, his confidence was high. Madrid have played three finals this season: the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the Spanish Supercopa. Mbappé has scored in all of them. Soon he was brushing off challenges, Ronaldo Nazario style, before being brought down, hurting his ankle.

But Barcelona's dominance of possession was already striking, with 83% of the ball in the first 20 minutes. And it wasn't long before they were level, a quick passing move ending with Lewandowski playing in Yamal, who did what he does -- cutting inside, Lionel Messi-like, and finishing left-footed past Courtois. The goals kept coming. In the 35th minute, a penalty to Barça, awarded after a VAR check found Eduardo Camavinga had caught Gavi with his studs. Lewandowski scored to make it 2-1.

This was already exactly the spectacle the federation and the Saudis wanted, the two biggest clubs in the world going toe-to-toe. But then Barcelona found another gear, and Real Madrid collapsed.

"They scored the goals easily," Ancelotti said afterwards. "We lost a lot of duels. ... I don't have to name anyone, I'm talking about the whole team, we didn't defend well."

There were two more Barcelona goals before half-time, Raphinha powering a header past Courtois, and Balde scoring in the last of nine added minutes. It was 4-1, and on the Barcelona bench, the substitutes and staff were leaping into the air in joyous celebration. Ancelotti made changes, bringing on Dani Ceballos for Camavinga -- who had been yellow-carded -- and Rodrygo gave Madrid hope, hitting the crossbar from an offside position. But a minute later, Raphinha had scored again. 5-1.

The Real Madrid fans inside the stadium sat in stunned silence. Barcelona's could barely believe what was happening, either. The game was over as a contest, but still, the action kept coming. Mbappé went past Szczesny and was brought down on the edge of the box, the keeper sent off, Barça down to 10 men. Rodrygo converted the free kick. There was even time for Dani Olmo -- whose availability for the tournament was in doubt until Spain's sports ministry ruled that he should be temporarily reregistered as a Barça player -- to play the last half hour. By the final whistle, many of the Madrid fans had already left their seats and headed for the exits.

Barcelona's win is emblematic of a season defined so far by its uncertainty. Barça looked unstoppable early on, leading the way in LaLiga; then their form fell apart, as Madrid slowly found themselves, and Bellingham started scoring. But Barça haven't always been played badly in defeat, and Madrid often haven't convinced in victory. And right now, neither team is on top of LaLiga anyway, at the season's midpoint: that's Atletico Madrid, who quietly beat Osasuna 1-0 in the league on Sunday.

What happens in the second half of the season is anyone's guess, but this was a triumphant night of rebirth for Barcelona, coach Hansi Flick and his players, and a major blow for Madrid, who don't lose many finals, certainly not conceding five goals.

And it was a very good night for the Spanish football federation. Selling a product like this is easy.

"For us [Saudis], football belongs to two countries: Brazil and Spain," Fahad, a driver and security guard, told me before the game. It's illustrious company. After winning Euro 2024, Spain is back, the image of the national team restored. After this Supercopa, so are Barcelona.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott stated the obvious after the No. 2 seed Bills defeated the No. 7 seed Denver Broncos 31-7 in the wild-card round Sunday to move on to the divisional round, where they will host the No. 3 seed Baltimore Ravens next weekend.

"I mean, this is what everyone's been waiting for, right," McDermott said.

The Bills will be coming off a commanding performance versus the Broncos. The offense scored 31 straight points and finished only two drives without points -- one on a punt, the other at the end of the game -- led by a strong performance from quarterback Josh Allen, who was 20-of-26 for 272 yards and two passing touchdowns. The rushing attack went for 210 yards, including 46 by Allen. The defense limited the Broncos and rookie Bo Nix to 2-of-9 on third down.

The matchup that now awaits the Bills has been much anticipated as a possibility since the playoff seeding was finalized, with the game featuring the two favorites for MVP -- Allen led the odds over Lamar Jackson in the regular season -- and the quarterbacks on the All-Pro first team (Jackson) and second team (Allen). The showdown will be a rematch of the Week 4 meeting that the Ravens won 35-10.

"It'll be a nice week, and everyone will be looking forward to it, and they're a great football team," McDermott said. "They handled us pretty good the first go-around and they're certainly playing well, well-coached. [Ravens coach John Harbaugh] won a Super Bowl and comes from great pedigree, so it'll be a big challenge for us."

In the regular-season matchup, the Ravens got a Derrick Henry 87-yard touchdown run on their first possession and quickly built a 21-3 lead, and the Bills couldn't recover. Buffalo did not have starting linebackers Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard and nickel corner Taron Johnson for that game.

The opposite happened against the Broncos on Sunday.

Denver scored an opening-drive, 43-yard touchdown on a pass from Nix to Troy Franklin to go up 7-0, but the entire Bills team responded and didn't look back.

"It's 58 more minutes left in that game," cornerback Rasul Douglas said. "You can't harp [on] two minutes, you know what I mean? You have a bad day for four minutes. You say you had a whole bad day? You got 23 more hours and some change to change it. So, that's how we look at it."

The Broncos had only 102 passing yards that were not part of that touchdown pass, and only one of their four second-half drives went for more than four plays. An offense that came in having given up three sacks on the season (tied for third fewest) allowed two, and Nix was pressured on 13 of 27 dropbacks (48%), the second-highest rate he has faced in his career. Nix was 6-of-9 for 90 yards with a touchdown, the two sacks and a scramble against the pressure, but for the Bills, it was their best percentage this season.

Von Miller had a season-high six pressures against his former team, while the rest of the Bills' defense had seven.

"It really was just a message to ourselves," defensive end Greg Rousseau said. "We know who we are week after week and what we're capable of and what we're supposed to do out there. That's what it's all about. We're not worried about sending a message to anybody; we just know we've got to go out there and execute, win games."

The win marked the Bills' seventh of the season (including the playoffs) by 20 or more points -- two more than any other team -- thanks in part to the rushing attack led by James Cook and the offensive line. Cook finished with 23 carries for 120 yards -- the most by a Bills player in a playoff game since Thurman Thomas in 1995 against the Miami Dolphins -- and one touchdown. The Bills finished with a time of possession of 41:43, which is the fifth highest in a postseason game over the past 20 seasons.

Though the win was emphatic, the Bills have made the team's goal clear from the start. Douglas said this team has yet to peak. And to get to that point? "Just keep playing," Douglas said. The next test is coming quickly.

"I'ma enjoy the win first, but I love playing good on good football," left tackle Dion Dawkins said. "We have a lot of competitors on our team, and when juggernauts come into town or when we go to their spot, the intensity is up. And I love it. I love when the intensity is high, but we'll see 'em in a week. They're a good team and we look forward to it."