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EDMONTON, Alberta — Warren Foegele had two goals, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and three assists and the Edmonton Oilers rallied to beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Thursday night to extend their winning streak to a franchise-record 12 games.

Zach Hyman also scored for Edmonton, and Stuart Skinner stopped 25 shots. The Oilers have gone 20-3-0 in their last 23 games to improve to 25-15-1. They tied the record for the longest winning streak by a Canadian team set by the 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens.

“I am happy we got the win. This group just keeps battling back and we were super calm. Hopefully we can continue this,” Foegele said. “Stu played a huge game again and that is what you need from your goaltender.”

The Oilers have come from behind eight times during the 12-game streak.

“It’s been a theme of this winning streak. We stay composed,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “I feel like it hasn’t really mattered if it’s going into the third, going into the second, going to the last five minutes of the game. … We find a way right now to stay in it and end up on the right side of things.”

Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann scored to give Seattle a 2-0 lead. The Kraken lost their third in a row during the tail end of a six-game trip after a nine-game winning streak.

“Our first 20 was good and, obviously, the first 10 minutes of the second period was what cost us,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be and obviously gave up too much in that time span. We did push back after that, but we weren’t able to capitalize on what was a good start.”

Seattle started the scoring midway through the opening period when Oliver Bjorkstrand sprang Tolvanen with a long breakaway pass. The Finnish forward beat Stuart Skinner high to the glove side for his 12th of the season.

The Kraken went up 2-0 a few minutes later when McCann picked the top corner for his 18th after a giveaway by Evander Kane.

Edmonton scored 37 seconds into the second. A big rebound on Draisaitl’s shot fell to Foegele and he scored his eighth before goalie Joey Daccord could get across.

The Oilers drew even on the power play 4:38 into the second when Draisaitl banked in his 22nd of the season off Daccord. Draisaitl has 10 goal in his last 13 games.

Edmonton added a third goal in a seven-minute span when a backhand pass from Draisaitl sent Foegele in all alone.

The Oilers put the game away with 2:38 remaining while Yanni Gourde served a five-minute major for charging. Connor McDavid sent a pretty backhand across the crease to give Hyman an easy power play tap-in for his 27th of the season. The assist extended McDavid’s points streak to 12 games.

Edmonton tied its franchise record with 10 consecutive games allowing two or fewer goals.

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Panthers-Hurricanes Game 5 preview: Can Carolina force another game?

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Panthers-Hurricanes Game 5 preview: Can Carolina force another game?

All signs pointed to the Florida Panthers finishing off the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4, but the Canes kept the series rolling with a 3-0 win on Monday.

Will the Panthers finish the story in Game 5? Or will the Hurricanes send the festivities back to South Florida again?

Here are matchup notes heading into Wednesday’s Game 5 from ESPN Research, as well as betting intel from ESPN BET:

More on Game 4: Recap | Grades

Matchup notes

Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 5 | 8 p.m. ET | TNT

The Panthers’ odds to win the series are now -1600, adjusted from -5000 heading into Game 4. The Hurricanes’ odds have shifted to +750 (adjusted from +1500) after their win. The Panthers’ odds to win the Cup are now +105 (previously -110), while the Canes’ are now +1800. Sergei Bobrovsky is the leading Conn Smythe candidate in this series at +200, followed by Aleksander Barkov (+800).

Game 4 was the Canes’ first win in the round since Game 7 of the 2006 Eastern Conference finals against the Buffalo Sabres, snapping a 15-game conference finals losing streak. It was the longest losing streak in NHL playoff history for a team in the round preceding the Stanley Cup Final. The Hurricanes are now 4-4 all-time in Game 4s when trailing 3-0 in a best-of-seven series.

Frederik Andersen made 20 saves for his fifth career playoff shutout, his second with the Hurricanes. He joins Cam Ward (four), Kevin Weekes (two) and Petr Mrazek (two) as goaltenders with multiple playoff shutouts in Whalers/Hurricanes Stanley Cup playoffs history.

Carolina’s Logan Stankoven scored playoff goal No. 5 in the second period. He joins Erik Cole (six in 2002) and Warren Foegele (five in 2019) as the only rookies in Whalers/Hurricanes history to score at least five goals in a single Stanley Cup playoffs year.

Sebastian Aho scored an empty-net goal in the third period, his 32nd career playoff tally. That extends his own franchise record for career goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Panthers were shut out for the second time this postseason; both games were at home — the other instance was Game 6 of the second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Florida went 0-4 on the power play in Game 4, and the team is now 0-8 with the man advantage in the last two games of this series after going 4-for-5 in Games 1 and 2.

Though he hasn’t scored a goal in the past two games, Sam Bennett has a team-leading nine this postseason. That is two shy of the franchise record in a single playoff year, currently held by Matthew Tkachuk (2023) and Carter Verhaeghe (2024).


Scoring leaders

GP: 16 | G: 6 | A: 9

GP: 14 | G: 5 | A: 9

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Astros’ Blanco having elbow surgery, done for ’25

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Astros' Blanco having elbow surgery, done for '25

Houston Astros right-hander Ronel Blanco will have surgery on his right elbow and will miss the remainder of the 2025 season, the team announced Wednesday.

The starter had sought a second opinion after being placed on the injured list last week with inflammation in the elbow.

The Astros said Blanco — who is 3-4 with a 4.10 ERA, 48 strikeouts and 20 walks in nine starts this season — is anticipated to return at some point during the 2026 season.

Blanco, 31, is among a long list of starting pitchers on the injured list for the Astros. Right-hander Hayden Wesneski underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery last week, while right-hander Spencer Arrighetti has been out since April after breaking his right thumb in a batting practice mishap.

Houston is also without right-handers Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier, who are both still recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Blanco is in his fourth major league season, all with the Astros. In 2024, he finished 13-6 with a 2.80 ERA in 30 games (29 starts). He threw his only career complete game in his season debut on April 1, no-hitting the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-0 win.

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

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Renovated Belmont to host Breeders’ Cup in ’27

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Renovated Belmont to host Breeders' Cup in '27

The Breeders’ Cup world championships are returning to New York in 2027 at the rebuilt Belmont Park, following a massive renovation project to revitalize one of the most important horse racing tracks in the country.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, along with officials from the Breeders’ Cup and the New York Racing Association, announced Wednesday that the track on the edge of Queens and Nassau County on Long Island will stage the event in the fall two years from now.

“We wrote the governor of New York a letter in 2023 that simply said, ‘If you build it, we will come,'” Breeders’ Cup Limited president and CEO Drew Fleming said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “And so we’re very honored to keep our word and have a wonderful Breeders’ Cup world championship here in 2027 to showcase the new development and investment in Belmont Park to our fans from across the globe.”

Keeneland in Lexington was revealed as the 2026 host.

Belmont Park was last home to the Breeders’ Cup in 2005, the fourth time in two decades after also being there in 1990, 1995 and 2001. A goal of the $455 million teardown and reconstruction was to attract the major event.

“It was always part of the plan: We weren’t going to redevelop Belmont Park without Breeders’ Cup in mind, so it was always part of the initial goals,” NYRA president and CEO David O’Rourke told the AP by phone. “Getting the championships back to New York is big from an economic point of view and probably one of the most important [things], if not the most important. It gives our trainers and horsemen a chance to compete on their home tracks. I think it’s great. It’s been over 20 years.”

Hochul said in a statement that the redevelopment is bringing thousands of jobs and $1 billion in long-term economic activity to Long Island.

“Thanks to the investments we are making at Belmont Park, the long held dream of bringing the prestigious Breeders’ Cup back to New York will soon be a reality,” Hochul said.

The Breeders’ Cup has been at a Kentucky or California track every year since 2008. Del Mar outside San Diego has it this year as a back-to-back host and for the fourth time since 2017.

Santa Anita outside Los Angeles, Keeneland and Churchill Downs in Louisville — home of the Kentucky Derby — have become the regular sites for the two-day festival featuring the best thoroughbreds in the world and tens of millions of dollars’ worth of races. It’s shifting back to the Eastern time zone for the next two years.

“California is and has always been a wonderful spot to have the Breeders’ Cup with Santa Anita Park and Del Mar, but one of the missions of the Breeders’ Cup is to grow the sport, and one of the ways we do this is hosting world championships at various venues across the United States,” Fleming said, adding that he expects the event to generate $100 million for the New York economy.

While NYRA has not announced a location for the 2026 Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown is set to return to its old home by 2027, after a multiyear stint at historic Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York during renovations.

With the Belmont at Belmont Park shifting back to an annual occurrence, it is possible the track known for greats like Secretariat and Seattle Slew rumbling down the stretch to the finish line with fans roaring might get back in a regular rotation.

“The best part about working for the Breeders’ Cup is that nothing is off the table,” Fleming said. “New York City has some of the finest accommodations and restaurants and entertainment in the world, so it’d be a natural fit that we would be at Belmont Park frequently.”

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