Toronto arrived at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Tuesday night as the hottest team in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

That designation belonged to Minnesota early in the season, and it knew going in that ending Toronto’s five-game winning streak would go a long way in getting its season back on track.

But the losing ways continued as Toronto extended its winning streak with a 4-3 overtime victory. Minnesota has lost seven of its last nine games, including two in overtime.

Sarah Nurse’s second goal of the game was the game-winner and came after Sophie Jacques’ second goal of the game tied the game for Minnesota in the final minute of regulation after pulling its goaltender.

“The good news is we only gave up one point,” said Minnesota coach Ken Klee. “We got one, they got two. But, it was just one of those games. We were out-chancing them. I think they only had two shots in the third, and one of them went in.

“It’s one of the games where you know it is going to be tight. We just have to find a way to bury pucks.”

Minnesota had scored two goals or less in its last eight games. It last scored three goals in a game on January 27, a 4-3 overtime loss.

“It’s tough,” said Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield. “We haven’t been on the winning end of things lately, and it just feels like it’s piling on. It’s not like we’ve been playing bad. There’s just little things we have to clean up.

“At this level the little things come back to bite you in the butt. That’s what’s happened the last few times we’ve lost.”

Minnesota, which was shut out 2-0 by Boston on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center, once again was without injured forwards Taylor Heise and Liz Schepers. Looking to produce more offense, Klee spoke prior to the game about the need to create more traffic in front of the opposing net.

Minnesota showed improvement in that area, but true scoring chances remained at a premium. All three of Minnesota’s goals were scored by defensemen.

“All the goalies in this league are so good that if you don’t get traffic it’s going to be tough to score,” Klee said. “It was an emphasis for us (Tuesday), and you pay a price. You get cross-checked in the back.

“It’s a hard thing for forwards to do. But when they do it we can score goals.”

Blayre Turnbull gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 5:43 of the first period when she snuck a wrist shot through the pads of Minnesota goaltender Nicole Hensley.

Minnesota tied the game less than two minutes later. Jacques moved in from the right point to beat Toronto goalie Kristen Campbell on a backhander from just off the crease for her first goal of the season.

Minnesota’s Lee Stecklein took a penalty in the first minute of the second period, and Toronto scored on the power play to take a 2-1 lead. Kali Flanagan beat Hensley on a slap shot from the blue line for her second goal of the season.

Natalie Buchbinder’s first goal of the season pulled Minnesota even at 11:33. Buchbinder’s slap shot from the right point hit a couple of Toronto sticks in the slot before beating Campbell just under the crossbar.

Nurse scored with five minutes to play in the third period to put Toronto ahead 3-2, and it looked like it would be the game-winner until Jacques’ heroics in the final minute.

Briefly

>> The teams split the first two meetings of the season, with Minnesota winning 3-1 at Xcel January 10 and Toronto winning 4-1 at home on February 3.

>> The PWHL announced on Tuesday that it will hold its second player draft in June. Players will be able to declare for the seven-round draft between March 1 and May 8.  Any players who declare and are not selected will become free agents.

After two impressive road wins last weekend pulled them within two points of a Western Conference playoff spot, the Wild came home and coughed up a pair of one-goal leads in a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center.

Stefan Noesen scored the go-ahead goal when he deflected puck with his face into the net with 9 minutes, 58 seconds left in regulation, and Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov scored game-tying goals in the first and second periods, respectively, as Carolina snapped a two-game losing streak.

Connor Dewar and Jonas Brodin scored to give the Wild one-goal leads in the first period, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 25 of 28 shots, but there was little he could do about the game-winner.

Noesen was crashing the net when a high shot by teammate Jack Drury crossed the crease on a high angle and caromed off his face back toward the net and past Gustavsson at 11:02. That made it 3-2 Hurricanes at 11:02, and Carolina made it stick.

The Wild lost in regulation for just the second time since returning from the all-star break on Feb. 7 (7-2-1).

Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 28 of 30 shots for Carolina.

Dewar broke the seal at the midpoint of the first period, receiving a pass from Declan Chisholm — who had earlier kept the puck in the zone with a pinch — in the slot, turned and fired and wrist shot that Kochetkov never saw for a 1-0 lead at 9:50.

The Hurricanes tied it 1-1 when Jordan Martinook threw a shot at Gustavsson from the point and Jordan Staal backhanded the rebound in shortside at 15:26.

Minnesota retook a lead late when Bradon Duhaime sent a shot toward the net and Brodin deflected it past Kochetkov to make it 2-1 with 20.3 seconds left in the first period.

The teams played to a standstill in the second period until the final 30 seconds, when the Wild twice failed to dump the puck for a change and instead turned the puck over to start a Hurricanes rush.

Kaprizov tried to skate into the Carolina zone but was intercepted by Jordan Staal, who forced a turnover. The puck wound up on the stick of Chisholm, but his dump attempt hit teammate Matt Boldy in the back.

Svechnikov picked up the puck and sent it ahead to Staal, who skated it into the zone before passing back to Seth Jarvis — who hit Svechnikov streaking to the net. He swept the puck wide of the net, but it hit Gustavsson’s pad and caromed into the net to make it 2-2 with 24.4 seconds left in the period.

It was a quick, unfortunate turn of events for the Wild, but entirely avoidable with a decent decision from the neutral zone.

The Wild came close to retaking the lead late in a power play early in the third period on a pair of plays by Ryan Hartman. He deflected a shot off the inside of the post and it deflected across the goal line but never crossed. The forward then sent a pass to Marco Rossi at the corner of the crease, but the center’s shot was stopped by Kechotkov.

Rossi left the ice after his left leg bent awkwardly in a collision with Jarvis in the corner of the Wild zone — Rossi was called for tripping on the play — midway through the third period. He tried to stretch out his leg before trainer John Worley came to the ice and led him down the tunnel, but he returned to finish the game.

In the midst of its January swoon, one of Minnesota’s more befuddling losses was a defeat in San Antonio at the hands of the hapless Spurs.

The Wolves made certain no such disaster occurred Tuesday. Playing without Karl-Anthony Towns — who missed the game for personal reasons — Minnesota controlled play for nearly the entire way in its 114-105 home victory over San Antonio at Target Center.

Victor Wembanyama electrified Target Center in the first quarter with a nifty triple off the bounce and an attempt at finishing a bucket off the backboard on a play in which he was fouled. But Minnesota (41-17) did a nice job locking down the No. 1 overall pick from there.

He finished with just 17 points, though he did add 12 boards and three blocked shots.

Frankly, Minnesota flummoxed the young Spurs (11-48) for most of the evening. San Antonio often had trouble even generating a shot. The Spurs were forcing passes that weren’t there, frustrating by Minnesota’s suffocating defense. That resulted in San Antonio committing 21 turnovers that led to 27 Minnesota points.

The game wasn’t competitive, though the final score suggests otherwise. The Wolves led by as many as 24 points before committing a series of silly turnovers and bad shots that allowed San Antonio to get as close as six in the game’s final minute.

Anthony Edwards was productive in transition. The wing finished with 34 points on a night where it looked as though he’d exit in the second frame. Edwards appeared to badly turn his ankle coming around a screen. He had to be helped off the floor by a couple of assistant coaches. But Edwards emerged from the locker room after halftime and rejoined the action.

Those mid-game scares that turn out to be nothing have become seemingly weekly occurrences for the star guard.

Naz Reid added 22 points and Rudy Gobert had 12 points and 16 rebounds on a night where Kyle Anderson left the contest with hamstring tightness and did not return. That thinned out Minnesota’s generally deep front court, but Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted Towns is expected back for the Wolves’ bout Wednesday with Memphis.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI (Associated Press)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump easily won their party’s primaries in Michigan, but Tuesday’s results showed that both candidates have cause for concern in their bid to to win the swing state in November.

An “uncommitted” vote in Michigan’s Democratic primary was the first indication of how backlash over President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza might impact his reelection campaign. Trump won his primary by a large margin, but support for rival Nikki Haley once again showed that some Republican voters may have misgivings about giving the former president another four years in the general election.

Here are some takeaways from Michigan:

Michigan was the last major primary state before Super Tuesday, and both sides were watching closely for implications for the November general election in one of the few genuine swing states left in the country.

Biden has now cruised to victories over lesser known candidates in South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire, which he won in a write-in campaign. Tuesday’s results show that his standing is still strong in Michigan, which Biden returned to the Democratic column in 2020.

Trump has swept all five of the early state contests, including South Carolina, the home state of rival Haley. He now heads into Super Tuesday, when 15 states and one territory hold Republican nominating contests, as the overwhelming favorite to lock up the Republican nomination.

Michigan was one of three so-called blue wall states, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, that Trump won in 2016. He predicted a big win beforehand.

Just 16 of Michigan’s 55 presidential delegates will be determined by the primary results, while the remaining delegates will be allocated during a March 2 convention. Trump’s anticipated dominance at the state convention, where grassroots activists will play a key role, will decide the allocation of the remaining 39 delegates.

Michigan has become the focal point of Democratic frustration regarding the White House’s actions in the Israel-Hamas conflict. It has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation.

That anger came through loud and clear on Tuesday as some voters marked “uncommitted” on their ballot in the Democratic primary. Biden still dominated the primary, but the result could be a concern in a state he won by less than 3% in 2020 and likely can’t afford to lose this year if he wants to win a second term.

Organizers of the “uncommitted” movement had purposely kept expectations low, having only seriously began their push a few weeks ago. The “Listen to Michigan” campaign that organized the push said they were hoping for 10,000 votes, pointing to Trump’s win of less than 11,000 votes in 2016 to show the significance of that number.

When Barack Obama ran for reelection in 2012, the last time a Democratic presidential incumbent sought re-election, the “uncommitted” option received close to 21,000 votes — or 11 percentage points.

The “uncommitted” vote totals would need to be between 20 and 30 percentage points for Democrats to worry about their impact in November, said Richard Czuba, a pollster who has long tracked Michigan politics.

“Twenty percent gets my attention. If it rises to 25%, that gets a lot more attention and if it rises above 30%, I think that’s a signal that Joe Biden has issues pretty substantial issues in his base,” said Czuba.

Much of the “uncommitted” vote was expected to come from the east side of the state, in communities such as Dearborn and Hamtramck, where Arab Americans represent close to half of the population. Biden won Dearborn by a roughly 3-to-1 advantage in 2020 and Hamtramck by a 5 to 1 margin.