COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Simon Holmstrom scored 1:50 into overtime as the New York Islanders beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Saturday night for their fourth straight win.
Holmstrom got the feed from Tony DeAngelo and had a clear path up the right side of the ice before cutting toward the net with a wrist shot to beat Columbus' Jet Greaves.
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Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) blocks a shot in front of New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) falls in front of Columbus Blue Jackets center Sean Monahan (23) as he brings the puck behind the net in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) celebrates after scoring in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin splashes water on his face in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau is congratulated by teammates after a goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
It was Holmstrom's 14th goal of the season and his second in overtime. The Islanders are 8-0 in overtime games this season, the only team in the league that hasn't lost in the extra period.
Scott Mayfield had a goal and assist for the Islanders. Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored 22 seconds apart in the second period to erase a two-goal deficit. Ilya Sorokin stopped 27 shots.
Columbus' Zach Wereneki, who had the assist on Jack Hughes' goal in the United States' gold-medal victory over Canada at the Olympics, had a pair of assists and extended his points streak to a nine games, the longest run by a defenseman in franchise history.
Werenski, second among NHL defensemen with 65 points, has 13 in his last nine games (two goals, 11 assists). It was Werenski’s 21st multipoint game this season and the 100th of his 10-year career. With 621 games played, he's the fifth-fastest active defenseman to reach the mark.
Isac Lundeström, Mason Marchment, Adam Fantilli had Columbus' goals. Greaves made 22 saves.
Columbus is seven points behind the Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division and five back of Boston for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Marchment, whose goal 3:58 into the second gave the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead, has 10 goals in 16 games with the Blue Jackets since being acquired in a trade from Seattle on Dec. 19. That's the fewest games a Columbus player has needed to reach double-digit goals.
Islanders: Host Florida on Sunday.
Blue Jackets: At New York Rangers on Monday.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves (73) blocks a shot in front of New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) falls in front of Columbus Blue Jackets center Sean Monahan (23) as he brings the puck behind the net in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) celebrates after scoring in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin splashes water on his face in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau is congratulated by teammates after a goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack by Israel and the United States, Iranian state media confirmed early Sunday, throwing the future of the Islamic Republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability.
President Donald Trump announced the death hours earlier, saying it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country.
State media reported that the 86-year-old was killed in an airstrike targeting his compound in downtown Tehran. Satellite photos from Airbus showed the site heavily bombed.
His death at his office “showed that he consistently stood among the people and at the forefront of his responsibilities, confronting what officials call global arrogance,” state TV said.
Iran’s Cabinet warned that this “great crime will never go unanswered."
Iranians initially cheered from rooftops and their homes in Tehran, Iran’s capital, when rumors first started to spread late Saturday of Khamenei’s death.
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote in a social media post. He warned of “heavy and pinpoint bombing” that he said would continue throughout the week and even beyond, part of a lethal assault the U.S. has justified as necessary to disable the country's nuclear capabilities.
The attack opened a stunning new chapter in U.S. intervention in Iran, carried the potential for retaliatory violence and a wider war, and represented a startling flex of military might for an American president who swept into office on an “America First” platform and vowed to keep out of “forever wars.”
The killing of Khamenei in the second Trump administration assault on Iran in eight months appeared certain to create a leadership vacuum given the absence of a known successor and because the 86-year-old supreme leader had final say on all major policies during his decades in power. He led Iran’s clerical establishment and its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the two main centers of power in the governing theocracy.
As reports trickled out about the death, eyewitnesses in Tehran told The Associated Press that some residents were rejoicing, blowing whistles and letting out ululations.
Iran, which responded to the strikes with its own counterassault, warned of retribution.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, said Saturday that Israel and America will “regret their actions.”
“The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will deliver an unforgettable lesson to the hellish international oppressors,” Larijani posted on X.
The joint U.S.-Israel operation, which officials say was planned for months, took place Saturday during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan and at the start of the Iranian workweek. It followed stilted negotiations and warnings from Trump, who last year trumpeted his administration's success in incapacitating the country's nuclear program but nonetheless cast the latest round as necessary to head off its potential resurgence.
About 12 hours after the attacks began, the U.S. military reported no U.S. casualties and minimal damage at U.S. bases despite “hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks.” It said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone launch sites, and military airfields.
Israel, for its part, said it had killed the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the country’s defense minister, as well as the secretary of the Iranian Security Council, a close adviser to Khamenei.
Khamenei “was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do,” Trump said. “This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.”
An Iranian diplomat told the United Nations Security Council that hundreds of civilians were killed and wounded in the strikes. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and at U.S. military bases in the region, and exchanges of fire continued into the night.
Some of the first strikes on Iran appeared to hit near the offices of Khamenei, the second leader of the Islamic Republic who succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israeli officials confirmed the death, followed by Trump.
Democrats decried that Trump had taken action without congressional authorization. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the administration had briefed several Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress in advance.
Tensions have soared in recent weeks as the Trump administration built up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades. The president insisted he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program while the country struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests.
Though Trump had pronounced the Iranian nuclear program obliterated in strikes last year, the country was rebuilding infrastructure that it had lost, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s decision-making process. The official said intelligence showed that Iran had developed the capability to produce its own high-quality centrifuges, an important step in developing the highly enriched uranium needed for weapons.
Iran responded to the latest strikes by launching missiles and drones toward Israel and targeting U.S. military installations in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. The Israeli military said Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel, with many intercepted. The Magen David Adom rescue service said Saturday night that a woman in the Tel Aviv area died after being wounded in an Iranian missile attack.
At least three explosions were heard Saturday evening near the Intelligence Ministry building in northern Tehran, witnesses said, adding that air defense systems had begun operating there. Israel’s military said it had begun new strikes against missile launchers and aerial defense systems in central Iran.
In southern Iran, at least 115 people were reported killed when a girls’ school was struck, and dozens more were wounded, the local governor told Iranian state TV. U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said he was “aware of reports” that a girls’ school was struck and that officials were looking into them.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said at least 15 people were killed in the southwest, quoting the governor of the Lamerd region, Ali Alizadeh, as saying a sports hall, two residential areas and a hall near a school were hit.
Flights across the Middle East were disrupted, and air defense fire thudded over Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ commercial capital. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile attack on the UAE capital killed one person, state media said.
Israel said the operation had been planned for months with the United States. Air Force pilots struck “hundreds of targets across Iran,” Israeli military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a statement.
Targets in the Israeli campaign included Iran’s military, symbols of government and intelligence targets, according to an official briefed on the operation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information on the attack.
Trump acknowledged Saturday that there could be American casualties, saying “that often happens in war.” He said he was aiming to “annihilate” the Iranian navy and destroy regional proxies supported by Tehran. He called on the paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard to lay down arms, saying members would be given immunity or face “certain death” if they did not.
Iran had said it hoped to avert a war, but it maintained its right to enrich uranium.
Iran has said it has not enriched since June, but it has blocked international inspectors from visiting the sites the U.S. bombed. Satellite photos analyzed by AP have shown new activity at two of those sites, suggesting Iran is trying to assess and potentially recover material.
Trump had threatened military action but held off following Iran’s recent crackdown on protests spurred by economic grievances that evolved into a nationwide push against the ruling clerics.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency says it confirmed more than 7,000 deaths in the crackdown and is investigating thousands more. The government has acknowledged more than 3,000 killed.
The strikes could rattle global markets, particularly if Iran makes the Strait of Hormuz unsafe for commercial traffic. A third of worldwide oil exports transported by sea passed through the strait in 2025.
Saudi Arabia said Iran targeted its capital and eastern region in an attack that was repelled. Bahrain said a missile attack targeted the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in the island kingdom, and three buildings were damaged in the capital, Manama, and Muharraq city by drone strikes and debris from an intercepted missile.
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority said a drone targeted the main international airport, injuring several employees. Kuwait’s state-run news agency said three troops were injured by shrapnel from strikes that hit Ali Al-Salem air base. Explosions could also be heard in Qatar. Jordan said it “dealt with” 49 drones and ballistic missiles.
Lidman reported from in Tel Aviv. Boak reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Joe Federman in Jerusalem, Aamer Madhani and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Farnoush Amiri in New York and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to show that the IRNA news agency reported 40 people were killed in the school strike, without specifying students.
FILE - In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks under a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
Rescue workers and residents search through the rubble in the aftermath of what Iranian officials said was an Israeli-U.S. strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (Abbas Zakeri/Mehr News Agency via AP)
FILE - In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks under a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei listens to a speaker during a meeting with a group of university students in Tehran, Iran, May 28, 2018. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)
A group of men wave Iranian flags as they attend a demonstration in support of the government and against U.S. and Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming strikes by Iran, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Firemen and rescue workers inspect the site of an explosion at the Fairmont The Palm Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Rubble remains in the aftermath of an Israeli-U.S. strike in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Amir Kholousi, ISNA)
Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A woman holds a picture of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a demonstration in support of the government and against U.S. and Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People rush to take shelter as warning sirens sound following missile fired towards Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Civilians staying in a shelter after alarms announced that Israel had launched an attack on Iran, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)
Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)
Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo)
Smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
FILE -Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz makes statements with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias after their meeting in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)
