The Florida Panthers dominated Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
Jordan Staal, the Hurricanes' captain, offered a blunt assessment of how the game went.
"An a-- whooping," Staal told Walt Ruff.
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The Hurricanes' loss was their 14th straight in a conference final, dating back to sweeps in 2009, 2019 and the 2023 round with the Panthers.
"I think we're all a little bit at a loss," Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall said.
At one point, fans started chanting, "Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck!" The Hurricanes managed just 17 shots on goal in the loss.
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"This game is mental," Staal said. "I mean, it's all about the brain and your focus and the thoughts that can creep in. It's got to be the thoughts we've been thinking all year, and that's playing our game and focusing on our shifts and our battles and doing what we do.
"When you let those thoughts like that come in, it never looks good. I think we've got to believe in the group and what we have and what we've done all year and go steal one in Game 3."
Carolina's last conference final win was in Game 7 in 2006 against Buffalo during the franchise's lone Cup title run. Current head coach Rod Brind'Amour was the captain of that team who scored the third-period winner against the Buffalo Sabres.
Now Brind’Amour will hope to lead a turnaround in Game 3, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Neville was denied accreditation for the Premier League clash with Chelsea and will no longer be part of Sky’s coverage
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Spurs captain Son Heung-min reveals he’s been doing lots of “partying” after he led his club to victory in the Europa League final on Wednesday (21 May), in a moment he says he will “never forget”.
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Caitlin Clark has been the brunt of hard fouls and side chatter since Day 1 of her WNBA career - but Jemele Hill says it's "just competition."
Clark became a phenom in college with a record-breaking career at Iowa when she became the NCAA's all-time leading scorer for both men and women.
In April of last year, she was the No. 1 overall pick and practically just as she stepped on a WNBA court, the conversation began about whether her popularity was due to her race. In fact, it was a claim that WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson had made, saying that Clark being White was a "huge thing" when it came to Clark's popularity.
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Then came some hard fouls, trash talk and allegations of racism at Indiana Fever games, and this season, we've already seen Clark separated from opponents twice in just three games.
One of those instances came on Thursday night against the Atlanta Dream, but Hill said on social media that it's just the nature of basketball.
Jason McInture saw the clip of Clark and Rhyne Howard going at it, to which he posted, "Here we go with wnba players going after Caitlin Clark again."
Hill then replied, "Y'all really need to stop this," adding, "We need to stop with this idea that Caitlin Clark is specifically attacked. Think she would find this extra insulting. A lot of this s--t is just competition. Y’all do not do this with men. Like, ever."
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With less than 30 seconds to go in the first quarter, Caitlin Clark and Rhyne Howard exchanged some words and had to be separated. Howard was playing full-court defense on Clark, who was dribbling up the court.
Refs whistled the play, and the two bumped into one another. Both appeared to extend an arm, and Clark began to walk away from the situation before Howard took a step forward. But one of Howard's teammates quickly stepped in and led Howard away.
"I'm not scared of you," Clark appeared to say, and she was backed by her teammates.
It was a slow night overall for Clark, who had just six points heading into the fourth quarter. She had 27 points two nights earlier against Atlanta.
Indiana trailed, 75-71, with just over two minutes to go, but it ended the game on a 10-1 run to earn an 82-76 win. Clark added five points in the fourth quarter to finish with 11.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates' general manager Ben Cherington made it clear that, despite the team’s brutal start to the season, they will not trade ace Paul Skenes.
Skenes, 22, has taken MLB by storm since his debut last year and is already one of the sport's best pitchers. Fans and experts have theorized that moving Skenes now would garner a return in a trade that could propel the Pirates back into contention.
However, Cherington shut that notion down.
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"No, it's not part of the conversation at all," Cherington said on Wednesday.
The Pirates are 17-34 this season and last in NL Central, and no team has scored fewer runs in baseball. They have scored 151 runs this season, 13 runs less than the next closest team, the Chicago White Sox.
The Pirates' team batting average is .219, which is the second-lowest in baseball. A trade of Skenes, while he remains under team control for the rest of the decade, would provide the Pirates with a bevy of talent that could infuse their lineup.
Cherington knows the lineup is an issue, but does not want to trade Skenes.
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"We've just got to get better," Cherington said. "Let’s play better baseball, and that’s going to lead to winning more games. Then, let’s wake up and see where that takes us when we get to July."
"We want guys from Triple-A to pound the door down," Cherington said. "That would be good. I still think that can happen this year. We want more of it over time. . . . Everybody knows we’ve got to score more runs. That’s not going to happen just by saying it and hoping for it. You’ve got to do the work to do it."
Skenes last start was against the Philadelphia Phillies last weekend, in which Skenes limited the Phillies to three hits while throwing the first complete game of his career.
The Pirates fired manager Derek Shelton a couple of weeks ago, but that hasn’t changed their losing ways.
The starting rotation has been solid but has received little help from the lineup or bullpen.
Skenes (2.44), Mitch Keller (3.88), Andrew Heaney (2.91) and Bailey Falter (3.50) have all been great, yet they also have a combined record of 11-21.
In 33 career starts, Skenes is 14-8 with a 2.12 ERA and an astounding 232 strikeouts in 195.2 career innings pitched.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Zimbabwe (265 & 30-2) trail England (565/6d) by 270 runs: Back from an injured hamstring, the England captain produced a key burst of fast bowling to help his side seize total control at Trent Bridge
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