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. Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Kam Jones scored 23 points and No. 9 Marquette committed just two turnovers in an 80-70 victory over Butler that opened the Big East schedule for both teams. Marquette (10-2, 1-0) had its lowest turnover total since Jan. 8, 2011. David Joplin and Stevie Mitchell scored 15 points each as Marquette rallied from a 35-32 halftime deficit. The Golden Eagles bounced back three nights after squandering a 13-point lead in a 71-63 loss at Dayton. Butler (7-5, 0-1) lost its fourth straight despite shooting 51.1% from the floor.
Besides first-round games at on-campus sites, the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff also serves up something now for this postseason: cold-weather northern venues as opposed to bowl games in warm, sunny climates. Whether that provides a home-field advantage for sixth-seeded Penn State, No. 7 seed Notre Dame and No. 8 Ohio State remains to be seen, but it’s a factor southern schools such No. 11 SMU and No. 9 Tennessee must prepare for. Tenth-seeded Indiana only has to travel a couple hundred miles north to South Bend but December football will be new to the Hoosiers, especially at No. 7 seed Notre Dame.