Connect with us

Published

on

The Florida Panthers and New York Rangers entered Game 5 Thursday night with their Eastern Conference finals series tied at two games apiece.

After the visiting Panthers edged the Rangers 3-2, they’ll take that same lead back home for Saturday night’s potential series-clinching game (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+).

Here’s what stood out in Florida’s victory, along with key players to watch in Game 6, and the biggest lingering question.

Panthers grade: B+

The Panthers controlled possession. They made it difficult for the Rangers to find the needed time to get settled in the offensive zone over the final two periods.

Above all, they found ways to reach the net front while consistently ensuring the Rangers struggled in that department, beyond the late goal Alexis Lafreniere scored to cut it to a one-goal margin.

If not for Igor Shesterkin, it’s possible the Panthers could have won by a larger margin and head into a Game 6 that could see them return to a consecutive Stanley Cup final for the first time in their team’s history.

Exercising patience has been crucial for the Panthers during these playoffs. Look no further than the events that led to an empty-net goal. They set up in front of Sergei Bobrovsky‘s net before forechecking and pressuring the Rangers into a mistake, en route to grabbing a two-goal lead. If they replicate that formula consistently in Game 6, the Panthers will become the first team to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.

play

0:42

Sam Bennett’s empty-net goal pads Panthers’ lead late

Sam Bennett wrists in a goal on an empty net to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead vs. the Rangers.


Rangers grade: B-

Watching Lafreniere get near the net and score did more than cut the lead to 3-2 with less than a minute left. It was one of the few times the Rangers could really get set in the offensive zone while having a player in a position to grab a goal in a part of the ice the Panthers largely worked to take away. Is that repeatable in future games?

Finding openings was a challenge for the Rangers once the second period started. They went from 11 shots in the first period to a total of 11 more in the next 32 minutes of game time. They finished with 27, and quite a few of them were from distance.

Even with those 11 first-period shots, Natural Stat Trick’s metrics show the Rangers had a 46% shot-share in 5-on-5 play. An inability to consistently gain possession was further compounded by the fact that the Panthers broke through for 18 high-danger chances, while allowing only seven high-danger chances for the Rangers. One example of that was the Sam Reinhart shot at the doorstep that Shesterkin stopped with 5:49 left.

Another item that didn’t help was the Rangers, who have the second-best power-play unit of the four remaining teams, drew just one penalty; however, they get bonus points for a short-handed goal from Chris Kreider, his first tally of the series.


Players to watch in Game 6

Gustav Forsling. This goes beyond the fact he scored the game-tying goal. What Forsling did in Game 5 is an extension of what he’s done this season and how he’s emerged as one of the Panthers’ most important players.

So much of the Panthers’ success has been their ability to take away time and space from opponents, with the idea they can quickly get in the offensive zone. Forsling has allowed the Panthers to find success in both zones while averaging more than 23 minutes per game during the Panthers’ postseason run. He’ll be critical again as they look to put the Rangers away Saturday.

Artemi Panarin. It gets complicated as one chooses how to measure Panarin’s production. He’s arguably been the Rangers’ strongest facilitator in the postseason while still being a threat to score goals of his own. The four shots he had on net in Game 5 are the most he’s had since the second round in Game 6 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Panarin’s ability to create for others has been beyond vital for the Rangers. But if he can find a way to score a goal in Game 6, it would play a major role in the Rangers forcing a Game 7. If not, there are obviously other ways the Rangers could win and get to a Game 7. But as Game 5 showed, getting as many offensive contributions as possible from star players will only make things easier.


Big question for Game 6: Can the Rangers find some sort of success with the power play?

Success is something of a relative term when it comes to the Rangers’ power play at the moment: Is success breaking through to score a goal? Or would the first piece in finding success simply be finding a way to get on the power play at all?

Going into Game 5, the Rangers have had one of the NHL’s best extra-skater advantages during the playoffs as a whole but have struggled since reaching the conference final round. They’ve converted only 9.1% of their power-play chances. Having such a low success rate is made more of an issue by the fact they had just one power play in Game 5; by contrast, they saw one of their three chances converted in Game 4. So the task ahead is both drawing more penalties and making the Panthers pay when they do.

Continue Reading

Sports

Source: Belichick, UNC won’t be on Hard Knocks

Published

on

By

Source: Belichick, UNC won't be on Hard Knocks

North Carolina and new coach Bill Belichick will not be the subject of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Offseason,” a source confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

Front Office Sports reported last week that North Carolina would be featured on this year’s show, which would have given viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how Belichick would manage his first offseason as a college head coach.

When asked about it on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi said that nothing had been signed with the university but that the program was receiving “a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program.”

But, as CBS Sports first reported earlier Tuesday, a deal could not be reached.

UNC hired Belichick in December after he had spent his entire career in the NFL, where he won six Super Bowls as coach of the New England Patriots. The Patriots never were selected to appear on “Hard Knocks.”

Continue Reading

Sports

NHL trade grades: Report cards for the Trent Frederic swap, Seth Jones blockbuster, other major deals

Published

on

By

NHL trade grades: Report cards for the Trent Frederic swap, Seth Jones blockbuster, other major deals

The NHL trade deadline for the 2024-25 season is not until March 7, but teams have not waited until the last minute to make major moves.

For every significant trade that occurs during the season, you’ll find a grade for it here, the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks swapping goaltenders, Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues, Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken, the blockbuster deal sending Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Necas to the Avalanche, J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers, and the Canucks staying busy and getting Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

March 1 featured three big trades, with Ryan Lindgren headed to the Colorado Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild adding Gustav Nyquist, and Seth Jones joining the Florida Panthers.

Read on for grades from Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wyshynski, and check back the next time a big deal breaks.

Continue Reading

Sports

Pete Rose prior to death: I’ll make HOF after I die

Published

on

By

Pete Rose prior to death: I'll make HOF after I die

Baseball great Pete Rose, in what is thought to be his last interview before he died at the age of 83 on Sept. 30, 2024, said he believed “that I’ll make the Hall of Fame after I die.”

In a sit-down video interview with Dayton, Ohio, sportscaster John Condit on Sept. 20 for an undisclosed documentary, Rose questioned the point of getting into Cooperstown posthumously.

“I’ve come to the conclusion — I hope I’m wrong — that I’ll make the Hall of Fame after I die,” Rose said in the interview, which took place 10 days before his death. “Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. That’s what the Hall of Fame is for. Your fans and your family. And it’s for your family if you’re here. It’s for your fans if you’re here. Not if you’re 10 feet under. You understand what I’m saying?

“What good is it going to do me or my fans if they put me in the Hall of Fame couple years after I pass away? What’s the point? What’s the point? Because they’ll make money over it?”

Rose was placed on baseball’s permanently ineligible list by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989 for gambling on baseball. Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2015 rejected Rose’s bid for reinstatement, but sources told ESPN on Saturday that Manfred is reviewing a petition to posthumously remove MLB’s career leader in hits from the ineligible list after meeting with Fawn Rose, the eldest daughter of Pete Rose, and Los Angeles lawyer Jeffrey Lenkov, who represented Rose prior to his death.

In 2020, ESPN reported that for all practical purposes, Manfred viewed baseball’s banned list as punishing players during their lifetime but ending upon their death. A senior MLB source told ESPN then that after a banned player dies, MLB informally sees that the banning ends. In the past, Hall of Fame representatives have said that after a player dies — and he is still on the banned list — he still won’t be eligible for consideration for the Hall of Fame.

Rose, who spent most of his 24-year career with the Cincinnati Reds, won the World Series three times and remains Major League Baseball’s career leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles and outs. His name has never appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot.

“I’ve come to the conclusion — I hope I’m wrong — that I’ll make the Hall of Fame after I die. Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. … What good is it going to do me or my fans if they put me in the Hall of Fame couple years after I pass away? What’s the point? What’s the point? Because they’ll make money over it?”

Pete Rose, in what is believed to be his last interview on Sept. 20 — 10 days before he died.

In 2004, Rose admitted in a book that he gambled while he was manager of the Reds, but he insisted he only bet on his team to win. Years later, ESPN reported that Rose also placed bets as a player, but Rose wouldn’t admit it.

“The Hall of Fame is for what you did on the field, not what you did off the field,” Rose said in the interview with Condit. “You know, back in the ’20s and ’30s, there were some characters playing baseball. Ty Cobb was a character, OK. … He got away with a lot of stuff. Babe Ruth drank a lot. But people didn’t care as long as you played the game.”

President Donald Trump last week said he would pardon Rose, though he did not say what the pardon would cover; Rose served five months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges in 1990.

Rose often said no player had won more major league games than him, and he echoed that in his interview with Condit.

“I’m not bitter about everything. I’m the one that f—ed up. Why am I going to be bitter?” Rose said. “When you make a mistake, don’t be bitter to other people. I wish I hadn’t made the mistake, but I did. It’s history. Get over it. I didn’t hurt you as a fan. … I didn’t hurt any of my fans by betting on the game of baseball — and by the way, betting on the game of baseball to win. To win, OK?

“I wanted to win every game. … I happened to win more than anybody else, but that’s OK. Not bad.”

ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Trending