NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Dawson Mercer scored twice during New Jersey’s four-goal second period, and the Devils beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 on Wednesday night.
Nico Hischier had a goal and two assists, Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist, and Stefan Noesen also scored, and Timo Meier had two assists to help the Devils snap a four-game skid. Jacob Markstrom had six saves before leaving early in the second period after after a collision, and Jake Allen stopped all 16 shots he faced.
Morgan Geekie scored for Boston. Jeremy Swayman had 25 saves through two periods, and Joonas Korpisalo stopped five shots in the third.
BLUE JACKETS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 1
TORONTO (AP) — Adam Fantilli scored three goals for his first career hat trick, Elvis Merzlikins stopped 29 shots, and Columbus beat Toronto.
Luca Del Bel Belluz had a goal and an assist, and James van Riemsdyk also scored for Columbus. The Blue Jackets improved to 7-1-1 in their last nine games and moved into the Eastern Conference’s first wild card spot.
Auston Matthews scored for Toronto, and Dennis Hildeby had 14 saves. The Maple Leafs snapped a three-game winning streak.
JETS 3, AVALANCHE 2, OT
DENVER (AP) — Neal Pionk scored 17 seconds into overtime, and Winnipeg beat Colorado.
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck started the winning play when he sent the puck to Vladislav Namestnikov, who fed Pionk skating down the right side. Pionk’s slap shot beat Mackenzie Blackwood to end Winnipeg’s two-game skid.
Morgan Barron and Gabriel Vilardi also scored for Winnipeg, and Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots.
Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar scored for Colorado, and Blackwood had 22 saves.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the second on MacKinnon’s 19th goal of the season, but Barron and Vilardi scored before the second intermission to give the Jets the lead.
Makar tied it at 7:05 of the third when he got behind the Winnipeg defense and sent a shot over Hellebuycky’s left shoulder as he was falling to the ice.
PANTHERS , KINGS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Samuel Helenius and Adrian Kempe scored in the third period, and Los Angeles rallied to beat Florida.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 26 shots for Los Angeles, which was held to two goals or fewer for the seventh time in eight games and snapped a two-game skid.
Evan Rodrigues scored a power-play goal and Spencer Knight made 26 saves for the Panthers, who were coming off a 5-2 win at Anaheim on Tuesday night.
Helenius got his first NHL goal at 6:41 of the third to tie the score. Kempe then scored for the fourth straight game when he tipped in Kevin Fiala’s shot with 6:48 left to put the Kings ahead.
Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman reacts after giving up a goal to New Jersey Devils right wing Stefan Noesen (11) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Israel will face a confirmation hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill as U.S. and Arab mediators struggle to get a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas back on track after Israeli forces resumed the war in Gaza last week with a surprise wave of deadly airstrikes.
Trump nominated Mike Huckabee, a well-known evangelical Christian and vehement supporter of Israel, to take on the critical post in Jerusalem days after he won reelection on a campaign promise to end the now 17-month war.
If Huckabee, a Republican, is confirmed by the Senate, his posting will likely complicate an already unstable situation in the Middle East as the former governor of Arkansas has taken stances on the conflict that sharply contradict longstanding U.S. policy in the region.
Huckabee, a one-time presidential hopeful, has spoken favorably in the past about Israel’s right to annex the West Bank and incorporate its Palestinian population into Israel. He has repeatedly backed referring to the West Bank by its biblical name of “Judea and Samaria,” a term that right-wing Israeli politicians and activists have thus far fruitlessly pushed the U.S. to accept.
Most notably, Huckabee has long been opposed to the idea of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian people. In an interview last year, he went even further, saying that he doesn't even believe in referring to the Arab descendants of people who lived in British-controlled Palestine as “Palestinians.”
“There really isn’t such a thing,” he said on the podcast show “Think Twice” with Jonathan Tobin. “It’s a term that was co-opted by Yasser Arafat in 1962,” referring to one of the early leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
During the same interview, Huckabee described himself as an “unapologetic, unreformed Zionist.”
As the situation in Gaza has deteriorated with the recent collapse of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal, Israeli officials have begun to talk more seriously about re-occupation of the territory, something to which the Biden administration had been adamantly opposed.
Trump has made his own proposals about a potential U.S. takeover of Gaza, which have attracted attention as well as strong criticism from Arab nations and others.
Huckabee will likely be asked about all of these points in addition to ongoing Israeli military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon and persistent threats to the country from Iran and Iranian-backed proxy groups, like the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In remarks prepared for his testimony, obtained by The Associated Press, Huckabee does not specifically mention either annexation or Trump’s Gaza plan. But he can be expected to offer qualified praise of both, given that he blasts many past Mideast policies as “failed” and speaks of the need to look “at entirely new ways” of promoting peace.
He plans to reaffirm his strong endorsement of Trump's policies toward Israel during his first term in office, notably his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, his decision to move the U.S. embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv, his recognition of the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory and his sealing of the Abraham Accords, in which several Arab nations normalized relations with Israel, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
“President Trump’s first term was the most consequential for Israel and the Middle East ever with his historic Abraham Accords, and finally moving our embassy to Jerusalem, the ancient, indigenous and biblical eternal capital of the Jewish people,” Huckabee’s prepared remarks say.
Another nominee testifying before the committee on Tuesday is Kevin Cabrera, Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Panama, a country that has bristled at the Republican president’s repeated calls for the U.S. to retake control of the Panama Canal for national security reasons due to potential threats from China. The status of the canal was one of the top items on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s agenda when he visited Panama City on his first trip as America's top diplomat in February.
“One of the key aspects of our cooperation is ensuring the security of the Panama Canal, a critical international waterway that facilitates global trade and economic growth,” Cabrera will say according to remarks prepared for the hearing.
He plans to praise decisions by the Panamanian government to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road Initiative and to review contracts with a China-based company that is running ports at both ends of the canal. The company has preliminarily agreed to sell its interests in the subsidiaries that run the ports, but the deal is not yet complete.
Amiri reported from New York.
FILE - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee gestures as a campaign event at the Drexelbrook Catering & Event Center, Oct. 29, 2024, in Drexel Hill, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
