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NEWARK, N.J. — Luke Hughes is 19 years old. His third game as a National Hockey League defenseman was Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoff series between the New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes, with his club attempting to climb out of a 2-0 hole.

Yet if there was pressure, he didn’t feel it. If there were worries, he didn’t have them.

“I don’t really get nervous playing. I got a lot more nervous watching from up top,” said Hughes, who had two assists in 12:55 of ice time, helping to energize the Devils in their 8-4 triumph at home Sunday.

“I thought the fans were great,” he said. “Loved the ‘Luuuuuu’ chants. But no nerves today.”

Hughes was drafted fourth overall in 2021 and signed with the Devils to join his brother Jack Hughes after his season with the University of Michigan ended. He had a goal and an assist in two regular-season games but hadn’t seen the ice in the playoffs. With defenseman Ryan Graves injured, and his team needing an offensive spark after generating two goals in two games in Raleigh, coach Lindy Ruff made Hughes one of the seven defensemen he dressed against the Hurricanes.

“I thought Luke had a great night,” Ruff said. “From the first shift to the end of the game, for the young man to step in the way he did and play the way he did … you expect maybe you get a good game. He gave us a great game.”

Defenseman Brendan Smith said Luke is a “magnificent” skater.

“He skates like his brother. It’s elite already,” Smith said. “Obviously the more he plays the better he’s going to be with decisions. But he can skate himself out of trouble and there only a few players that can do that in this league.”

Luke factored in on two Devils goals. His strong forechecking led to a chance that defenseman Damon Severson put behind Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov for a 5-1 lead. Later, he picked up a secondary assist on Ondrej Palat‘s game-clinching goal to make it 8-4, which was the Devils’ first power-play goal against the Hurricanes this season in 22 attempts.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Luke. He had a brutal turnover on a Devils’ power play, sending a pedestrian pass across the blue line that was intercepted by the Hurricanes who earned a penalty shot on the play. Jordan Martinook beat goalie Vitek Vanecek to make it 5-2 at the time.

“It wasn’t a great play by me. I just put that one in deep,” he said. “But mistakes happen and you learn from it. And it’s kind of next-play-up mentality so happen.”

Smith said that he occasionally offered advice to Luke during the game.

“When I was a young guy, I was lucky to have great mentors,” said Smith, a former Detroit Red Wings defenseman. “I can share some of things I was taught from guys like Niklas Kronwall and Nicklas Lidstrom, I’m going to tell him how I see the game and hopefully I can help his game.”

While Luke was energizing the Devils with his skating and puck movement, his brother Jack was electrifying the crowd in other ways.

“I mean, he got into a fight today. That was new,” Luke said. Jack then shook his head. “That’s not a fight,” he replied.

In the second period, Jack absorbed repeated cross-checks in the back from Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho. Eventually Jack grabbed him and wrestled the Carolina star to the ice as the crowd cheered.

“Listen, he’s a really good player,” Jack said. “I think both our teams would like us to be on the ice and helping us out there, but that was just him kind of cross-checking me and giving it to me and I had enough of that. So, it’s the playoffs, it’s competitive, it’s intense. I don’t know if you can expect that again, but that’s just hockey right there.”

His teammates appreciated the effort.

“You can kiss the Lady Byng [Trophy] away,” joked Smith, in reference to the NHL award for “gentlemanly play” for which Jack is a finalist. “Aho is a tough customer, and he kind of pile-drived him. He stood up for himself.”

Jack and Aho were given minor penalties for roughing, while Aho got an extra penalty for cross-checking.

When he wasn’t engaging in an on-ice wrestling match, Jack had two goals and two assists, becoming the 12th player in Devils franchise history to have four points in a playoff game.

One of those assists was an incredible between-the-legs pass from behind the net to set up winger Timo Meier for the Devils’ first goal just 5:58 into Game 3. Meier whacked the puck through Hurricanes goalie Freddie Andersen, who was pulled after the Devils made it 4-0 in the second period, for his first point of the playoffs.

It was Meier’s first shot and shot attempt of the game. Coming into Game 3, Meier had 61 shot attempts and 32 shots on goal in eight games. His averages per 60 minutes in both categories ranked third among all players with at last 100 minutes played.

Meier admitted that the goal lifted a bit of weight off his mind.

“A little bit, but if you’re scoring or not, you just try to make a difference every shift,” he said. “It’s playoff time. Every play matters, and sometimes if you don’t score goals you’ve got to do other things, and those things will lead the goals.”

As the score would indicate, Game 3 was a wild ride. Meier’s first point. The Devils’ power play finally scoring. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, became the first team in 35 postseasons to score three shorthanded goals in a game: Martinook’s penalty shot, plus shorthanded goals by Jordan Staal and Seth Jarvis to cut the advantage to 7-4 in the third period. Since the NHL started tracking power play and penalty kill opportunities in 1933-34, this was only the fourth time a team had scored three times shorthanded in a game.

But that achievement was little solace to coach Rod Brind’Amour after the loss.

“We were horrible,” he said. “That’s probably putting it mild. Because of what they were doing. They were the better team, no doubt.”

The Devils are trying to rally from a 0-2 series deficit for the second straight round, having won Games 3 and 4 against the New York Rangers before winning in seven games. Jack said that experience helps the Devils, but only so much.

“Completely different teams, different styles,” he said. “You guys throw around ‘inexperience.’ We’ve been in this situation before where we’ve been down 2-0. You don’t want to say you’re comfortable there. You know it’s still a long series to go. But we’re back in this thing now.”

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Ohtani allows 1 run, 2 hits in 28-pitch inning

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Ohtani allows 1 run, 2 hits in 28-pitch inning

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani jogged off the pitcher’s mound and leaned against the dugout railing while strapping on his elbow guard and batting gloves. He was thrown a towel to wipe the sweat off his face, then walked to the batter’s box to face San Diego Padres ace Dylan Cease without taking any practice swings.

With that, Ohtani began his quest to once again do what many in the sport consider impossible.

Ohtani made his pitching debut from Dodger Stadium on Monday, giving up a run in his lone inning of work, then struck out in his first plate appearance as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter, marking the first time he has pitched and hit in a game since Aug. 23, 2023. He would eventually finish 2-4 with two RBIs in his club’s 6-3 victory.

Ohtani is close to 21 months removed from a second repair of his right ulnar collateral ligament but faced hitters only three times before essentially rejoining the Dodgers’ rotation, his last session, from Petco Park in San Diego last Tuesday, spanning three simulated innings and 44 pitches.

Ohtani communicated to the Dodgers that facing hitters hours before games, then cooling off and having to ramp back up to DH later that night, was more taxing on his body than doing both simultaneously, prompting him to return to pitching sooner than expected. These initial starts will basically function as the continuation of Ohtani’s pitching rehab. On Monday, he was basically utilized as an opener.

Ohtani reached 99.9 mph and 100.2 mph with his fastball but also uncorked a wild pitch while utilizing 28 pitches to record the first three outs. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a bloop single and Luis Arraez followed with a line-drive single. Ohtani should have recorded a strikeout of Manny Machado, who went around on a two-strike swing. But first-base umpire Ryan Blakney ruled otherwise, bringing the count to 2-2 and later prompting a sacrifice fly to score the game’s first run.

Ohtani followed by inducing groundouts to Gavin Sheets and Xander Bogaerts, and with that, his pitching debut was over.

The Dodgers hope it’s the first of many starts.

Ohtani, 30, functioned as a transformative two-way player from 2021 to 2023, winning two unanimous MVPs and also finishing as the runner-up to Aaron Judge. On offense, Ohtani slashed .277/.379/.585 with 124 home runs and 57 stolen bases. On the mound, he posted a 2.84 ERA with 542 strikeouts and 143 walks in 428⅓ innings.

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Red Sox execs defend Devers deal, cite ‘alignment’

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Red Sox execs defend Devers deal, cite 'alignment'

Top Boston Red Sox officials said the team traded Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday because they could not find “alignment” with their star slugger, whose relationship with the organization degraded after he declined a request by the team to switch positions for the second time this season.

In a 40-minute media availability Monday night, Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow defended the decision to trade the 28-year-old Devers, a three-time All-Star in the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract. The deal, which came after a sweep of the rival New York Yankees extended Boston’s winning streak to five games, roiled Red Sox fans still embittered by Boston trading future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.

Though Kennedy and Breslow acknowledged the disappointment in the trade that netted Boston left-handed starter Kyle Harrison, outfield prospect James Tibbs III, right-handed reliever Jordan Hicks and right-hander Jose Bello, they noted the financial flexibility the deal gives the organization, with San Francisco taking on the remaining $254 million of Devers’ contract.

Pointing to the ability to add talent as the July 31 trade deadline approaches, Breslow said: “This is in no way signifying a waving of the white flag on 2025. We are as committed as we were six months ago to putting a winning team on the field, to competing for the division and making a deep postseason run.”

He also added, “I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would’ve.”

At 38-36 following a win Monday night against Seattle, the Red Sox are in fourth place in the AL East but hold the final AL wild-card playoff spot. Their new-look lineup featured first baseman Abraham Toro hitting in Devers’ typical No. 2 spot and rookie outfielder Roman Anthony, who hit his first big league home run Monday, batting third.

Devers, who had been with the Red Sox organization since signing out of the Dominican Republic at 16, went from a fundamental part of Boston’s future to the latest ex-Red Sox player in a matter of months. The organization had spent the winter ensuring Devers would remain at third base, the position he had played his whole career. When Boston signed third baseman Alex Bregman on the eve of spring training, Devers was asked to move to designated hitter. He refused before eventually relenting.

A season-ending injury to first baseman Triston Casas in early May compelled Breslow to inquire about Devers’ willingness to move to first. He spurned the idea and criticized the organization, prompting owner John Henry, Kennedy and Breslow to fly to Kansas City, where the Red Sox were playing, and talk through their issues.

Despite the strong play of Toro and Romy Gonzalez at first, the issues persisted. Though neither Kennedy nor Breslow would expound specifically on where there was misalignment between the parties, Devers rejecting a second position switch soured an organization that gave him the largest deal in franchise history.

“We had certain expectations that went with that contract,” Kennedy said. “And when we came to the conclusion that we did not have a full alignment, we moved on.”

Breslow said the Red Sox talked about Devers with multiple teams — and two rival general managers told ESPN on Monday that Devers’ name came up in conversation about potential deals. Ultimately, Boston pulled off the polarizing trade with San Francisco, which agreed to inherit the entirety of Devers’ contract and in exchange sent back a package of talent that paled in production compared to Devers.

Over nine seasons with the Red Sox, Devers hit .279/.349/.510 with 215 home runs and 696 RBIs in 1,053 games. He represented the last player from Boston’s most recent World Series-winning team in 2018 — a group to which Kennedy and Breslow alluded when emphasizing the organization’s goals in moving a player who was hitting .272/.401/.504 this season.

“I do think that there is a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would’ve.”

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow

“As we think about the identity and the culture and the environment that is created by great teams,” Breslow said, “there was something amiss here, and it was something that we needed to act decisively to course correct.”

Said Kennedy: “We did what we felt was in the best interest of the Red Sox on and off the field to win championships and to continue to ferociously and relentlessly pursue a culture that we want everyone in that clubhouse to embody and doing everything in their power night in and night out to help the team.”

The two continued returning to the word “alignment” — Kennedy used it nine times, Breslow five — to rationalize the deal. They pointed to allowing the team’s young core — which includes Anthony and infielders Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, all of whom were among the top 15 prospects in MLB entering the season — to receive regular playing time as a benefit, with more at-bats available in the DH slot.

“I understand why the initial reaction would be that it’d be tough to sit here and say when you move a player of Raffy’s caliber, when you take that bat out of the lineup, how could I sit here and say that we’re a better team?” Breslow said. “And I acknowledge on paper we’re not going to have the same lineup that we did, but this isn’t about the game that is played on paper. This is about the game that’s played on the field and ultimately about winning the most games that we can. And in order to do that, we’re trying to put together the most functional and complete team that we can.”

The Red Sox have squandered the benefit of the doubt with a fan base that saw the team win four championships from 2004 to 2018. Dealing Betts for a paltry return remains a sticking point with a wide swath of fans, and one of Breslow’s first deals after taking over following the firing of his predecessor, Chaim Bloom, was trading left-hander Chris Sale to Atlanta, where he won the National League Cy Young Award last year.

“I’ll put our record up against anybody else’s in Major League Baseball over the last 24 years,” Kennedy said. “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built here. We’ve got more trophies and banners to show for it than any other organization in Major League Baseball.”

Saying that Devers “means so much to that group, means so much to the organization, to the city of Boston,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora nevertheless stood behind the deal, saying he believes Harrison (who was optioned to Triple-A) and Hicks (on the injured list) will help the team this season.

“We’ve got to keep going. That’s the bottom line,” Cora said. “We put ourselves in a good spot. We have played good baseball for an extended period of time. Now we have to do it without Raffy, but at the same time, we added some pieces that we do believe are going to help us.”

Breslow and Kennedy each expressed disappointment over the handling of the Devers situation, with Breslow saying, “I need to own things I could have done better,” particularly in communicating. They agreed, though, that the decisiveness with which they agreed to deal Devers — regardless of the public outcry — was done in service of something larger.

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Yankees’ Stanton makes debut: ‘Great to be back’

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Yankees' Stanton makes debut: 'Great to be back'

NEW YORK — Hours before making his season debut, Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton was in the batter’s box inside an empty Yankee Stadium on Monday afternoon hitting off a high-speed pitching machine. Atop his list of preparation priorities was being ready to handle elite velocity. That, he believes, will best determine whether he will succeed in his return from tendon injuries in both elbows.

Stanton’s first test, though it came in a loss, was a success: The slugger went 2-for-4 with three hard-hit balls and a double in an 11-inning, 1-0 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels.

“With not as many at-bats under my belt, that’s going to be the most important,” Stanton said of hitting velocity. “Just make sure I’m ready. See the ball early. Normal things you would say midseason, but just emphasize it a little more now.”

Stanton was sidelined through Sunday, missing the Yankees’ first 70 games. He played through a “high level” of joint pain in both elbows in 2024, including during the postseason when he smashed seven home runs in 14 games and was named American League Championship Series MVP, but he was shut down from swinging a bat in January until late March, delaying his readiness for the season.

Batting fifth Monday in his first major league action since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, Stanton received a standing ovation from the home crowd when he was introduced for his first plate appearance. He then hacked away.

He swung at the first pitch he saw — a 96-mph sinker from Angels right-hander Jose Soriano — and cracked a 101.5 mph groundout to the third baseman.

He roped a 111.1 mph line drive single to left field in his second at-bat for his first hit of 2025 and struck out swinging in his third at-bat before clobbering a 102.9 mph leadoff double down the left-field line in the ninth inning.

Stanton’s night ended there when Jasson Dominguez replaced him at second base as a pinch-runner. The Yankees wound up spoiling the scoring opportunity. They have gone 20 innings without scoring a run, a skid that goes back to the ninth inning of a loss to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

“It’s great to be back,” Stanton said. “Obviously, want to win, but it’s good to be back out there. I saw the ball pretty well besides one at-bat. So we’re just working on that, making sure my timing’s geared up and get rolling.”

Stanton, 35, was eligible for reinstatement from the 60-day injured list in late May, but the Yankees, not desperate for offense and with multiple choices for DH, did not rush him back.

He began a rehab assignment last week, appearing in three games over consecutive days for Double-A Somerset after an extended period taking swings off machines and in live batting practice. He went 3-for-11 with a double, four RBIs, a walk and three strikeouts for Somerset.

The Yankees have 16 games over the next 16 days, but manager Aaron Boone does not expect Stanton, whose 429 career home runs lead all active players, to play every day. Stanton’s availability will partly depend on his next-day recovery after a game.

“I would think that things might come up from time to time and that could play into different things on a given day if you feel like it’s best to give him a day,” Boone said. “But I think he’s built some good momentum here over the last couple of months with it. The strength in his hands and things like that has returned in a good way so certainly something we’ll pay attention to but feel like we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Boone has the luxury to play it on the safer side with an offense that thrived without Stanton, the 2017 National League MVP. The Yankees entered Monday ranked second in the majors with a 123 weighted runs created plus and .794 OPS with Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and Dominguez primarily cycling through the DH spot.

That’s where things become complicated for New York. Stanton’s return will, as it stands, present a daily lineup puzzle for Boone to solve — not only in the DH slot, but in the outfield where he has Judge plus three players (Dominguez, Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham) for two spots (center field and left field). Decisions will mostly come down to workload and matchups.

Paul Goldschmidt, another former MVP, and Domínguez, one of baseball’s top prospects entering the season, were the odd players out Monday, though both entered the game late.

“I’ve talked to them, and we know what the goal is,” Boone said. “And right now it’s to get to the playoffs and try and win a division and then obviously from there, trying to get to and win a World Series. So, making sure we have everyone on the same page and the buy-in. And there’s going to be days when maybe a guy deserves to be in there, isn’t. Everyone’s not going to be happy about it all the time and that’s OK.”

Said Stanton: “Whatever is best for us to win, that’s important. And the guys that are going to be starting are going to come in huge pinch-hit spots. So, in that opportunity, it’s usually a chance to win a game anyway so, yeah, we’ll work with it.”

Stanton’s return perhaps most impacts Rice, who has started 43 of the Yankees’ 71 games as their DH. The second-year player, who started at first base Monday, is batting .229 with 12 home runs and a .769 OPS this season.

Boone on Monday repeated that he plans to occasionally have Rice start at catcher to alleviate the logjam and get his bat in the lineup more often.

Rice, 26, was drafted as a catcher and spent most of his minor league career behind the plate, but he has yet to start at the position for the Yankees since making his major league debut last season. Rice has tallied just 6⅔ innings behind the plate in the majors.

Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra have split time at catcher this season, with Wells starting 52 of the team’s 70 games behind the dish.

“I see him playing quite a bit,” Boone said of Rice. “Again, just kind of the matchups. As far as the catching component, I do plan on getting him back there at some point. I don’t know how frequent it would be. Because, again, I really value what J.C.’s done back there. As you’ve seen lately, I do value getting Austin his days so there’ll be a day I get him back there and that can factor into things a little bit.”

The Yankees designated utility man Pablo Reyes for assignment to make room on the active roster for Stanton.

Also Monday, Boone said right-hander Jake Cousins is scheduled to undergo Tommy John surgery Wednesday.

Cousins spent the first three years of his big league career with the Milwaukee Brewers before joining New York last season. Cousins became a significant part of New York’s bullpen, posting a 2.37 ERA across 37 games during the regular season before allowing five runs in six postseason appearances.

The Yankees expected Cousins to return before the All-Star break when he was placed on the injured list with a forearm strain to begin the season. But his recovery was stalled by a pectoral injury and he was pulled off a recent rehab assignment with elbow trouble. He is now expected to miss a significant portion of the 2026 season.

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