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SUNRISE, Fla. — The New York Rangers didn’t see this end coming.

They were the Presidents’ Trophy winners on the strength of a 114-point regular season. They breezed by the Washington Capitals and defeated the Carolina Hurricanes handily to reach an Easten Conference final against the Florida Panthers.

But that’s where it all fell apart for the Rangers, who lost 2-1 in Game 6 of their series on Saturday night, eliminated from the postseason in the third round for the second time in three seasons.

“What we built as a team here, it just felt special this year,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “It felt like we had something in this room. It was a bond. [It’s] probably too soon to elaborate more.”

Trouba, in particular, came under fire for his performance on Saturday. New York’s rugged defenseman misread a play at his team’s blue line late in the first period, allowing Evan Rodrigues to feed Sam Bennett for Florida’s opening score.

That was Bennett fourth goal in the series, tying teammate Matthew Tkachuk‘s franchise record for most markers in a conference final in Panthers’ history. His three-game goal streak also tied a Panthers playoff record.

Trouba’s slow reaction contributed to the Rangers being in an early deficit they never overcame. Vladimir Tarasenko scored his first goal of the conference final — against the veteran’s former team to boot — midway through the third period to give Florida a 2-0 lead.

By the time Artemi Panarin notched his first of the series — with New York having already pulled goalie Igor Shesterkin — there was just 1:39 remaining. Too little, too late from one of the Rangers’ stars who had failed when it mattered most.

It wasn’t just Panarin, though. Mika Zibanejad didn’t score against Florida. He and Chris Kreider — who had one short-handed tally in the series — combined for only three shots in Game 6. And while Panarin broke through eventually, his line with Vincent Trocheck — who led the Rangers in postseason points with 20 — and Alexis Lafreniere were stymied by the Panthers all night.

New York lost on Saturday its third straight game by a single goal. Shesterkin’s excellence — he posted a .935 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average in the series — simply wasn’t enough to continually overcome the Rangers’ inability to get pucks past the Panthers.

“[After] one-goal games, you think about every little play, every missed opportunity, every mistake,” defenseman Adam Fox said. “It hurts. When games are that tight, it sits with you, every little play you maybe could’ve done differently.”

Shesterkin earned accolades from both dressing rooms following the loss, and Florida’s coach Paul Maurice compared the goalie’s showing to a legendary run from the NHL’s Hart Trophy winner in 2002.

“I haven’t seen a series by a goaltender like that since [former Montreal Canadiens goaltender] Jose Theodore in 2002,” Maurice said. “He was brilliant in this series. He was pretty good.”

It was the rest of New York’s lineup not providing enough backup. The Rangers never found the right formula to rattle Florida. And New York’s momentum-sucking power play didn’t help matters. The Rangers were 0-for-1 with the extra man in Game 6 and 1-for-15 in the series, a long drop from the club which held the league’s third-best power play in the regular season (26.4%) and entered the series even better (at 29.7% in the playoffs).

New York stumbled too often. And there was no comeback magic left in the Rangers — despite them having earned an NHL-record 34 come-from-behind victories in the regular season and six more in the postseason.

“They got to their game more consistently,” Kreider said. “They were dialed in on what they were doing.”

The loss could signal changes for the Rangers. It’s an unsettling feeling for New York to sit with given the promise of this season and how swiftly it ended with a thud.

“The culture we built here, the camaraderie, that’s something we’re going to have to turn over,” Fox said. “It sucks to think this year is over, but what we built is strong.”

New York hoped to be heading home for a Game 7. Instead it will return with unanswered questions about what’s next.

“Our guys fought this year; they bought in right from the start,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “We make it to this point and it’s disappointing. When you start something like this … you do it to go the whole way. So there’s a disappointment right now that sets in with our group and our intentions we had throughout the year. Nobody was expecting to be on this end of it.”

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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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