Posts

Posted on

2025 NBA Playoffs results, highlights, recap April 25 including Anthony Edwards clutch game

It was a sweep for the home teams on Friday night, 3-0.

TIMBERWOLVES 116, LAKERS 104 (Minnesota leads series 2-1)

It raised the eyebrows of some casual fans when Minnesota signed Jaden McDaniels to a five-year, $136 million extension, a deal that kicked in this season. Was he worth more than $27 million a year on average?

This is the Jaden McDaniels Minnesota hoped it was paying for. He has been the difference in this series. McDaniels had 25 points in Minnesota’s Game 1 win, and then on Friday night, he put up 30 on 13-of-22 shooting in Minnesota’s clutch win at home.

This felt like a confidence-boosting win for the Timberwolves in front of a raucous Minnesota crowd. This looks like a team starting to believe in itself. Minnesota is simply outworking Los Angeles through most of this series and did it again Friday night, including running past the Lakers for 21 fast-break points (and a lot of other early offense). Minnesota is capable of playing some incredible high-level basketball — something we have seen dating back to last year, before the Karl-Anthony Towns trade — but it doesn’t do it consistently.

Did Game 3 — and the 13-1 run to close the game — change that? They sound like a team that believes in itself. However, the real test is Sunday: Can they come out and take Game 4 against a desperate Lakers team, taking total control of the series?

The best adjustment J.J. Redick can make before Game 4? Get Luka Doncic healthy. A great LeBron James game — which we got Friday with 38 points — will not be enough.

MAGIC 95, CELTICS 93 (Boston leads series 2-1)

While the focus in this series has been on Orlando’s physicality and how far it goes, Boston had been able to execute well enough against it to pick up a couple of wins at home.

That flipped Friday night in Orlando — the Magic were a little more desperate and Boston got a little sloppy with the ball. The Celtics had 21 turnovers on the night, and while some of those were instances like Payton Pritchard having the ball stolen in the backcourt, there were a couple of 24-second violations and a lot of offensive fouls.

At the same time, the Magic fixed another of their problems on the court: The third quarter. They had been outscored by 19 in the third in the first two games in Boston, and that’s where things tended to get away from them. Not in Game 3 at home. Orlando opened the third quarter on a 14-0 run, retook the lead, and changed the dynamic of the game.

The Magic’s depth also showed out, with things like good play off the bench from Anthony Black.

BUCKS 117, PACERS 101 (Indiana leads series 2-1)

Doc Rivers made his big change, moving Gary Trent Jr. into the starting lineup.

Well, that couldn’t have worked any better.

Trent’s nine 3-pointers tied Ray Allen for the franchise record for most in a postseason game. It was Trent — along with Giannis Antetokounmpo, who also scored 37 — who sparked the Bucks’ third-quarter comeback and kept their season alive.

Game 4 becomes huge in this series. Can the Bucks get stops again when they need them? Can the Bucks get someone to step up and help Antetokounmpo again? If not, if the Pacers score their way to a 3-1 series lead, this is over.

Posted on

Rockets coach Udoka calls out Warriors fans before Game 3 in Bay

Rockets coach Udoka calls out Warriors fans before Game 3 in Bay originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Shots fired.

As expected, there has been no shortage of fireworks between the Warriors and Houston Rockets in their first-round NBA playoff series, with plenty of chatter between the teams and their fanbases.

But Rockets coach Ime Udoka clearly believes Dub Nation only feels comfortable talking trash online, as he said in his pregame press conference at Chase Center before Game 3 on Saturday.

“Very pleasant,” Udoka said with a smile when NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke asked about exchanges with Warriors fans who recognized him during his walks outside the Rockets’ hotel in San Francisco. “… Wherever you go, you might have hostility online and all this, but in person, nobody says anything. You’re not as brave in person.”

After Golden State’s Game 1 win, Houston came out with a physical approach in its Game 2 victory, which led to Jimmy Butler’s pelvic injury that will keep him out of Game 3. During that game, Udoka was heard on a hot mic telling the Rockets’ bench, “Don’t worry, they’re [the refs] not going to call anything, play through it,” and guard Fred VanFleet reportedly told Draymond Green the Warriors “better pray Jimmy’s back.”

Always-candid Rockets forward Dillon Brooks also told reporters Green was “dirty” and to blame for Butler’s injury — a sentiment coach Steve Kerr later called “interesting” — while many Warriors fans have pointed the finger at Houston forward Amen Thompson for crashing into Butler on the play. The entire situation played out during a game where Rockets fans chanted “F–k you, Draymond” in Houston.

It’s safe to say there’s no love lost between the Warriors and Rockets in the high-stakes matchup. And that goes for the fans, too — who now might be more inclined to give Udoka a piece of their mind if they run into him in the Bay.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Posted on

The Montreal Canadiens Tapped Into Their Unique Mystique Again In Game 3. How Long Can They Ride The Wave?

Alexandre Carrier celebrates a win against the Washington Capitals in Game 3 of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Eric Bolte-Imagn Images)

Home-ice advantage is a powerful force in the National Hockey League, and no home rink holds more magic than the Bell Centre. So, even though the Montreal Canadiens are locked into a tough 1-vs-8 matchup against the Washington Capitals, it should be no surprise that their first playoff game on home ice since the 2021 Stanley Cup Final was a well-earned 6-3 win.

The Habs will have the opportunity to tie their best-of-seven series 2-2 in Game 4 on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET).

But on Friday, the fans, as always, brought it. 

On the ice, Montreal held a 40-21 edge in shots, won 53.7 percent of the face-offs, out-hit the Capitals 45-26, went 2-for-5 on the power play, perfect on the penalty kill and controlled 66.15 percent of expected goals at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick. 

The Canadiens didn’t even get rattled when Sam Montembeault, who was arguably their MVP through the first two games of the series, departed abruptly just after the midpoint of the game, with the score tied 2-2.

Cole Caufield put Montreal back in the lead with nine seconds left in the middle frame, and after Alex Ovechkin drew the Capitals level early in the third, the Canadiens scored three more times to salt away the win. Christian Dvorak’s second of the series stood up as the game-winner, and Juraj Slafkovsky’s first-ever playoff goal came on the same play that forced Logan Thompson to leave the Washington crease after he was run into by his teammate, Dylan Strome.

The Capitals have had a storybook season of their own, and Ovechkin has his own unique superpowers. But the seed of doubt has now been planted in this series.

Early in Ovechkin’s career, the Capitals had a reputation for failing to rise to the occasion. While that narrative disappeared when they broke through with their Stanley Cup win in 2018, the Canadiens have a knack for winning, even when they have no business doing so. 

The Canadiens’ 23 Cups in the NHL era since 1917 dwarf every other franchise. The Toronto Maple Leafs are second with 13, and the Detroit Red Wings are the only other team in double digits (11). 

And while their dynasties from 1956-1960 and 1976-1979 loom the largest in their history, today’s Habs share more DNA with the group that won Canada’s last Stanley Cup, in 1993, and the one that went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. 

That team earned a strong 102 points in 84 games, in the era before overtime, but still finished third in the top-heavy Adams division behind the Boston Bruins and Quebec Nordiques. 

The Canadiens started the playoffs on the road in Quebec City and needed two overtime wins to take the Battle of Quebec in six games. Regaining home ice for the division final, they won three more games in sudden death to sweep the Buffalo Sabres.

Then, against the New York Islanders, they added two more overtime wins — including one in double OT — to claim the Prince of Wales Trophy. Finally, they took down Wayne Gretzky’s Los Angeles Kings in five games to claim the Cup on home ice at the Montreal Forum, winning three more overtime games along the way. 

It takes a certain swagger to win 10 of your 16 playoff victories in extra time, and that record still stands today. No other team has ever had more than seven.

But the 2020-21 Canadiens had six — and also manufactured a run to the Stanley Cup Final seemingly out of nowhere. 

It feels like way more than four years have passed since the shortened 56-game campaign, when the Canadiens replaced Claude Julien with Dominique Ducharme one-third of the way through, then rode a fourth-place finish in the Scotia North Division past the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights before falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Today’s Canadiens are a young group. But Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Joel Armia, Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson were all part of that run in 2021. They would have learned plenty along the way.

The Canadiens also have a history of unproven netminders stepping up at playoff time — whether that was Ken Dryden in 1971, fresh out of college, or 21-year-old rookie Patrick Roy in 1986. 

Will that turn out to be Montembeault, a native son like Roy? Or will upstart Jakub Dobes seize the reins and stir up 50-year-old memories of Dryden’s early heroics?

The ghosts may have rattled their chains louder at the old Montreal Forum, but they’re still watching over the Habs at the Bell Centre. With their support and with the Canadiens’ true-blue fans in full voice, don’t be surprised if the team delivers another magical memory on Sunday. 

Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.

Posted on

Sasha Barkov will play Game 3 against Tampa Bay

Feb 27, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) looks on against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

The Florida Panthers will have a full roster for Game 3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Panthers Captain Sasha Barkov was on the ice for pregame warmups and will be in the lineup after being deemed a game-time decision by Head Coach Paul Maurice.

Barkov left Game 2 in Tampa midway through the third period after taking an illegal hit from Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, who was given a five-minute major for interference.

Hagel has since been suspended for Game 3 by the NHL Department of Player Safety as a result of the hit, and it was unknown whether Barkov would be able to play.

Well, now we know that Barkov is good to go.

He'll skate on the Panthers top line, flanked by Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.

Florida will also welcome defenseman Aaron Ekbald back into the lineup after the top pairing defenseman finished serving a 20-game suspension for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.

Here is how the Panthers lined up during pregame warmups:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Evan Rodrigues – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand

Jesper Boqvist – Nico Sturm – Mackie Samoskevich

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones

Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Ekblad set to return, Hagel suspended as Panthers seek to take stranglehold on series with Tampa Bay

Panthers' Nate Schmidt Ties NHL Record With Hot Playoff Start

The Hockey Show: Playoff madness with Adnan Virk, including reaction to Hagel hit on Barkov

Sasha Barkov status for Game 3 remains unknown following illegal hit from Brandon Hagel

Sergei Bobrovsky locked back into playoff-mode, providing elite goaltending for Panthers

Posted on

Jimmy Butler ruled out for Warriors-Rockets Game 3 due to left pelvic contusion

Jimmy Butler ruled out for Warriors-Rockets Game 3 due to left pelvic contusion originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Jimmy Butler will not play in Game 3 between the Warriors and the Houston Rockets on Saturday at Chase Center.

The Warriors ruled Butler out on the official NBA injury report for the pivotal swing game.

Fourth-year NBA forward Jonathan Kuminga will start in Butler’s place, the Warriors announced 30 minutes before tip-off.

Rookie center Quinten Post also will start, with guard Moses Moody shifting to the bench.

NBC Sports Bay Area’s Dalton Johnson reported that Butler was on the Warriors’ practice court at Chase Center getting up shots about an hour before tip-off of Game 3.

Butler was all smiles walking into Chase Center before the game, but the Warriors clearly don’t believe he’s ready to play against a physical Rockets team.

Butler sustained the injury late in the first quarter of the Warriors’ Game 2 loss to the Rockets at Toyota Center.

The 35-year-old’s MRI on Thursday showed no fractures or structural damage.

The Warriors had hoped two full days off between games would give Butler enough time to receive treatment and be ready for Saturday night.

But Golden State also knows they can’t risk Butler making the injury worse. If they want to make a deep NBA playoff run, they’ll need him to be healthy in the long run.

Kuminga rejoined the Warriors’ rotation when Butler sustained the injury. But before that, the 22-year-old had received three consecutive DNPs (Did Not Play).

It remains to be seen how effective Kuminga will be, but he played well against the Rockets in four regular-season games, averaging 21.3 points and 6.8 rebounds.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Posted on

Celtics need to fight … any urge to retaliate against Magic

Celtics need to fight … any urge to retaliate against Magic originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jaylen Brown is fed up. It’s hard to blame him.

The Orlando Magic have injured three Boston players with three flagrant fouls through three postseason games. Jayson Tatum bruised his wrist after Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s hard foul took him to the floor in Game 1, Kristaps Porzingis needed five stitches after Goga Bitadze’s elbow split his forehead in Game 2, and Brown dislocated a finger after an excessive foul by Cole Anthony early in Game 3.

Once is chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. Now Brown is wondering out loud if the Celtics will be forced to match Orlando’s energy in this series.

“There might be a fight break out or something,” Brown said after Boston’s Game 3 loss in Orlando. “Because it’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball, and the refs are not controlling the environment. So, it is what it is.

“If you want to fight it out, we can do that. We can fight to see who goes to the second round.”

While we are largely unopposed to this first-round matchup turning into WrestleMania, it should be stressed that it is not in Boston’s best interest to get dragged into Orlando’s shenanigans. The Magic are using increased physicality to mask an obvious talent discrepancy, and the Celtics would only be playing into Orlando’s hands to allow its antics to sap their focus.

So, as much as Celtics fans might like to see Torrey Craig dispatched to drop an Orlando player, it’s unlikely to solve what’s truly keeping the Magic in this series.

The Celtics need to fight. They need to fight for better shots. They need to fight to protect the basketball and maximize possessions. And they need to fight the urge to retaliate.

Orlando’s length and physicality has absolutely bothered Boston. The Celtics owned the third-best half-court offense in the NBA during the regular season, generating 104.1 points per 100 possessions against a set defense. But Boston’s efficiency has plummeted against Orlando, dipping to 93.1 points per 100 possessions in the half court through three games.

Too often the Celtics have allowed Orlando to get back and get set. The Magic have done a better job than just about any team this season running the Celtics off the 3-point line, and Boston’s offense has gotten frustrated while settling for poor late-clock shot attempts.

The third quarter on Friday night might have been the Celtics’ most atrocious frame of the season. Boston misfired on 14 of its 17 shot attempts while scoring just 11 points. After Tatum’s 3-pointer early in the frame, the Celtics went nearly seven minutes without a field goal, all with its starters on the floor.

Boston turned the ball over six times in the frame and watched its double-digit lead morph into a six-point deficit heading to the fourth quarter.

The Magic sent multiple crashers at the glass chasing offensive rebounds. Not only did they win Joe Mazzulla’s beloved shot margin (83 attempts to Boston’s 74) because of it, but the Celtics never made them pay by pushing in transition and looking for easy buckets against a scrambling defense.

Boston generated just 78.8 points per 100 possessions in the half-court, per Cleaning the Glass data. Impossibly, Orlando was even worse (76.2), but utilized offensive rebounds to mask some of its woes.

The Celtics turned the ball over a staggering 21 times overall, leading to 26 points. Orlando generated nearly 28 percent of its total offensive output on Boston giveaways. The Celtics ranked second in the NBA in turnover rate during the regular season (12.2 percent) but that number has spiked to 16.1 percent of possessions in the postseason.

🔊 Celtics Talk POSTGAME POD: Celtics’ offense falls flat in Game 3 loss to Magic | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

If you want to throw the spin control on Game 3, it would be easy to note that Tatum looked excellent after starting the day as doubtful on the injury report. Porzingis turned in a total dud, admitting his shot is “janky” at the moment and using an expletive to describe his overall performance. A bench group led by Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser had a nightmare offensive game as well.

And the Celtics still had a chance to force overtime on the final possession.

A fight isn’t going to do these Celtics any good. Regaining some focus, getting back to Celtics basketball, and getting this series over quick is the better path. Let Orlando take its physicality to a beach in Cancun.

The only thing that can prolong this series is Boston getting sucked into a wrestling match. The Celtics can be appropriately physical, but there’s a fine line to walk, especially when the referees are on high alert now.

Yes, the only thing Boston needs to fight is its urge to retaliate.

Posted on

Matheus Cunha eclipses Vardy as Wolves rack up sixth consecutive victory

If this proves to be a tale of two departing star strikers, Matheus Cunha eclipsed Jamie Vardy with as much comfort as Wolves have breezed past Leicester in this game and over the past five months.

Manchester United target Cunha scored the first goal and made the others for Jørgen Strand Larsen and Rodrigo Gomes while Vardy, having announced he will leave Leicester at the end of this tumultuous season, had his penalty saved by José Sá.

Continue reading...
Posted on

Former 2023–24 Canucks Regular Season Review

Dec 23, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov (91) and center Elias Lindholm (28) celebrate a goal by center Charlie Coyle (13) during the third period against the Washington Capitals at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

From the end of the 2023–24 regular season to now, nine Vancouver Canucks have departed the team’s lineup whether by trade, free agency, or otherwise. With the 2024–25 regular season now wrapped up, let’s take a look at how some of these ex-Canucks from last season performed with their new clubs. 

Latest From THN’s Vancouver Canucks Site:

Canucks' Filip Chytil Aims To Be "100% Ready" For 2025-26

3 Takeaways From The Abbotsford Canucks First Two Games Of The 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs

What Went Wrong For The 2024-25 Vancouver Canucks: Problems In Overtime

Carson Soucy

New York Rangers

1G, 2A in 16GP 

The most recent Canucks departure compared to the rest of this list, Soucy was moved the day before the 2025 Trade Deadline. Notably, he scored goals in both his last game with the Canucks on March 5 and his first game with the Rangers on March 8. In his first 16 games with the Rangers, Soucy notably gave the puck away 13 times. He faced the same issue of being able to hold onto the puck in Vancouver as well, as he had 65 giveaways in the 59 games he played with the Canucks this season as well. Soucy will enter the final year of his three-year contract in 2025–26 — whether he remains with the Rangers for the rest of it or not is yet to be determined. 

Casey DeSmith

Dallas Stars

2.59 GAA, .915 SV%

14–8–2 

As a member of De Stars, DeSmith has done well as a reliable backup to Jake Oettinger. He nabbed two shutouts during the regular season and even had an assist in the team’s 4–2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on December 31. Interestingly, in the 10 losses he started in both in regulation and in overtime, the lowest amount of shots he faced was 24. In his last three losses of the regular season, he stopped 34, 32, and 39 shots against, giving up five, six, and four goals respectively. One of these losses was Vancouver’s 6–5 overtime comeback win on April 8. DeSmith has two more years left on his contract and will be 35 when it expires. 

Elias Lindholm

Boston Bruins

17G, 30A in 82GP 

Many fans were upset when two of the team’s biggest free agents from 2023–24 walked for nothing. Elias Lindholm, who was brought into the Canucks organization at the end of January 2024, ultimately signed a seven-year, $7.75M AAV deal with the Bruins during the 2024 free agency period. The start of his first season with Boston got off to a rocky start, as he had seven goals and 13 assists in the first half of 2024–25. While he experienced a couple of slow stretches after this point, Lindholm managed to slightly pick up his pace offensively speaking, adding another 10 goals and 17 assists to his season total. He finished the final 10 games of the season with four goals and six assists. 

Ian Cole

Utah Hockey Club

1G, 16A in 82GP 

While Vancouver seemed to have found their replacement for Cole in Derek Forbort, the current Utah defender had the kind of season that would make a team regret letting him go. A shot-blocking machine, Cole led the NHL in blocked shots this season with 211. The Canuck with the closest amount to this was Tyler Myers with 125. One caveat on Cole’s season was that, like Soucy, he was prone to giveaways. He surrendered the puck to the opposition 118 times this season, which ties him with David Pastrnak and Thomas Harley at 11th in the league. On March 5, he signed a one-year contract extension with Utah that will pay him $2.8M.     

Ilya Mikheyev 

Chicago Blackhawks 

20G, 14A in 80GP 

Vancouver let Mikheyev go via trade after a disappointing 2023–24 season that saw him go goalless for 34 games. It was fitting, of course, that he scored a goal in his first visit back to Rogers Arena after being traded. Mikheyev registered his first point with the Blackhawks in his 10th game with the team. He had 10 rush attempts on the season with Chicago, which would have tied him with Brock Boeser for third on the Canucks. His four-year, $4.75M AAV contract expires after the 2025–26 season. 

J.T. Miller 

New York Rangers

13G, 22A in 32GP 

Miller’s time with the Canucks officially ended on January 31 when he was traded to the Rangers in exchange for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a 2025 1st Round Pick. As many Vancouver fans heard, Miller’s first game back with New York resulted in the forward scoring two goals. After competing for Team USA at the 4 Nations Faceoff, Miller returned to the Rangers and put up five goals and five assists in six games. In his final six games of 2024–25, he registered three goals and six assists. While some have pointed out that the defensive woes in Miller’s game seem to have surfaced in New York, offensively speaking, it looks as though the ex-Canuck has continued to perform at the level many know he is capable of. Miller’s current deal expires in 2030, during which he’ll be 37.  

Nikita Zadorov

Boston Bruins 

4G, 18A in 81GP

For Canucks fans, Zadorov’s departure may have been one of the most upsetting of players who left Vancouver during the 2024 free agency period. The hulking defenseman endeared himself to Canucks fans with his on-ice toughness and off-ice humour. While not known for his offensive prowess, Zadorov still had 22 points with the Bruins this season, finishing third on his team in points by a defenseman behind Charlie McAvoy and Mason Lohrei. Unsurprisingly, Zadorov led the NHL in penalty minutes with 145. After this season, Zadorov has five years left on his contract with Boston. 

Sam Lafferty

Buffalo Sabres

4G, 3A in 60GP 

Lafferty had a career year with the Canucks last season, setting new personal records in goals (13) and points (24). He tied his season assist record with 11 in 79 games played. The speedy forward was due to hit free agency in July 2024, but was dealt to the Blackhawks by the Canucks as part of the Mikheyev trade. He went on to sign a two-year contract with Buffalo, where he missed a month of play in the fall due to a lower body injury. He also sustained a groin injury in March that kept him out of the lineup for four games. Lafferty faced a bit of offensive regression with the Sabres, as he didn’t score his first point of the season until November 7. After the 2025–26 season, Lafferty will be a free agent. 

Vasily Podkolzin 

Edmonton Oilers

8G, 16A in 82GP 

When Podkolzin was picked 10th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, some Canucks fans were confused. His KHL contract made it so he wouldn’t be able to join Vancouver until two years after he was drafted. The forward joined the Canucks in the 2021–22 season, putting up 14 goals and 12 assists in 79 games played. After a couple of disappointing seasons that ultimately resulted in him being sent down to the Abbotsford Canucks, Podkolzin was traded to the Oilers for a fourth-round pick. Since joining Edmonton, Podkolzin has earned himself a roster spot by putting his hard work on display. As well, he has provided Edmonton with more of a physical presence in their bottom six, as he quietly led his team with 210 hits during the regular season. Podkolzin, who is still an RFA, will need to sign a new deal with the Oilers after the 2025–26 season. 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, be sure to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum.

The Hockey News
Posted on

Ten-man Ipswich relegated after Isak and Burn fire Newcastle up to third

Kieran McKenna and his Ipswich players arrived in the Premier League pledging to stay true to their purist principles but had an ignominious return to the Championship rubber stamped amid acrimony, indiscipline and refereeing controversy.

In mitigation Ipswich started quite well at Newcastle, their low block frustrating Eddie Howe’s side and the striker Alexander Isak in particular. Then they imploded in a manner that perhaps reflected the frustrations of a long, hard season when, all too often, a team who were League One residents two years ago proved not quite good enough to bridge the growing chasm between the top and second tiers.

Continue reading...
Posted on

Fuham’s last-gasp winner keeps Southampton sweating over points record

A stoppage-time winner from Ryan Sessegnon revitalised Fulham’s European qualification prospects and denied Southampton the chance to move past the record-low Premier League points total set by Derby.

Jack Stephens’ 14th-minute opener had already-relegated Saints on course for a first home league victory since November, but Emile Smith Rowe levelled for Fulham after 72 minutes to set up a nervy finale at St Mary’s.

Continue reading...
Posted on

What we learned as Giants walk off Rangers on Bailey's clutch single

What we learned as Giants walk off Rangers on Bailey's clutch single originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — A sellout crowd showed up Saturday to honor Brandon Crawford. Patrick Bailey made sure they went home happy. 

The catcher pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth and dropped Jacob Latz’s first pitch onto the right field grass, giving the Giants a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers at Oracle Park. With the victory, the Giants are guaranteed of having a winning record during this stretch of 17 games in 17 days.

The lineup got shut out Friday, and for most of their next game things weren’t looking much better. They gave off some 2024 vibes until Willy Adames broke through in the fifth with a two-run single up the middle that tied the game.

It stayed tied into the ninth, when manager Bob Melvin turned to struggling closer Ryan Walker. He gave up a pair of singles, but Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka did him a favor by popping up a bunt. After striking out Josh Smith, Walker stayed in to face pinch-hitter Joc Pederson, despite the fact that lefty Erik Miller was warmed up in the pen. Pederson hit a long foul ball and then swung through 97 mph to end the inning as Walker pumped his fist and screamed.

Heliot Ramos ignited the winning rally with a leadoff single in the ninth. After a walk by LaMonte Wade Jr., Christian Koss advanced both runners with a bunt. Bailey hit for Sam Huff and ended it quickly. 

Ray Day

Robbie Ray said after his last start that it was the closest he has felt to his 2021 Cy Young form in years, and he certainly looked like a top-of-the-rotation arm on Saturday. The lefty went a season-high seven innings and struck out eight. It was his first time recording at least 21 outs since Aug. 28, 2022, which was before his Tommy John surgery. 

The Rangers had plenty of traffic early, but Ray limited the damage to a pair of sacrifice flies. With the two earned runs, he lowered his ERA from 4.07 to 3.73. 

Ray was extremely fastball-heavy in his last start, but he showed a four-pitch mix Saturday. He threw each of his pitches at least a dozen times and tossed his new changeup a career-high 20 times. Ray got 23 swinging strikes (a season-high for the Giants) including five on his changeup. 

Revenge Game

Bruce Bochy isn’t the only familiar face in the other dugout in this series. The Rangers’ hitting coaches are Donnie Ecker and Justin Viele, and their roster includes Joc Pederson, Nick Ahmed, Kevin Pillar and Luke Jackson. 

The biggest blow against former teammates came from Huff, though. The former Rangers catcher ignited the game-tying rally with a long double to Triples Alley. It would have brought Koss home, but the infielder slipped going around third. Both players scored on Adames’ single a few minutes later. 

Huff’s double went 375 feet and would have been a homer in six ballparks. Throw in a homer in Anaheim last weekend, and the Giants finally are starting to see the power they expected when they acquired Huff on a waiver claim this offseason. 

The Usual

It’s been a wild week at the back end of Melvin’s bullpen, but he has absolutely no question marks in the eighth. Tyler Rogers is off to a dominant start, and he kept it going Saturday by throwing a scoreless inning. 

Rogers lowered his ERA to 0.63, which is sixth in the NL among relievers with double-digit appearances. Last year’s appearances leader is tied for first in the league in that category, too, and he has thrown up a zero in 14 of his 15 outings. Rogers has allowed just eight hits in 14 1/3 innings. He’s making Melvin’s life very easy when games reach the eighth inning. 

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Posted on

The Canadiens Should Employ This Drafting Strategy

Image

If I were the Montreal Canadiens I would not go with the best player available. It’s a generic term that sounds good in the NFL but has no real practical application in hockey. You have a draft board for a reason. You have team needs for a reason. Not today’s needs, organizational needs and that’s for 3-5 years down the road. 

According to Puck Pedia, the Canadiens have two picks at 16 and 17. I’ll go with that but we know that can change. The #17 picks are from Calgary and that has conditions. They are explained here. 

I think the odds of getting a potential second line player is better than a second-pairing defenseman. This isn’t a very deep draft. There will be a fair amount of players that play in the NHL for a period of time. But sticking for 200 games or more is a smaller field than usual in my estimation. That could change after the U18s but right now, that’s how I feel.

I think they should target a forward with some size. If nothing else, just don’t take a smaller forward here. Size and speed is something they need to get. There will be time to get defenseman in this draft and certainly another goalie is always something to think about in every draft. 

The Canadiens have a lot of picks. 12 in total. I normally say get two every draft. In this draft, I still think you might be able to get three. That would be my goal. Anything more than that is gravy.

Posted on

Toronto Maple Leafs And Los Angeles Kings Showing Just How Effective A Five-Forward Power-Play Unit Can Be

The Toronto Maple Leafs celebrate a goal scored by Auston Matthews in Game 3 of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Ottawa Senators. (Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Los Angeles Kings are two of the best power-play teams in the playoffs, so far. 

The Kings are sitting atop the league in power-play percentage (58.3 percent), and they are also first in the NHL in power-play goals with seven.

Toronto sits just behind the Kings in power-play percentage at 55.6 percent over three games. They are also third in total power-play goals with five, narrowly behind the St. Louis Blues, who scored three in their 7-2 win in Game 3, bringing their total to six.

Other than having similar success and statistics with the extra man, Toronto and L.A. have one more thing in common with their top power-play units – they are made up of five forwards and no defenseman.

The majority of teams in the NHL use four forwards, with their most offensive defenseman quarterbacking the power play. That’s not the case for the Leafs and Kings.

For the most part, Los Angeles uses Adrian Kempe at the point with Anze Kopitar occasionally coming short to receive the puck. The Kings do have the choice to put a D-man on the top unit with Drew Doughty and Brandt Clarke on the roster, but coach Jim Hiller has decided to put them on the second unit.

Toronto has Mitch Marner at the blueline dictating the play with his elite playmaking and ability to walk the line. In seasons past, Morgan Rielly would be the quarterback, but coach Craig Berube has found success with the five-man unit.

Former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau spoke about the Maple Leafs’ five-forward power-play unit in the latest episode of The Hockey News’ Big Show.

“The Leaf five, I find amazing. All five of them are so good,” Boudreau said. He further complimented Toronto’s top unit and highlighted how important Marner is to the formation.

“Marner, I think, is the best distributor this side of Connor McDavid of the puck, and he can defend when needed.”

While the five-man forward unit is a relatively new concept and not many teams use it, the NHL is a copycat league. Maybe next season, teams that don’t have an offensive defenseman will put this idea into consideration.

Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.

Posted on

After Crawford day, what's next for Giants jersey numbers, ceremonies?

After Crawford day, what's next for Giants jersey numbers, ceremonies? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Brandon Crawford was in a checkered suit Saturday, but No. 35 was still represented at Oracle Park, and not just with the thousands who came to watch the best shortstop in franchise history get honored. Justin Verlander, Friday night’s starter, is wearing the number this season after an offseason conversation with Crawford. 

It wasn’t hard for Crawford to sign off on giving the number to a future Hall of Famer, but Saturday’s ceremony was a reminder that the organization has some difficult decisions to make down the line. 

The front row of guests for the ceremony included president of baseball operations Buster Posey, former manager Bruce Bochy and longtime Giants ace Matt Cain. The Giants have no intention of ever letting anyone wear No. 28 or No. 15 again, but Cain’s No. 18 has been worn by eight players since he retired, including Curt Casali and Donovan Walton last year. So, what are the Giants going to do with No. 35 when Verlander is done in orange and black?

“We haven’t gotten there. Today is a thank you for Brandon, the soonest we could thank him and show gratitude for his career as a Giant,” team president and CEO Larry Baer said. “That [number decision] can be considered later.”

The best shortstop in franchise history is part of a group of teammates who are franchise legends, but also unlikely to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, which traditionally has been the standard for the Giants to retire a number. The Giants changed their thinking to honor Barry Bonds, who was left out of Cooperstown by the Baseball Writers Association of America, and that opened the door to also retire Will Clark’s No. 22. 

Brad Grems, who is in charge of the clubhouse, has followed Mike Murphy’s lead in not giving out No. 55 (Tim Lincecum) or No. 40 (Madison Bumgarner). But at some point the Giants will have to decide where they draw the lines for longtime Giants who will go on their Wall of Fame but also could be in consideration to have their numbers retired. 

“We’ll try to honor that group. We haven’t only [retired numbers for] Hall of Famers, but it has primarily been Hall of Famers,” Baer said. “We’ll have to come up with a philosophy. There are other guys in his era whose jerseys have not been retired, too. We have to think it through.”

The Giants already have retired 11 numbers, plus No. 42, which is retired across the game for Jackie Robinson. Bochy and Posey will be inducted into Cooperstown in the next few years and join that list.

Regardless of the future standard, Crawford has at least one more big day coming at Oracle Park. He’ll soon be back to go on the organization’s Wall of Fame, which honors former Giants who played at least nine seasons, five seasons with at least one MLB All-Star selection, or won three rings. Brandon Belt would clear the bar, along with Lincecum, Bumgarner, Pablo Sandoval and Joe Panik, who flew in from New York to attend the Crawford ceremony.

Panik soon will visit Double-A Richmond as an instructor and plans to work with players at one affiliate every month. With Posey now in charge, others from the championship era are expected to return to the organization in some capacity, but Crawford reiterated on Saturday that he plans to take this full year off. That was always the plan in retirement, and it’s not like he has much free time anyway.

The Crawfords have five children, four of whom are very active in school and youth sports and a fifth who is only a year and a half old. After giving his speech, Crawford said he’ll potentially join the Giants down the road in an official capacity, but for now he has his hands full. 

“It’s been busy,” he said, smiling. “Even busier than baseball seasons, to be honest. But it’s been a lot of fun.”

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Posted on

Well-liked Kody Clemens traded to Twins: ‘It was just the fit'

Well-liked Kody Clemens traded to Twins: ‘It was just the fit' originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

CHICAGO — Rob Thomson texted Kody Clemens early Saturday morning to wish him the best. After three years in the Phillies organization, Clemens is moving on to Minnesota. The Phils traded him to the Twins late Friday night for cash.

Clemens had been designated for assignment on Wednesday when the Phillies activated right-handed-hitting Weston Wilson. Clemens saw very little playing time through three weeks, going 0-for-6 with a walk and just six innings on defense — four in left field, two at second base. His left-handed bat wasn’t an ideal fit on the Phils’ bench because the primary positions he’d back up are also occupied by left-handed hitters.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t have given him more of an opportunity here,” Thomson said before the Phillies’ middle game at Wrigley Field. “It was just the fit because he’s a good player, he’s a big-league player and I’ve said that all along. He’s a great teammate, he’s a great human being. I texted him this morning and wished him all the best because I really like him a lot. They like him a lot.”

Clemens was acquired by the Phillies with reliever Gregory Soto in January 2023 from the Detroit Tigers for outfielder Matt Vierling and utilityman Nick Maton. Clemens appeared in 97 games as a Phillie, hitting .220/.265/.394 with 16 doubles and nine home runs in 275 plate appearances. He was 2-for-5 with a double in last year’s NLDS.

The Phillies’ bench currently consists of Edmundo Sosa, Wilson, Cal Stevenson and Rafael Marchan. Brandon Marsh (hamstring strain) is two games into a rehab assignment with Triple A Lehigh Valley and will likely take Stevenson’s place on the roster once he’s ready to return.

Marsh played seven innings in center field on Friday and is scheduled to DH Saturday. He is eligible to be activated on Sunday but the Phillies might keep him at Triple A for another few days.

“I want him to make sure that his swing’s back and that he’s ready to go,” Thomson said Saturday.

It’s not the worst thing in the world for Marsh to be able to find his timing in the minors right now, away from all the attention. Negativity is justifiably swirling in the Delaware Valley over the Phillies’ 13-13 start.

“I think it’s good for him, sure, because you could see the sawdust coming out of his hands as he was up at the plate,” Thomson said. “He was just trying to do too much. It’s a process and it takes time.”