DENVER (AP) — Josh Manson treated his father to quite a show and joined him in the exclusive Gordie Howe hat trick club.
The Colorado Avalanche defenseman had two goals, two assists and a fight in an 8-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night with his father in attendance.
His dad, longtime NHL defenseman Dave Manson, also accomplished the feat during his playing career, which spanned 16 seasons.
“He’s seen me fight. He’s seen me score, but I don’t think he’s ever seen well, actually, nobody’s ever seen that before from me in the NHL,” Manson said. “It was a first for everybody, including myself.”
Manson got his night started with a first-period fight with Ottawa defenseman Tyler Kleven. Truth be known, Manson wasn't actively seeking to engage in a fight. Kleven had a clean hit on Manson's teammate, Ivan Ivan. but Manson wanted to ignite his team, which entered the game in a two-game slide.
“I presented myself there if he wanted,” explained Manson, who had the first two-goal game of his career. "I felt like it was a good time for our team. ... (Kleven) obliged.”
Soon after the penalty expired, Manson scored the first goal of the contest. He had an assist on Makar’s goal in the second period to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
“Wow, that was something,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I mean, he had a Gordie Howe hat trick early in the second period and then he just kept coming. He was involved in everything tonight.
“The physicality of the game, and what we normally evaluate him on, the defending and all that, was good. And then on the offensive side of it, he just had a fantastic night. He was a big part of our win tonight.”
Manson was a fight away from a double Gordie Howe hat trick. Or a goal away from his first regular hat trick.
"It’s a funny business," Manson said. “Some nights you feel great and you’re minus-three, and some nights you just feel OK things are going in for you.”
This game changed momentum in the second period with the Avalanche leading 3-1. The Senators appeared to score only to have the Avalanche successfully challenge for offside. Colorado seized the momentum and reeled off five straight goals to take all the drama out of the contest and improve to 18-0-2 at home.
Colorado tied a franchise record for goals in a period with six in the second.
“It's kind of one of those things," Manson said, “where you start rolling.”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, third from left, is congratulated after scoring by, from left to right, defenseman Josh Manson, center Martin Necas and center Nathan MacKinnon in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson, top, jumps on the back of Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk as they tangle by the net in the third period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Nicole Saphier is President Donald Trump's latest pick for the vacant role of U.S. surgeon general, a nomination that ended the embattled campaign of his previous candidate, Dr. Casey Means, after it became clear she didn't have the votes to advance out of a Senate committee.
Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor, has promoted several aspects of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again agenda, including removing food additives, cutting ultraprocessed foods from diets and encouraging exercise.
But she has been a more vocal advocate for vaccination than Kennedy, and at times she has criticized the Trump administration's handling of health issues as “embarrassing.”
If confirmed as the nation's doctor, Saphier would be empowered to issue advisories that warn of public health threats. Surgeons general also have used the office to advocate on vaccination issues — though the office doesn't create vaccine policy.
Means, a Stanford University-educated physician and MAHA influencer who didn’t finish her surgical residency in Oregon and has an inactive medical license, had faced a grilling from senators of both major political parties over her experience and stance on vaccination. She told The Associated Press her failed nomination was the result of a “yearlong smear campaign."
Trump's new surgeon general pick is director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to her profile on the institution’s website. She has a medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados along with fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, the profile said.
She has earned the approval of institutions including the American College of Radiology, whose president, Dr. Dana Smetherman, on Thursday called her a “tireless advocate for women's health.” Kennedy said in a social media post that her experience with breast cancer patients and early detection will help the Republican administration take on the chronic disease epidemic.
Saphier also was a longtime Fox News Channel contributor until this week — one of several of the channel's personalities Trump has brought into his administration. Trump's first surgeon general pick, Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, was also a contributor at the network, but her nomination fell apart last year after questions arose about her academic credentials.
An author and podcaster with her own show, “Wellness Unmasked with Dr. Nicole Saphier,” Saphier frequently comments on the Trump administration's approach to health, often positively. She also used the phrase “Make America Healthy Again” years before Kennedy popularized it. It was the title of a book she wrote in 2020 that criticized government handling of healthcare and the Affordable Care Act.
Saphier also has dipped into the wellness product industry, creating a line of herbal supplements called Drop Rx, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A mom of three boys, Saphier has often said she is thankful that she decided to keep her first son when she became unexpectedly pregnant at age 17. She has advocated for more resources for mothers who make the same choice.
Like Means, Saphier has questioned some aspects of the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule, including the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, a longtime recommendation that the Trump administration has been trying to weaken.
She also has aligned with Kennedy's disdain toward COVID-19 vaccination requirements in schools, saying on her podcast in September that they were “a complete disaster" and one of the reasons for declining trust in vaccination.
Saphier says she supports immunization while arguing patients should be free to make their own medical decisions. In March, she praised acting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya for posting a message encouraging Americans to get vaccinated against measles.
“The more vaccine confusion we create, the more preventable disease we will see,” she said in September, urging the administration to get itself in order "because it’s really upsetting.”
While being supportive of the Trump administration at large, Saphier has publicly cringed at some of its health mishaps. Last summer, she decried its long-anticipated first attempt at a MAHA report, which cited some studies that didn't exist.
"There were a lot of flaws in this report," she said on her podcast. “In fact, it was pretty embarrassing."
She said Kennedy's firing of his first CDC director, Susan Monarez, after less than a month on the job was “a mess.”
"When we keep hearing radical transparency and we’re going to regain trust, I can tell you these shenanigans are taking us farther away from that mission,” Saphier said on her podcast.
In an email to the AP last year, Saphier said Trump's advice to pregnant women not to take Tylenol, which promoted unproven ties between the medication and autism, was overly simplistic. She said equally important, and missing from Trump's message, was the fact that untreated fever or severe pain can also pose serious risks to mothers and babies.
After Means' confirmation hearings earlier this year, Saphier said on her podcast that she expected Means would do a good job as surgeon general but wished she were “a little bit less involved with MAHA.”
“I’d really like to see a little bit more reaching across the aisle when it comes to public health,” Saphier said. “That doesn’t mean it has to be some Democratic nominee for surgeon general, maybe just someone a little less aligned with the MAHA movement who, I don’t know, finished their residency and has an active medical license.”
At least a few prominent MAHA influencers have suggested Saphier is no ally. Turning Point USA podcaster and anti-pesticide campaigner Alex Clark said in a post Friday that Saphier “gets an F when it comes to all things MAHA.”
President Donald Trump signs documents regarding the withdrawal of the current nomination and nomination of a new surgeon general in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
