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Nathan Eovaldi will start Game 1 of the World Series for the Texas Rangers on Friday night, while All-Star Zac Gallen gets the nod for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Eovaldi, a Texas native who signed with the Rangers last offseason, will make his first career World Series start. The right-hander is 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA in his four starts this postseason, including the AL Wild Card Series and AL Division Series clinchers, and the must-win Game 6 of the AL Championship Series at Houston on Sunday night.

“Nate’s had plenty of rest, he’s ready to go,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday.

Eovaldi, one of Texas’ offseason acquisitions, has a 2.42 ERA in four starts this postseason. He won Games 2 and 6 in the series against the Astros and is unbeaten this postseason.

The Diamondbacks, who were flying to Texas the day after clinching the NL pennant in Philadelphia, are going with the right-hander Gallen, who is 2-2 with a 5.24 ERA in four games this postseason — his first.

He started Arizona’s openers in both the NLDS and NLCS.

He surrendered nine runs on 14 hits — including five homers — over 11 innings in a pair of losses to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series, which Arizona won in seven games.

Gallen posted a 17-9 record with a 3.47 ERA in 34 games during the regular season. He led the Diamondbacks in wins, strikeouts (220) and innings pitched (210).

He struck out 11 and allowed one run in six innings of a 6-3 victory over Texas on Aug. 22. He is 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA in three career appearances versus the Rangers.

Bochy didn’t say who would start Game 2 for the Rangers, though left-hander Jordan Montgomery is 3-0 this postseason, including the Game 7 victory in Houston with 2 1/3 innings in relief on Monday night.

The 33-year-old Eovaldi is 8-3 with a 2.87 ERA in 15 career postseason games, including 10 starts.

Eovaldi’s only previous World Series was with the Red Sox in 2018, when he made relief appearances in each of the first three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He pitched the final six innings of the 18-inning third game, when Max Muncy led off the bottom of the 18th for the Dodgers with the game-ending homer.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Bruins show love to emotional Marchand in return

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Bruins show love to emotional Marchand in return

BOSTON — The Little Ball of Hate still has a lot of love back in Boston.

Brad Marchand appeared to be holding back tears on the ice when the TD Garden crowd gave him a standing ovation Tuesday night during his first game as a Bruins opponent. The 37-year-old forward tapped his heart, wiped his face and waved to the crowd as both teams banged their sticks against the ice and even the referee and each linesperson clapped along.

The last remaining member of Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup-winning team, Marchand was traded to the Panthers last season for another chance at a title. He helped Florida complete its pursuit of back-to-back championships, while the Bruins plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

In his first game back as a Panther, the Boston crowd cheered him off the ice after the pregame warmups, as the TD Garden DJ played a mashup of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Marchand responded with a stick salute as he headed off via the visitors bench.

Fans wearing Marchand’s Boston and Florida No. 63 jerseys cheered again during introductions for the former Bruins captain. (They booed when he drew a tripping penalty just 33 seconds into the game, then gave a mixed reaction when the Panthers scored on the power play — a goal that first appeared to be Marchand’s but was credited to Mackie Samoskevich; Marchand picked up an assist.)

But things got really emotional during a commercial break midway through the first period, when the scoreboard showed a highlight reel from Marchand’s time in Boston — including shots of him raising the Stanley Cup, and ending with him posing with the captain’s “C” that he wore for just one full season.

Florida ended up winning the game, 4-3, on a last-minute goal.

A four-time All-Star who had 422 goals and 554 assists in 16 seasons in Boston, Marchand remains in the Bruins’ top 10 for goals, assists, short-handed and overtime goals, playoff goals and points. His 1,090 games played is fourth in team history, one spot ahead of Don Sweeney, the general manager who dealt him to Florida at the trade deadline.

Marchand did play in the TD Garden as a visitor in February when he suited up for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Although he was still a member of the Bruins, the Boston fans booed him.

He was traded to Florida a few weeks later as Boston sold off its roster and began a rebuild. But when the Panthers visited for the Bruins’ first home game after the trade deadline, Marchand was injured and skated on the Garden ice only in practice.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Back from IR, Oilers D Walman nets winner in OT

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Back from IR, Oilers D Walman nets winner in OT

OTTAWA — Defenseman Jake Walman, activated from injured reserve on Monday after missing the season’s first six games with an injury, scored in overtime on Tuesday night, lifting the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Walman, a late-season acquisition last year who helped Edmonton back to the Stanley Cup Finals, was injured in a preseason game on Sept. 21, but the 28-year-old veteran picked up where he left off on Tuesday. He finished with 25 shifts across 18:51 of ice time, and registered four blocks.

The Oilers wrapped up their five-game road trip and handed the Senators their second consecutive loss on home ice.

The Senators scored twice in a span of 1:25 to tie the game 2-2 early in the third. Ottawa got on the board after winning a puck battle along the boards. Drake Batherson dished a pass to Dylan Cozens who scored on the power play past Stuart Skinner, who made 19 saves. Just over a minute later Thomas Chabot beat a screened Skinner to tie the game.

The Oilers opened the scoring late in the first with a power-play goal when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed Connor McDavid, who snapped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle for his first of the season.

Edmonton extended its lead to 2-0 just 49 seconds into the second period after a turnover by the Senators. Leon Draisaitl skated in before sliding a pass back to rookie Isaac Howard, who beat Linus Ullmark, who finished with 22 saves, for his first career NHL goal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hughes’ 3rd career hat trick lifts surging Devils

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Hughes' 3rd career hat trick lifts surging Devils

TORONTO — Jack Hughes registered the third hat trick of his NHL career, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Tuesday night.

Cody Glass and Brenden Dillon also scored for New Jersey, and Jake Allen had 23 saves. Jesper Bratt added three assists for the Devils, who have won five in a row since opening the season with a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

John Tavares and Matias Maccelli scored for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz stopped 30 shots. William Nylander had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two in a row and four of six after a season-opening win.

Toronto led 1-0 after the first period before giving up three goals in the first five minutes of the second much to the dismay of the home crowd at Scotiabank Arena.

Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev left with an upper-body injury during a second-period penalty kill after he collided with Devils center Dawson Mercer.

Toronto challenged New Jersey’s first goal for goaltender interference only to see the call on the ice stand. The Devils went on the power play with the ensuing delay-of-game penalty, and Glass made it 2-1 moments after Tanev skated off to the locker room.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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