Sports
Hurricanes, Golden Knights Appear Destined for Stanley Cup Final Clash
The Vegas Golden Knights have already punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.
It is just a matter of time before the Carolina Hurricanes do the same.
The Hurricanes are one win away from dispatching the overmatched Montreal Canadiens and advancing to the championship round for the first time in 20 years.
Oh sure, the Canadiens may prolong the series with a victory in Friday’s Game 5, in Raleigh, N.C., but anybody wanting to bet on the long odds that Montreal can erase its 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals would be a fool parting with their money.
After serving up a dud in the series opener, a 6-2 Montreal victory, the Hurricanes have been the overwhelming better team, and hit another gear in the latest win.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens have managed only 43 shots on goal over the past three games, the exact same Carolina fired in the 4-0 victory on Wednesday.
The Canadiens have taken a big step forward this season, but the Hurricanes have shown the young Montreal squad must make a few more leaps to become legitimate Cup contenders.
Which means it is time to gear up for a showdown between the Eastern Conference’s regular-season champs and a Vegas squad that caught fire down the stretch thanks to a coaching change and provided the surprise of the playoffs to reach the final.
Here are some other thoughts as the Stanley Cup chase heads to the championship round.
As much as the injuries cost the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals, the Vegas Golden Knights were full marks for sweeping the league’s regular-season champions.
The Golden Knights are not easy to like with coach John Tortorella and his churlish ways, the cut-throat business decisions and past examples of flouting the rules, but it once again worked in Las Vegas.
The improved goaltending has been a huge boon to the Golden Knights, as has been the play of Mitch Marner, but the impact of replacing Bruce Cassidy with Tortorella with only a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season has been shockingly brilliant.
Tortorella must be credited for how he changed the fortunes without actually changing the system. With him at the helm, all of those players who were under-achieving found their footing just in time to win the Pillow Fight Pacific Division and since marched to the final.
And like Carolina, the Golden Knights have become better as every series continued along.
It will make for an interesting final round.
As for those who will decry a Carolina-Vegas matchup as not being sexy from a marketing perspective, they are missing the boat. The Golden Knights are proud to be the bad boys and a team people cheer against.
Finally, the post-mortem of Colorado’s season is an interesting study. First off, calls for the firing of coach Jared Bednar are absurd. Injuries, especially to Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon were fatal for the club.
That said, the Avalanche are in a precarious spot. Colorado will continue to be a contender, but the window for this core group’s second Stanley Cup title is closing quickly.
Other than Makar and forward Martin Necas, all of the team’s key players are past age 30, their goaltending eventually faltered when needed most and roster holes will become harder to fill for a team that has mortgaged its future in an attempt to duplicate its 2022 championship, having traded away its next three first-round picks.
The Avalanche braintrust must come up with some creative ways to remain a top dog.
Sports
Reports: Giants QB Jaxson Dart, teammates clear air over rally in closed-door meeting
Eat Rutherford, NJ — May 9, 2025 — Jaxson Dart with Abdul Carter after Carter spoke to the media following practice at Giants Rookie Minicamp. Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart addressed teammates to clear the air over his appearance at a Republican-backed event in New York that featured President Donald Trump, according to multiple reports.
Dart introduced Trump last week at festivities supporting the campaign of Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents New York’s Hudson Valley in Congress and is running for a third term.
Dart’s presence and on-the-mic role at the rally sparked a reaction from Giants pass rusher Abdul Carter, the third overall draft pick in 2025 — the same year in which the Giants selected Dart with the 25th pick.
“Thought this (s—) was AI,” Carter wrote in a since-deleted post on X that showed the video featuring Dart’s introduction of the president. “What we doing, man?”
ESPN reported veteran quarterback Jameis Winston and edge rusher Brian Burns addressed the team in the same meeting with a goal of shifting the focus to keeping concerns and differences of opinion in house.
Earlier this week, Carter attempted to downplay perception the draft-class peers were at odds over a political divide with another post to social media.
“Me & JD6 are good!” he wrote on X about Dart but since deleted the post. “We spoke earlier as Men. Yall can keep yall narratives.”
The Giants were 4-13 in the first season with Dart and Carter. They hired a new head coach — John Harbaugh — and he was put in an awkward position during the draft.
Harbaugh was called to defend the selections of linebacker Arvell Reese (No. 5 pick) and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa (No. 10) instead of Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, the player wide receiver Malik Nabers openly lobbied for. Downs wound up being selected by the rival Dallas Cowboys in the No. 11 slot.
Nabers backtracked on the criticism after he said Harbaugh explained how the Giants’ defense would unleash Reese in a creative, matchup-based role.
Harbaugh and his younger brother, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, were Trump’s guests at the White House in 2025. At the time, John Harbaugh coached the Baltimore Ravens.
John Harbaugh panned media members in Baltimore pressing about his decision to visit the White House at the time, and Harbaugh flipped the question, asking why the query didn’t focus on “a chance to go visit the president.”
“It was amazing. It was awesome. And I promise you I root for our president,” Harbaugh said in July 2025. “I want our president to be successful just like I want my quarterback to be successful and I want my team to be successful, and it was an amazing experience.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kyle Busch battled illness for 'weeks' according to death certificate
May 23, 2026; Concord, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Motor Speedways’ main video board pay homage to deceased driver Kyle Busch before qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images NASCAR star Kyle Busch was potentially ill for “weeks” leading up to his untimely passing, his death certificate revealed Thursday.
The cause of death was confirmed to be triggered by sepsis, which developed from a bout of bacterial pneumonia, as family revealed following Busch’s death on May 21. Sepsis triggered clotting within blood vessels that cut off flow to vital organs.
Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who is considered one of the best drivers of all time, was 41.
Busch experienced shortness of breath and was coughing up blood the day before his death, according to a 911 call obtained by USA Today.
He is survived by his wife Samantha, 11-year-old son Brexton and 4-year-old daughter Lennix. He was the younger brother of NASCAR Hall of Fame member Kurt Busch, 47.
The Busch family was on hand for Saturday’s Cup Series race at Charlotte, N.C., as NASCAR conducted a weekend of tributes to the late champion.
Those tributes will be ongoing, with rival driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. revealing he will compete in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Nashville this weekend with the same NOS Energy Drink paint scheme Busch used until 2017. Busch delivered 22 of his record 102 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victories with the paint scheme.
Busch accrued a record 234 wins across NASCAR’s top three series: 63 in the Cup Series, 102 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and 69 in the Craftsman Truck Series. He won a trucks race at Dover, Del., just six days before his death.
The Las Vegas native was the NASCAR Cup Series champion in 2015 and 2019. He never won the Daytona 500 but claimed the pole for the first time this year before finishing 15th. His biggest wins included the 2008 Southern 500, the 2015 and 2016 Brickyard 400 and 2019 Coca-Cola 600.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Angels reinstate LHP Drew Pomeranz from injured list
May 12, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Drew Pomeranz (13) delivers a pitch in the seventh inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Angels reinstated left-hander Drew Pomeranz from the 15-day injured list on Thursday.
The 37-year-old reliever landed on the IL on May 13 with inflammation in his pitching elbow.
Pomeranz is 0-3 with a 7.20 ERA, eight walks and 12 strikeouts in 15 innings in his first season with the Angels.
He is 50-63 with 10 saves, a 3.87 ERA in 363 career games (144 starts) with eight teams since debuting in 2011.
The Angels optioned left-hander Tayler Saucedo to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move Wednesday night.
–Field Level Media
Reports: Giants QB Jaxson Dart, teammates clear air over rally in closed-door meeting
Kyle Busch battled illness for 'weeks' according to death certificate
