US sports in brief: Stützle's double pack secures Ottawa's victory in the NHL

German ice hockey professional Tim Stützle helped his Ottawa Senators to a surprising victory in the North American professional league NHL with a brace. The 22-year-old's team celebrated a 5:3 (0:2, 1:2, 3:0) win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday after a two-goal deficit.

In addition to Stützle's goals (32nd/59th), coach Jacques Martin's team was pleased with goals from Zac MacEwen (25th) and Wladimir Tarassenko (55th). Egor Zamula was also successful twice for Philadelphia (12th/17th). Joel Farabee contributed the third goal (31st).

Despite the win, the Senators remain last in the Eastern Conference. Stützle and Co. have only won 15 of their 38 games so far. The Flyers are treading water and are fifth.

The San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens are now just one more win away from reaching the Super Bowl in the NFL playoffs. In pouring rain on the west coast of the USA, the 49ers won their home game against the Green Bay Packers 24:21 on Saturday evening. The final of the National Football Conference (NFC) next weekend will be against either the Detroit Lions against German pass receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown or the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, who will meet on Sunday (9 p.m. CET).

The Ravens previously had much less trouble beating the Houston Texans 34:10 and are in the final of the American Football Conference (AFC). There it's against the Kansas City Chiefs or the Buffalo Bills. Lamar Jackson was directly involved in all four touchdowns for his team – twice he threw the ball into the end zone, twice he carried the football there himself. NBA superstar LeBron James wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Man, I love Lamar Jackson.”

The duel between the Packers and the 49ers was more exciting than the Ravens' victory. Quarterback Brock Purdy played below his level, but led the best NFC team in the main round to the winning touchdown 67 seconds before the end by Christian McCaffrey. “We put together an attack when the season was on the line. We got it done,” Purdy said. “The way I started, that had to be better.” Jordan Love, the Packers' playmaker, had his share of the entertainment value of the game with three touchdowns within five minutes in the third quarter, but in the end he threw one bad pass too many and took everything away from his team Chances of victory.

The Lions go into their home game against the Buccaneers on Sunday evening as favorites. The team, notoriously unsuccessful for decades, has never been to a Super Bowl, but has gained a lot of momentum in the past two years with St. Brown, quarterback Jared Goff and coach Dan Campbell. For the Chiefs, it is the first away playoff game with Patrick Mahomes as quarterback. The previous two playoff games against the Bills in Kansas City were both dramatic comparisons with the better ending for Kansas City. The Super Bowl takes place on February 11th in Las Vegas.

The Edmonton Oliers around national ice hockey player Leon Draisaitl have extended their record series in the NHL. The team achieved their 13th win against the Calgary Flames on Saturday evening. Draisaitl had no direct involvement in the goal in the 3-1 win in Calgary. Ryan McLeod took the lead after 15 minutes. The hosts equalized in the second period through MacKenzie Weegar, but Sam Gagner and Zach Hyman made everything perfect with their goals in the final third. The Oilers had started the season with just four wins from 14 games and parted ways with coach Jay Woodcroft. His successor is Kris Knoblauch.

Basketball world champion Dennis Schröder suffered his next defeat with the Toronto Raptors in the NBA and lost 100:126 to the New York Knicks. Although the recently strong German Isaiah Hartenstein was only able to play 23 minutes for the Knicks due to an ankle injury and only got four rebounds, the Raptors had no chance against the Knicks, especially when it came to rebounds. For the Canadians it was the sixth defeat in the last seven games.

Schröder struggled, but only managed two points and three assists. His colleagues were unable to use many of his passes. Among the most successful Raptors professionals were Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, who only came to Toronto from the Knicks at the beginning of January and received a lot of applause in their old homeland. Barrett had 20 points, Quickley 12. Jalen Brunson was the most successful with 38 points for the Knicks, Julius Randle recorded a triple double of 18 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

In the top game of the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder won 102:97 against the Minnesota Timberwolves and reduced the gap to the league leaders. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points, while Anthony Edwards was the most successful for the hosts with 19 points.

Vice world champion John-Jason Peterka missed his third win in a row with the Buffalo Sabers in the North American professional ice hockey league NHL. The team from the US state of New York narrowly lost to Tampa Bay Lightning 1:3 (0:2, 1:0, 0:1). The German international prepared the Sabres' only goal by Dylan Cozens (34th).

In the first third, the favored Tampa Bay took the lead thanks to a double strike from Nicholas Paul (7th) and Tyler Motte (8th). In the final phase, Buffalo took out the keeper and pushed for an equalizer, but Calvin de Haan (59') finally decided the game. After the defeat, 22-year-old Peterka and his teammates are still in 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

Tim Stützle's Ottawa Senators missed a surprise against the Winnipeg Jets. Ottawa, the bottom of the Eastern Conference, lost 2-1 (0-0, 0-1, 1-2, 0-1) after overtime to one of the league's top teams.

The Senators were only behind after a goal from Mason Appleton (35th), but Parker Kelly equalized (45th). Nikolaj Ehlers decided the game.