Connect with us

Published

12 months ago

on

  • Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff WriterJun 5, 2024, 07:00 AM ET

    Close

      ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.

NEW YORK — Mets luminaries from a bygone era packed a room in the bowels of Citi Field on Saturday afternoon. Most on hand were protagonists during the franchise’s last World Series championship in 1986. Doc Gooden, Mookie Wilson, Kevin Mitchell, Jesse Orosco, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez and others were in attendance to celebrate their former teammate Darryl Strawberry, who sat at the podium for a news conference reminiscing about his eight seasons starring in Flushing.

Strawberry’s No. 18 was retired during a pregame ceremony a little later. Mets fans arrived early to watch, filling the stands on a day that will be remembered in this organization’s history. It was a timely palate cleanser, on the first day of June, after a month that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

The Mets are 11-21 since May 1, but the slog has been even uglier lately than that record indicates. The misery really picked up steam on May 13, when All-Star closer Edwin Díaz blew his second save of the season, and over the ensuing weeks the team has been dropping games in every way imaginable.

There was a flurry of bullpen implosions and roster moves. There were injuries, injury setbacks and injury scares. There was a called third strike that went viral, announcers voicing sarcastic optimism on air, a glove angrily thrown into the crowd, an emergency players-only team meeting and a bizarre, misunderstood clubhouse outburst. The frustration leaked onto owner Steve Cohen’s X account.

There are encouraging trends within the turmoil, but getting good offense, good pitching and good defense to align on the same day has been rare. The bullpen is leaky. Fielding miscues are too regular. The rotation lacks a front-line starter with Kodai Senga on the injured list.

There is time for the club with MLB’s highest payroll to rebound. The chaotic stretch, however, has plunged the Mets into a deep hole, with the third-worst record in the National League, and on track for a trade deadline exodus for the second consecutive summer.

The Mets head to London for two games against the Philadelphia Phillies this weekend. Facing the best team in the National League isn’t a recipe for a turnaround, but traveling across the pond might be the change of scenery the team needs to reverse course in a season careening toward disaster.

“They’ll continue to fight, they’ll continue to work and we’ll get through it,” Mets first-year manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But it’s not a secret. It’s been hard for us these past three, four weeks here.”

Here’s a look back at the lowest moments of that stretch.

May 13: Díaz melts down, again (and again and again)

Questions about Edwin Díaz’s injury comeback begin to mount as he blows his second save of the season, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks in a loss to the Phillies

Díaz, the Mets’ All-Star closer known for his festive entrances from the bullpen, has endured a nightmarish season so far, after missing all of 2023 with a knee injury sustained at the World Baseball Classic. After the May 13 loss, he would blow another save in his next outing three days later before squandering a four-run lead against the Miami Marlins two days after that. He managed a clean seventh inning in his next appearance after a five-day layoff, but less than 24 hours later, he blew another save in a loss to the San Francisco Giants.

“He’s our closer,” Mendoza said after the loss to San Francisco. “In order for us to win games and get to where we want to get to, he’s got to pitch. And I felt like that was the right spot.”

Four days later, Díaz landed on the injured list with a shoulder impingement.

May 15: Cohen’s ‘DM’ debacle

Responding to a fan arguing that the front office should sell at the trade deadline, Mets owner Steve Cohen tweets, “All in the future, not much we can do until trade deadline,” during another Mets loss to the Phillies

Cohen often engages with fans on social media, though this time doing so backfired for the billionaire owner. The post was widely deciphered as Cohen’s acknowledgment that the Mets again intend to wave the white flag in July, as they did last year when they traded future Hall of Fame pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

Cohen quickly deleted the tweet. The next day, he told SNY that the tweet — which he said was meant to be a direct message — was misinterpreted. He emphasized he “fully” expects the team to reach the postseason.

Still, nine days later, after another bullpen implosion, Cohen tweeted that the team’s disastrous stretch was “mind boggling.”

“I didn’t see it,” Mendoza said when asked about the second tweet. “I said it last night: You get pissed. It’s frustrating, but we’re professionals. We know we’re going through it right now, but I just met with our hitters again, we just have to keep going.”

May 24: Another setback for Senga

Mendoza announces Kodai Senga will be shut down for three to five days after an MRI revealed inflammation in his triceps

Senga was supposed to be the Mets’ ace this season, but he hasn’t thrown a pitch yet. The diagnosis came amid his longer-than-expected recovery from a strained posterior shoulder capsule that has sidelined him since February. The Mets expected the right-hander to return before June, but Senga had already made the decision to slow down his rehab– just as he resumed throwing off a mound — to work on mechanics. The triceps inflammation reset his throwing program to playing catch upon being cleared.

May 25: Lindor caught looking — and ‘the sun will come up tomorrow’

With one out, a runner on second, and the Mets leading the Giants 2-1 in the seventh inning, shortstop Francisco Lindor decides he’s not going to swing and instead takes a breaking ball right down the middle of the plate for strike three

Lindor’s early decision not to swing at anything was clear — so clear that the clip went viral. After the game, Lindor explained he wasn’t picking up the spin on reliever Randy Rodríguez’s first five pitches. Lindor, however, swung at two of them — so he simply decided not swinging at all was the best option to reach base.

“He hadn’t thrown a strike,” Lindor said. “I made every pitch a strike, and was helping him out. My best bet was to take a pitch. It just so happened that was the one strike the whole at-bat.”

The Mets would lose 7-2 in 10 innings, producing some wry words of encouragement from SNY play-by-play voice Gary Cohen for viewers: “The Mets are now 9-22 in their last 31 games. … Remember, the sun will come up tomorrow, as difficult as that may be to realize.”

May 29 (Part 1): ‘An inflection point’

David Stearns, the Mets’ president of baseball operations, tells reporters it is too early to decide whether the team will offload veterans at the trade deadline

The Mets’ record was 22-30 ahead of a doubleheader against the Dodgers when Stearns insisted he will give the roster until the July 30 trade deadline to claw back into the postseason race. He acknowledged the Mets “haven’t played like a playoff team” but said he believed he had “plenty of time” before weighing trades.

“We haven’t won enough games,” Stearns said, “and we certainly recognize that that’s going to need [to] change.”

Stearns, who was hired after the end of the last season, inherited the most expensive payroll in the majors and a team that had massively failed to reach expectations in 2023. He and Cohen pursued free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto during the offseason, but they settled for several minor moves once Yamamoto chose to sign with the Dodgers.

The offseason didn’t include a contract extension for Pete Alonso, making the star first baseman a prime trade candidate and intensifying speculation as the Mets struggle to win games.

“Nothing’s changed with Pete’s situation,” Stearns said. “Our goal is, on a daily basis, [to] help this team succeed as much as possible so we can win as many games as possible. And that’s where I expect we’ll continue to be.”

The Dodgers went on to sweep the doubleheader that night.

May 29 (Part 2): The Mets-less Mount Rushmore

Asked to name his Mount Rushmore of New York athletes, Mets outfielder Harrison Bader names zero Mets and three New York Yankees — Derek Jeter, Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe. The fourth spot goes unoccupied

Bader grew up a Yankees fan in Bronxville and spent parts of the last two seasons playing in the Bronx. Still, the Mets are paying him $10.5 million this season. The bit went viral. Fans were not pleased.

May 29 (Part 3): Injuries, an outburst and a team meeting

Minutes before first pitch against the Dodgers, the Mets announce Díaz was placed on the injured list with a shoulder impingement. Just as that was being digested, Alonso exits the game after being hit by a 93 mph pitch on his right hand in the first inning. Seven innings later, reliever Jorge López is ejected and throws his glove into the stands. After the loss, Lindor calls a players-only team meeting before López splashes gasoline on the fire, telling reporters he doesn’t regret his actions

López’s postgame comments caused a stir, both for his unfiltered candor and a subsequent debate over what he actually said in his second language. Speaking in English, the reliever called himself “the worst teammate in probably the whole f-ing MLB,” though initially there was confusion over whether he said “teammate” or “team.”

Either way, the Mets had seen and heard enough, and he was designated for assignment the next day. In a statement released shortly thereafter, López apologized for his behavior “on and off the field” and clarified his comment.

His former teammates, meanwhile, were seemingly reenergized after airing out their thoughts and concerns in the team meeting that lasted nearly an hour.

Clubhouse leaders, without offering many details, summarized the meeting to the media, with Lindor explaining he believed it was a chance for players to vent and hold themselves accountable. Brandon Nimmo, who said López’s behavior wasn’t directly addressed, called it “very constructive” and “positive.”

“It just felt like a boiling-over point,” Nimmo said. “It felt like the right time to do it.”

Reliever Adam Ottavino explained the floor was open to anyone who wanted to speak. He noted most of the team, including players who usually don’t openly express themselves, volunteered. They spoke of process and of keeping perspective.

“I mean, we stink right now,” Ottavino said. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to stink going forward.”

The good news was tests on Alonso’s hand showed no structural damage. He delivered a pinch-hit double in a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks the next night.

May 31: The roster shake-up

The Mets make six roster moves. Brett Baty, Christian Scott and Omar Narváez are sent out. José Iglesias, Dedniel Núñez and Luis Torrens are brought in

Optioning Baty, a former top prospect, to Triple-A Syracuse was largely expected, because the Mets needed a backup middle infielder and rookie Mark Vientos had outperformed Baty for the starting job at third base.

Demoting Scott, one of the team’s few bright spots this season, was explained as a temporary move as the team navigates an unusual portion of its schedule thanks to this weekend’s trip to London. Acquiring Torrens from the Yankees to replace Narváez was a production-based decision. Narváez was struggling mightily both offensively and defensively.

On the field, the Mets beat the Diamondbacks for the second straight night to open a four-game series. After Friday’s 10-9 win, Vientos noted there was a palpable difference in the vibe after the team meeting.

“Completely different,” Vientos said. “As in — we walk in, the room feels light. There’s good energy. We listen to music. We’re enjoying the game. It’s a kid’s game. So let’s just have fun and play.”

Will June play out better than May did? So far, the results are mixed. The Mets’ post-team-meeting winning streak lasted all of two games, giving way to consecutive losses to Arizona to begin the month and conclude their 10-game homestand, including another draining bullpen implosion Sunday.

Still, the Mets will try for a three-game sweep against lowly Washington on Wednesday. After two much-needed days off, the London Series begins Saturday.

“The front office, they’re going to make decisions no matter what,” Lindor said. “Whether it’s to add or subtract. And whether it’s to focus on the next season or focus on August and September.

“So they’re going to make decisions. I want to be on the side of adding. We don’t have 100-plus games for that moment. But we do have time to make sure we’re above water.”

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Sports

Updated SP+ rankings for every FBS team, plus an early look at CFP contenders

Published

45 mins ago

on

May 22, 2025

By

Updated SP+ rankings for every FBS team, plus an early look at CFP contenders

  • Bill ConnellyMay 22, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

    Close

      Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

In 93 days, it all starts again. From Week 0’s Irish Farmageddon (Iowa State vs. Kansas State in Dublin) in mid-August to the national title game in late January, the 2025 college football season looms. And with transfer portal movement finally slowing down — including spring moves, FBS teams have averaged more than 19 transfers this offseason, up more than 40% from last season — we can finally take a semi-confident look at what’s in store this fall. That means updating our numbers.

Below are updated SP+ projections for the coming season. A quick reminder: Preseason projections are based on three factors.

1. Returning production. The returning production numbers are based on rosters I have updated as much as humanly possible to account for transfers and attrition. The combination of last year’s SP+ ratings and adjustments based on returning production makes up about two-thirds of the projections formula.

2. Recent recruiting. This piece informs us of the caliber of a team’s potential replacements (and/or new stars) in the lineup. It is determined by the past few years of recruiting rankings in diminishing order (meaning the most recent class carries the most weight). This is also impacted by the recruiting rankings of incoming transfers, an acknowledgment that the art of roster management is now heavily dictated by the transfer portal.

3. Recent history. Using a sliver of information from the previous four seasons or so gives us a good measure of overall program health.

(One other reminder: SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and along those lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather.)

Here are the updated rankings:

This time around, I am also experimenting with what you might call a fourth projection factor: coaching changes. Using data discussed in this March column, I have incorporated some adjustments based on who changed head coaches and/or offensive or defensive coordinators and how those teams performed against historic norms last year. Translation: For teams or units that underachieved significantly against their 20-year averages and changed coaches or coordinators (example: Oklahoma’s offense, Purdue’s entire team), that means a slight bump upward. For teams or units that overachieved and lost their coaches or coordinators (example: UNLV as a team or Louisiana Tech’s defense), that means a bump down.

The adjustments aren’t enormous, but when you see that Oklahoma’s projected rating has risen since February, that explains it.

Minimal changes near the top

Thirteen teams moved up or down at least 10 spots compared to February’s rankings, due to either transfer portal addition/attrition, the coaching adjustments mentioned above, or simply me getting a much better read on returning production after official roster releases. At the very top, however, not a ton changed. The top four teams from February continue to occupy the same spots, though Texas hopped Notre Dame and Oregon into the No. 5 hole. Clemson and Michigan rose a bit, Tennessee dropped five spots after Nico Iamaleava’s transfer, and Oklahoma eased into the top 15. (With their ridiculous schedule, however, the Sooners’ projected win total still isn’t great.)

The overall conference hierarchy hasn’t changed much either, though with the Sun Belt getting hit particularly hard by spring transfer attrition, the AAC moves into the top spot among Group of 5 conferences.

Average SP+ rating by conference

1. SEC (15.3 overall, 33.1 offense, 17.8 defense, 60.7% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 2 Alabama, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Texas

2. Big Ten (9.5 overall, 29.1 offense, 19.6 defense, 56.7% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 3 Penn State, No. 7 Oregon

Both the SEC and Big Ten boast three of the projected top seven teams, but if we measure conferences by average ratings, the SEC still has a commanding lead due, as always, to the lack of dead weight. Only two of 16 SEC teams are projected lower than 43rd overall, while the Big Ten has six such teams, including three ranked 70th or worse. That helps explain why, despite playing only eight-game conference schedules, SEC teams occupy 13 of the top 15 spots in the strength of schedule rankings.

3. Big 12 (6.3 overall, 31.0 offense, 24.7 defense, 61.8% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 18 Kansas State, No. 22 Arizona State, No. 26 Texas Tech

4. ACC (5.0 overall, 30.8 offense, 25.8 defense, 59.2% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 8 Clemson, No. 12 Miami, No. 20 SMU

We see a similar dynamic with the Big 12 and ACC — in terms of the quality of its top teams, the ACC (three top-20 teams) seems to have an advantage over the Big 12 (one top-20 team). But the Big 12 has eight top-35 teams compared to the ACC’s four, and while no Big 12 team is projected lower than 66th, the ACC’s average is dragged down by three teams ranking 79th or lower.

5. AAC (-7.8 overall, 26.0 offense, 33.8 defense, 49.4% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 48 Tulane, No. 53 Memphis, No. 63 UTSA

6. Sun Belt (-8.1 overall, 24.9 offense, 33.0 defense, 46.3% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 49 James Madison, No. 74 Louisiana, No. 76 South Alabama

7. Mountain West (-8.6 overall, 23.5 offense, 32.1 defense, 46.5% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 33 Boise State, No. 75 UNLV, No. 83 San Jose State

Three G5 teams are within one point of each other on average, though again, the distribution varies significantly by conference. The MWC is propped up significantly by Boise State, the best projected G5 team, but its average is dragged down by three teams ranking 119th or worse. The Sun Belt has only one such team. The AAC, meanwhile, has a solid five teams in the top 70 … and four teams projected 120th or worse.

8. Conference USA (-13.0 overall, 20.4 offense, 33.4 defense, 50.7% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 69 Liberty, No. 85 Western Kentucky, No. 104 Jacksonville State

9. MAC (-13.7 overall, 19.8 offense, 33.5 defense, 41.1% average returning production)

Top three teams: No. 72 Toledo, No. 80 Ohio, No. 91 Buffalo

No conference was hit harder by the portal than the MAC, which has only three teams ranked higher than 94th in the returning production rankings below. That’s going to wreck your averages, though Toledo and Buffalo both escaped too much damage in this regard.

An approximate CFP contenders list

My SP+ strength of schedule ratings are based on a simple question: How would the average top-five team fare against your schedule? Oklahoma’s schedule currently features five of the projected top 11 teams and nine of the top 25, while Notre Dame’s features only two teams projected higher than 30th; SP+ SOS says a top-five team would average a 0.757 win percentage against OU’s schedule (equivalent to 9.1 wins in 12 games) and a 0.894 win percentage against Notre Dame’s (10.7 wins). That’s a pretty big difference.

Schedule strengths obviously vary quite a bit within conferences — not every SEC schedule is Oklahoma’s — but it’s worth acknowledging that when it comes to potential College Football Playoff-worthy résumés, the bar can be set in a different spot based on a team’s conference.

Average strength-of-schedule rating per conference

SEC 0.799 (9.6 wins for a typical top-five team)

Big Ten 0.846 (10.2)

ACC 0.891 (10.7)

Big 12 0.902 (10.8)

AAC 0.956 (11.5)

Sun Belt 0.958 (11.5)

MWC 0.959 (11.5)

CUSA 0.964 (11.6)

MAC 0.965 (11.6)

When it comes to how a top-five team would fare, the average SEC schedule is about one win harder than the average ACC or Big 12 schedule. The Big Ten, with its deadweight teams, is about a half-win harder than those leagues but is still more likely to get lumped in with the SEC than the others in the Power 4.

Long story short: We can confidently say that any 10-2 or better team in the SEC or Big Ten would be a likely playoff contender, just as any 11-1 or better team in the ACC or Big 12 would be. We can therefore create a loose list of likely CFP contenders by looking at the teams most likely to hit those marks.

Odds of an SEC team going 10-2 or better: Alabama 65% (SOS rank: 11th), Texas 61% (12th), Georgia 61% (13th), Ole Miss 38% (23rd), Tennessee 33% (24th), LSU 30% (ninth), Florida 18% (second), Auburn 13% (15th), Oklahoma 9% (first), Missouri 5% (25th)

Odds of a Big Ten team going 10-2 or better: Penn State 82% (SOS rank: 29th), Ohio State 77% (21st), Oregon 73% (32nd), Michigan 62% (38th), Illinois 29% (40th), Nebraska 13% (35th), USC 10% (20th), Indiana 9% (31st)

With a particularly weak nonconference schedule and a particularly good team, Penn State might be in the driver’s seat in terms of playoff qualification, while Ohio State, Oregon, Alabama, Michigan and Georgia are all over 60% likely to finish the regular season with two or fewer losses.

Odds of a Big 12 or ACC team (or Notre Dame) going 11-1 or better: Notre Dame 52% (SOS rank: 44th), Clemson 37% (34th), Miami 23% (36th), Kansas State 17% (57th), BYU 7% (64th), Texas Tech 7% (62nd), SMU 6% (45th), Arizona State 5% (61st)

Odds of a Group of 5 team going 11-1 or better: Boise State 37% (SOS rank: 84th), Liberty 17% (136th), Toledo 11% (133rd), Memphis 8% (121st), James Madison 7% (104th)

Notre Dame starts the season with games against Miami and Texas A&M, and while the rest of the schedule features plenty of solid opponents (five are projected between 30th and 47th), if the Irish are 2-0 out of the gates, they’re staring a second straight CFP appearance in the face.

Updated returning production rankings

With updated SP+ projections come updated returning production figures. A reminder: While returning production doesn’t correlate with pure quality, it does correlate well with improvement and regression, particularly at the extremes.

(Note: The production of incoming transfers is mashed into both the numerator and denominator of the returning production formula — so if you lose your starting quarterback but bring in someone else’s from the portal, your returning yardage is probably somewhere around 50%. The production of transfers from schools below the FBS level get half-credit.)

As was the case in February, Clemson leads the way here. And with the way that talent trickles upward in the transfer portal era, it’s probably not a surprise that nine of the top 10 teams in returning production (and 22 of the top 26) are power-conference teams. The P4 boasts 59.6% returning production overall, while the G5 is at 46.8%. That’s a pretty massive gap, one that isn’t likely to shrink anytime soon.

Continue Reading

Sports

Rebuilding Blackhawks hire Blashill as head coach

Published

49 mins ago

on

May 22, 2025

By

Rebuilding Blackhawks hire Blashill as head coach

  • Kristen ShiltonMay 22, 2025, 12:26 PM ET

    Close

      Kristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.

Jeff Blashill has been hired as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, it was announced Thursday.

The veteran bench boss steps in to replace interim coach Anders Sorenson, who was promoted after the Blackhawks fired Luke Richardson early in the 2024-25 season. Sorenson was thought to be a candidate for the permanent role, and Chicago had also shown interest in University of Denver coach David Carle.

The Blackhawks ultimately landed on Blashill to be the 42nd head coach in franchise history. Blashill, 51, most recently spent three seasons as an assistant coach on Jon Cooper’s staff with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He previously replaced Mike Babcock to take on his first NHL head coaching job with the Detroit Red Wings from 2015 to ’22, attempting to guide Detroit through a lengthy rebuilding process.

After reaching the playoffs in his first year with the Red Wings, Blashill’s teams never improved beyond fifth in the division and, after six consecutive seasons outside the playoff field, he was fired following the 2021-22 campaign. He left the Red Wings with a 204-261-72 record.

Blashill now joins another organization deep into a rebuilding process, providing experience that Chicago has been lacking. The Blackhawks have churned through four different first-year NHL head coaches — Jeremy Colliton, Derek King, Richardson and Sorenson — since Joel Quenneville’s departure in 2018, and now they’ve targeted a new voice with a developmental background.

Blashill has worked in the NCAA, USHL and AHL throughout his career. His time spent under Cooper — the NHL’s longest-tenured head coach — is another asset.

“Jeff is an incredibly smart and talented coach who boasts more than 25 years of coaching experience across developmental leagues, the NHL and the world stage,” general manager Kyle Davidson said in a statement. “He’s thrived when in a position to develop young players and has shown he’s capable of blending that into overall team success, a vision and philosophy we share for where we are today and where we see our team in the future. We couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come under Jeff’s direction.”

The Blackhawks haven’t been to the postseason since 2017, but they didn’t begin their retooling in earnest until the 2021-22 season. Davidson has been at the helm of Chicago’s rebuild since October 2021 and remains in the thick of it, as Chicago has finished 31st overall in the league standings the past two seasons. The Blackhawks have focused on growing through the NHL draft, and selected phenom Connor Bedard first overall in 2023.

Continue Reading

Sports

Hurricanes-Panthers Game 2 preview: Key players, matchup notes, stats to know

Published

56 mins ago

on

May 22, 2025

By

Hurricanes-Panthers Game 2 preview: Key players, matchup notes, stats to know

May 22, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals went about as well as it could have for the Florida Panthers. For the Carolina Hurricanes? Not so much.

Following a 5-2 win, the Panthers carry a 1-0 advantage into Game 2 (8 p.m. ET, TNT) on Thursday night.

Will the Hurricanes punch back before the series heads to South Florida? Which players will be most critical to each team’s success? Here are key players, matchup notes and stats to know from ESPN Research ahead of Game 2.

More: Game 1 recap | Grades

Matchup notes

Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 2 | 8 p.m. ET | TNT

With the Panthers up 1-0, they are now -250 favorites to win the Eastern Conference finals, while the Hurricanes are +200, per ESPN BET. The Panthers now have the shortest odds to win the Stanley Cup, at +160, while the Canes have the longest, at +500.

The Panthers have scored 38 goals on the road this postseason, tied with the 2022 Avalanche for the most through a team’s first eight road games of a single postseason. They are outscoring opponents 17-4 on the road over their last three road contests. The 17 goals are their most in a three-game span on the road in a single postseason in franchise history

The Game 1 defeat was the Hurricanes’ 13th straight loss in the conference finals, going back to 2009. This extends the longest streak in NHL history for losses in the round before Stanley Cup Final; the next highest was the Toronto Maple Leafs with 10 straight losses between 1954-56.

Aaron Ekblad‘s goal in Game 1 gives the Panthers 12 from their defensemen this postseason. That is four more than any other team, and ties the franchise record for most in a single playoff run (both 2023 and 2024).

With goal No. 7 of the postseason, Sam Bennett became the third Panther to score seven or more goals in consecutive playoff runs, joining Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart (who both accomplished it in 2023 and 2024).

The Hurricanes’ penalty kill was a strength leading into the conference finals — they allowed two power-play goals on 30 chances. That wasn’t the case in Game 1, as they allowed two goals on three chances.

Sebastian Aho joined an impressive list with his Game 1 goal: He is now tied for the most goals in series-opening games in Whalers/Hurricanes history (with five). The others on the list are Ray Whitney, Andrei Svechnikov and his head coach, Rod Brind’Amour.

Current scoring leaders

GP: 11 | G: 4 | A: 8

GP: 13 | G: 4 | A: 9

Continue Reading

Trending