Now that the Western Conference finals between the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights has finally arrived (Game 1, 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+), there is a strong chance you’re going to hear a few familiar names.
But what about those under-the-radar players who could serve in key roles in which the winner gets a trip to the Stanley Cup Final and the loser starts summer vacation? Here’s a look at the players for the Golden Knights and the Stars who may not be among the first names mentioned, but their contributions could prove crucial to their respective teams’ success.
Going into the trade deadline, a little more than 66% of the Stars’ goals came from six players. That’s what led to them trading for Domi and Dadonov. The fact Domi scored 18 goals and had 49 points in 60 games with the Chicago Blackhawks made him the focal points when compared to Dadonov, who arrived with four goals and 18 points in 50 games with the Montreal Canadiens. Dadonov had three goals and 12 assists after coming to Dallas, giving him 15 points in 23 games. In the postseason, his four goals and nine points in 13 games has given the Stars the depth they were seeking. Five of those points came in the second round, including the assist he had on Johnston’s game-winning goal in Game 7.
Then there’s the fact that Dadonov along with Benn and Johnston have logged the most 5-on-5 ice time of any Stars’ line combination in the postseason, according to Natural Stat Trick. They’ve played nearly 132 minutes together, which is 45 minutes more than the Hintz-Seguin-Robertson line has seen in 5-on-5 play. A pending unrestricted free agent, Dadonov is making a strong case for the Stars to re-sign him or why another team could seek his services. Especially if he can parlay his success into the conference final against one of his former employers.
Drafting and developing homegrown talent is at the heart of the Stars’ success, and it’s another reason Harley’s performances are important. Just look at what he did in the second-round series victory against the Seattle Kraken. Harley went from scoring zero points in the first round against the Minnesota Wild to seven points in as many games versus the Kraken. His strongest performance came in Game 4 when he finished with a goal and an assist in the Stars’ 6-3 win to tie the series before going back to Dallas.
His seven points are the second-most of any Stars’ defenseman and just two behind Heiskanen. All of his points have come in 5-on-5 play with Harley serving as a third-pairing option. His production gives the Stars another layer and shows why they were not willing to part with him or any of their prospects ahead of the trade deadline. The internal belief within the Stars front office is they knew Harley could help them at some point in the playoffs. And so far? He’s doing just that.
A Finnish player having success with the Stars? Who knew? Lindell might only have two points, but he’s averaging more than 21 minutes per game which ranks third among Stars defensemen this postseason. He’s operating in a second-pairing role alongside fellow Finn Jani Hakanpää, who could also make a case for being one of those under-the-radar players who could have an impact in the conference finals.
Several factors have led to the Stars being four wins away from the Stanley Cup Final. Their penalty kill is one of those reasons. It’s the No. 3 short-handed unit in the postseason with an 83.3 success rate. Lindell leads them in short-handed ice time, with Hakanpää 20 seconds behind, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Everyone else gets a separate mention, so, why not Hague and Whitecloud? Simple. Because they’ve done nearly everything else together this postseason in a manner that most might have overlooked. The big one? Guess what defensive pairing has logged the most 5-on-5 ice time for the Golden Knights this postseason? Yeah, it’s them. In fact, Natural Stat Trick has them 10th among all defensive pairings in 5-on-5 ice time. Pietrangelo’s suspension played a part in why he and Alec Martinez don’t lead the team. Although, there is another statistic that reinforces the value of their partnership. Opponents have only scored three times in 5-on-5 play when Hague and Whitecloud have played together. That’s tied with Carolina Hurricanes duo Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin for the fewest goals allowed this postseason among pairings with at least 150 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. It’s another reason Hague leads them in 5-on-5 ice time while Whitecloud is third.
Stephenson has emerged as one of the NHL’s premier No. 2 centers while Stone, when healthy, is a two-way winger who creates problems. Together, they have created one of the more versatile combinations in the league. Howden is the third member of that group, and has used these playoffs to justify his role as a top-nine winger. They played more than 67 minutes together in 5-on-5 ice time, according to Natural Stat Trick. But that also comes with the caveat Stone was limited to 43 games after having a second back surgery in less than a year. In the playoffs? Cassidy has used the Howden-Stephenson-Stone line more than any other combination, with the trio playing nearly 95 minutes together in 5-on-5 situations.
Howden has five points in 11 games, a strong return for a player who had 13 total points in 54 regular-season games. Howden was also part of the Golden Knights’ penalty kill, a role he has retained with the sixth-most short-handed minutes among Golden Knights forwards this postseason.
Coaches are always making adjustments in an attempt to find an edge. Cassidy is no different and it’s why of the top eight combinations he’s used in the playoffs, Roy has been a part of three of them. Roy, who largely played in a bottom-six role this year, was part of the 12 players who finished with more than 10 regular-season goals.
A bottom-six forward with consecutive seasons of more than 14 goals shows why the Golden Knights are among the NHL’s deepest teams. When they use Roy at center, he gives them a spine down the middle that starts with Eichel, Stephenson and Karlsson before it ends with him. When they push him to the wing, he provides them with a third-line combination that also features Karlsson and Smith. Together, the three of them present the Golden Knights with a two-way line that can forecheck, force turnovers and create scoring chances in the other direction. Possessing that sort of versatility is also how Roy has worked his way into receiving minutes on the penalty kill and power play.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani took a 100 mph fastball to his right shoulder blade in the bottom half of Thursday night’s ninth inning, marking the eighth time a batter had been hit in another tension-filled series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
Anger filled Dodger Stadium, by which point a sold-out crowd had mostly filed out. Players were ready to spill out of the dugout once more. But Ohtani raised his left hand and vigorously waved off teammates as he made his walk toward first base, clamoring for peace.
The fireworks had already taken place.
A half-inning earlier, Fernando Tatis Jr. took a 93 mph fastball to the right hand by Dodgers rookie right-hander Jack Little. It marked the second time in a span of three days that Tatis and Ohtani had been hit by pitches almost immediately after one another. More notably for the Padres, it marked the fifth time the Dodgers had hit Tatis since the start of the 2024 season, including three times over the past nine days.
Padres manager Mike Shildt walked toward Tatis and yelled in the direction of the opposing dugout. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ran onto the field and shoved Shildt before being separated. Both bullpens and dugouts emptied, though order was restored before punches were thrown.
By the end of the night, two managers, one bench coach (Brian Esposito) and one pitcher (Robert Suarez, whose pitch hit Ohtani) had been ejected. The Padres held on for a 5-3 victory, and afterward, Padres star third baseman Manny Machado, a central character in this rivalry, said the Dodgers had better “pray” Tatis is not seriously injured.
“They need to set a little candle up for Tati tomorrow,” Machado said. “Hopefully [the scans] comes back negative. That’s not a good spot to get hit. I don’t care who it is, I don’t care who’s on the mound.”
Tatis wore a bandage on his right hand after the game and sounded dejected when asked how he was feeling.
“Not good,” he said.
Initial X-rays were inconclusive, Tatis added. A CT scan will determine the extent of his injury on Friday.
The Dodgers have hit Tatis a total of six times in his career. The 28 other teams have combined to hit him four times, according to ESPN Research.
“Just clean it up,” he said. “I’m here to play baseball.”
The Padres and Dodgers played five tight National League Division Series contests last fall — the Dodgers won the final two games while facing elimination, shutting the Padres out for 24 consecutive innings — but did not meet this season until June. Thursday’s contest marked the seventh time they had played one another in a span of 11 days. The Dodgers took two of three from San Diego last week, then three of four at Dodger Stadium this week — and every game seemed to bring with it some animus.
On Monday night, Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was plunked in the left elbow guard, screamed in the direction of Dylan Cease, then later said he felt he was hit intentionally, perhaps because the Padres thought he was relaying signs from second base the prior inning. The following night, Tatis was hit by a Lou Trivino sinker to the upper back in the top of the third, and Ohtani got hit in the right leg by a Randy Vasquez fastball in the bottom half, triggering Roberts’ first ejection of the season. Later, Machado took issue with umpires not ejecting Dodgers reliever Matt Sauer when he hit Jose Iglesias in the left wrist after warnings had been issued.
Thursday took the emotions of this series to another level.
Trivino, who also hit Tatis when he led off the game from Petco Park on June 10, struck Bryce Johnson in the knee in the seventh inning. Two batters later, Tatis was brushed back by another Trivino fastball, prompting Shildt to scream in his direction. Tatis getting plunked again two innings later, after Roberts had begun to empty his bench while trailing 5-0, set everything off.
Shildt said he wasn’t sure if it was intentional. By now, he said, that’s beside the point.
“We got a guy who’s getting X-rays right now, is one of the best players in the game, fortunately on our team, and this guy has taken shots, OK?” Shildt said. “And before this series, and I can back this up with complete evidence, the track records speak for themselves — teams that I manage don’t get into altercations like this because teams that I manage don’t throw at people. But also, teams I manage don’t take anything.
“And after a while, I’m not going to take it. And I’m not going to take it on behalf of Tati, I’m not going to take it on behalf of the team, intentional or unintentional. It’s really that simple. That’s how this game is played. And if you want to call that old-school, then yeah, we’ll play old-school baseball.”
Roberts noted that Little, who sparked the benches-clearing incident when his pitch hit Tatis, was making his major league debut.
“Obviously,” Roberts said, “I think anyone knows there was no intent.”
“And so as [Shildt] comes out, and he’s yelling at me and staring me down, that bothers me,” Roberts added. “Because, to be quite frank, that’s the last thing I wanted. I’m taking starters out of the game, trying to get this game over with and get this kid a couple innings. I took that personal. Because I understand the game, and I understand that it doesn’t feel good to get hit.”
Roberts said he believes the Padres intentionally hit Ohtani with a pitch Thursday night, echoing the same sentiments from Tuesday.
“This is a right-handed pitcher going crosscourt to hit Shohei up and in,” Roberts said of the pitch, which came on a 3-0 count. “That’s a hard throw. And I don’t know how many left-handed hitters Suarez has hit with the fastball, but clearly there was intent behind it.”
With the series over, the Dodgers hold a 3½-game lead in the NL West over the second-place San Francisco Giants, fresh off acquiring Rafael Devers. The Padres trailed by five games.
They won’t see the Dodgers again until August.
“We’re going to get after it for the next two months,” Shildt said, “and they’ll be on the schedule two months from now, and we’ll be ready.”
DETROIT — Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Dennis Santana was involved in an altercation with a fan he said “crossed the line” during the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers, and at one point, he was seen leaping and swiping at the person.
“You guys know me — I’m a calm demeanor type of person,” Santana said after the game through an interpreter. “I’ve never had any issues for any of the teams I’ve played for. This guy crossed the line a few times.”
Santana declined to disclose what the fan said.
“He crossed the line, and I’d like to leave it at that. I’ve never had anything like this happen in my eight years in baseball,” he said.
In videos posted to social media, Santana can be seen pointing out the fan to a police officer before jumping and swinging at the person, who is in the front row above the Pittsburgh bullpen at Comerica Park.
Santana did not complain about how security officers handled the situation.
“My job is as a pitcher, not as security, so I can’t discuss their job,” he said. “I respect them and what they do.”
The fan appeared to be wearing a Tigers hat and a shirt honoring Pirates Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.
After jumping at the fan, Santana was escorted away by Pirates bullpen personnel and held back by a teammate.
Santana entered the game in the ninth inning, pitching to one batter before the game was delayed by rain. The Pirates won 8-4.
Santana said he discussed the incident with Pirates manager Don Kelly.
“He knows I regret what I did,” Santana said. “You know I’m a professional.”
TAMPA, Fla. — Rays pitcher Hunter Bigge was carted off the field in a frightening scene and taken to a hospital after getting struck in the side of his face by a foul ball lined into the Tampa Bay dugout Thursday night.
Bigge was placed on a backboard and gave a thumb-up before being driven by ambulance to a nearby hospital for tests. He never lost consciousness and was able to converse with first responders, Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
In the top of the seventh inning, Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman sharply pulled a pitch into the Tampa Bay dugout on the first-base side, and the ball hit Bigge, a 27-year-old right-hander currently on the 15-day injured list with a lat strain.
Emergency medical personnel quickly arrived to attend to Bigge. After several quiet minutes, as visibly concerned Rays players knelt in the field, Bigge was loaded onto a stretcher and carted off. He received a standing ovation from the Steinbrenner Field crowd.
The ball left Rutschman’s bat at 105 mph, according to Statcast.
The game resumed after an eight-minute delay, and Baltimore held on for a 4-1 victory.
Bigge was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 12th round of the 2019 amateur draft from Harvard and made his major league debut for them on July 9 last year. He was traded 19 days later to Tampa Bay along with Christopher Morel and minor leaguer Ty Johnson for All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes.
In 32 career appearances, including one start, Bigge has a 2.51 ERA and one save. This season, he has a 2.40 ERA in 13 relief outings covering 15 innings.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.