Monte, Legacy and B8 snatched the final three berths for Stage 3 by winning their do-or-die Round 5 matches to complete Stage 2 of the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major on Tuesday in Germany.

Monte swept paiN Gaming 2-0, Legacy did the same against TYLOO and B8 rallied to a 2-1 victory over BIG. The three losing sides were consequently eliminated.

Teams are competing for their share of the Counter-Strike 2 tournament’s $1.25 million prize pool with the grand final scheduled for June 21. The champion receives $500,000.

Eight teams were seeded directly into Stage 3: Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, Team Falcons, The MongolZ, PARIVISION, Aurora Gaming, FURIA and MOUZ. They’ll be joined by FUT Esports, Team Spirit, G2 Esports, BetBoom Team, 9z Team, Monte, Legacy and B8, all of whom advanced through Stage 2.

Using a Swiss System format, advancement and elimination matches in Stage 2 were best-of-three. All other Stage 2 matches were a single map.

On Tuesday, Monte defeated paiN 13-5 on Nuke and 13-11 on Dust II. Oscar “AZUWU” Bell of Great Britain paced Monte with 39 kills and a 1.53 match rating.

Legacy topped TYLOO 13-7 on Mirage and 13-4 on Inferno. Bruno ‘latto’ Rebelatto of Brazil was the top performer for Legacy with 33 kills and a match rating of 1.57.

BIG opened with a 13-7 defeat of B8 on Ancient, but B8 rebounded and evened the match with a 13-6 result on Overpass. The final map was Dust II, where B8 took a 13-8 victory. Ukraine’s Danylo “s1zzi” Vinnyk racked up 62 kills and a match rating of 1.49 to guide B8.

Stage 3 will begin Thursday with eight Round 1 matches:

–The MongolZ vs. B8

–PARIVISION vs. 9z Team

–Team Vitality vs. FUT Esports

–MOUZ vs. Legacy

–Team Falcons vs. G2 Esports

–FURIA vs. B8

–Natus Vincere vs. Team Spirit

–Aurora Gaming vs. Monte

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major prize pool

1. $500,000

2. $170,000

3-4. $80,000

5-8. $45,000

9-11. $15,000

12-14. $15,000

15-16. $15,000

17-19. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, TYLOO, BIG

20-22. $10,000 — MIBR, M80, Astralis

23-24. $10,000 — GamerLegion, FlyQuest

25-27. $5,000 — Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid

28-30. $5,000 — THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC

31-32. $5,000 — Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports

–Field Level Media

The Carolina Hurricanes made a change in net for Tuesday night’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Carolina gave rookie Brandon Bussi his first career playoff start as the Hurricanes look to level the series at 2-2 in Las Vegas, with the announcement becoming shortly before the game began.

ESPN reported that Frederik Andersen, who was 12-1 in the team’s first three playoff series, is a healthy scratch with no injury designation.

Andersen allowed four second-period goals in Saturday’s Game 3 loss. He was replaced at the start of the third period by Bussi, who stopped 18 of 19 shots as the Hurricanes rallied before falling 5-4 in double overtime.

Bussi, 27, was acquired off waivers from the Florida Panthers last October. He entered the season with no NHL experience, but became a critical member of the Hurricanes’ goalie rotation, amassing a 31-6-2 record, 2.47 goals-against average and .895 save percentage.

–Field Level Media

Ryan Vilade went 3-for-4 and Nick Martinez turned in seven-plus strong innings to help the Tampa Bay Rays defeat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Martinez (6-2) held Boston to three runs on six hits, departing after the first three Red Sox hitters reached base in the eighth. He struck out two without issuing a walk. Bryan Baker retired the Red Sox in order in the ninth to earn his 18th save.

Tampa Bay’s Ben Williamson and Nick Fortes each contributed two hits and an RBI. Yandy Diaz singled and walked to extend his on-base streak to 23 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the major leagues.

Boston’s Payton Tolle (3-3) pitched six innings and allowed four runs on nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two of the Red Sox’s six hits and scored twice.

Tampa Bay, which has won the first two games of the three-game series, finished 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Boston took its third loss in a row.

The Red Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Kiner-Falefa doubled with one out and scored on Jarren Duran’s two-out single.

A three-run fourth put the Rays in front. Vilade doubled and scored on Cedric Mullins’ two-out single. Williamson doubled to drive in Mullins and give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead, and Williamson came home on Fortes’ double.

The Rays added a run in the sixth for a 4-1 edge. Williamson reached base on an infield single, took second when Fortes was hit by a pitch and scored on Richie Palacios’ single.

Boston made it a one-run game by scoring twice in the eighth. After singles by Caleb Durbin and Kiner-Falefa, Marcelo Mayer doubled home both runners to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-3. Kevin Kelly replaced Martinez on the mound, and Mayer moved to third on Duran’s groundout — the first out of the inning — but he was still on third when the inning ended.

–Field Level Media