This was such a nice love-in with No. 17.

Except that it was with current Canucks forward Radim Vrbata, not former Vancouver center and Anaheim Duck Ryan Kesler.

When 17s collide.

The new-kid-in-town, Vrbata, who signed as a free agent in the summer, felt the love as he scored his team-leading ninth goal. Kesler, who played here for 10 seasons, mostly felt the cold shoulder in a chilly reception from the fans in his first game back since getting traded to Anaheim in June.

Kesler said he felt "a lot" of satisfaction as the Ducks came away with the victory, 4-3, in a shootout over the Canucks on Thursday night at Rogers Arena.

"The guys battled extremely hard," said Kesler, who heard boos all night and even louder ones when he took his turn in the shootout and missed.

"We had a terrible second period, but we battled back like we've done all year, a resilient group in here. I'm proud the way the guys played tonight."

He was happy to put this game in the rear-view mirror.

"Let's just say...

Bryce Alford leaned into the microphone and his face turned red.

How often, he was asked, does he practice his behind-the-back moves?

"Not a whole lot, actually," Alford said, still blushing.

Though Alford looked sheepish about it after the game, the UCLA basketball team looked a bit flashy Thursday at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins ran away from Nicholls State, 107-74, and did it with style.

Alford showed off his ballhandling. Norman Powell threw down an alley-oop, followed by a string of UCLA dunks. Gyorgy Goloman swatted a ball into the stands.

The game was never close. The Colonels (0-2) had lingered for the first six minutes, but then came a furious UCLA burst. A 15-0 run gave the Bruins (3-0) a 23-point lead, and that was that.

For the third time in three games, UCLA Coach Steve Alford walked up to the podium after the game and said the same thing.

"Really, really pleased," he said.

Three Bruins finished with 20 points or more.

Alford finished with 28 points on eight-for-14 shooting...

Rookie Derek Carr gave the Oakland Raiders something to celebrate for a change.

Carr threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to James Jones with 1:42 remaining, and the Raiders snapped a 16-game losing streak with a 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.

“I been through a lot of hard times, these losses have been hard,” Carr said.

Oakland's Latavius Murray ran for two touchdowns on four carries before leaving the game with a concussion.

The Raiders (1-10) built a 14-point lead, but needed a 17-play, 80-yard drive led by Carr to secure its first win since beating Houston on Nov. 17, 2013.

Alex Smith threw two TD passes for the Chiefs (7-4), who had won five in a row. They fell a half-game behind Denver in the AFC West.

The Raiders became just the third team since the merger to beat a first-place team for their first win after losing at least 10 games to start the season. Indianapolis did it against Green Bay in 1997 and Buffalo did it to Dallas in 1984.

The Chiefs will have...

The Angels acquired outfielder Daniel Robertson from the Texas Rangers on Thursday night for a player to be named or cash. To make room on the 40-man roster for Robertson, who is expected to compete for a reserve outfield spot, the Angels designated outfielder Alfredo Marte for assignment.

The speedy Robertson, 29, made his major league debut for the Rangers in 2014, batting .271 (48 for 177) with 23 runs, nine doubles and 21 runs batted in in 70 games and committing two errors.

A graduate of South Hills High in West Covina, Robertson was originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 33^rd round in 2008. He was traded to the Rangers for cash considerations last April.

Marte, 25, was claimed off waivers from Arizona in October after hitting .319 with a .407 on-base percentage and .519 slugging percentage at the triple-A level in 2014.

Top-ranked Rory McIlroy returned from a six-week absence to shoot a 6-under 66 for a share of the lead on the first day of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship on Thursday.

McIlroy birdied four of his opening five holes and then two of the last four to join Irishman Shane Lowry at the top of the leaderboard at the Earth Course at Jumeriah Estates Resort.

“The way I played it should have been five birdies in the first five holes,” he said. “It was a great way to start. You never expect to start like that, but I've been hitting the ball well for the last couple of weeks that I've been practicing and it was just a matter of trying to take that good range play on to the course, and I was able to do that today, which I'm really happy about.”

McIlroy has been in Dubai for the better part of two weeks after electing not to contest any of the opening three events on the Tour's Final Four Series.

He played in the Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda but his Dubai round is a first competitive...

The Florida air apparently agrees with the Clippers.

The Clippers beat the Miami Heat, 110-93, the night after they beat the Orlando Magic, 114-90.

Not a bad way to start their seven-game trip. The Clippers hadn't beaten Miami on the road since March 10, 2008. That was before LeBron James took his talents to South Beach.

The Clippers led by as much as 26 points. They took control of the game early, leading by 24 points at the end of the first quarter, 39-15, after shooting 68% from the field and making five of eight three-pointers.

The Heat chipped away at the Clippers' lead a few times but couldn't get it to single-digits. The Clippers' starters returned to the game in the fourth quarter with 6:36 left after the Heat cut the deficit to 18 points, 96-78.

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers wasn't going to take any chances considering that in three of the Clippers' four losses this season they held double-digit leads. The starters quickly got the Clippers' lead back up to more than 20.

The game...