Sports
Hurricanes bid to blow past skidding Islanders
Apr 2, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Cole Sillinger (4) and Carolina Hurricanes left wing Taylor Hall (71) watch the play during the third period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images The Carolina Hurricanes have taken one important step, but they clearly want to accomplish more in the final weeks of the regular season.
They’ll have a chance to do that when the New York Islanders visit for Saturday night’s game in Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes (48-21-6, 102 points) will play their first game since clinching a playoff spot with Thursday night’s 5-1 home victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“There hasn’t been that many downs, to be quite honest,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’ve played pretty consistently throughout this year, and I think that shows.”
This is the eighth consecutive season that the Hurricanes have qualified for the postseason.
“You have to be good for six months,” Brind’Amour said of the achievement of withstanding the physical and mental grind. “We’ve got to finish out the year hard and get across the finish line (of the regular season) the best that we can.”
The Islanders (42-30-5, 89 points) are teetering on the Eastern Conference playoff line, and they’ll take a three-game losing streak into Saturday’s game. They lost 4-1 at home to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night.
Islanders coach Patrick Roy said the team needs to take care of its own business without being distracted by results of other games.
“Everybody is watching every game. Everybody is watching the standings,” Roy said. “At the end of the day, it’s about what you do. … If you start thinking about what’s happening around you, this is where problems start.”
During their current skid, they’ve been outscored 16-7.
The Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes still are in a battle for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, so there’s more to accomplish.
“There’s always room to improve, and hopefully we can keep it going and be even better coming down the stretch,” Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho said.
Carolina allowed only 10 shots on goal by Columbus, matching the fewest allowed in franchise history.
The Hurricanes, who’ve won three of their last four games, have received regular contributions from captain Jordan Staal, who played in his 1,400th career game Thursday.
“He’s the leader of all that,” Brind’Amour said.
The Hurricanes insist they don’t want to let up, particularly with the chance to secure the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
“This year is a unique opportunity again,” Aho said.
For the Islanders, Saturday marks the third set of games on back-to-back days in a two-week period. Goalie Ilya Sorokin has handled both ends of those in both previous cases, going 1-1 in the back ends of those assignments. He has played in 10 consecutive games, though Roy was non-committal on the team’s goalie plan for Saturday.
Roy said New York likely will be without defenseman Tony DeAngelo, a former Hurricane dealing with a lower-body injury, for the Carolina trip.
The Hurricanes topped the Islanders 6-2 on Oct. 30. Despite the gap in the schedule, there might not be any surprises Saturday night.
“There are no secrets,” Brind’Amour said. “Everybody knows what everybody is doing. You got to go talk about execution. You’ve got to go do it.”
The Islanders and Hurricanes also will meet in the regular-season finale April 14.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Pregame transactions help spark Giants to skid-ending win
Mar 3, 2026; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants first baseman Bryce Eldridge against Team USA during a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images The San Francisco Giants summoned help from the minors in their return home on Monday following a 0-6 road trip, and one of the call-ups delivered a skid-ending victory.
Trevor McDonald, making his first major league appearance of the season, pitched seven innings of one-run ball as San Francisco beat the San Diego Padres 3-2. The right-hander permitted two hits and no walks while striking out eight.
Two other call-ups were in the starting lineup, too. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge served as the designated hitter and went 0-for-2 with a walk, while catcher Jesus Rodriguez finished 0-for-3 in his big-league debut.
To clear spots on the roster, the Giants optioned outfielder Will Brennan to Sacramento, designated outfielder Jerar Encarnacion for assignment and placed left-hander Erik Miller on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Friday, due to a lower back strain.
The Giants scored only nine runs on their trek to face the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays. Five of those runs came in an extra-inning loss, and the Giants were shut out twice.
San Francisco is the worst team in the majors in runs (106), home runs (19), RBIs (101), bases on balls (69) and on-base percentage (.287) under first-year manager Tony Vitello.
The Giants will hope Eldridge and Rodriguez can help to unlock the offense.
The 6-foot-7, 250-pound Eldridge is just 21 and was the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2023.
In 30 games this season at Triple-A Sacramento, the first baseman is batting .333 with a .963 OPS. He has six doubles, five home runs, 22 RBIs and 25 runs. He also has walked 20 times.
The biggest knock on Eldridge is his penchant for striking out — 41 times in 114 at-bats this season — but the Giants apparently feel they are out of time to work on that at the Triple-A level.
The Giants called him up briefly last season, and he batted .107 with four RBIs and 13 strikeouts in 10 games.
MLB Pipeline ranks Eldridge as the No. 20 prospect in baseball and No. 1 in the San Francisco system. It has Rodriguez ranked No. 18 among Giants prospects.
In 24 games at Sacramento, Rodriguez is hitting .330 with two homers and 14 RBIs. The 24-year-old has played in 431 games in the minors since 2019 and has a career average of .311 with 34 homers and 240 RBIs.
McDonald, 25, had brief stints with the Giants the past two years, going a combined 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in four games (two starts). This year for Sacramento, he was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in five appearances (four starts).
Brennan, 28, went 0-for-9 in five games for San Francisco. He played for the Cleveland Guardians each of the previous four seasons.
Encarnacion, 28, was hitless in his past 11 at-bats, leaving him with a .176 average and no RBIs in 17 games this season. He played for the Giants in 2024 and 2025 after starting his major league career with the Miami Marlins in 2022.
Miller, 28, has no decisions, two saves and a 3.18 ERA in 12 appearances this season, his third year with the Giants.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Contentious third-period goal carries Knights past Ducks in Game 1
May 4, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart (79) defends his net as a deflection by Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson (91) lifts over the cross bar during the first period of game one of the second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Ivan Barbashev scored a controversial go-ahead goal with 4:58 remaining in the third period, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of their Western Conference second-round playoff series on Monday in Las Vegas.
Barbashev’s goal came after the Golden Knights regained possession in the right corner when Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe, who was screening Jack Eichel, and the rest of the Ducks let up while anticipating an icing call. Barbashev had fired the puck into the zone from behind the red line.
However, icing was waived off at the last second and Pavel Dorofeyev crossed a pass to Barbashev, who roofed a shot from the left side of the crease for the game-winner.
Carter Hart stopped 33 of 34 shots, Mitch Marner scored a empty-net goal and had an assist and Brett Howden also tallied for Vegas, which improved to 28-8-3 all-time against Anaheim, including 16-3-1 at home.
Mikael Granlund scored a goal and Lukas Dostal finished with 19 saves for Anaheim.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Shortly after Anaheim’s Troy Terry rang a wrist shot from the right circle off the right post, Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 3:14 mark of the second period. Howden, who scored only 12 goals in 58 regular-season games, produced his fifth in seven playoff games when he redirected Marner’s cross-ice pass through traffic inside the left post.
Anaheim had an excellent chance to tie it midway through the period when Leo Carlsson made a highlight-reel spinning pass to LaCombe alone at the edge of the right circle. However, LaCombe, the team’s leading scorer in the Ducks’ first-round win over Edmonton with nine points, passed up a shot at a wide-open net to pass to Terry in front of the blue paint. The puck slid past Terry’s stick.
The Ducks tied it 1-1 with 6:03 to go in the third period. LaCombe drove down the left wing and crossed a pass to Granlund, who ripped in a wrist shot for his third goal of the playoffs.
Vegas regained the lead just 65 seconds later on Barbashev’s goal as Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville and the Ducks bench angrily protested the non-icing call.
The Ducks pulled Dostal for an extra attacker with 1:55 to go, and Marner sealed the win with a length-of-the-ice empty-netter with six seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Munetaka Murakami homers again as White Sox top Angels
May 4, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami (5) watches the flight of the ball on a two-run home run in the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images Munetaka Murakami had three hits, scored three runs and smacked his 14th homer to back Davis Martin as the Chicago White Sox shut out the Los Angeles Angels 6-0 on Monday in Anaheim, Calif.
Miguel Vargas also homered to help the White Sox beat the Angels for the fourth time in eight days. Chicago has won six of its last seven to move one game below .500.
Andrew Benintendi had four hits and one RBI, Jarred Kelenic had three hits, and Vargas and Sam Antonacci each had two hits as the White Sox racked up 16 overall.
Martin (5-1) gave up five hits, struck out a career-high 10 and didn’t walk anybody over seven shutout innings in winning his third straight decision. He has allowed one or no runs in five of his past six starts.
Sean Newcomb struck out four in two perfect innings to complete the shutout.
Los Angeles’ Jose Soriano (5-2) served up two homers while being touched up by Chicago for the second straight outing. He had a microscopic 0.24 ERA over his first six starts before giving up eight runs and 14 hits over nine innings in the two starts, raising his ERA to 1.74.
Soriano permitted five runs and eight hits over four innings on Monday. He struck out five and walked three.
Nolan Schanuel and Travis d’Arnaud had two hits apiece for the Angels, who have lost 13 of their past 15 games.
Soriano walked Antonacci and Murakami to open the game before striking out the next two batters. Chase Meidroth then delivered a run-scoring single to center, and Benintendi followed with a ground single to center to make it 2-0.
In the fourth, Antonacci singled to left with one out and Murakami followed with a 429-foot blast to center to join to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in a tie for the major league home run lead.
Three pitches later, Vargas jumped on Soriano’s fastball and homered to right-center to make it 5-0.
The White Sox added on in the eighth when Murakami, Vargas and Colson Montgomery hit consecutive two-out singles off Mitch Farris.
–Field Level Media
