There’s no ignoring the holders but what of the hosts, the All Blacks, France and even England? Here’s a rundown of all 24 teams taking part in Australia in 2027
Beaten by Australia last weekend but the manner in which they came back after Rassie Erasmus emptied his bench was emphatic. The series victory over New Zealand was the one they really wanted this year and achieving that, romping from 1-0 down to 3-1 victors, underscores that they are the team to beat in Australia next year.
The word on the street coming out of the islands is Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr spent the first day of camp in Laie, Hawaii, drilling transition defense. He called the live work controlled, with possessions going up and back maybe three times max. Let’s hope that live work translates because anybody who sat through last season watching this team give up layups like they were handing out free samples at Costco wants this defense to snap out of the funk it’s been in over the past handful of seasons.
Most of the optimism this fall belongs to a coach. Frank Vogel came over as associate head coach and he will run the Warriors’ defense. His pitch for why he took the job was simple. “You want your defense to have teeth,” he told the SF Chronicle, and then he explained that Draymond Green used to scare the hell out of him every time he played the Warriors:
“I don’t know how much I want to say about it publicly, but I have a lot of confidence in what’s ahead of me, when the time comes,” Vogel continued. “But it’s very important to me that, your piece — that’s for when it happens. I am not hunting it. I’m excited about being in this role, for this team, and supporting Steve, and helping Steph and Draymond get another chance at a ring.”
Vogel will have to implement a new defensive system without two key wing defenders in Butler and Moody, who are both rehabbing knee injuries. Still, he sees a path. That starts with Green, the nine-time All-Defensive supercomputer who Vogel said was a “big reason” he took the job.
#Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton said GSW’s defense will have “teeth” under Frank Vogel.
Said at media day Golden State’s goal is to have a top-3 defense. Asked him why that’s a realistic goal.
“We got more size at positions that we needed it.”
Bad defense was something I long associated with the Warriors of my youth, run and gun teams that would try to score 120 but give up 135. When Kerr got asked years ago how he turned the Warriors into a defensive team, he refused the credit. “I didn’t; Mark Jackson did,” Kerr said, remembering how bad Golden State’s defense looked from the broadcast booth before Jackson arrived.
The last two Jackson seasons tell the story. In 2012-13 the Warriors allowed 105.5 points per 100 possessions, 14th in the league and basically average. One year later they were at 102.6 and 4th overall. Ten spots in one season is an astronomical jump. He drilled connectivity, grit, and consistency and had the personnel to make it happen. With Andrew Bogut patrolling the paint, Andre Iguodala locked in, and a young fireball named Draymond Green coming off the bench learning how to be a problem, the pieces were all there.
Then Jackson got fired, Kerr walked in, and the 2014-15 Warriors posted a 101.4 defensive rating. That was No. 1 in the NBA and Kerr said he didn’t change one thing defensively. I believed him, and kudos to him for letting another coach’s ingrained philosophy continue on.
Steve Kerr talks about Frank Vogel:
"Frank is running the defense obviously, so we're using some of his transition defensive drills, some of his rebounding drills. We've been watching tape of Dallas' training camp from last year, the drill work that Frank did with them. Frank… pic.twitter.com/njGLOGNj7z
Now I’m sure everybody remembers the threes the Dubs rained down like hellfire during the dynasty. But I absolutely remember the stops that came right before them.
That’s how the dynasty worked. Draymond would blow up a pick-and-roll, somebody would poke the ball loose, and four seconds later Steph was pulling up from 30 while the other team was still arguing about the switch. The defense lit the fuse on every fireworks show.
The one that surprises people is 2022. After two years of lottery tickets and injury reports, the Warriors allowed 106.9 per 100, and returned to No. 1 overall. Relative to its era, the “nobody believed in us” team had the nastiest defense of all four champions. Kevon Looney was everywhere, Andrew Wiggins clamped on the opposing stars like a pitbull, and Draymond still lorded over the defense barking out rotations and stymieing opposing gameplans. That was the most maniacally dogged version of the whole thing, and I mean that as the highest compliment I can give a basketball team.
Since then, the defense has been predominantly mid. After that last title, the Warriors have ranked 17th, 15th, 7th, and 17th in defensive rating. The only season with some bite was 2024-25, when Jimmy Butler showed up and the Warriors finished 2.8 points better than average and 7th overall. Average those four post-title finishes and you land on 14th, something Pastor Mark Jackson would have lost his mind over. For a franchise that built its identity on making opponents miserable, 17th feels like a team losing its identity and relying on offensive pyrotechnics to bail them out. Let’s recap, courtesy of Basketball Reference:
With Butler and Moses Moody unable to play as they nurse themselves back to health from injury, the team has lost their two primary wing defenders for the time being. Can the Dubs survive the early part of the season without them on the defensive end?
Steph Curry and Draymond Green are the last two people in that gym who heard Coach Jackson preach defense in 2013. Everything Vogel is selling, they already bought once. What nobody in Laie can answer yet is whether a 38-year-old and a 36-year-old can sell it to Lendeborg, Melton and Brandin Podziemski fast enough for that old magic to come back in time for ring #5.
The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 3-2 final score in their season opener on Tuesday.
Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes played a big role in Montreal's win, as he stopped 26 out of 28 shots. With this, he finished the contest with an impressive .929 save percentage.
With how well Dobes has started this season, could be on his way to an even better 2026-27 campaign? The possibility should not be ruled out.
As well as Dobes played last season, it is important to note that it was also his first full NHL campaign. Due to this, it is fair to wonder if he could hit a new level with the Canadiens now that he is more adjusted to the NHL level.
In 43 regular-season games during the 2025-26 season, Dobes posted a 29-10-4 record, a .901 save percentage, and a 2.78 goals-against average. He also had a .908 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average in 19 playoff games for Montreal last spring. With this, the 25-year-old has shown a lot of promise, and it will be interesting to see what he does for an encore in 2026-27.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 19: Jalen Duren #0 of the Detroit Pistons goes up for the rebound during the game against the Washington Wizards on March 19, 2026 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Washington Wizards have been floated as a potential trade destination for Jalen Duren over the past week. It remains unclear whether there is any actual fire amid the billowing smoke.
The Wizards were among four teams ESPN’s Marc J. Spears mentioned during Monday’s episode of NBA Today that were said to “have interest in a potential sign-and-trade” for Duren. Washington’s inclusion in the report caught Jorge Sedano off guard, to the point that he felt the need to interrupt Spears.
“The Wizards one, let’s just recklessly speculate for a second,” Sedano said. “There’s one salary, one particular one that still is unsigned moving forward in Anthony Davis that could make the math work.”
“I think you are probably doing good math,” Spears replied.
REPORT: If Jalen Duren doesn’t sign an extension with the Pistons, four teams could be interested in a sign-and-trade:
🦌 Milwaukee Bucks 🦅 Atlanta Hawks 👑 Sacramento Kings 🧙♂️ Washington Wizards
A report published Wednesday by The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Hunter Patterson initially corroborated Spears. At first, the article “confirmed an ESPN report indicating that the Washington Wizards would have interest in a Duren-for-Anthony Davis trade,” which was supposedly not of interest to Detroit.
The Athletic later removed the Wizards mention from the article entirely and included an amendment clarifying that the earlier reporting was erroneous.
“An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the Wizards would have interest in a potential Duren-Anthony Davis sign-and-trade. The article has been corrected by removing that reference,” the amendment read.
It’s possible the Wizards tried to gauge interest in a Duren-Davis swap and covered their tracks once they realized there was none, so as not to risk shaking up team chemistry. It could also be that the reporting was simply wrong or overblown from the beginning.
After an offseason filled with hope and hype, the Philadelphia Flyers could not have suffered through a more nightmarish loss to start their 2026-27 season if they tried.
On Wednesday night, the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins marched into Xfinity Mobile Arena and smashed the Flyers, winning by an eye-watering 7-0 margin. Nick Robertson opened the scoring with a redirection, and Ville Koivunen doubled the Penguins' lead to 2-0 on a breakaway, taking advantage of a poor line change from the Flyers.
After getting out-shot 11-5 in the first period and trailing 2-0, the hope was that the Flyers would respond in a meaningful fashion in the second period, but things just snowballed from there.
An exasperated Rick Tocchet said after the game that he didn't know if the Flyers won a battle, and the effort and score reflected that assessment.
Evgeni Malkin, Filip Hallander, and Hendrix Lapierre all scored for the Penguins in the span of 5:20 to put the Penguins up 5-0, and the Flyers carrying a 26-12 shots on goal deficit.
"That's a team that didn't want to be engaged," Tocchet said of the Flyers. "As much defensively as offensively."
Discipline was an issue for the Flyers, too, as Porter Martone, Nick Seeler, and Travis Konecny all took needless penalties starting their own altercations unprovoked.
The Flyers hung Dan Vladar out to dry against the Penguins. (Photo: Eric Hartline, Imagn Images)
Ultimately, the Penguins were 2-for-4 on the power play while also scoring shorthanded, and the Flyers went 0-for-3. On paper, that's hardly the difference in a 7-0 loss, but the Flyers failed to build and maintain any momentum, and special teams once again were a piece of that equation.
By the time Robertson and Egor Chinakhov scored the sixth and seventh goals for the Penguins, the Flyers already looked wholly disinterested in finishing out the game, and they looked very much like the team that got smoked 5-1 by the Washington Capitals' prospects and depth AHLers in the preseason finale.
After the game, Flyers captains Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, and Travis Sanheim resisted definitively answering questions about complacency and preparedness, though after an abhorrent effort such as the one put forth Wednesday night at a home opener, it's fair to wonder.
"Once we're out there, we gotta bring a compete level a lot higher, win more one-on-one battles, and not rely on our skill," Couturier said. "We know we got talent in this locker room, but [if] we're not gonna win battles and support each other, that talent's not gonna bring us too far."
"I don't have an answer," Tocchet said matter-of-factly. "They out-coached us tonight, they out-played us, they did everything better than us tonight."
Sanheim was quick to point out that the Flyers play again on Thursday night, representing an opportunity to flush this one straight away.
"We got a game tomorrow night. We can bounce back and forget about this, and if we do that, everyone won't remember," Sanheim assessed.
The Flyers' next opponents will be the New Jersey Devils, who have their home opener at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.
That's a faster, more skilled team that won't be banged up like the Penguins, who were without Ben Kindel, Bryan Rust, and Andrei Kuzmenko (personal) on Wednesday night.
"If we play like this tomorrow with a team like Jersey, it's going to be even worse, so we got to be careful," Tocchet said.
TORONTO (AP) — Easton Cowan had a goal and an assist in the first period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Wednesday night for their first victory under coach Jim Hiller.
The Maple Leafs rebounded from a 3-2 home loss to Montreal in their opener Tuesday night, spoiling the Islanders’ first game of the season.
Colton Sissons also scored for Toronto, and Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves.
Emil Heineman scored in the third period for New York. Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots.
Sissons redirected his first goal for Toronto at 7:14 of the first period off Nick Paul’s setup. Cowan then shoveled home a power-play rebound with 8:05 left in the period.
Reunited with fellow netminder Sergei Bobrovsky after winning the Stanley Cup together with Florida in 2024, Stolarz was perfect until Heineman scored short-handed with 5:51 left.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Evgeni Malkin, Hendrix Lapierre and Filip Hallander scored in the second period and Arturs Silovs stopped 19 shots to help the Pittsburgh Penguins steamroll the Philadelphia Flyers 7-0 on Wednesday night.
Silovs posted his third career shutout in his 57th start. Nick Robertson scored two goals and Ville Koivunen and Egor Chinakhov also scored for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby added an assist.
The Penguins’ season ended on the same Philadelphia ice in April when the Flyers won a first-round playoff series in six games.
The Flyers left the clincher to a roaring ovation on Cam York’s winner. Five months later, the Flyers were soundly booed off the ice – reaching a crescendo after the second period – and the opening night festivities were spoiled for a team trying to become a force in the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins are trying to run it back at least one more time between the longtime core of Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang. Malkin signed a one-year deal to remain in Pittsburgh, and the hope is there’s enough magic left to help put the Penguins in position to win a playoff series for the first time in nearly a decade.
The 40-year-old Malkin ripped a one-timer from the slot early in the second period for the 3-0 lead that also gave him 100 career points against the Flyers. He became the sixth player with at least 100 points against the Flyers. Crosby’s assist on Robertson’s game-opening goal extended his record with 140 career points against Philly.
MAPLE LEAFS 2, ISLANDERS 1
TORONTO (AP) — Easton Cowan had a goal and an assist in the first period and Toronto beat New York for its first victory under coach Jim Hiller.
The Maple Leafs rebounded from a 3-2 home loss to Montreal in their opener Tuesday night, spoiling the Islanders’ first game of the season.
Colton Sissons also scored for Toronto, and Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves.
Emil Heineman scored in the third period for New York. Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots.
Sissons redirected his first goal for Toronto at 7:14 of the first period off Nick Paul’s setup. Cowan then shoveled home a power-play rebound with 8:05 left in the period.
Reunited with fellow netminder Sergei Bobrovsky after winning the Stanley Cup together with Florida in 2024, Stolarz was perfect until Heineman scored short-handed with 5:51 left.
NEW YORK - It seemed like a good idea at the time, rostering the 2025 AL Cy Young Award runner-up even though he hadn't pitched in a game since April 25.
Like many of Tracy's decisions in this two-game set, inserting Crochet in a two-run game in the sixth backfired - and effectively ended their season.
Crochet struck out the first batter he faced, but a wild pitch enabled Spencer Jones to reach first base. Then, a stolen base, a throwing error, a solid George Lombard Jr. single, a seeing-eye hit from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and a bunt single by Trent Grisham and, well, game over?
Tracy saw enough by the time Grisham's single loaded the bases, lifting Crochet with the Yankees trailing 3-1. Two more runs scored when set-up man Garrett Whitlock gave up a sacrifice fly to Austin Wells and RBI groundout to Ryan McMahon.
For good measure, Tracy ordered an intentional walk of Ben Rice - and Cody Bellinger blasted a three-run homer off Whitlock.
A 2-1 game became 8-1. Four runs, all earned, were charged to Crochet, who did not record an out.
That put them in a four-run hole with nine outs to go. And what looked like a creative use of resources turned out to be a debacle to likely end Boston's season.
Beat reporter Stefen Rosner contributed to this story
TORONTO -- The New York Islanders (0-1-0) got their season off on the wrong footing, falling 2-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs (1-1-0) on Wednesday night inside Scotiabank Arena
Their power play went 0-for-4, including two opportunities in the third period, while the penalty kill went 3-for-4, with a third-period shorthanded goal from Emil Heineman. Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves in the defeat.
The game began with a flurry of chances for the Islanders. New York started hot against the Leafs, who had played the night before, starting their season with a back-to-back.
But, despite the early chances, Toronto struck first with a Colton Sissons redirection.
The lack of rebound support for Sorokin there is a big problem, and is an area of concern that Islanders' Head Coach Peter DeBoer called out during the preseason as an issue
During that period, Anthony Duclair got bumped up to the second line, with Pete DeBoer sending former Leafs forward Matias Maccelli to the fourth line.
DeBoer jumbled more lines later, reuniting Heineman with Bo Horvat to no avail.
The Islanders' offense came up short, peppering 27 shots but scoring just once on a shorthanded jailbreak from Horvat and Heineman.
Up next for the Islanders: The Islanders host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday at 7:30 PM ET for their home opener.
I’ve been in the Warriors birthday letter business for a minute now. I wrote Brandin Podziemski one when he turned 22, then another when he turned 23 and was ripping down 30 boards in two games like the ball owed him money. I wrote Jonathan Kuminga a whole armchair therapy session for his 23rd. So when I sat down to wish the newest homegrown hope a happy birthday, I did the math and almost spilled my coffee on the keyboard. Yaxel Lendeborg turns 24 today, and the rookie is officially older than every player I’ve ever written one of these things for.
It gets funnier. Kuminga turns 24 on October 6th which makes Yax six days older than the guy Golden State took seventh overall in 2021, back when JK was an 18-year-old with 13 inefficient G League Ignite games to his name. Podz was 20 when the Warriors called his name at No. 19 in 2023. Yaxel went No. 11 this June as the oldest first-rounder in the whole draft, at least three years older than all ten guys picked ahead of him.
The internet loves treating a 23-year-old draft pick like a carton of milk you found behind the leftovers. Check the date, give it a sniff, toss it. I absolutely get the instinct; by the time Steph Curry was 24 he was already in season four, dropping 54 on the Knicks in Madison Garden. I also think it misses the entire point of this kid, because Yaxel spent the years most lottery picks spend in AAU gyms doing something way less glamorous.
He played 11 varsity games in high school. Eleven! He ended up becoming a national champion at Michigan while taking Big Ten Player of the Year averaging 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds and hitting 37.2% from deep.
So what did Mike Dunleavy buy with the 11th pick? A 6-foot-9 forward who connects things, and Vegas showed it. Yax walked out with the Summer League MVP trophy, after averaging 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists, then put up 21 and 10 to beat Memphis in the title game. And then he graded himself a C-plus or B-minus, saying he could have been more aggressive and needs to get in better shape. The humility!
"I feel like the guy who will have the opportunity to be the next face of the Warriors after Steph Curry is here, and it is this guy. He has the personality and the confidence to handle the role."@Mark_T_Willard with HIGH praise for rookie Yaxel Lendeborg | @WillardAndDibspic.twitter.com/oHvbEAkDsy
It’s also why the fit makes sense. Steve Kerr just rolled out a 5-Out offense at camp, and a 6-9 forward who spaces the floor and makes the extra pass is the type of piece that system eats with.
All of which brings me back to the letter I wrote Kuminga, because the whole thing was built on one question: who decides when it’s taking too long? This franchise has spent a decade struggling to answer it. Wiseman got two and a half seasons. Poole won a ring and got shipped out a year later. JK got five years of flashes and stretches of searching. The Warriors kept drafting teenagers and then asking them to grow up on a contender’s schedule.
Yaxel Lendeborg said he wants to be All-Rookie first team: "I feel like I could be Rookie of the Year, but that's not my main focus."
With Yax, they flipped it. Steph is 38. Draymond is 36 and starting his 15th season. So the front office went out and drafted a grown man who already did his growing up in Yuma and Birmingham and Ann Arbor. The patience problem doesn’t go away this time, rather it just lands on him faster, because a 24-year-old rookie doesn’t get the “he’s still a baby” grace period JK got for four years.
Happy birthday, Yax. Next Tuesday, Kuminga blows out the same number of candles you did today. Sunday night in Honolulu, you get your first preseason minutes against the Clippers, and Dub Nation finds out if Golden State finally drafted someone who is gonna be here for the long haul.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 09: Ryan Nembhard #9 of the Dallas Mavericks shoots a layup against Malevy Leons #33 and LJ Cryer #18 of the Golden State Warriors in the second half of a 2026 NBA Summer League game at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 09, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After being an unrestricted free agent for less than a day and receiving multiple two-way offers from around the NBA, lead guard Ryan Nembhard has signed with the Denver Nuggets. Combo guard KJ Simpson was released from his two-way contract in order to make space for the former Gonzaga Bulldog, who will become teammates with fourth-year wing Julian Strawther.
Nembhard was traded by the Dallas Mavericks to the Atlanta Hawks back in July before being acquired and waived by the Charlotte Hornets in September. The Consensus NBA was the first to report Denver’s initial interest in the all-time Zag.
At an undersized 5-11, the rookie averaged 6.6 points on a shooting split of 41.5 field goal percentage/35.6 three-point percentage/80.6 free throw percentage, 5.3 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 19.5 minutes across 60 appearances in the 2025-26 campaign. Nembhard set an NBA rookie record with 23 assists in Dallas’ season finale against the Chicago Bulls.
Entering his second season in the NBA, the 23-year-old primary ball handler looks to play meaningful minutes during the regular season for coach David Adelman while spending some time with their G League affiliate Grand Rapids Gold. The Nuggets training camp has already begun in Boulder at the CU Events Center on the University of Colorado’s campus.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates a goal against Dan Vladar #80 of the Philadelphia Flyers during the second period at Xfinity Mobile Arena on September 30, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Pregame
Blake Lizotte is able to come off IR and play tonight, so the Pens have this lineup.
Great opening 20 for the Penguins, they are all over the puck and spend most of the time out of their own end. Philadelphia doesn’t even manage a shot on goal over about the last 12:25 minutes of the period.
Nick Robertson scores the first goal of the season, the play happens before that. Rasmus Ristolainen stepped up and delivered a big open ice hit to Sidney Crosby. Crosby popped up and kept going, eventually getting the puck from Trevor van Riemsdyk and feeding Kris Letang. Letang did a masterful job to show shot until passing down for Robertson to tip the puck in. 1-0 Pens.
Sid gets POPPED, but the Pens score shortly after to silence the Philly crowd 💥🚨 pic.twitter.com/T75lzhCreG
The Penguins get the first power play of the game, no dice.
Later, several Flyers decided it was a good time for a line change, which it wasn’t since Sam Girard had the puck. Heads up play by Ville Koivunen to recognize what was developing and get to the middle of the ice. Girard’s pass was on the money and Koivunen’s go-to backhand deke to the five hole beats Dan Vladar.
Very clean start to the season with a couple of goals and not giving up a lot to the Flyers’ offense. Shots are 12-5, any time the period ends to the wondrous sounds of Flyer fans booing is a good one.
Second period
The Flyers have used intermission well to regroup, as you know Rick Tocchet would. They look more coherent at the start of the second, even though the bottom would drop out for them soon enough.
Porter Martone cross-checks Hendrix Lapierre after the whistle, and whaddya know, the refs call it. The power play looks disjointed until late in it Evgeni Malkin works a give-and-go with Lapierre. Lapierre’s return pass is quickly put on net by Malkin and it finds room up top. 3-0.
There’s no mercy tonight, Lapierre’s all over the puck again skating around the offensive end, he wheels all around the net and gives a pass to Girard. Girard gets the puck to the net, the rebound drops for Filip Hallander to slide into the net. 5-0 game.
Robertson finished a pretty standard looking check and that became a bridge to far for the frustrated Flyers who weren’t able to get much going. Three Flyers dogpile Robertson, the Pens jump in there to help out, Pittsburgh ends up shorthanded as a result, which to be fair was something of a boarding by Robertson to kick off the sequence before the disproportionate but expected overreaction. Penalty killed.
Period ends and we’re treated to that delightful noise of boos from the crowd. They certainly didn’t have anything to cheer about to this point.
Third period
Carlile goes to the penalty box for interference, the Flyers power play makes it really easy to kill off.
Connor Dewar gets a penalty and the Pittsburgh PK gets on the board. Robertson gets on the ice with the PK group, thanks to Dewar being in the box in the first place, and makes the most of it. Robertson’s shot is deflected to the end wall, the bounce off it hits Vladar’s skate and redirects in the net. (Where was this in April???) 6-0.
Late in the game, Travis Konecny does what he does to take a run at Girard up high and takes a penalty. The Pens put out their top power play players, probably more out of the opportunity to get them work so early in the season more than a response to the unseemly play. It works just the same as a satisfying FAFO type of moment for Konecny and the Flyers when Egor Chinakhov tips in an Erik Karlsson point shot. Chili goal, 7-0.
It’s low-hanging fruit to point it out the obvious in a big win where everyone has their good moments and 14 players picked up at least a point – but man it stood out for how well the new additions performed. One of the newbies figured into the first six goals scored. Lapierre scored a goal and added an assist. Robertson did what he does and put the puck in the back of the net. Twice. Korczak and Carlile played quiet (as they should) but perfectly competently. van Riemsdyk made a subtle but important play in puck support to start the sequence of the first goal. He is a solid player that stops a lot with his positioning and stick. Korczak was activated and moving all around the offensive zone, picking up two assists. It’s only one of 84 but safe to say the newcomers fit right in and helped the cause.
Girard was noticeably very good too. He was knocking pucks down, his vision and puck moving was on display early. Good to see a strong start for him in his first full year with the Penguins with two assists and even better skating and game control.
Speaking of strong starts, it’s possible no one needed the confidence boost of a goal more than Koivunen. The lift from scoring can be very real, he showed what he did best on that play by using his hockey IQ to recognize an opportunity, then converted with a skilled move. Good stuff from him, hopefully it will go a long way towards helping him to raise his game.
Lapierre had some of that confidence on display in the second period, helping to lead that makeshift group. You wouldn’t know that from watching. Hallander was lucky not to get called for slashing on the fourth goal where the refs didn’t see him take the stick out of an opponent’s hand but was rewarded from the front of the net with a beautifully ugly goal. Nice reward for him working back from the uncertainty of blood clots last year. Koivunen got his goal as mentioned above, Lapierre’s speed and puck skills was the straw strirring the drink.
Penguin playoff nemesis Dan Vladar picked up a minor injury early in the week, at this point surely there’s going to be a lot of talk in Flyer world about whether or not he should have been playing tonight. He wasn’t outright bad but wasn’t sharp like he was in the spring on some of those goals against. Compounding the issue is that the Flyers play again tomorrow night, so making a goalie change wasn’t really something they wanted to do. Amazingly enough, Vladar made a couple of really good saves too at times, this game legitimately could have easily ended up with a more lopsided score.
On the other side, Arty Silovs would sign up for a lot more nights like this. At one point in the third period the Pens had blocked almost as many shots (10) as the Flyers had shots on goal (12). Most of that was done with active sticks deflecting pucks away from the net. A lot of that was the new influence with Korczak and van Riemsdyk credited with two blocked shots a piece. Felt like more by both of them. Either way, Silovs barely needed to break a sweat in this one, the number of quality chances he saw was low. He handled everything with ease.
Had a note written out that about the only thing for the Pens that they didn’t quite get up and running today was Chinakhov. Then he scored a late power play goal, so that thought gets deleted real quick and remove all the nitpicking. Everyone ate tonight, both power play groups scored. The PK killed off everything and scored. The goalie was fine with what he had to do. The new players showed exactly why the team wanted them. What more can you say?
Second straight opening night shutout win for Dan Muse (and Silovs too for that matter). The Pens beat the Rangers 3-0 to kick-off last season. That game was a lot more competitive and sealed with two empty net goals. Tonight was much more of a statement and essentially over by early in the second period.
Can’t win ‘em all if you don’t get the first one. That aside, almost a picture perfect opening night for the Pens. They looked ready to play and ran all over their opponent. Considering that opponent, it doesn’t get much better than that. Great opening statement, we’ll see how the Pens follow it up in their next game on Saturday night.
New York Yankees third base coach Luis Rojas entered the MLB playoff conversation in the fifth inning of Game 2 in the AL wild card series, waving in Ben Rice to ultimately get thrown out at the plate.
The Yankees had just extended their lead to 2-0 on Cody Bellinger's RBI single and had runners on first and second when Luis Garcia Jr. followed with a single of his own. Rice was on second base and Rojas waved him home on the chopper hit through the hole into left field.
Nate Eaton threw home from the outfield and the ball easily beat Rice, with Red Sox catcher Adley Rutschman applying the tag for the third out.
Rojas, who managed the New York Mets in 2020 and 2021, immediately started trending on social media for his decision to send Rice on the play.
In the next inning, Boston's Willson Contreras homered to half the Yankees' lead.
