NHL PLAYOFFS
Jesper Fast took a cross-ice pass from Jordan Staal and buried it past Ilya Sorokin at 5:03 of overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Islanders 4-3. Carolina now has a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series. Staal’s pass came from the left side to find Fast loose on the right for the finish over Sorokin’s pad. It ended a game that had seen Carolina blow a two-goal lead and trailing 3-2. Paul Stastny, Stefan Noesen and Jaccob Slavin also scored for Carolina. Kyle Palmieri, Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson scored for New York.
Brandon Montour scored twice and the Florida Panthers had four third-period goals to beat the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins 6-3 last night and sent Boston to its first loss in 10 games. The Panthers tied the best-of-seven series and head home for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday. There will be a Game 5 back in Boston on Wednesday. Montour scored 22 seconds into the third period to break a 2-2 tie. Alex Lyon stopped 34 shots. The Bruins won the series opener 3-1.
Roope Hintz scored a short-hander on Dallas’ first shot and added two more goals after that, Evgenii Dadonov scored twice and elsewhere, the Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 7-3 to even their first-round series at a game each. Hintz, who also had an assist, secured the hat trick with a power-play goal with just under eight minutes left, when Miro Heiskanen got his fourth assist of the game. Captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin also had power-play goals for the Stars.
Alex Iafallo scored in OT to lift the Los Angeles Kings over the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in overtime to open their first-round playoff series. Iafallo scored a power-play goal at 9:19 of OT by converting Victor Arvidsson’s feed from behind the net. Adrian Kempe scored twice and Anze Kopitar had a goal and three assists for Los Angeles, which held Oilers captain and NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid scoreless. Kings goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 38 saves for the win.
NBA PLAYOFFS
Xavier Tillman scored a career-high 22 points and had 13 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies tied their first-round Western Conference series at 1-1 by beating the Los Angeles Lakers 103-93 with two-time All-Star guard Ja Morant sidelined by an injured hand. No. 2 seed Memphis sat Morant after he tested the right hand originally hurt April 7 in a win at Milwaukee and aggravated driving to the basket in the opening loss to the Lakers. He had more exams on the hand before being declared inactive. LeBron James led the Lakers with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Reserve Rui Hachimura had another strong performance with 20 points.
Brook Lopez scored 25 points, Jrue Holiday added 24 and the hot-shooting Milwaukee Bucks withstood Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence while trounced ing the Miami Heat 138-122, tying their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at a game apiece. The Bucks went 25 of 49 on 3-point attempts to tie the NBA record for 3-point baskets in a postseason game. Pat Connaughton added a playoff career-high 22 points. Antetokounmpo remained out for Milwaukee after leaving the Bucks’ 130-117 Game 1 loss early in the second quarter with a bruised lower back.
Jamal Murray scored 40 points and Michael Porter Jr. had 13 of his 16 in the fourth quarter, powering the Denver Nuggets past the Minnesota Timberwolves 122-113 last night for a 2-0 lead in the NBA playoff series. Nikola Jokic added 27 points, nine assists and nine rebounds for the Nuggets, who blew an early 21-point lead and trailed 89-87 heading into the fourth quarter. Anthony Edwards had 41 points for the Wolves, who shot a sizzling 81% in the third quarter to erase a 64-59 halftime deficit. The series shifts to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday night.
NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars says it was a difficult decision to suspend Golden State’s Draymond Green for Game 3 of the Warriors’ first-round series against Sacramento. Dumars also says it was made with serious consideration of many factors. Dumars oversees the league’s basketball operations and sanctions for on-court incidents. Green stepped on the chest of Kings center Domantas Sabonis midway during the fourth quarter of Game 2 of that series on Monday night. Green was ejected for the play. The league escalated the punishment on Tuesday night.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Aaron Judge robbed Shohei Ohtani of a homer just before hitting a two-run shot, and the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 on Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. Judge also saved the go-ahead run with a diving grab in the eighth inning, and the Yankees evened this star-studded series after dropping the opener Tuesday night. Gio Urshela tied it 2-all for the Angels in the eighth with a two-out RBI single against his former team — one pitch after Wandy Peralta balked Hunter Renfroe to second base. Brandon Drury then hit a slicing drive to deep right-center that would have knocked in the go-ahead run if Judge hadn’t made a sensational catch just shy of the warning track.
Alex Verdugo singled home the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning on a fly ball that barely stayed fair at Fenway Park, giving the Boston Red Sox a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in a bizarre finish. Umpires needed a few minutes to review Verdugo’s drive, which bounced off the low wall in right field just short of Pesky’s Pole, before officially declaring it a hit and the game over. That sparked a second round of celebrating by the Red Sox, who got 11 strikeouts from starter Chris Sale but little offense until the end. Reese McGuire had just tied it with a two-run single as the Red Sox rallied after allowing two runs in the top of the 10th. Max Kepler homered for Minnesota.
Max Scherzer was ejected in the fourth inning after the umpires’ check of his glove and hands, but Brandon Nimmo went 5 for 5 and New York’s bullpen came through in the Mets’ 5-3 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers. Nimmo hit a two-run homer off Noah Syndergaard in the fifth inning, and he singled and scored in the ninth to complete his second career five-hit game. David Peralta homered in the ninth for the Dodgers, who have lost eight of 12. Syndergaard pitched six innings of five-hit ball in his first career start against the Mets, his former team.
Trea Turner homered and had three hits, Brandon Marsh also went deep and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago White Sox 5-2. Taijuan Walker pitched into the seventh inning. Turner hit his first home run for the Phillies with a solo shot in the first. The two-time All-Star singled and scored in the third and capped a two-run fourth with an RBI double against Tanner Banks. Walker gave up two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. José Alvarado pitched the ninth for his second save in three chances. Chicago's Mike Clevinger lasted just three innings, allowing three runs and six hits on 75 pitches. Andrew Vaughn hit a two-run homer in the first.
Rodolfo Castro hit a 458-foot homer and drove in four runs, leading Pittsburgh over the Colorado Rockies 14-3 to complete the Pirates’ first three-game sweep at Denver since 2019. Colorado has lost eight straight games, its longest skid since nine in a row last Aug. 27 to Sept. 4. The Rockies are a National League-worst 5-14 and the game drew 18,511, the smallest crowd for a Coors Field game with unrestricted ticket sales since 18,341 on April 18, 2013. Andrew McCutchen put the Pirates ahead in the first with an RBI double off and homered in the second.
The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a new retractable roof ballpark in Las Vegas after being unable to build a new venue in the Bay Area. Team president Dave Kaval said Wednesday night that the team finalized the deal to buy the 49-acre site last week where the A’s will plan to build the stadium that will seat between 30,000 and 35,000 fans close to the Las Vegas Strip. The A’s will work with Nevada and Clark County on a public-private partnership to fund the stadium. Kaval said the A’s hope to break ground on the stadium by next year and would look to hope to be able to move into their new home by 2027.
TIGER WOODS
Tiger Woods is recovering from another surgery. Woods has posted on Twitter that he had fusion surgery on his right ankle to alleviate arthritis from a broken bone. Most estimates on recovery are eight to 12 weeks. That would put into doubt whether he plays in the three remaining majors. Woods had a noticeable limp when he played in the Masters. He made the cut for a record-tying 23rd time. But he withdrew Sunday morning during the third round because of plantar fasciitis. The broken bone in his ankle stems from the February 2021 car crash in Los Angeles.
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