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ELMONT, N.Y. — The New York Islanders were undisciplined in their crushing 5-2 Game 4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at home Sunday. But when they weren’t earning their trips to the penalty box, they felt the officials were finding reasons to send them there anyway.

The Islanders took four first-period penalties, while the Hurricanes had three. Coach Lane Lambert disputed two of them, both critical.

At 2:41 of the first period, forward Zach Parise was called for goalie interference after falling on Carolina’s Antti Raanta (27 saves). Replays showed Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield might have shoved Parise into Raanta.

“I thought he got pushed into the goaltender,” Lambert said. “Sometimes that happens.”

The penalty preceded a boarding call against defenseman Ryan Pulock. The Hurricanes scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal by Seth Jarvis for the 1-0 lead.

“I mean, you got an excited building, you try to feed off that energy, and all of a sudden you find yourself killing a 5-on-3 right away and they bury one,” said Parise, who said he felt he was pushed into Raanta. “It’s a little deflating. You’ve got to overcome different things, whether it’s calls you don’t like or bounces that don’t go your way.”

It appeared the Islanders might get a 5-on-3 of their own moments later. With Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the penalty box, defenseman Brent Burns cross-checked the Islanders’ Mathew Barzal against the boards. The on-ice officials whistled a penalty on Burns but added a minor penalty to Barzal for what they felt was a dive.

“He got embellishment and I don’t understand that,” Lambert said.

Those calls and others led to a disjointed first period that did the Islanders no favors.

“We created some good momentum, but tonight we were killing and killing,” New York captain Anders Lee said. “The penalties tonight just kind of killed our 5-on-5 flow. But there were some mistakes out there tonight that we made that we haven’t been making this series and it bit us.”

In the end, the Islanders said it was their own lack of discipline that cost them Game 4. That included a roughing penalty by Matt Martin at the end of the first period that led to a Martin Necas power-play goal 1:15 into the second period to make it 2-0.

“I thought we took a couple undisciplined penalties, no question,” said Lambert, who limited Martin to three shifts in the second period after the Necas goal. “It totally slowed our momentum. The power-play goal they scored, that second one, was a real stinger.”

Overall, the Islanders gave the Hurricanes five power plays in Game 4 and were 0-for-3 on their own power plays.

Jarvis said the Hurricanes were effective in not retaliating against the Islanders.

“You just want to stay out of it. You can’t retaliate because that’s what the refs are looking for — maybe not the first one, but the return punch,” he said. “So, you have to swallow your pride, eat it a little bit and just try to score on the power play.”

After managing only one goal in Game 3, the Hurricanes found their offense again and continued to fight through injuries to score. Already missing scorers Max Pacioretty, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen to injury, they lost forward Jack Drury to injury in the first period after just two shifts.

Game 5 is scheduled for Tuesday night in Raleigh, with the Islanders one loss away from elimination.

“We’ll regroup here, go do a job and do our best to make sure we have another game in this building,” Lee said.

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Twins call on RHP Matthews to keep streak going

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Twins call on RHP Matthews to keep streak going

The Minnesota Twins recalled right-hander Zebby Matthews from Triple-A St. Paul and inserted him into the rotation for their road game Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The 24-year-old Matthews closed out last season in the Twins’ rotation and fashioned a 1-4 record with a 6.69 ERA in nine starts. He has produced a 2-1 record with a 1.93 ERA in seven starts for St. Paul, which includes 38 strikeouts and nine walks over 32⅔ innings.

The Twins, who carry a 13-game winning streak into Sunday’s game, also selected the contract of outfielder Carson McCusker, a 26-year-old who has yet to make his big league debut. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound slugger is hitting .350 with 10 homers and 36 RBIs in 38 games this season for St. Paul.

The task ahead of Matthews is to try to continue a hot pitching streak that has seen the Twins record three straight shutouts, including in the first two games of the Brewers series. Minnesota enters Sunday with a collective 3.15 ERA that ranks No. 3 in the majors.

The active stretch of 33 straight shutout innings is the longest such streak in Twins history, which began in 1961. They had three longer shutout streaks when they were the Washington Senators, but the most recent of those took place in 1913.

To accommodate Matthews’ arrival, the Twins placed reliever Danny Coulombe (left forearm extensor strain) on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday. Coulombe has yet to allow a run this season in 16⅔ innings.

To make room for McCusker, the Twins shifted rookie Luke Keaschall to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Keaschall fractured his right forearm April 25 against the Los Angeles Angels.

The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.

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Cora to skip game to attend daughter’s graduation

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Cora to skip game to attend daughter's graduation

BOSTON — Red Sox manager Alex Cora will miss Monday’s series opener against the New York Mets at Fenway Park so he can attend his daughter’s college graduation.

Cora’s daughter, Camila, will be graduating from nearby Boston College.

“It’s going to be a very special day — one that I’m not going to miss,” Cora said before Sunday’s game vs. the Atlanta Braves. “I 100% will miss the game for that. I will do that any given day. It’s going to be a very special day for us.”

Cora reflected on how the time has seemed to go quickly and spoke about how fast his daughter seemed to grow up.

“It went fast, it went really fast,” Cora said of her time in college. “For a girl from divorced parents, her mom did an amazing job, staying the course while I was playing and coaching and doing my ESPN thing. … She’s actually a reflection of her. I appreciate everything she’s done for her and for us.”

Asked if he’ll be able to hold back his emotions at the ceremony, Cora smiled and said “We’ll see,” before bringing up memories of when his daughter was at the 2018 World Series victory celebration and a postseason series wrap-up win over Tampa Bay in ’21 at Fenway.

“It’s going to be an amazing day. It happened fast,” he said. “You put everything into perspective, you go back to the videos of ’18, she was a little girl.

“Then you go back to ’21 when she hopped onto the field when we beat Tampa, she was still a little girl. Now, she’s not a little girl,” he said. “She’s a woman. She had fun with it. She’s a great student and the future’s bright for her.”

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Brewers send struggling starter Myers to minors

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Brewers send struggling starter Myers to minors

MILWAUKEE — Brewers pitcher Tobias Myers is going back to the minors as he continues to struggle to match the success he enjoyed as a rookie last year.

The Brewers optioned Myers to Triple-A Nashville on Sunday while selecting right-handed pitcher Easton McGee from Triple-A and transferring left-handed pitcher Connor Thomas to the 60-day injured list.

Myers is 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA in six appearances, including five starts. He allowed four runs over 3 2/3 innings in a 7-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

The right-hander had gone 9-6 with a 3.00 ERA last season and was selected the Brewers’ most valuable pitcher by the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He closed that season by pitching five scoreless innings in the decisive Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the New York Mets, a game the Brewers lost 4-2 by allowing four runs in the ninth.

“I love the kid, man,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after Saturday’s game. “You saw it in Game 3, that’s in there. So we’ve got to get back to that.”

The Brewers had optioned Myers to Nashville a week ago, but he didn’t actually pitch there before rejoining the big-league club after left-hander José Quintana went on the injured list with a left shoulder issue. Now he’s heading back to Nashville.

Myers entered Saturday having walked 10 batters over 16 1/3 innings. He didn’t walk anyone Saturday, but gave up a career-high 11 hits.

“My goal was to fill the zone up and kind of get away from the walks I’ve been dealing with,” Myers said after the game. “I think I just filled it up a little too much.”

McGee went 1-0 with a 3.44 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 18 1/3 innings in 13 relief appearances with Nashville.

McGee appeared in one game for Tampa Bay in 2022 and one game for Seattle in 2023.In the only two games he has pitched in the big leagues, McGee has allowed just one unearned run over 9 2/3 innings while striking out three and allowing five hits and one walk.

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