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Gilgeous-Alexander blows up late as Thunder see off Indy to level NBA finals

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leaves the court after Game 4 of the NBA finals.Photograph: Michael Conroy/AP

The Oklahoma City Thunder stormed back from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 111–104 on Friday night, evening the best-of-seven-games NBA finals at two games apiece.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, including nine straight during a crucial stretch as the Thunder pulled ahead for good.

Oklahoma City shot just 3-for-16 from beyond the arc, a season low, and Gilgeous-Alexander finished without an assist for the first time all season. But Jalen Williams added 27 points, Alex Caruso had 20 and Chet Holmgren posted 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 20 points. Tyrese Haliburton added 18 and Obi Toppin scored 17, including a highlight-reel dunk that gave Indiana their first double-digit lead of the series late in the third quarter.

The Pacers started fast and led most of the night, but couldn’t hold off the Thunder, who tied the game three times in the fourth before Gilgeous-Alexander’s step-back jumper with 2:23 left put them in front for good.

Game 5 is Monday in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder will try to protect their reclaimed home-court advantage in what is now a best-of-three series.

Full report to follow.

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After three-hit game against Rays, Mets’ Starling Marte in a ‘really good place’ offensively

Starling Marte received the start against Tampa Bay right-hander Taj Bradley on Friday night, and he ended up being the catalyst for the Mets’ offense. 

After reaching in the second, Marte stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, and he lined a single right back through the box off Bradley -- bringing in New York’s first run of the game.

An inning later, he came through again, this time delivering a two-out, two-run bases-loaded single to put them in front for the first time. 

After the Rays retook the lead, Marte had another opportunity to deliver with two on and one out, but righty Edwin Uceta won an eight-pitch battle and struck him out with a changeup out of the zone to end the threat. 

He drew a walk in the bottom of the ninth, but was stranded in scoring position. 

Overall, Marte reached base four times on the night with three knocks and a walk while driving in a season-high three runs, but the rest of the team was unable to follow suit -- finishing an ugly 2-for-16 with RISP. 

“He put together really good at-bats,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Against tough right-handed pitching, he hit three bullets -- Uceta got him in the second-and-third situation in the eighth, but that was a really good at-bat to working the count to 3-2. I feel like offensively, he’s in a really good place right now.”

Marte certainly has put himself in a good spot after his rough start to the season. 

Finally settling into his new part-time role with the club, the 36-year-old slugger is hitting .323 with two homers, three doubles, eight RBI, and a .391 on-base percentage since the beginning of May.

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The Hockey Show: Game 4 postgame reaction, NHL Awards talk with PHWA Florida Chapter

This week, The Hockey Show was on location at the Stanley Cup Final.

Hosts Roy Bellamy and David Dwork gave their instant reaction following Game 4, the latest epic battle between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.

The game saw the Panthers jump out to a 3-0 lead only for Edmonton to come all the way back and take a 4-3 lead during the third period.

Florida tied the game in the final seconds, but it turned out they were only delaying the inevitable as the Oilers ended up winning in overtime.

Now the series, and The Hockey Show, heads back to Edmonton for Game 5, with the best-of-seven tied at two games apiece.

Also on this week’s episode, Roy and Dave were joined by their fellow Professional Hockey Writers’ Association – Florida Chapter members, Jordan McPherson and Alex Baumgartner, to discuss this year’s NHL Awards winners.

You can check out this week’s full episode below:

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Carlos Mendoza breaks down Mets’ decision to pull Clay Holmes, Paul Blackburn’s shaky outing

Clay Holmes was in the midst of another terrific outing on Thursday night. 

The Mets' big right-hander cruised his way through the first three innings before allowing a leadoff solo homer to Jonathan Aranda in the top of the fourth. 

He put together a scoreless top of the fifth and was handed a four-run lead as the Mets’ offense rallied against Tampa Bay starter Taj Bradley -- but then his night came to an end. 

Holmes was questionably pulled after throwing just 79 pitches on the evening. 

Postgame, manager Carlos Mendoza explained that the plan from the beginning was to have him limited to just 85 pitches after he had a physically tough outing his last time out on the road in Colorado.

“Coming out of that inning in Colorado where he threw six innings he felt it,” he said. “We know that today was an outing we were going to keep him at that pitch count -- we will continue to watch him and make adjustments as we go, but that’s part of his development.

“We’re playing the long game here -- before the game we know that’s what he had today.”

Unfortunately the Mets’ bullpen wasn’t able to pick him up, as Paul Blackburn and Max Kranick were knocked around -- allowing Tampa to retake the lead for good with a combined six runs on four hits. 

The big knocks came from former Mets farmhand Jake Mangum and catcher Danny Jansen. 

“Getting the four-run lead there I thought it was the right opportunity,” Mendoza said. “The secondary pitches from Blackburn were up in the zone -- the changeup was flat and the sinker didn’t have much movement, he left everything up. 

“We didn’t make a play there and the inning changed completely. Kranick’s execution, I feel like the conviction of his pitches -- that 2-2 slider had too much of the plate to Jansen that got him the [two]-run homer.”

That was just Blackburn’s second relief appearance this season, and the sixth of his career. 

“It’s been tough,” the righty admitted. “It’s completely different routines, I just haven’t found a routine for the bullpen -- it’s a lot of trial and error when you got down there, I haven’t been down there for a long time so it’s just trial and error.”

Luckily for Blackburn, he’ll return to the rotation his next time out -- starting in place of the injured Kodai Senga on Wednesday night against the Braves.

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Mets' Kodai Senga has low-grade hamstring strain, to be re-evaluated in two weeks

The Mets announced after Friday's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays that starter Kodai Senga is dealing with a low-grade hamstring strain.

Manager Carlos Mendoza described it as "relatively good news" for the right-hander who will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

"It’s a grade 1 hamstring strain," Mendoza said. "I feel like relatively good news here. It’s a low grade, so we’re looking at probably two weeks, 14 days before we re-evaluate again. Hopefully, he’s symptom-free and we’ll get him back up again. Talking to the trainers, they feel like we got some good news here."

It's certainly good news for New York and Senga, who looked to be in serious pain right after sustaining the injury on Thursday afternoon.

However, the timetable for his return to the mound is still unclear.

"It depends on the player," Mendoza said. "So it’s two weeks of very little physical activity. Hopefully, I gotta get with the trainers, we keep the arm going, but he’s gotta be symptom-free before we start ramping him up, so could be four, five, six [weeks], who knows. But, again, it’s a low grade, which is good news."

After the Mets went through a laborious rehab process with Senga last season following a calf and a shoulder injury, the team feels confident that they will get through this process without any issues.

"We got some really good trainers and systems in place," the skipper said. "Now that we went through [that] with Senga, I’m pretty confident that the communication, the feedback -- we’ll continue to listen to him. He’s very meticulous about what he does when it comes down to rehab, his mechanics and the throwing program. I feel like we’re in a good place and I’m not anticipating any issues."

President of baseball operations David Stearns spoke about Senga prior to the diagnosis and also touched on the 32-year-old's rehab process from a year ago and how it can help this time around.

"Senga, as a lot of players, but particularly Senga, he wants to be involved in the process," Stearns said. "And I think it’s important that we get on the same page as him from the jump and that we’re all bought into what this process is going to look like. I think we got there last year, but anytime you’re going through this multiple times, I certainly know Senga a lot better now than I did last year.

"Our medical staff has now worked through a rehab progression and a rehab process with him already on multiple occasions, so I think we feel pretty comfortable that whatever this turns out to be, we’re gonna be able to work very productively with him to get him back healthy."

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Mets can't come through with big hit, sunk by six-run sixth inning in 7-5 loss to Rays

The Mets snapped their six-game winning streak with a 7-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in the series opener on Friday night at Citi Field.

Here are some takeaways...

- The two teams were scoreless through three but then went back-and-forth trading runs in the middle innings. Tampa Bay broke through first as Jonathan Aranda jumped on an 0-2 slider and crushed it deep into the Coca-Cola Corner for the first run of the game.

- The Mets then answered back in each of the next two innings, taking advantage of some Rays sloppiness. First, they used a Taj Bradley fielding error to spark a two-run rally capped off by a Starling Marte RBI single and a Tyrone Taylor fielder's choice.

An inning later, Bradley lost command, as three walks and another error chased him from the game. Former Mets farmhand Eric Orze entered and made his way two-thirds of the way through the inning before Marte came through with another two-out RBI knock.

Marte finished with three knocks and a season-high three RBI on the night.

- Other than the Aranda homer, Clay Holmes threw relatively well -- the big right-hander allowed just that one run on three hits while walking two and striking out three across five innings of work, but was questionably pulled with just 79 pitches.

He's now down to a strong 2.87 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over 14 outings on the year.

- Unfortunately, the bullpen was unable to back Holmes up -- Paul Blackburn and Max Kranick combined to allow six runs on four hits, with the big ones being a Jake Mangum two-run single and Danny Jansen two-run homer to put the Rays back in front.

Kranick has now allowed four earned runs over his last four outings between the majors and Triple-A.

- The Mets had three golden opportunities to answer back -- first in the seventh when Brett Baty came off the bench and drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs, but Edwin Uceta got Ronny Mauricio to weakly pop out to end the inning.

Uceta retired the next three batters after allowing a leadoff double to Francisco Alvarez in the eighth. Juan Soto had his chance representing the tying run and he scorched a 110.8 mph fly ball to deep right, but it was caught on the warning track.

The Mets then got the winning run to the plate with a single and a walk against closer Pete Fairbanks in the ninth, but a Baty groundout and Mauricio strikeout ended the game.

New York finished an ugly 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position on the night.

Game MVP: Danny Jansen

The veteran catcher's two-run homer ended up being the difference in the ballgame.

Highlights

What's next

The series continues on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

Tylor Megill (5-4, 3.76 ERA) takes the mound against ace right-hander Drew Rasmussen (5-4, 2.22 ERA).

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Aaron Judge's late homer forces extras but Yankees fall to Red Sox, 2-1, in 10 innings

The Yankees offense could not figure out Garrett Crochet for eight innings, but Aaron Judge's ninth-inning homer forced extras before the Red Sox walked it off in the 10th, 2-1, on Friday night in Boston.

The Yankees were 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base. The top four hitters in the lineup went a combined 0-for-14. before Judge's blast. The slugger finished 1-for-4 and struck out three times. His average has dropped to .390 on the season.

Here are the takeaways...

-The Yankees put up five runs on Crochet last weekend, but it was a different story on Friday night. Crochet got through four innings, throwing just 45 pitches while allowing one hit and one walk. He continued to cruise until the fifth. After a throwing error allowed Jasson Dominguez to reach safely, and after stealing second, a DJ LeMahieu single put runners on the corners with no outs. Austin Wells and Oswald Peraza struck out before Paul Goldschmidt grounded out to end the threat.

The Yankees would not come close to a threat again against Crochet until the ninth. With one out and Crochet still on the mound, the southpaw faced Judge for the fourth time in this game after striking out the slugger three times already. Judge fought off a pair of 100-mph fastballs but on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Judge obliterated a 99.6 mph fastball the opposite way 443 feet over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street to tie the game at 1-1.

The Red Sox lefty was pulled after giving up the homer, throwing 107 pitches (72 strikes) across 8.1 innings, allowing the one run on four hits and one walk while striking out seven batters.

-With the help of Judge's homer, the Yankees forced extras but did not do themselves any favors in the 10th. Anthony Volpe attempted to steal third as the ghost runner but was ruled out on an overturned call. LeMahieu seemingly got a two-out hit down the right-field line but it was ruled foul on the field and after a challenge, the call stood. That forced Aaron Boone to be ejected and even LeMahieu, after grounding out to end the 10th, received his first career ejection after saying something to the first base umpire.

-In the bottom half of the inning, the Red Sox moved the ghost runner to third on a ground out. And after Rafael Devers was intentionally walked, Tim Hill got Marcelo Mayer to strike out before Carlos Narvaez hit a single off the Green Monster to end the game.

- Ryan Yarbrough was better than the last time he faced the Red Sox. However, he pitched into and out of trouble early on. He stranded a pair of walks in the first, but couldn't prevent a run from scoring in the second after a Cedanne Rafaela single drove in Trevor Story from second. But after that, the southpaw settled down and matched Crochet's zeros. But that changed in the fifth. After allowing the two batters to reach on a walk and single with one out, Yarbrough struck out Devers before Boone pulled his starter for Jonathan Loaisiga.

Loaisiga struck out Romy Gonzalez to end the threat and put an end to Yarbrough's night.

Yarbrough threw 78 pitches (45 strikes) across 4.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits and three walks while striking out three batters.

-In relief of Yarbrough, the Yankees bullpen did a great job. The combination of Loaisiga, Ian Hamilton kept the Red Sox off the board until the eighth when Hamilton allowed a one-out single. Fernando Cruz was called upon to finish the ining, but after striking out Marcelo Mayer, he walked Carlos Narvaez and Roman Anthony to load the bases with two outs. But he got Trevor Story to fly out to end the threat.

The bullpen gave the team a chance but couldn't keep Boston off the board forever.

-The Yankees had just four hits, two coming from Volpe while Judge and LeMahieu rounded out the evening's offense.

Game MVP: Carlos Narvaez

Crochet made the Yankees offense look overmatched until the Judge homer, but if it wasn't for Narvaez's walk-off, it could have been a tough loss for Boston.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees and Red Sox continue their series on Saturday evening. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m.

Carlos Rodon (8-4, 2.87 ERA) will look to bounce back against Hunter Dobbins (3-1, 4.20 ERA).

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Stephen A. Smith responds after seen playing solitaire at NBA Finals Game 4

Stephen A. Smith responds after seen playing solitaire at NBA Finals Game 4 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ESPN NBA Insider Stephen A. Smith is known for his strong opinions on the league, but now he’s facing some doubts.

During Game 4 of the Indiana Pacers-Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Finals, Smith was pictured by a fan playing solitaire on his phone as the game played out.

There was also a video a spectator recorded, which showed play going on in the background as Smith had solitaire open. The fan who took the photo said it occurred during the third quarter.

After the game, Smith responded to the moment with a few posts on X as it became a viral topic.

Smith claimed he was playing during a timeout and was multitasking.

“Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals. This is going 7 games now, peeps!” Smith posted.

He then posted what appeared to be a screenshot of his solitaire app open with the game playing underneath.

Kevin Durant even posted the photo of Smith on his Instagram story, which had “Cmon Steve” written in small font on the bottom right.

Many NBA fans criticized Smith for not being fully engaged during one of sports’ biggest moments, especially with the platform at his disposal.

“This dude thinks he is so above the sport of basketball it is frustrating I would die to have a career that allowed me to go to the nba finals to cover it what a joke,” one account wrote in response to a viral post on X.

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David Stearns commends Mets' pitching staff: 'We had reason to believe for all of them'

It may be difficult to understand for the average baseball fan, but the Mets, who came into the season with injuries and question marks all over their starting rotation, own the best pitching staff in MLB.

With a 2.80 team-ERA entering Friday night, New York is the only team in the league to have a sub-3.00 ERA. And though the bullpen has been incredible, the starters have stolen the show.

Featuring players like Clay Holmes, a reliever for almost the entirety of his career, Griffin Canning, who only had one season with an ERA below 4.00, and Tylor Megill, who showed flashes with the Mets but struggled to find consistency, New York's starting rotation has been this season's biggest surprise.

The mastermind behind it all has been president of baseball operations David Stearns who has been known to have a knack for finding value, particularly pitching, in seldom looked places. And while he certainly thought the Mets' pitching could be good, even he couldn't foresee what has transpired.

"I don’t know that I could come into a season and say that I expected our starting staff to have a sub-3.00 ERA," Stearns said. "I expected us to have a good starting rotation, a good pitching rotation, but, sure, a sub-3.00 ERA probably exceeds my expectations, especially when you add on the injuries we had in camp."

Coming over from the Milwaukee Brewers where he made a name for himself for becoming the youngest general manager in MLB history, Stearns also proved that he didn't need the biggest payroll to have success as Milwaukee made the playoffs five times during his eight-year tenure with pitching at the forefront.

Although leveling up a tax bracket or two after joining New York and teaming up with owner Steve Cohen, Stearns used a similar principle as his time with the Brewers to assemble the Mets' starting rotation, going after pitchers like Holmes (three-year, $38 million deal), Canning (one-year, $4.25 million deal) and Frankie Montas (two-year, $34 million deal) in free agency.

"But I also saw reason to believe that each of the guys that are in the rotation mix could and would be successful," Stearns continued. "You never know whether it’s going to work, but we had reason to believe for all of them that there were things that they could do things, that in certain cases we could help them do, that would lead them to success and be able to contribute to a winning rotation."

In an age of rising contracts and the wallet to be able to pull the trigger, Stearns instead opted for a different approach, at least for the starting pitching. So far, it's worked out incredibly well.

But Stearns would be the first to say that he doesn't deserve all the credit, giving praise to people like pitching coach Jeremy Hefner whose role in getting the most out of his pitchers cannot be overstated.

"In terms of where Hef comes into this, he’s been outstanding," Stearns said. "Hef, our entire pitching group, Desi [Druschel], [Jose Rosado], Danny Barnes is part of this, our catching infrastructure, [Glenn Sherlock] is part of this, being able to communicate with pitchers, really meeting them where they are, understanding what each pitcher is looking to achieve where they are in their careers, how they want to get better and working with them to help them be the best versions of themselves, and I think Hef does that extremely well and is aided by a really talented group around him as well."

And even though some of the pitchers on the Mets' roster aren't necessarily considered to be top of the line, elite pitchers in the general consensus, Stearns doesn't think it's fair to dismiss the hard work and dedication from the pitchers themselves to get to this point.

After all, each one of them is with the team because they have the talent to be there.

"I think it undersells who these guys are when we look at them or label them as reclamation projects," Stearns said. "The pitchers who have come in here and have had success are really talented major league pitchers and have proven prior to coming here that they are really talented major league pitchers at various points in their careers.

"Maybe not for the sustained periods that they would’ve liked or expected of themselves, but these are very talented pitchers and so that’s the common thread among all of them – they’re good pitchers, they have good stuff, they’ve had success at the major league level and maybe there are things that they had gotten away from. Or maybe there were things that we noticed that we can help them get a little bit better at. But the underlying commonality among all of them is that they’re talented and they come in here and they’ve worked hard and for the most part we’ve had some decent results out of it."

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Thunder take Game 4 of NBA Finals vs. Pacers 111-104 to tie series

Thunder take Game 4 of NBA Finals vs. Pacers 111-104 to tie series originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Oklahoma City has avoided a 3-1 deficit.

The Thunder took down the Indiana Pacers 111-104 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday to tie the series at 2-2 going back to Oklahoma City.

Both teams stayed neck-and-neck for most of the first three quarters, though Indiana built a 10-point lead at one stage. However, Oklahoma City used a 31-17 point differential in the fourth quarter to pull away, mainly due to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s shotmaking in clutch time.

The league MVP ended the game with 35 points on 12 of 24 shooting and 10 of 10 free throws to go with three rebounds, three steals and a block. But he did not record a single assist. Jalen Williams supported Gilgeous-Alexander with 27 points on 8 of 18 shooting and 11 of 11 free throws.

Game 3 saw Bennedict Mathurin come off the bench for Indiana and light it up with 27 points on 9 of 12 shooting. But he came back to earth in this one, logging just eight points in 14 minutes with five foul-line makes. However, his three misses proved costly late on.

Oklahoma City needed someone to produce a Mathurin-esque game off the bench and got it through Alex Caruso. The star defender posted 20 points in 30 minutes on 7 of 9 shooting to go with five steals, three rebounds and a block. No other bench player had more than five points.

Indiana’s two main stars weren’t at their best from a scoring standpoint. Tyrese Haliburton scored 18 points on 7 of 15 shooting with seven assists while Pascal Siakam led the team with 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals on a 6 of 15 field-goal clip.

Though Mathurin didn’t produce like he did last time out, Obi Toppin did step up off the bench and record 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting and seven rebounds, but it didn’t move the needle enough.

Oklahoma City somehow won the game making just three 3-pointers to Indiana’s 11. The Thunder attempted 17 to Indiana’s 36, but capitalized on nine more foul-line makes and a 50-36 points-in-the-paint advantage.

Whoever takes the next game will be a win away from their franchise’s first ever championship. If Oklahoma City wins, Indiana will need to defend home court to force the two best words in sports. But if Indiana upsets the Thunder, it can win the title in front of its fans.

Game 5 in Oklahoma City is set for Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. PT.

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Thunder take Game 4 of NBA Finals vs. Pacers 111-104 to tie series

Thunder take Game 4 of NBA Finals vs. Pacers 111-104 to tie series originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Oklahoma City has avoided a 3-1 deficit.

The Thunder took down the Indiana Pacers 111-104 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday to tie the series at 2-2 going back to Oklahoma City.

Both teams stayed neck-and-neck for most of the first three quarters, though Indiana built a 10-point lead at one stage. However, Oklahoma City used a 31-17 point differential in the fourth quarter to pull away, mainly due to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s shotmaking in clutch time.

The league MVP ended the game with 35 points on 12 of 24 shooting and 10 of 10 free throws to go with three rebounds, three steals and a block. But he did not record a single assist. Jalen Williams supported Gilgeous-Alexander with 27 points on 8 of 18 shooting and 11 of 11 free throws.

Game 3 saw Bennedict Mathurin come off the bench for Indiana and light it up with 27 points on 9 of 12 shooting. But he came back to earth in this one, logging just eight points in 14 minutes with five foul-line makes. However, his three misses proved costly late on.

Oklahoma City needed someone to produce a Mathurin-esque game off the bench and got it through Alex Caruso. The star defender posted 20 points in 30 minutes on 7 of 9 shooting to go with five steals, three rebounds and a block. No other bench player had more than five points.

Indiana’s two main stars weren’t at their best from a scoring standpoint. Tyrese Haliburton scored 18 points on 7 of 15 shooting with seven assists while Pascal Siakam led the team with 20 points, eight rebounds, five assists and five steals on a 6 of 15 field-goal clip.

Though Mathurin didn’t produce like he did last time out, Obi Toppin did step up off the bench and record 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting and seven rebounds, but it didn’t move the needle enough.

Oklahoma City somehow won the game making just three 3-pointers to Indiana’s 11. The Thunder attempted 17 to Indiana’s 36, but capitalized on nine more foul-line makes and a 50-36 points-in-the-paint advantage.

Whoever takes the next game will be a win away from their franchise’s first ever championship. If Oklahoma City wins, Indiana will need to defend home court to force the two best words in sports. But if Indiana upsets the Thunder, it can win the title in front of its fans.

Game 5 in Oklahoma City is set for Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. PT.

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Race for Conn Smythe Trophy heating up with Sam Bennett, Leon Draisaitl among top contenders

One of the more intriguing storylines to track during the Stanley Cup Playoffs is usually the race for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The award is given annually to the player voted the most valuable player to their team during the NHL postseason.

Now that we’ve reached the Stanley Cup Final, the prestigious trophy will be going to someone either on the Florida Panthers or Edmonton Oilers.

That we know for sure.

Generally, a player on the team that ends up winning the Stanley Cup is who will find themselves the MVP of the playoffs, but that wasn’t the case last season when Connor McDavid was voted the winner – and deservedly so – despite Edmonton losing to Florida in seven games.

Now the Cats and Oilers are back in the Final for what has been, to this point, an epic rematch.

Through four games, the Oilers and Panthers have gone to overtime three times and provided fans one of the most entertaining and dramatic Stanley Cup Final series in recent memory, to say the least.

As it stands, the race for the Conn Smythe is wide open. There is no clear-cut favorite, and both teams have more than one candidate who could take it home.

For Florida, you first have to look at Sam Bennett.

The pending unrestricted free agent leads all players with 14 postseason goals, three more than the next highest player.

Bennett has been incredibly impactful for Florida during their run to the Final, providing crucial minutes for the Panthers both at even strength and on the power play.

Additionally, his combination of high-end speed and the physical element of his game are what helps Florida add another critical layer to their aggressive, fast-paced defensive systems.

Another Panthers player who should certainly receive some consideration is veteran forward Brad Marchand.

The Trade Deadline addition has provided veteran leadership for Florida both on and off the ice while making steady contributions offensively, highlighted by his pair of overtime winners.

On the Oilers side, superstar Connor McDavid, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season, is always going to be a top contender, and this year is no different.

Through 20 playoff games, McDavid is tied for the league lead with 32 points. Between his overall production and ability to greatly impact the scoresheet on any given night, it’s no surprise that he’s once again in contention to take home the award.

However, a player who cannot be ignored any longer in this race is McDavid’s elite teammate, Leon Draisaitl.

In terms of playoff points, Draisaitl is right there with McDavid, tied with 32 points.

The difference in terms of offense is that Draisaitl has scored 11 times, second in the playoffs only to Bennett.

Of those 11 goals, Draisaitl has logged not one, not two, but four game-winning goals.

Interestingly, all four of those GWG have come during sudden death overtime, which is pretty remarkable.

It’s also a new NHL record.

Previously, three playoff OT goals had been the standard, a mark that had been held by four different players, including Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk from his amazing run in 2023 and current Oilers forward and former Ducks star Corey Perry, who had three OT goals during the 2017 playoffs with Anaheim.

Draisaitl has also scored four goals in four Stanley Cup Final games, with two of them among those aforementioned overtime winners.

That’s a far cry from the zero goals he scored during last season’s seven-game Final against Florida.

Certainly, what Draisaitl has accomplished so far this postseason is worth something in the eyes of the Conn Smythe voters.

So as we head into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, it appears the race for the Conn Smythe is as wide open as the Cup Final is itself.

Over the next week, someone is going to step up and separate themself from the rest of the pack.

However things end up playing out, if they go anything like the first four games of the Final have, it will be incredibly entertaining to witness go down.

Stay tuned.

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Photo caption: Jun 12, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett (9) controls the puck against Edmonton Oilers right wing Kasperi Kapanen (42) and center Leon Draisaitl (29) during the first period in game four of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)

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Mets' Frankie Montas struggles again in latest rehab outing with Triple-A Syracuse

Frankie Montas struggled again in his latest rehab start with the Syracuse Mets. 

Facing the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the right-hander hit the second batter he faced and almost worked his way out of the first inning unscathed -- but a T.J. Rumfield triple brought in the first run of the game. 

Montas was then lit up in the second, and he ended up being pulled without finishing the frame. 

He allowed the first four batters to reach on two singles and two doubles, allowing three more runs before finally getting an out -- but a Jorbit Vivas walk and Everson Pereira double put another tally on the board. 

After an RBI groundout resulted in the second out of the inning, outfielder Brennan Davis crushed a two-run homer to deep left-center, capping off a seven-run inning and bringing his night to an end. 

Montas’ final line: eight runs on seven hits, a walk and a strikeout in just 1.2 innings. 

With just one minor league outing remaining on his rehab assignment, Montas is now up to an ugly 15.43 ERA.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Mets handle the 32-year-old with his continued struggles and a spot in their rotation opening up with Kodai Senga sidelined with a hamstring injury.