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DENVER — Valeri Nichushkin parked himself in front of the net in overtime and started whacking at a loose puck until it went in, setting off a roar from the crowd.

How’s that for a return?

Nichushkin knocked in a power-play goal 2:32 into overtime in his return to the lineup after a two-month absence, Alexandar Georgiev stopped a penalty shot late in regulation, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Friday night.

Nichushkin scored the winner shortly after Kirill Kaprizov drew a penalty for hooking.

Nichushkin was back for his first game since Jan. 10 after receiving care through the player assistance program. He was serenaded by fans as he remained behind on the ice for a brief postgame interview.

He thanked the crowd.

His teammates later thanked him.

“We’re happy he’s back. He’s a huge part of our team,” Georgiev said. “Hopefully, good times for him coming up. Huge goal. He’s such a big competitor. He always wants to help us win.”

Added Colorado coach Jared Bednar: “It’s great to have him back and great to see the support he’s getting from our fans. … It can help a guy mentally when he’s feeling supported by the community and by our fans.”

Nathan MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 32 games with two assists. He is tied with Guy Lafleur (1978-79) for the third-longest home point run in NHL history.

Artturi Lehkonen had a goal 42 seconds into the game for the Avalanche, who made a flurry of deals at the trade deadline. New additions Casey Mittelstadt, Brandon Duhaime, Yakov Trenin and Sean Walker were scattered throughout the lineup.

“The new guys looked great,” MacKinnon said.

Devon Toews scored with around 2:30 remaining in third period, but the Wild challenged for offside. After a review, the goal was taken off the board.

Georgiev made 29 saves. He also thwarted Mats Zuccarello‘s penalty shot with 5:55 remaining. Georgiev was sprawled out when Zuccarello sent his shot wide. Zuccarello was awarded a penalty shot after Andrew Cogliano sent a stick laying on the ice into the Wild forward.

Both teams struggled on the power play, going a combined 1-for-8.

Brock Faber had a goal for a Minnesota team that showed few signs of fatigue after a 5-2 win the night before in Arizona. The Wild remain on the fringe of the playoff picture.

Colorado entered the game as the highest-scoring team in the NHL, averaging 3.70 goals per game. But Filip Gustavsson turned in big save after big save, with an assist to a friendly post as the Avalanche clanged a few shots off the iron. He stopped 38 shots.

“Tough back-to-back against a good fresh, hockey team,” Faber said. “Obviously [Gustavsson] played great and we gave ourselves a chance to win. It’s frustrating, though.”

Lehkonen scored early on a no-look pass from MacKinnon. It was MacKinnon’s 70th assist of the season (he later added No. 71). The last Colorado player to have 70 or more assists in a season was Peter Forsberg (77 in 2002-03).

Faber tied it in the second on a wide-open wrist shot. He now has 37 points this season, the third-highest mark for a rookie in Wild history. He trails only Kaprizov (51 in 2020-21) and Matt Boldy (39 in 2021-22).

For Duhaime, his first game in an Avalanche sweater happened to be against his former Wild teammates. He was a fourth-round pick by Minnesota in 2016 and spent his career with the team.

“Definitely a weird experience for sure,” Duhaime said.

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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