Sports
Panthers See Another Chance At Cup Slip Away, Fall To Oilers 5-3 In Game 5
SUNRISE, Florida – Matthew Tkachuk ran off at full speed from around center ice, chasing a puck over his head and was headed straight for an empty net.
He dived. He stretched out his stick. He swatted and barely knocked the puck away, keeping the Florida Panthers’ chances of forcing extra alive. The problem was that the next player to get to the puck was Connor McDavid, who scored to seal the game.
This was how the Panthers’ Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final played out. Even when they did well, it needed to be better. Another lengthy travel to Alberta awaits, and this title series is quickly looking very tight.
Panthers See Another Chance At Cup Slip Away, Fall To Oilers 5-3 In Game 5
The Panthers allowed two power-play goals and a shorthanded goal, fell behind 3-0 before rallying, and lost 5-3 to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the championship series on Tuesday night. It was Florida’s second consecutive loss in a Cup game, following an 8-1 defeat in Edmonton the previous weekend.
Game 6 takes place on Friday night.
“I am not pumping tyres. I’m not stroking backs. “I don’t think we need that at all,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice stated. “Everybody probably feels the same way I do right now. I’m not feeling down. Neither is the hockey squad. They’re not feeling down. “A little grumpy.”
A lot cranky.
“We’re going to turn the page,” said forward Evan Rodrigues. “We’re going to learn from this one.”
Florida’s Rodrigues and Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, while the Panthers’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots for Florida, extending the franchise’s 30-year wait for its first Stanley Cup triumph by at least three days.
“We get another shot at it on Friday,” Tkachuk explained.
McDavid scored two goals and two assists in the Stanley Cup Final, becoming the first player in NHL history to have back-to-back four-point games, while Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard scored three assists. Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, and Corey Perry scored for the Oilers, while Stuart Skinner stopped 29 shots.
McDavid stated that it was a total team effort. It was, but it was also another heroic effort from McDavid, the game’s top player who is breaking new ground in the series.
McDavid has 42 points in the playoffs, which is the fourth-highest total in NHL history. The only guys ahead of him are the ones everyone expects: Wayne Gretzky scored 47 points in 1985, Mario Lemieux had 44 in 1991, and Gretzky had 43 in 1988.
McDavid will have at least one — and ideally two — games to add to his total. If there is a Game 7, it will take place in Sunrise on Monday night.
“Anytime you’re in the same realm as those two, it’s always a good thing,” McDavid stated.
It was the first time in Panthers history that they played a home game with the opportunity to win the Cup. Another sellout crowd arrived, with some buying more than $1,000 each for tickets on the secondary market – boosting Florida’s total attendance for the season beyond 1 million for the first time.
They arrived to view the trophy.
The Oilers wouldn’t let that happen. When it was finished, Tkachuk was asked if the Panthers felt any pressure.
“No. No. “No,” Tkachuk replied. “This isn’t an elimination game for us. We’re heading up there with a 3-2 series lead; we just need to take care of business like we did in Game 3.”
Panthers See Another Chance At Cup Slip Away, Fall To Oilers 5-3 In Game 5
Edmonton entered the night having scored 10 of the series’ last 11 goals, including a 2-0 third period in Game 3 and an 8-1 rout in Game 4.
And the Oilers continued where they left off, with an amazing masterclass in special-teams play.
Game 5 began in the same way as Game 4, with Edmonton scoring on a shorthanded opportunity. Brown assisted on Saturday night, but he scored unassisted in this one, and the Oilers were on their way. Florida committed a penalty (interference by Niko Mikkola) as time expired in the first, which proved costly.
With two seconds left in the second period’s first power play, Hyman made it 2-0, and McDavid extended Edmonton’s advantage to 3-0 three minutes later from an extremely difficult angle.
For over two decades, the three-goal lead has proved unassailable in the Stanley Cup Final; no team has fallen after leading by three in a title-series game since Edmonton defeated Carolina in 2006. Since then, every squad has gone 39-0 in similar contests.
Panthers See Another Chance At Cup Slip Away, Fall To Oilers 5-3 In Game 5
Make it 40–0. But the Panthers made things interesting.
By the end of the second period, it was 4-2, with Tkachuk and Rodrigues sandwiching goals around Perry’s first playoff goal, which was set up by a great feed from McDavid. Ekman-Larsson scored early in the third period, but the equalizer never arrived.
“Never want to put yourself behind the 8-ball,” Rodrigues remarked. “We need to win one game.” Simple as that. Go up there and win one game. That is our mindset. That is exactly what we are going to do.
SOURCE – (AP)
Sports
Men’s Golf Will Have A Good Attendance Record At The Paris Olympics
As seen by attendance, the Olympics have progressed significantly in the 12 years since golf returned to the program.
This year, very few people are staying at home.
Bernd Wiesberger was one of two qualified players who chose not to play, which was unusual.
Wiesberger was Austria’s third-ranked player until tying for second place in the European Open, where he unexpectedly passed Matthias Schwab. He then withdrew almost quickly, which was not surprising given that Wiesberger previously withdrew from the Tokyo Games.
Cristobal Del Solar of Chile also withdrew, citing the fact that he is on the verge of receiving his first PGA Tour card and did not want to miss time on the Korn Ferry Tour.
The remaining qualified players have all confirmed their participation in Paris.
Adam Scott opposed golf in the Olympics from the outset and withdrew again. Brooks Koepka and Tyrrell Hatton also withdrew, though neither was eligible.
This contrasts sharply with the Rio Olympics, where the top four players in the world—Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Jason Day—were among the dozen or so who stayed home.
This was mainly due to concerns about the Zika virus. McIlroy later stated that he despised the Olympics for making him choose between Ireland and Britain, but he eventually changed his mind and played for Ireland in Tokyo.
Men’s Golf Will Have A Good Attendance Record At The Paris Olympics
The Tokyo Games, which were postponed a year to 2021, had no fans due to the pandemic and daily COVID-19 exams. Eleven players, including Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Matt Fitzpatrick, Louis Oosthuizen, Francesco Molinari, and Camilo Villegas, elected not to play.
Villegas, Fitzpatrick, and Emiliano Grillo, three players who elected not to participate in Tokyo, will travel to Paris. The others were ineligible.
Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau were scheduled to play in Tokyo until they tested positive for COVID-19 and were forced to withdraw. Rahm will be in Paris, and DeChambeau is the second alternate.
But it’s a welcome difference that no one is discussing who isn’t going to the Olympics, at least among the males. It was never an issue for the women, who have been out in full force since the beginning.
The men’s Olympic field will have eight of the top ten players and thirteen of the top 25. Countries are allocated two players — a maximum of four if all are in the top 15 — ensuring that every eligible player attends Le Golf National.
Open and close?
Cam Davis of Australia won the Rocket Mortgage Classic, moving up to No. 38 in the global rankings. That may be needed to qualify him for the British Open.
Davis is almost set to be the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking next week, which the R&A indicated it will use as a reserve list. Thomas Detry of Belgium is next on the OWGR, at No. 50 among those not previously exempt.
The question is whether a reserve list is necessary.
As of Tuesday, the field for the British Open was 132 participants (assuming Todd Hamilton does not compete since he has not since 2018). Two spots are available at the John Deere Classic, five for the top 20 players in the Race to Dubai following this week, and three for the Scottish Open.
Following Tuesday’s 36-hole qualifying round, 16 additional slots were added to the field. That brings the field to 158 players (or 159) when it should be 156. A reserve list or room for Davis may be unnecessary.
According to the R&A, two to three players often withdraw for various reasons, bringing the field back to 156. However, the Open will go with that number if it arrives at 158 (or 159).
Having a field of more than 156 players in the United Kingdom is not an issue because it only grows dark around 10 p.m. in the summer. The last time the field topped 156 participants was in 1995 when there were 159 at St. Andrews.
Davis’ sole path to Royal Troon could be to win one of the two spots available at the Scottish Open next week.
The wonderful life of Richard Bland
Richard Bland has won two of golf’s most prestigious senior majors, the U.S. Senior Open in a playoff at Newport and the Senior PGA Championship.
And now? We’re heading to Andalucia.
That is the next stop for LIV Golf. Bland has been a member of the LIV since its inception in 2022, with Saudi funding. He competed on the rival tour but has no status as one of the PGA Tour Champions.
Senior majors are only granted an exemption for the following year (2025). Even if Bland wanted to play the PGA Tour Champions, he’d have to wait a year after his last appearance on LIV Golf. If he stops now, it will be next July.
But why would he want to do this?
Bland can now compete in the two biggest senior majors next year. Bland has already earned slightly more over $2.3 million on LIV Golf this year, with his best finish of tied for seventh. It’s a tight timetable with big money.
Bland made $4.4 million on LIV last year, and he earned just more than $3.5 million in seven tournaments during the 2022 season. Steve Stricker had to win six times, including three majors, to earn under $4 million on the PGA Tour Champions last year.
Men’s Golf Will Have A Good Attendance Record At The Paris Olympics
A true rock star.
Fast-talking Rocco Mediate now broadcasts a twice-weekly show on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. Now he’s bringing in a true rockstar.
Media and shock rock superstar Alice Cooper have teamed up for a monthly show called “Rolling the Rock with Alice Cooper and Rocco Mediate,” which premieres on Tuesday at 6 p.m. EDT.
Cooper began playing golf 50 years ago while recovering from alcoholism, has a handicap index of 4, and claims to be on the course six days a week, including while traveling.
Cooper and Mediate, a six-time PGA Tour champion best known for losing a U.S. Open playoff to Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines, will share stories from their careers, welcome guests from the golf and entertainment sectors, and discuss current golf topics.
“It’s a completely improvised ‘anything goes’ show. Cooper stated, “We don’t know what we’re going to talk about until we start.” “We’re quite literally just ‘rolling the rock.'”
Divots
This is Deere & Co.’s 25th year as title sponsor of the John Deere Classic, making it the PGA Tour’s second-longest continuous title sponsor after the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (39 years). Cameron Young has 18 top-10 finishes in his three full PGA Tour seasons. He is still waiting for his first win. Richard Bland got $800,000 for his U.S. Senior Open triumph, the third-highest salary of his career. He won $1.175 million in a three-way tie for third place at LIV Golf events in Thailand and Greenbrier last year.
Stat of the Week
Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton tied for tenth place in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, becoming the third amateur this year to finish in the top ten on the PGA Tour. This features American Express winner Nick Dunlap.
Final word
“It simply made me a better player. You will not always play your best golf, but I am the best player I have ever been.” ― Richard Bland about his experience playing LIV Golf.
Sports
Ronaldo Says He Is Playing His ‘Last European Championship’
HAMBURG, Germany — Cristiano Ronaldo has declared that he will retire after this year’s European Championship.
The 39-year-old Portuguese legend is competing in the Euros for the sixth time and has helped his side advance to the quarterfinals, where Kylian Mbappé and France will face off on Friday in Hamburg.
Ronaldo Says He Is Playing His ‘Last European Championship’
Ronaldo told Portuguese public radio RTP following the penalty shootout triumph over Slovenia on Monday: “It is, without a certain, my final European Championship.
“But I am not emotional about it. I’m moved by everything football represents—the enthusiasm I have for the game, the excitement of seeing my supporters, my family, and the devotion people have for me.”
Ronaldo, one of the most prolific scorers in soccer history with a record 14 goals at the European Championships, stated that his major drive today is “making people happy.” During the Slovenia game, he burst into tears when a penalty was saved in overtime.
Ronaldo Says He Is Playing His ‘Last European Championship’
“It’s not about leaving the world of football,” he informed me. “What else can I do or win?” It will not come down to one point more or less.”
SOURCE – (AP)
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