Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • C5

THE HARTFORD COURANT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2018 C5 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoahave struckupa friendship over the past several weeks, which be surprising considering how much time the quarterbacks have spent together. Theywere inAtlanta at a college football awards show, where Tagovailoa took home the Maxwell Award. Theywere inNewYorka few days later for the Heis- man Trophy presentation, where Murray claimed the top prize. So maybe fitting that both be center stage again at Orange Bowl, where a berth in the College Football Playoff championship game awaits one of them.

Murray and the fourth-ranked Sooners (12-1) will meet Tagovailoa and the top-ranked Crim- son Tide (13-0) with the new friends set to become foes for a fewhours. know, football. We all understand the level of respect we have for each Tagovailoa said Wednesday. under- stand just competition. Off the field, a lot different.

But on the field, got to go out there. your job. got to compete for your team, for theuniversity, for And this time, for a shot at the national title. They were supposed to share the spotlight Wednesday at a media availability, butMurraywas a late cancellation because of an undisclosed illness one that seem to worry the Sooners too much. Tagovailoa was walking without a limpWednesday and declared his surgically repaired right ankle it was scoped earlier this month to accelerate the healing of a high sprain to be at about 80 to 85 percent.

But now Mur- ray whose health status seemstobean issue, at least on some level. worried one Sooners offensive lineman BenPowers said. It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Murray, and easy to see why he might be feeling a little worn down. Oklahoma got its bid to the CFP field on Dec. 2, and over the three weeks since all Murray has had on his plate is the award shows, final exams, bowl practice, traveling to South Florida, debating his baseball-or-football-or- both future, and thenot-so- smallmatter of prepping to face the defending national champions.

The Sooners and coach LincolnRileywent through a similar hectic time last year when Baker Mayfield won the Heisman. Given that, Murray probably had agood ideawhat thesedays would be like. Murray and Tagovailoa are the twomost decorated players in the nation this year, andfindingseparation between them is difficult. Oklahoma has the No. 1 scoringoffense in thecoun- try at 49.5 points per game; Alabama is No.

2 at 47.9. Murray led the nation in pass efficency, with Tagov- ailoa No. 2. Tagovailoa was No. 1 in yards per comple- tion at 16.85; Murray was right behindhimat 16.82.

not playing 1- on-1 on Saturday, of course. But Tagovailoa is looking forward to thematchup. think going to be he said. a competitor. a competi- tor.

And to be able to go up against thebest, you want to do. I think going to be really ORANGE BOWL QBs sharing top billing Murray, Tagovailoa stars of show for Oklahoma, By Tim Reynolds Associated Press Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray won the Heisman and also has his eyes on a national championship trophy. ALONZO ALABAMA (13-0) VS. OKLAHOMA (12-1) 8 p.m. Saturday, ESPN DALLAS Clemson and Notre Dame even a month into this season when they made unexpected quarterback switches while undefeated with seniors who had won a lot of games.

Neither of those senior starters was even injured, but theTigers and Fighting Irish decided tomake early changes. Both teams are still without a loss and now in the College Football Playoff. Trevor Lawrence was named new starter going into the Sept. 29 game against Syracuse after the true freshmanhad played behind Kelly Bryant eachof the first four games. That was a week after Ian Book supplanted Brandon Wimbush as Notre No.

1 quarterback knew what my goals were and I knew I wanted to play for a championship, but really surehow everything would work Lawrence said. have a plan as far as how the season would go exactly, so I really I guesshave toomanyexpec- tations on how get here necessarily. defi- nitely been a crazy Bryant, who plans to finish his college career at Missouri, almost immedi- ately left pro- gram to save his final sea- son of eligibility after going 16-2asa starter andhelping lead the Tigers to their third consecutive ACC title last year. Lawrence, the ACC top newcomer, made it four in a row this season. Notre Dame was 3-0 whenBook, the juniorwho led a late comeback victory in last Citrus Bowl againstLSU, tookover after Wimbush had gone 12-3 in his starts.

Wimbush is stillwith the Irish prepping for the play- off. But several media re- ports say Wimbush, who already has a degree and can go play immediately at another school as a gradu- ate transfer, has notified NotreDamethathe intends to transfer after the season. Lawrence and Book go head-to-head Saturday in the Cotton Bowl. The win- ner advances to play No. 1 Alabama or No.

4 Okla- homa for the national title. of us are very fortunate, be in a better situation. And the season goes by so Book said Wednesday. certain times where you kind of just sit back and realizewhere you are andhow fast thiswhole season has gone by, and again, just how fortunate we are to both be here and playing in such a big Lawrence has 2,606 yards passing with 24 touchdownsandfour inter- ceptions. He had 600 yards andnine scoresbeforeeven starting a game.

Book has thrown for 2,468 yards with 19 touch- downs and six intercep- tions for Notre Dame, which has averaged 35 points a game in his eight a touchdownmore than four games started by Wimbush. The accurate junior has completed 197 of 280passes (70 percent). just been able to open the playbook and been able to make all the said Irish leading receiverMiles had the go-ahead 55-yard touchdown catch from Book with 1:28 left in the Citrus Bowl. ex- tremely accurate. Having a quarterback like that, you know going to place the ballwhere only you can get it.

rest is left up to us to go andmake the COTTON BOWL Switches tell the story For Notre Dame, Clemson, changing QBs proved key By Stephen Hawkins Associated Press True freshman Trevor Lawrence took over as starting QB in late September. STREETER CLEMSON (13-0) VS. NOTRE DAME (12-0) 4 p.m. Saturday, ESPN SPORTS EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC GP OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIV Tampa Bay 38 29 7 2 60 160 111 16-4-0 13-3-2 10-2-0 Toronto 37 25 10 2 52 140 103 12-5-1 13-5-1 6-4-2 Buffalo 38 21 12 5 47 112 109 12-4-2 9-8-3 7-4-2 Boston 38 20 14 4 44 107 101 13-5-0 7-9-4 9-6-1 Montreal 37 19 13 5 43 115 117 10-7-2 9-6-3 5-4-4 Florida 35 15 14 6 36 115 125 7-5-4 8-9-2 7-2-3 Detroit 39 15 18 6 36 111 131 8-9-3 7-9-3 4-7-3 Ottawa 37 15 18 4 34 118 144 11-6-3 4-12-1 6-8-2 METRO. GP OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIV Washington 36 23 10 3 49 132 104 12-5-2 11-5-1 8-3-1 Columbus 37 22 12 3 47 121 112 10-7-2 12-5-1 8-4-1 Pittsburgh 37 19 12 6 44 124 112 11-7-2 8-5-4 6-5-1 N.Y.

Islanders 35 18 13 4 40 101 98 8-5-3 10-8-1 10-3-1 N.Y. Rangers 36 15 14 7 37 105 119 11-4-5 4-10-2 2-4-3 Carolina 36 15 16 5 35 91 106 9-7-4 6-9-1 3-5-2 Philadelphia 36 15 16 5 35 109 131 7-8-2 8-8-3 4-4-1 New Jersey 36 13 16 7 33 107 127 9-4-4 4-12-3 4-6-1 WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL GP OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIV Winnipeg 37 24 11 2 50 129 105 13-5-2 11-6-0 7-4-0 Nashville 38 22 14 2 46 111 97 14-6-0 8-8-2 6-4-0 37 19 12 6 44 129 115 8-5-3 11-7-3 4-4-2 Dallas 38 19 16 3 41 101 102 11-5-1 8-11-2 3-4-1 Minnesota 36 17 16 3 37 105 104 10-6-3 7-10-0 6-4-1 St. Louis 35 15 16 4 34 100 115 9-9-2 6-7-2 5-6-3 Chicago 40 14 20 6 34 121 149 8-8-4 6-12-2 8-4-2 PACIFIC GP OT PTS GF GA HOME AWAY DIV Calgary 38 23 12 3 49 131 104 11-4-3 12-8-0 6-5-0 San 38 19 12 7 45 124 115 11-4-4 8-8-3 5-2-3 39 20 15 4 44 117 112 11-3-3 9-12-1 7-3-2 38 19 14 5 43 95 109 10-4-5 9-10-0 5-3-2 Vancouver 40 18 18 4 40 121 127 9-9-1 9-9-3 5-5-1 Edmonton 37 18 16 3 39 104 115 10-7-1 8-9-2 4-5-1 36 16 18 2 34 93 101 7-10-1 9-8-1 4-3-1 Los 37 14 20 3 31 86 112 8-10-1 6-10-2 6-5-1 Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs. late game not included NHL RESULTS New Jersey 5, Boston 2 Columbus 4, N.Y.

Rangers 3 (OT) Pittsburgh 5, Detroit 2 Washington 3, Carolina1 Tampa Bay 6, Philadelphia 5 (OT) St. Louis 4, Buffalo1 Dallas 2, Nashville 0 Calgary Chicago 5, Minnesota 2 Vancouver 4, Edmonton 2 Colorado at Vegas, late Arizona at Los Angeles, late Anaheim at San Jose, late SCHEDULE Montreal at Florida, 7 Ottawa at N.Y. Islanders, 7 Toronto at Columbus, 7 RESULTS Columbus 3, New Jersey 0 Carolina 5, Boston 3 Florida 6, Chicago 3 Philadelphia 3, N.Y. Rangers 2 (SO) Toronto 5, Detroit 4 (OT) N.Y. Islanders 3, Dallas 1 Los Angeles 4, Vegas 3 (OT) Arizona 4, San Jose 3 (SO) CALENDAR Jan.

1: Winter Classic, Boston at Chicago, Notre Dame Sta- dium, South Bend, Ind. Jan. tion, San Jose, Calif. Jan. 26: All-Star Game, San Jo- se, Calif.

Feb. 23: Stadium Series, Pitts- burgh at Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Field. April 10: Stanley Cup playoffs begin. RESULTS, SCHEDULE Points Mikko Rantanen, COL 59 Nikita Kucherov, TBL 57 Nathan MacKinnon, COL 56 Connor McDavid, EDM 52 Mitch Marner, TOR 50 Mark Scheifele, WPG 49 Jack Eichel, BUF 48 Johnny Gaudreau, CGY 48 Blake Wheeler, WPG 48 Brayden Point, TBL 47 David Pastrnak, BOS 47 Patrick Kane, CHI 44 Alex Ovechkin, WSH 44 Morgan Rielly, TOR 44 Gabriel Landeskog, COL 43 Leon Draisaitl, EDM 43 Claude Giroux, PHI 42 Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA 42 John Tavares, TOR 42 Matthew Tkachuk, CGY 42 LEADERS The Penguins signed center Jake Guentzel to a five-year contract extension worth an average of $6 million a year, the team announcedThursday. The deal begins next season.

Through Thursday 5-2 win over the visiting 15goals and18assists in36 games. In the Stanley Cup title run in 2017, Guentzel had a playoff-best 13 goals and totaled 21 points. He had 10 goals and 21 points in just 12 playoff games last season. Alex Killorn scored 18 seconds into OT and the Lightningextendedtheirpoint streak to13gameswitha 6-5winover thevisitingFlyers. PatrickKanehadahat trick to help the host Blackhawks beat theWild 5-2 for their fourth win in five games.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored 31 seconds intoOTand theBlue Jackets beat the host Rangers 4-3 for their fifth straight win. Johnny Gaudreau had a hat trick as the Flames ended a three-game skid with a 4-1 road win over the Jets. Carey Price will miss the three-game road trip due to a lower-body injury. Matthews, Oilers Connor McDavid, Capitals Alex Ovechkin and Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon were namedAll-Star captains. News services Pens give Guentzel 5-year extension BRIDGEPORT Scott Eansor scored two goals, including a short- handed score with 18 secondsremaining in the second period, as the Sound Tigers defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-2 onThursday night.

The loss snapped a three-game Hartford win streak and evened the season series to this point at 3-3. Eansor got the Sound Tigerson theboardearly in the first with his fourth goal of the season off of an assist from TannerFritz. But later Hartford tied things up with a goal seventh. Kieffer Bellows put Bridgeport back on topwith his ninth, at the 9:24 mark, sending the Sound Tigers into the first intermission up 2-1. Vinnie Lettieri got Hartford even with his ninth of the season with 6:40 remaining in the second period.

But Ean- sor then got the lead back for good for Bridgeport with an unassisted short- handed goal with just 18 seconds remaining. Earlier it was an- nounced that the parent New York Rangers have reassigned defenseman Sean Day and forward Ryan Gropp to the Wolf Pack from its ECHL af- filiate, the Maine Mari- ners. Day, a rookie out of the Ontario Hockey League and a third- round (81st overall) Ranger draft pick in 2016, played in six games with Hartford earlier in the season. While playing with Maine he has four goals and 11 assists. SOUND TIGERS 3, WOLF PACK 2 Eansor scores 2 to top Wolf Pack Staff report NEW YORK Pierre- Luc Dubois scored 31 sec- onds into overtime and the ColumbusBlueJacketsbeat the New York Rangers 4-3 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.

Dubois' 14th goal came after Columbus tied the game with less than three minutes left in regulation. Blue Jackets backup goal- tender Joonas Korpisalo made19 saves for thewin. The Rangers took a 3-2 lead on Chris sec- ond goal of the game at the thirdperiodand appeared to go ahead by twoseveralminutes lateron a goal by Ryan Strome, but Columbus coach John Tor- torella challenged the play and itwas ruled offside. Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski then tied it at 17:40 when he scored his seventh of the season after the puck went back to him at the point and he fired it pastHenrik Lundqvist. The teams played a gen- erally haphazard and at times listless game after the three-day Christmas break.

And once again, the victory marginwas narrow. Sixteen of the last18 gamesbetween the Rangers and Blue Jack- ets have been decided by one or two goals. Columbus struck first when Oliver Bjorkstrand scored at 9:17 of the first. Bjorkstrand took a pass from Boone Jenner and beat Lundqvist with a shot fromthe faceoff circle to the right. Cam Atkinson also had an assist.

JimmyVeseytied it for the Rangers of the season. Vesey took a pass from Kevin Hayes on a 2-on-1 break before tapping the puck past Korpisalo. With the assist, Hayes ex- tended his point streak to eight games. Vladislav Namestnikov also assisted. Columbuswentahead2-1 when David long- range shot from the right circle beat Lundqvist at 16:08.

The goal was the second for the Blue Jackets' defenseman. Bjorkstrand and defenseman Scott Har- rington assisted. TheRangers tied itwitha power-play goal by Kreider at 1:45 of the second. Krei- der deflected a soft shot from the point by Mats Zuccarello. Hayes also add- ed another assist.

The 26- year-old forward leads the Rangerswith 31points. Hayes has five goals and 10 assists during his eight- game scoring streak and also has nine points in his last nine games against Co- lumbus. TheRangerswerecoming off a 3-2 home shootout loss to Philadelphia on Sunday. They have lost five of their last six home games in extra time, starting with a Dec. 2 shootout loss toWinnipeg.

BLUE JACKETS 4, RANGERS 3 (OT) Dubois, Blue Jackets beat Rangers for 5th straight Associated Press BOSTON Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 40 shots for his first NHL victory, Blake Coleman scored twice and the New Jersey Devils beat the Bos- ton Bruins 5-2 on Thurs- day night. Damon Severson scored 25 seconds into the game and Kyle Palmieri added his team-high 19th goal for theDevils, whowon on the road for just the fourth time this season. Nico Hirschier had a goal and an assist andAndy Greene had a pair of assists as New Jersey got its first win in Boston in five years. Patrice Bergeron and Chris Wagner scored for Boston, and JaroslavHalak had 28 saves. early goal on a wrist shot from the right circle gave the rookie Blackwood a lead the Dev- ils never relinquished.

Blackwood, who was making his second career start, stopped 18 of 19 shots in the second period to help stave off the Bruins. Boston got its first goal with 4:53 left in the second on one-timer from the slot off a pass from John Moore, cutting New lead to 2-1. Coleman got the two- goal lead back for the Devils after he blocked a slap shot by Torey Krug at the blue line and outraced Brandon Carlo to the re- bound for a breakaway, getting Halak with a back- hand 4:15 into the third. Hischier scored 12:43 into the third andColeman scored into an empty net with 46 seconds remain- ing. The Devils went up 2-0 with 4:35 left in the first on a power-play goal by Palm- ieri, whose slap shot from the right point bounced off Halak and hit Carlo, then bounced back over Halak into the net.

Notes: Blackwood was playing in his fourth career game since being called up from AHL Binghamton on Dec. 17 after starter Cory Schneider went on injured reserve with an abdominal strain. DEVILS 5, BRUINS 2 Blackwood nets 1st win Goaltender stops 40 shots in second start to beat Bruins Associated Press.