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NEW YORK — Defenseman K’Andre Miller had two goals and two assists in New York’s six-goal first period, Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the Rangers beat the Nashville Predators 7-0 on Sunday night.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists in the opening period, and Filip Chytil, Mika Zibanejad, Tyler Motte and Chris Kreider also scored to help New York cruise to its fourth straight home win and second shutout in two days. The Rangers beat Pittsburgh 6-0 on Saturday night after also beating the Penguins on Thursday and Washington on Tuesday.

The Rangers scored six times on their first eight shots, chasing Nashville starting goalie Kevin Lankinen after he gave up four goals on five shots. He was replaced by Juuse Saros.

Miller became the first defenseman in franchise history with four points in a single period as the Rangers led 6-0 less than 14 minutes in. The avalanche of early goals tied the franchise record for most in the first period, most recently achieved on Dec. 15, 1999, in an 8-3 home win over Los Angeles.

“That was pretty fun,” Miller said. “The puck was finding me.”

Halak improved to 8-2-2 in his past 12 starts as the 37-year-old Slovak-born goalie secured his 53rd career shutout, third-most among active netminders behind Marc-Andre Fleury and Jonathan Quick.

“It was a team effort from the drop of the puck until the end,” Halak said. “Last two games — yesterday and today — we did a really good job playing for 60 minutes and it paid off.”

Halak, who has 294 career wins with seven NHL teams, was especially pleased with his first shutout as a Ranger. His family — including 6-year-old son Nathan, who also is a goalie — were in attendance at Madison Square Garden.

“It’s more special when they are in the stands,” Halak said. “It feels great to get a win and more special to get a shutout. Our D, even though we had a big lead, they were blocking shots.”

The Rangers became the sixth team in NHL history with back-to-back shutouts while scoring six or more goals. The Rangers had three straight 6-0 shutouts from Feb. 4-10, 1973.

“I thought our guys did an excellent job,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said of his team’s ability to stay focused with a six-goal lead after one period. “They played the game the right way.″

The Predators were coming off a deflating home overtime loss to Winnipeg on Saturday and were dealing with a raft of injuries to key players. Nashville was without captain and leading scorer Roman Josi — hurt against the Jets — plus defenseman Ryan McDonagh and top forwards Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen.

Nashville trails the Jets by five points for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“It’s humbling to get beat 7-0,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “It something we can learn from and we will. Tonight wasn’t good enough.”

Chytil opened the scoring with his 20th goal at 2:37 — assisted by Miller and Halak — followed by Zibanejad’s team-leading 37th at 7:22. Motte scored his fifth goal 52 seconds later before Miller scored at 9:09 to make it 4-0, ending Lankinen’s night.

Panarin then added his 23rd goal at 10:01 — the fastest five goals to start a game in franchise history — before Miller scored again, his eighth of the season, with 6:24 remaining in the period.

Panarin has points in nine of his past 11 games and leads the Rangers with 80 points overall. Zibanejad, who had a goal and two assists in Saturday’s rout of the Penguins, also assisted on Panarin’s goal and has nine points in his past four games and 28 points in his past 21 contests — including 15 goals.

Kreider increased the lead to 7-0 at 9:02 of the second with his 32nd goal this season and the 261st of his career, moving the Rangers forward within one goal of Vic Hadfield for fifth place on the Rangers’ all-time list.

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Knights score with 0.4 left to stun Oilers in Game 3

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Knights score with 0.4 left to stun Oilers in Game 3

EDMONTON, Alberta — Reilly Smith scored with 0.4 seconds left on a shot that deflected in off Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl‘s stick to give the Vegas Golden Knights a stunning 4-3 victory in Game 3 on Saturday night.

Smith’s goal is tied for the latest game winner in regulation in Stanley Cup playoffs history along with Nazem Kadri‘s goal for the Colorado Avalanche in 2020 and Jussi Jokinen’s goal for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2009, according to ESPN Research.

“Honestly, I’ve seen [Vegas forward William Karlsson] use that play a few times where he forechecks and spins it out in front of the net, jumping off the bench,” Smith said when asked about the play. “I think there was around seven seconds. I just tried. And being first on it. … So I thought there was a chance. And once it popped out I saw a lot of guys sell out. So I just hope that I had enough time to kind of pump-fake and find a lane and, you know, worked out.”

The game-winning goal came after Oilers star Connor McDavid tied it with 3:02 to go with a centering pass that went in off defender Brayden McNabb‘s skate.

“We didn’t sort it out very well to let the puck get into the slot. After that, it’s unlucky, it’s unfortunate,” Draisaitl said of the game-winning goal. “It goes off my stick, and I’m just trying to keep it out of the net. It’s just a bad bounce.”

After Corey Perry gave Edmonton an early 2-0 lead, Nicolas Roy and Smith tied it with goals in a 54-second span late in the first period. Karlsson put the Golden Knights in front with 2:55 left in the second, beating goalie Stuart Skinner off a give-and-go play with Noah Hanifin. And Adin Hill made 17 saves for Vegas.

The Golden Knights’ win Saturday cut Edmonton’s lead to 2-1 in the Western Conference semifinal series. Game 4 is Monday night in Edmonton.

“Before the series starts, if you were to tell us that we were gonna be up 2-1 after three, we’d be happy,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’d be pleased with that, not only up 2-1, but Game 4 at home.”

Vegas rallied in the first period after Golden Knights forward Mark Stone left because of an upper-body injury.

“Big win for our team,” Smith said. “We need to use the momentum in front of us to push forward, but focus one game at a time. That’s kind of always been the mindset for this group. We have a lot of resiliency. So as long as you focus on that next game and get a little bit better every night.”

Roy, playing a day after being fined but not suspended for cross-checking Trent Frederic in the face in overtime in Game 2, cut it to 2-1 off a rebound with 4:43 left in the first. Smith then slipped a backhander through Skinner’s legs with 3:49 to go in the period.

Skinner stopped 20 shots, taking over in goal for the injured Calvin Pickard. Pickard appeared uncomfortable and was seen shaking out his left leg after Vegas forward Tomas Hertl landed on his left pad in Game 2.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge goes deep twice, pushes MLB HR lead to 14

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Judge goes deep twice, pushes MLB HR lead to 14

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Aaron Judge celebrated his return to the Sacramento area by hitting two home runs Saturday in a losing effort for the New York Yankees against the Athletics to extend his major league leading total to 14.

Judge is playing in the Sacramento area for the first time since college in New York’s first visit to the A’s temporary home near California’s capital.

Judge was born in Sacramento and grew up not far away in Linden and had many friends and family in the crowd of 12,113 at the minor league park that is hosting the A’s.

“It just felt like being home,” Judge said after the Yankees’ win Friday night. “Any time we play the A’s, that’s always something that’s familiar to me and close to home to me. It was special.”

After going 1-for-4 with a walk and two near homers in the series opener, Judge granted A’s owner John Fisher his wish Saturday in an 11-7 victory for the home team.

He led off the fourth inning with a homer off JP Sears and then connected again to lead off the sixth against Justin Sterner to the delight of the Yankees fans in attendance, many of whom chanted “MVP! MVP!”

“Not surprising,” Yankees starter Carlos Rodon said. “Once again putting on great swings like he always does. Really good player.”

The second homer gave Judge 14 on the season and gave him 41 career multihomer games — fourth most in Yankees history.

Judge leads the majors in batting average (.396), on-base percentage (.486), slugging percentage (.772) homers and RBIs (37).

When the A’s announced their plans last season to play in this minor league park, Fisher said he was excited to see what players like Judge could do in a stadium known for offense.

“We’re excited to be here for the next three years playing in this beautiful ballpark but also being able to watch some of the best players in baseball, whether they be Athletics players or Aaron Judge and others launch home runs out of this very intimate, the most intimate ballpark in all of Major League Baseball,” he said.

The ball carried well for everyone with the teams combining for six homers — including a go-ahead, three-run shot by Shea Langeliers for the A’s that pitcher Fernando Cruz was shocked carried over the wall.

Cruz said he went to back up home plate, assuming it would be a potential sacrifice fly only to see the ball carry out.

“It’s the same for all of us,” Cruz said. “It’s the same for the other team, the same for me, the same for my other teammates. Just have to come back tomorrow and do the same thing, pitch and locate a little better.”

Games at this stadium that had previously been solely used in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League have had a combined 2.75 home runs per game — up more than 40% from the rate of homers hit last season at the Oakland Coliseum.

“I’m sure as the summer builds up and the heat builds up, the PCL is known for that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about the way the ball carries. “I’d be speaking out of turn if I said I knew how this place is going to play throughout. Today was a little different throughout.”

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Red Sox put 1B Gonzalez on IL; Devers stays DH

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Red Sox put 1B Gonzalez on IL; Devers stays DH

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Boston Red Sox put first baseman Romy Gonzalez on the 10-day injured list with a left-quad contusion, retroactive to May 8. In a corresponding move, the Red Sox recalled second baseman Nick Sogard from Triple-A Worcester with a plan to have him split time with Abraham Toro.

Sogard was in the starting lineup Saturday against Kansas City left-hander Cole Ragans. He went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored in Boston’s 10-1 win.

“I think it’s a short-term thing,” Boston manager Alex Cora said of Gonzalez before Saturday’s game. “He wasn’t bouncing back the way we expected early. So it makes sense just to take care of him and he’ll be alright.”

There was plenty of drama following Thursday’s win over the Texas Rangers, when designated hitter Rafael Devers said he wouldn’t play first base. That caused the Red Sox brass to travel to Kansas City for meetings with Devers. Cora was asked if this latest move might lead to Devers starting to take ground balls at first base.

“We’ll keep talking about stuff,” he said, deflecting the question. “We’ll keep looking for our alternatives. We’ll do what we need to do to keep getting better. We’ve got Romy, we’ve got Toro now, and we’ve got Sogi. That’s the route we’re going to have right now.”

Devers had a big night at the plate Saturday, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs.

Gonzalez was hitting .308 in 17 games after replacing Triston Casas, who is out for the year with a ruptured tendon in his left knee. He has an OPS of .785.

Sogard made his season debut Saturday, after hitting .188 in 28 games with Worcester. His OPS is .562. He hit .273 in 31 games with Boston in 2024.

“He’s a good defender,” Cora said. “He’s a good player. We’ll mix and match with him and Toro. Today (Kansas City has) a tough lefty on the mound, so I think it made sense for him to play. The two of them will be splitting first the next week or so.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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