The Buffalo Sabres will honour long-time goaltender Ryan Miller by retiring his No. 30 jersey next season.

Miller joined the Sabres in 2002-03 and spent 10-plus seasons with the franchise, becoming Buffalo's leader in wins (284) and games played by a goaltender (540).

He went on to eventually set the record for wins by an American-born goalie (391) and retired after the 2020-21 season.

The team made the announcement by releasing a video on Friday, which showed Miller being informed of the honour while touring the Sabres' arena with his wife, mother, sister and two children.

The announcement coincided with Miller's trip to Buffalo where he took part in a news conference to discuss being inducted into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame later this year.

"Ryan Miller embodied what people in Western New York expect from those who wear a Buffalo Sabres uniform: on-ice excellence, commitment, and authentic love for this community," Sabres general manager Kevyn Adam said.

"We are thrilled for Ryan to take his rightful place alongside his fellow Sabres legends and look forward to celebrating his career."

Miller, who also played for the St Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks, had his best season in 2009-10 when he won the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender and earned Olympic MVP honours for helping the United States to a silver medal at the Vancouver Games.

Miller joins NHL Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek as Sabres goalies to have their numbers retired. Miller's 391 career wins rank 14th in NHL history, two ahead of Hasek.

Chelsea's technical and performance advisor Petr Cech believes the club did an "amazing job" at navigating the change of ownership last season.

The London club were thrown into uncertain waters when previous owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the United Kingdom government in relation to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital eventually won the battle to take charge of the club in late May, with Chelsea working under a special licence from the government to operate until then.

Despite the ongoing distractions, Thomas Tuchel led Chelsea to third place in the Premier League and to the EFL and FA Cup finals, where they lost on penalties to Liverpool on both occasions.

Speaking to Stats Perform at a media day ahead of his participation in Sunday's Soccer Aid charity match, former Chelsea goalkeeper Cech said: "Of course, [the ownership situation] is something you are not prepared for but you need to find your way to go through it.

"I think everybody at the football club did an amazing job to be competitive and achieving what we achieved last season.

"So, now we know where we are and obviously, we're preparing for the next season and we hope to be as strong as we can."

Cech also had words of encouragement for Blues fans about next season, with the new owners reportedly willing to provide Tuchel with money to spend on improving the squad.

"We plan to prepare and we will see where what we can do over the summer, but obviously we have our plans for what we want to do and hopefully we'll be successful."

Another area of uncertainty at Stamford Bridge is the future of striker Romelu Lukaku, who is being linked with a move back to Inter after a disappointing campaign.

Lukaku signed for Chelsea from Inter last year for a reported fee of £97.5million (€113.58m), but only managed 15 goals in 44 appearances (29 starts).

"I think he started very strongly and unfortunately had a long-term injury and then COVID, which obviously stopped the momentum for him," Cech said about the Belgium striker. 

"When you go through a long-term injury and then COVID, it takes some time before you go back. So you could see how strong he was at the end of the season when he was back fit.

"I think if he remains with this whole pre-season, then I believe he will have a strong season."

Another player who had an underwhelming campaign for Chelsea was Spanish midfielder Saul Niguez, who said goodbye to the club at the end of his loan spell from Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

"He's still a great player and he has a great personality and it's been great to have him, but at the same time, he had quite a difficult start before he adapted to English football and in a team where there's so much competition for places that he didn't play as much as he would like to," Cech said of Saul. 

"But we've been really happy to have him because, as I said, he's a great personality and a great player. 

"We obviously wish him well now wherever his next steps will go. But I think English football and the Premier League is a particular competition.

"Sometimes you need a bit of time to adapt. Some people adapt faster, some slower but as I said, he had a slower start and then the competition for places was tough so he didn't play as much as we'd like, but it still doesn't take away the qualities he has."

Didier Deschamps and Kylian Mbappe both insisted they are not worried despite France falling to the bottom of their Nations League group with a 1-1 draw in Austria.

Les Blues followed up their shock 2-1 home loss to Denmark and 1-1 draw against Croatia with another underwhelming display at Ernst Happel Stadion on Friday.

Substitute Mbappe scored seven minutes from time to cancel out Andreas Weimann's first-half opener, but France had to settle for another draw on their travels.

France are four points adrift of Group A1 leaders Denmark with three games to play and only one finals spot up for grabs, while Austria and Croatia are two points better off.

But despite their hopes of retaining the title they won in October with victory against Spain looking slim, Deschamps is trying his best to remain upbeat.

"I'm not worried. It is not the result we hoped for, and we are not at the top of our form or fitness, but we have given playing time to some younger players," he told TF1.

"We had so many chances in the second half. We controlled the game but were not efficient enough."

France have now conceded in 10 of their past 15 matches and would have been facing a second defeat in the space of three games if not for the impact of Mbappe.

The Paris Saint-German star, returning from a knee injury that kept him out of the Croatia game, has been involved in five goals in his past five France games as a substitute.

He scored from one of his two attempts, with the other forcing Patrick Pentz into a great save in the 87th minute to help the ball onto the frame of the goal.

Reflecting on another disappointing day for France in the June window, Mbappe said: "You should never be worried; always stay proud.

"We will take this point and work to beat Croatia on Monday. It's a shame I hit the bar. We now have to keep the momentum from the final few minutes here.

"I'm personally not at 100 per cent [fitness wise] but if the coach needs me then, with the holidays nearly here, I can push myself again."

France have now avoided defeat in the past 10 matches in which they have conceded the opening goal, winning four of those and drawing six.

The 2018 World Cup winners round off their 2021-22 campaign at home to Croatia in what is now effectively a must-win game, before facing Austria and Denmark in September.

"Today was difficult for us, but the quality was there," Deschamps added. "With a lot of changes between matches, we've not had much rhythm.

"But from what we did today, in terms of the chances created, the players should have been rewarded with a better result."

A New York Rangers fan has been banned for life from Madison Square Garden for punching a Tampa Bay Lightning fan in the face after Thursday's Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.

Following the 3-1 Tampa Bay win that gave them a 3-2 series advantage, the Rangers fan and Lightning fan exchanged words while exiting the arena, police said.

A video surfaced on social media of the Rangers fan turning and punching the Lightning fan. He then struck another person who tried to intervene.

While the victim received assistance on the ground from witnesses, the assailant fled the arena.

Police confirmed that a 29-year-old Staten Island man was arrested for assault, disorderly conduct and harassment.

A Madison Square Garden statement released on Friday called the incident an "abhorrent assault."

"We are cooperating fully with law enforcement as this is now a criminal matter. The assailant will also be banned from The Garden and all other MSG venues for life," MSG said in its statement.

"All guests - no matter what team they support - should feel safe and respected in The Garden. This has and always will be our policy."

France slipped to the bottom of their Nations League group with an underwhelming 1-1 draw away to Austria in Vienna on Friday.

The competition's reigning champions have just two points from three Group A1 matches, having lost at home to Denmark and drawn away to Croatia in their opening two games.

It could have been even worse for Les Blues at Ernst Happel Stadion as they trailed to a 37th-minute Andreas Weimann strike until substitute Kylian Mbappe levelled up late on.

With three games to go, Didier Deschamps' side are four points behind leaders Denmark and two behind Austria and Croatia, with only one team advancing to next year's finals.

Patrick Pentz produced a fine save to keep out Karim Benzema in the opening 17 minutes, but France were otherwise frustrated by Austria in the first half.

The hosts probed away and found a breakthrough when Konrad Laimer was played in by Marko Arnautovic and in turn picked out Weimann for a simple finish from six yards.

Arnautovic nearly doubled Austria's lead before the interval after swivelling past William Saliba and getting a shot away, which Hugo Lloris comfortably kept out in the end.

Benjamin Pavard had a long-range effort saved by Pentz and Kingsley Coman blazed over from close range as the inevitable France onslaught arrived early in the second half.

France appeared to run out of steam until Mbappe, brought on in the second half after recovering from injury, linked up with Christopher Nkunku and rifled into the roof of the net.

Mbappe would have snatched a late winner in the final few minutes if not for a fine Pentz save to push his strike onto the frame of the goal from a one-on-one.

What does it mean? France remain winless

Eight months on from beating Spain to win the previous Nations League tournament, France face a battle to stay in the top tier of groups, never mind advancing to the finals.

Les Blues will now likely have to win their remaining matches and hope other results go their way if they are to leapfrog the other three sides in their group and finish top.

As for Austria, they have now won two of their three games under Ralf Rangnick, who has hit the ground running since his disappointing spell as interim Manchester United boss.

France slipped to the bottom of their Nations League group with an underwhelming 1-1 draw away to Austria in Vienna on Friday.

The competition's reigning champions have just two points from three Group A1 matches, having lost at home to Denmark and drawn away to Croatia in their opening two games.

It could have been even worse for Les Blues at Ernst Happel Stadion as they trailed to a 37th-minute Andreas Weimann strike until substitute Kylian Mbappe levelled up late on.

With three games to go, Didier Deschamps' side are four points behind leaders Denmark and two behind Austria and Croatia, with only one team advancing to next year's finals.

Patrick Pentz produced a fine save to keep out Karim Benzema in the opening 17 minutes, but France were otherwise frustrated by Austria in the first half.

The hosts probed away and found a breakthrough when Konrad Laimer was played in by Marko Arnautovic and in turn picked out Weimann for a simple finish from six yards.

Arnautovic nearly doubled Austria's lead before the interval after swivelling past William Saliba and getting a shot away, which Hugo Lloris comfortably kept out in the end.

Benjamin Pavard had a long-range effort saved by Pentz and Kingsley Coman blazed over from close range as the inevitable France onslaught arrived early in the second half.

France appeared to run out of steam until Mbappe, brought on in the second half after recovering from injury, linked up with Christopher Nkunku and rifled into the roof of the net.

Mbappe would have snatched a late winner in the final few minutes if not for a fine Pentz save to push his strike onto the frame of the goal from a one-on-one.

What does it mean? France remain winless

Eight months on from beating Spain to win the previous Nations League tournament, France face a battle to stay in the top tier of groups, never mind advancing to the finals.

Les Blues will now likely have to win their remaining matches and hope other results go their way if they are to leapfrog the other three sides in their group and finish top.

As for Austria, they have now won two of their three games under Ralf Rangnick, who has hit the ground running since his disappointing spell as interim Manchester United boss.

Mbappe salvages a point

Mbappe was taken off at half-time against Denmark last week with an injury that kept him out of the Croatia match in midweek, but he was fit enough to play half an hour here.

The Paris Saint-Germain star's quality told with his strike, making it five goal involvements in his past five substitute appearances for France – three goals and two assists.

Karim kept quiet

It had been a frustrating day for Deschamps' attacking players up until Mbappe's arrival. Antoine Griezmann, the player he replaced, failed to have a single shot.

Benzema, meanwhile, could not find the net from his five attempts, which equated to an expected goals (xG) return of 0.62.

What's next?

France will look for that elusive first win of the Nations League campaign when they host Croatia on Monday, the same day that Austria travel to Denmark.

The Washington Commanders have fined defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 for his dismissive comments about the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol building and for comparing the insurrection to protests against police brutality.  

Head coach Ron Rivera announced the fine with a statement on Friday, while public hearings are ongoing with the House of Representatives Jan. 6 investigative committee.  

On Wednesday, Del Rio referred to the attack on the Capitol building as a "dust-up" compared to the protests that took place in the summer of 2020 after George Floyd was killed in police custody.  

"I can look at images on the TV [of the Floyd protests] — people's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down. No problem," he said on Wednesday. "And then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down, and we're going to make that a major deal. I just think it’s kind of two standards, and if we apply the same standard and we're going to be reasonable with each other, let's have a discussion.” 

Later on Wednesday, Del Rio issued an apology for his comment.  

"Referencing that situation as a dust-up was irresponsible and negligent and I am sorry," he said in a statement.

"I stand by my comments condemning violence in communities across the country. I say that while also expressing my support as an American citizen for peaceful protest in our country."

The NAACP has called for Del Rio to resign or to be fired.  

Rivera's statement said Del Rio's fine will be donated to the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund.  

"As we saw last night in the hearings, what happened on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an act of domestic terrorism," Rivera said. "A group of citizens attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election, and as a result lives were lost, and the Capitol building was damaged. 

"I want to make it clear that our organisation will not tolerate any equivalency between those who demanded justice in the wake of George Floyd's murder and the actions of those on January 6 who sought to topple our government."

Charl Schwartzel holds a three-shot lead going into the final day of the LIV Golf Invitational in London after another impressive performance at Centurion.

The South African followed up his five-under opening round by going four under on day two of the 54-hole tournament.

His compatriot Hennie du Plessis is six under with Peter Uihlein two strokes further back.

Dustin Johnson, the two-time major champion and highest-ranked player at the event, is in a tie for sixth at one under.

He is one of only eight players under par after 36 holes, with Phil Mickelson struggling to get to grips with the course.

Mickelson ended the day four over par and, though there is no cut, his hopes of victory at the end of a week overshadowed by his and Johnson's ban from the PGA Tour for joining the controversial breakaway have surely gone.

Top seed Maria Sakkari was eliminated from the Nottingham Open at the quarter-final stage by world number 48 Beatriz Haddad Maia on Friday.

Haddad Maia made it three career wins out of three against Sakkari with a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory to reach her first WTA semi-final on grass.

The Brazilian will now take on Tereza Martincova, who beat last year's runner-up Zhang Shuai 6-3 6-2, for a place in Sunday's final.

Sixth seed Alison Riske is also through to the last four after recovering from a set down to beat home favourite Harriet Dart 4-6 6-2 6-1.

Riske's sixth career semi-final on grass will come against Viktorija Golubic, who surprised Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 7-6 (8-6) in the final match of the day.

At The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, second seed Belinda Bencic's participation was ended with a straight-sets defeat to Veronika Kudermetova.

French Open quarter-finalist Kudermetova prevailed 6-4 6-2 in 87 minutes to snap a three-match losing streak against Bencic.

Russian compatriot Ekaterina Alexandrova is up next in the semi-finals after easing past American qualifier Caty McNally 6-0 6-1

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka is into her third semi-final in her past five tournaments, meanwhile, thanks to a 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-5) win over Alison Van Uytvanck.

Shelby Rogers, a 3-6 6-1 6-4 winner against Kirsten Flipkens, awaits Sabalenka in Saturday's semi-final.

Darwin Nunez can be a hybrid of fellow Uruguayan strikers Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, according to a former coach of the 22-year-old.

Nunez has been heavily linked with a big-money move from Benfica to Liverpool or Manchester United ahead of next season, with a reported fee of up to €100million (£85m) being touted.

The young forward produced electric form for Benfica in 2021-22, scoring 34 goals in 41 games in all competitions, including six Champions League goals against Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Ajax and Liverpool.

Leonardo Ramos coached Nunez during his time at Penarol in Uruguay and told Stats Perform of his belief that, while the player still has a lot to learn, he is showing similar traits to legendary La Celeste strikers Suarez and Cavani.

"Everyone compares him a lot to Cavani," Ramos said. "They have a similar style. It seems to me that Darwin is faster and more powerful than Cavani. Cavani, maybe now he is a more experienced player and knows the moments where to press, when to attack, when to go back, when to be able to play and associate with his team-mates.

"Today, Darwin seems to me to be much more explosive, but apart from that explosiveness, he obviously has already shown unbelievable a scoring ability. 

"It is the same scoring ability that we saw in Uruguay when he was in the bases of Penarol because he scored many goals there. And the truth is that if you ask me about a player who looks quite similar to him, I would say Cavani."

When asked if there were any similarities to former Liverpool and Barcelona star Suarez, Ramos said: "I think he has two parts, it's half-and-half.

"He has the power that Suarez had to go for everything, to go to the clash, to be a fighter with the rival. And he also has the part of Cavani, of being a much more athletic player, more physical, more intelligent, and I think it's a union of those two things that are important.

"Let's see, Darwin is still a very young boy, he has to learn a lot. It is not to discredit the Portuguese league, but [he will be judged] playing in Spain or Italy, which along with England, are the places where he will surely need much more of his characteristics and his strength to perform much better."

Reports suggest that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp sees Nunez as an ideal replacement for Sadio Mane, who is being linked with a move to Bayern Munich, and Ramos can see why the Reds are interested, though does think it could be a bit early for the player to move to such a club.

"Darwin is a player who can help a lot in the recovery of the ball," he said. "With Uruguay, he does it and does it very well.

"Yes, he is a player who has to play near the area because there he is lethal, he has no regard for the opponent, he knows in advance where the ball is going to fall and where the goal is, [but] I don't know if it's time for him to go to Liverpool now. Not because of his conditions, but because [Liverpool] is a very big club.

"There have been players who have been very important in world football who have gone to play for Liverpool and they have failed.

"I think it would suit Darwin, and I have to say that this is just my opinion, it does not mean I am right, but I think that it would be better for him to go to a lower team to gain experience and explode at another time.

"Although the moments are now and Darwin's time is now, so if he goes to Liverpool, it seems to me that if Liverpool takes him it's because they really believe he can work in their team."

Andy Murray claimed his first win over a top-five opponent since 2016 as he stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the Stuttgart Open semi-finals.

Murray started his preparations for the grass-court swing with a run to the semi-finals of the challenger at Surbiton.

He knocked off seventh seed Alexander Bublik to reach the last eight in Stuttgart but a meeting with the top seed and world number five represented a much more imposing challenge.

It was one the two-time Wimbledon champion rose to emphatically, winning a first-set tie-break and then claiming the second set in comfortable fashion to cement a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 win, gaining revenge for his contentious five-set defeat to the Greek at last year's US Open.

Murray's previous win over a top-five opponent came in the ATP Finals six years ago, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in a year that also saw him win Wimbledon.

"I thought I did well. He served unbelievably in the first set," Murray said in his on-court interview.

"I felt like I had very few chances, but when he was creating chances on my serve, I stayed strong.

"I played a really solid tie-break and in the second set, once I was in the rallies, I felt like I was dictating a lot of the points. It was a good performance."

Murray is up to 53rd in the live ATP rankings and is bidding to get back into the top 50 for the first time since 2018. 

Standing between him and a place in the final is Nick Kyrgios, who was 7-6 (7-3) 3-0 up when Marton Fucsovics retired from their quarter-final clash.

Matteo Berrettini beat Lorenzo Sonego in three sets, while Oscar Otte won by walkover against Benjamin Bonzi.

At the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in 's-Hertogenbosch, Daniil Medvedev saw off Ilya Ivashka 7-6 (10-8) 6-4.

Medvedev, who will soon return to world number one when the ranking points from the French Open come into effect, sees the grass-court season as a chance to cement his grip on that spot.

"I don't have many points to defend on grass and I have some to win, so hopefully I can play well, starting here," said Medvedev. "Every round is points and the higher you get, the more you need to step up."

He will face defending champion Adrian Mannarino in the semi-finals, while second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime is into a last-four clash with home hope Tim van Rijthoven after beating Karen Khachanov. 

Stephen Curry will not have any minutes restriction in Game 4 as the Golden State Warriors bid to level the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.

Curry suffered a foot injury in the Warriors' 116-100 defeat in Game 3 at TD Garden on Wednesday.

The two-time MVP had insisted he would not miss Game 4 and head coach Steve Kerr confirmed Curry will be available for the entirety of Friday's critical clash.

"He's feeling well, just went through shootaround. He said he's ready to go," Kerr told reporters.

The Warriors trail the series 2-1 and will have history against them if the Celtics claim a third win in four.

Only one team in NBA Finals history has come back from a 3-1 deficit to prevail, the Cleveland Cavaliers famously doing so against the Warriors in 2016.

Curry has scored 26.8 points per game so far in the postseason. He has averaged 31.3 across the first three games of the Finals.