The NHL hit the halfway point on Thursday night, though not every team has played 41 games. Here are the surprises, disappointments, award leaders and other categories from the first half of the 2024-25 season:

Best story: Columbus Blue Jackets. They’re sitting in an Eastern Conference wild-card spot, despite dealing with the offseason death of Johnny Gaudreau. Injured captain Boone Jenner hasn’t played this season. Defenseman Zach Werenski, Kirill Marchenko and newcomer Sean Monahan are helping carry the load. And when Monahan went on the injured list this week, the Blue Jackets crushed the Seattle Kraken 6-2 in their first game without him.

Most impressive story: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals. After a so-so (for him) 31-goal season in 2023-24, he needed to total 42 goals between this season and next to break Wayne Gretzky’s career goal record. But he got off to a red-hot start with 15 goals in 18 games before breaking his leg and missing 16 games. He’s back and up to 19 goals now, putting him on pace to break the record this season.

Biggest surprise: Vegas Golden Knights. They appeared due for a dropoff after losing Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Logan Thompson and others during the offseason. But they’re leading the league in points. Jack Eichel is on pace for his first 100-point season, which is a good sign for Team USA at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off.

Biggest disappointment (tie): New York Rangers, Nashville Predators. The Rangers have dropped from first overall in 2023-24 to 24th overall and went through a slump that led to trades of Jacob Trouba and Kaapo Kakko. The Predators added Steven Stamkos and fellow 40-goal scorer Marchessault in the offseason but have dropped from a 2023-24 playoff team to 30th overall.

MVP: Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers. He’s the first player to 30 goals this season and nine of those are game-winners, including four in overtime. He’s second in points (61), is tied for second in plus-minus (+24) and wins 56.6% of his faceoffs.

Goaltender: Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets. The two-time (and reigning) Vezina Trophy winner has 25 wins in 33 starts, both league bests. He’s also tops in the league among No. 1 goalies in goals-against average and save percentage. Also a good sign for Team USA.

Defenseman: Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s tied for the goal lead among defensemen with 13, and his 48 points are one behind leader Cale Makar, who has played one more game. Werenski also leads in average ice time (26:30) and has had a five-point and a four-point game this season. Also a good sign for Team USA.

Rookie: Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks. He had a goal and an assist in his debut, then missed the rest of October. Despite that, he’s just two points out of the rookie scoring lead while averaging nearly a point a game.

Coach: Spencer Carbery, Washington Capitals. The Capitals added a lot of players in the offseason and Carbery has them fitting together. That includes Pierre-Luc Dubois, who struggled last season in Los Angeles. The Capitals have the league’s second-best record and went 10-5-1 while Ovechkin was out. Washington, which had a minus-37 goal differential last season in Carbery’s first season, is at plus-41. Columbus coach Dean Evason also gets a nod.

Best goal, Nazem Kadri, Calgary Flames. He leaped a fallen Tampa Bay Lightning defender, kept his balance, spun and ripped a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Best save: Jacob Markstrom, New Jersey Devils. Markstrom robbed the Kraken twice in the same game.

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The hype that traveled with James Franklin to Penn State when he was hired a decade ago could be described in four words: He won at Vanderbilt.

That raised expectations around the Nittany Lions to meteoric heights, seemingly placing the program on a collision course for Big Ten and national championships. The Nittany Lions have won a single conference crown; the national championship continues to prove elusive.

Missed chances, missed opportunities, misfires in top-five matchups — deservedly or not, that’s been the Nittany Lions’ defining trait under Franklin. That makes losing 27-24 to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Orange Bowl feel painfully familiar: Penn State is close, but the program’s glass ceiling remains unbroken.

“Everything we did together,” said junior linebacker Kobe King. “All the success, we had together. All the failures, we learn from. But it’s heartbreaking. It’s definitely something for the guys to look forward to next year, and some guys to put on their shoulders as a chip to learn from and to overcome.”

This loss breathes more life into the image of the Nittany Lions as their own worst enemy.

Penn State led 10-0 late in the second quarter and had a chance to keep Notre Dame off the board. But the defense failed to fall on a fumble, allowing the Irish to get on the board with a field goal. After dominating the first half, the running game essentially disappeared in the second. The Nittany Lions led 24-17 with just under eight minutes to play but allowed the Irish to tie the game on a breakdown in the secondary.

But no play will define the loss — and the team’s entire season — more than a crucial, game-breaking interception from quarterback Drew Allar with 33 seconds remaining.

“We just know we’ve got his back,” said All-America tight end Tyler Warren. “He knows that, too. That’s how we go about it, man.”

There’s no way to second-guess the decision to push the tempo in an effort to win the game in regulation, especially as overtime games have become an even bigger crapshoot with the rule change that forces each team to alternate two-point conversions beginning in the third extra frame.

“We’ve embraced playing to win,” said offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. “We get a good run to start that drive and hurry up and go tempo and end up turning it over, which ended up being costly. That’s what you’ve got to do. You play to win.”

But after running back Nick Singleton’s 13-yard run moved Penn State to the 28-yard line, Allar dropped back to pass and rolled to his left to buy time. He then committed one of the cardinal sins of quarterbacking: He threw across his body, aimed toward junior wide receiver Omari Evans. The attempt was intercepted by Notre Dame defensive back Christian Gray.

Allar could’ve thrown the ball into the first row, or even continued to scramble his way across the sideline. Either decision might have cost Penn State momentum. At worst, though, the safer play would have left the Nittany Lions in position to force overtime.

“I was going through my progressions,” Allar said. “Got to the backside and honestly, I was just trying to go to Omari’s feet. I should have just thrown it away when I thought the first two progressions aren’t open just because of the situation we were in.”

After three offensive snaps moved the Irish to the 25-yard line, quarterback Riley Leonard moved the ball toward the right hashmark to set up kicker Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard field goal with 10 seconds to play.

“He’s hurting right now, right? He should be hurting. We’re all hurting,” Franklin said of Allar. “This ain’t easy, to get in here after a game and have a conversation after you’ve just poured your guts out on the field. He’ll handle it great.

“He’ll be hurting tonight and tomorrow. He’ll hurt a little bit less the next day and so on and so forth. But he’s a committed guy who’s going to do it the right way. He’ll learn from this and be better for it, and so will we.”

Said Kotelnicki, “That’s tough, right? Because he’s going to put that on himself, and he shouldn’t have to.

“I simply say to him, ‘It ain’t you. It’s not on you to take that on your shoulders and feel that blame for that.’ Because we will win and we will lose as a group, as a football team. It’s never one play. Everyone is going to point the finger at that one. But I say, ‘I love you.’ Because I do.”

After taking a step forward in the regular season as a second-year starter, Allar struggled during the playoff, taking a back seat to the Nittany Lions’ running game in wins against Indiana and Boise State and again against the Irish.

He went 13 of 22 for 127 yards against the Hoosiers, tying his season low with 5.8 yards per attempt, and then completed 13 of 25 throws for 171 yards against the Broncos, though he did have three touchdowns without an interception. Allar was 12 of 23 for 135 yards against the Irish and was very ineffective downfield, completing just six of the 14 attempts that traveled more than five yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

Overall, the Nittany Lions failed to complete a single pass to their wide receivers.

“We tried a couple early on in the game but weren’t able to convert them,” Franklin said. “Yeah, that’s a storyline of the game. That’s one of the storylines, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. We had some throws and some contested balls that we didn’t come down with.”

The interception threatens to define Allar’s college career — it’s a moment that will linger in program history for the wrong reasons, and only grow painfully in magnitude should the Irish beat Ohio State or Texas in the championship game.

He’s already committed to coming back in 2025, saying in a social-media post last month that “there’s still more work to do, which is why I look forward to making more memories with my teammates this year and beyond.”

First, Allar will have to move past this moment. How he does so, or whether he does so at all, will play a huge role in deciding whether Penn State is poised to finally break through in 2025.

“Drew is a passionate guy,” Franklin said. “He invests so much into his development and also to his teammates, to Penn State. He’ll handle this like he handles everything else, with a first-class approach and with an investment level that’s as good as anybody in the country. His growth from a year-one starter to a year-two starter was significant. He has a chance to take another step next year.”

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Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will play exhibitions in Peru, Panama and Honduras next month, rounding out a five-match preseason tour that begins in Las Vegas and ends in Tampa, Florida ahead of the 2025 MLS season.

Inter Miami’s ‘The Americans Preseason Tour’ begins in Las Vegas when Inter Miami plays Mexican champions Club America at Allegiant Stadium on Jan. 18.

Inter Miami will face Peruvian side Club Universitario de Deportes, the country’s first division back-to-back champions, at Estadio Monumental in Lima, Peru on Jan. 29.

Four days later, Inter Miami will face Sporting San Miguelito at Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez in Panama City, Panama on Feb. 2.

MESSI SCHEDULE: Where will Messi play in 2025?

Inter Miami will face Honduran giants Club Deportivo Olimpia at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on Feb. 8

And the preseason comes to an end when Inter Miami faces its in-state MLS rival Orlando City at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 14.

The five-match preseason lasting a month is a lighter load than Inter Miami’s worldwide preseason tour last year, when the club played six games in El Salvador, Dallas, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Tokyo in a span of three weeks.

Still, Inter Miami’s 2025 tour will see Messi draw fans in North, Central and South America, continuing to promote the MLS club to an international audience while preparing for an action-packed season.

Messi and Inter Miami will play in the Champions Cup, the Club World Cup, and the Leagues Cup tournaments in 2025, while defending their Supporters’ Shield title and contending for another postseason berth in the MLS Cup playoffs next year.

‘We’re very excited to unveil the five matches against domestic and international opponents across the Americas that will prepare us for a highly anticipated 2025,’ Inter Miami’s president of football operations Raúl Sanllehí said in a statement.

‘These fixtures will put us in the best possible position ahead of an unparalleled campaign with various competitions we’re playing for this year – the FIFA Club World Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup and MLS.’

Messi won MLS MVP in 2024, helping Inter Miami win the regular-season title and set the MLS single-season points record (74) before the club’s first-round playoff exit to Atlanta United.

The club will also have a new coach in 2025, after Messi’s longtime teammate Javier Mascherano was hired to replace Tata Martino, who resigned following last season.

Inter Miami will begin the first round of the Concacaf Champions Cup with the first of two games against Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park on Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. ET.

Inter Miami will host New York City FC on Feb. 22 in their MLS season opener, then host Sporting KC in the second leg of their first-round Champions Cup matchup on Feb. 25. Both matches will be played at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Messi, Inter Miami upcoming schedule

Jan. 18: Inter Miami vs. Club América, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, 10 p.m. ET (preseason)
Jan. 29: Club Universitario de Deportes vs. Inter Miami, Estadio Monumental in Lima Peru, 8 p.m. ET
Feb. 2: Sporting San Miguelito vs. Inter Miami, Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez in Panama City, 5 p.m. ET
Feb. 8: Club Deportivo Olimpia vs. Inter Miami, Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, 8 p.m. ET (preseason)
Feb. 14: Inter Miami vs. Orlando City, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, 7:30 p.m. (preseason)
Feb. 18: Sporting Kansas City vs. Inter Miami, Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, 8 p.m. ET (Concacaf Champions Cup)
Feb. 22: Inter Miami vs. New York City FC, Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 2:30 p.m. (MLS regular season opener)
Feb. 25: Inter Miami vs. Sporting Kansas City, Chase Stadium, 8 p.m. ET (Concacaf Champions Cup)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Notre Dame took advantage of a crucial Penn State turnover with under a minute left and made the game-winning field goal with seven seconds remaining to pull out a 27-24 win in the Orange Bowl and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff championship game.

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar was intercepted in Penn State territory with 33 seconds to play, leading to a 41-yard field goal by Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter. The Fighting Irish will meet the Cotton Bowl winner between Texas and Ohio State on Monday, Jan. 20, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Down 10-0 with two minutes left in the second quarter and 24-17 with just under eight minutes to play, Notre Dame answered with a surprisingly explosive passing game, including a game-changing touchdown pass of 54 yards to wide receiver Jaden Greathouse to even the game at 24-24 with 4:38 remaining.

A game of runs — Penn State scored the first 10 points and Notre Dame the next 17 points — came down to which quarterback made the critical mistake. That was Allar, who had turned his game around in the fourth quarter but made a costly decision on a rollout on the Nittany Lions’ penultimate possession.

The Nittany Lions were held to 63 rushing yards in the second half after going for 141 yards in the first half, which more than the Irish had allowed combined in playoff wins against Indiana and Georgia.

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard went 15 of 23 for 223 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, with another 35 yards on the ground. The senior briefly left the game after being driven to the ground by two Penn State defenders on Notre Dame’s final possession of the first half. He was replaced by backup Steve Angeli but returned to the start the third quarter.

Robbed off his normal explosiveness due to a knee injury, running back Jeremiyah Love still managed a team-high 45 yards. Aneyas Williams had 83 yards of total offense. Greathouse led all players with 105 receiving yards.

Penn State’s Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for 166 yards on 34 carries, with Singleton accounting for all three of the team’s touchdowns.

All-America tight end Ty Warren had 75 receiving yards and 21 yards on the ground for the Nittany Lions. Allar started slowly and finished with 135 passing yards and the one costly turnover.

After the first scoreless first quarter in the Orange Bowl since Louisville and Wake Forest in 2007, the Nittany Lions got on the board with a short field goal to open the second quarter. Later, Penn State went 90 yards in 15 plays across more than seven minutes, capped by a Singleton touchdown run, to take a 10-0 lead with 2:18 remaining in the quarter.

Angeli took over for Leonard near midfield and drove the Irish in range for a 41-yard field goal by kicker Mitch Jeter as time expired to make it 10-3 at the break.

With Leonard back under center, Notre Dame’s offense responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive to open the second half keyed by a 36-yard completion to Williams. The Irish had three completions of 30 or more yards after having just nine on the season heading into Thursday night.

Notre Dame went ahead 17-10 on a Love touchdown run from two yards out less than a minute into the fourth quarter. Hit behind the line of scrimmage, Love wriggled away from multiple tacklers and dragged another Penn State defender into the end zone.

Penn State tied the score on the ensuing possession, retaking momentum with a 75-yard drive lasting 3:45 and ending with a 7-yard touchdown by Singleton. Allar completed all three of his attempts and 57 yards of total offense on the scoring drive.

Leonard’s interception on the first play of the next drive put Penn State in position to retake the lead on another Singleton score with 7:55 to play. The drive included a key pass-interference penalty on Notre Dame that negated an Allar interception.

Again, Notre Dame had the answer. Greathouse broken open on the right sideline when Penn State defensive back slipped in coverage. Greathouse made one potential tackler miss on his way to the end zone.

After tackling Allar short of a first down on a third-down scramble, Notre Dame took over at its 24-yard line with 2:34 to play. Boosted by a 15-yard hands-to-the-face penalty against Nittany Lions defensive lineman Zane Durant, the Irish were able to inch toward makeable field-goal range but were stopped on a Penn State sack with under a minute to go.

The Nittany Lions regained possession at the 15-yard line with 47 seconds to play. But Allar made the game’s biggest mistake: On second down on the 28-yard line, Allar rolled to his left, threw across his body and was intercepted by Christian Gray at the 42-yard line with 33 seconds left.

Leonard found Greathouse again to convert on third down and push the Irish down to the 25-yard line. Leonard then kneeled twice to get the Irish into the middle of the field and set up Jeter’s game-winning field goal.