Sports
Pens out to end trip with win vs. improving Canadiens
Oct 9, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) looks on against the New York Rangers during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images With one win through three games, the Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t off to a strong start. They’ll look to turn things around quickly when they close out a three-game road trip with a visit to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
The Penguins are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Kris Letang opened the scoring before Toronto responded with three unanswered goals. Rickard Rakell pulled Pittsburgh within one before an empty-net goal sealed the loss.
Average to underwhelming results in October are nothing new for Pittsburgh. Last season, they went 3-6-0 through the first month of the campaign. In 2022-23 and 2021-22, they trudged through a .500 record, going 4-4-1 and 3-3-2, respectively.
“We didn’t like our first game. I thought the last two we gave ourselves a chance to win,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “… We’re just trying to get this one. Two out of three on the road would be pretty good. Obviously starts are important. If you look at our last couple of seasons, we missed the playoffs by a point or two. A good start goes a long way, so we’ll try to make sure that we’re getting better here.”
Crosby is second on the team with three points, all assists, one behind Evgeni Malkin, whose four points are also all assists.
Malkin earned two of those helpers against Toronto, to hit 1,300 career points in his NHL career. He reached 800 career assists Thursday against Detroit and sits two goals shy of 500. Only Crosby (1,599) and Alex Ovechkin (1,551) have more points among active players.
“I think it speaks for itself,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “(Malkin is) one of the greatest players of all time. He’s clearly one of the best players of this generation. We’re fortunate that we have two of them on our team. It’s quite a privilege to watch these two guys perform. … I know the Pittsburgh fan base feels the same way.”
The Canadiens, meanwhile, are feeling good with two wins in their first three games, most recently a 4-1 victory against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
They’ve been fueled by Samuel Montembeault, who’s been between the pipes for their two victories, and the offensive talents of forward Cole Caufield and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson.
“It feels pretty good right now, but it’s only three games,” Caufield said. “We’ve played some pretty tough teams, but it’s still early and we still have a long way to go. But it feels pretty good to get off to a good start.”
Caufield, who has scored at least 20 goals over the last three seasons while steadily increasing his totals, has four through the first three games to lead the team.
Hutson is tied with Caufield for the team lead in points (four), picking up four assists — two in each of the past two games. Hutson also had two assists in his first two NHL games at the end of last season.
“His ability to detect space on the play is really impressive,” defenseman Mike Matheson said of Hutson. “It seems like he’s always able to take the puck and spot a player who’s open. It’s really impressive to do that after five games.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Sixers star C Joel Embiid (knee) won't play in preseason
Sep 30, 2024; Camden, NJ, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) poses for a photo on media day at the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid won’t play until the regular season due to his balky left knee.
The 76ers announced the decision Sunday after Embiid missed preseason games against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday and the Boston Celtics on Saturday.
“As part of his left knee management, Joel Embiid was assessed by doctors on Thursday,” the team said. “Embiid is progressing well and will continue to take part in an individual treatment plan designed to best support his health and wellness for the 2024-25 season. He will not play in this week’s preseason games. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.”
Embiid recently said he dropped 25 to 30 pounds in the offseason to help take pressure off the knee.
Embiid will miss preseason games against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday and Orlando Magic on Friday.
Philadelphia opens the regular season on Oct. 23 against the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.
Embiid played in just 39 regular-season games last season mainly due to his troublesome left knee.
Embiid, 30, was injured in a collision with Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga on Jan. 30. He underwent a procedure to fix the damage to his meniscus on Feb. 6.
He hobbled through the playoffs after returning to action.
Embiid was superb in the regular season by averaging 34.7 points and 11 rebounds and making the All-Star team for the seventh straight season.
Embiid was NBA MVP for the 2022-23 season when he averaged 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds in 66 games. He is a two-time scoring champion and also won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in the summer.
Overall, Embiid has averages of 27.9 points and 11.2 rebounds in 433 games over eight seasons.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jerry Kelly hangs on to win SAS Championship
Jerry Kelly, right, shares a laugh with his caddy on the 16th hole during the Kaulig Companies Championship pro-am at Firestone Country Club, Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in Akron, Ohio. Jerry Kelly shot a 5-under-par 67 and held on to win the SAS Championship by one stroke on Sunday at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, N.C.
Kelly made his only bogey of the day at the par-4 18th hole to settle for 13-under 203, and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington moved to 13 under at around the same time with a birdie at the par-5 17th. But Harrington also proceeded to bogey No. 18 after missing both the fairway and the green on his first two shots.
Harrington’s par attempt to force a playoff hit the edge of the cup and lipped out.
It marked Kelly’s 12th win on the PGA Tour Champions and his first since August 2022.
“It’s a long time coming,” Kelly said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “You wonder if you’re even going to do it again when the injuries start piling up.”
Kelly began the day tied for second, three shots off the pace of Harrington, who has won eight times since joining the tour in 2022. Kelly birdied Nos. 1, 3 and 5 to make his move up the leaderboard.
Kelly passed Harrington on the leaderboard with another trio of birdies at Nos. 10, 12 and 13, while the Irishman had just two birdies and a bogey through 12 holes. Harrington missed birdie chances at the 13th through 16th holes before finally getting one to go at the penultimate hole.
Sunday marked the end of the PGA Tour Champions regular season, and the top 72 players in the points standings qualified for the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs. That included Woody Austin, who despite posting a 3-over 75 on Sunday finished T17 at 4 under par. He moved from No. 73 to No. 71 in points.
“That’s what I tried to do coming in this week,” Austin said of making the playoffs. “To have to hit it that good just to finish in the top-20 (of the tournament), that’s ridiculous. I’m glad that I get to at least play one more tournament.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees, Guardians express mutual respect ahead of ALCS
Oct 7, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon (55) throws a pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning during game two of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images NEW YORK — The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians are well-acquainted with each other in the postseason, but rarely when an American League pennant is on the line.
After finishing with the top two records in the AL, the Yankees and Guardians open up the ALCS Monday night with Game 1 in the best-of-seven series.
“They do it a lot of different ways,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Guardians. “A tremendous bullpen, athletic, they defend really well. They’re pretty balanced in their attack. Obviously, they have a couple of guys that can really hurt you in the middle of the order (with) a superstar player in (Jose) Ramirez.”
New York left-hander Carlos Rodon (0-1, 9.82 ERA) opposes Cleveland right-hander Alex Cobb (0-1, 6.00) in the opener.
The teams are playing each other in the postseason for the seventh time and third time in the past five seasons. The only time they met in the ALCS occurred in 1998, when the Yankees won the final three games to take the series in six.
The Yankees claimed the past three postseason encounters, but those were short series. They won the AL Division Series in 2017 and 2022 and the 2020 wild-card series when the sport expanded the playoffs to 16 teams on account of the 60-game season.
New York earned home-field advantage in the series by going 94-68 and edging Cleveland by 1 1/2 games in the race for the best record. The Yankees are slightly better rested after closing out the ALDS in four games thanks to a 3-1 win at Kansas City on Thursday.
The Yankees hit .220 in the series, where each game was decided by two runs or fewer. While Giancarlo Stanton was 6-for-16 and Juan Soto went 4-for-14, Aaron Judge was 2-for-13.
Cleveland needed five games to get past the Detroit Tigers and is in the ALCS for the first time since 2016. Ramirez was 3-for-16 in the series but Steven Kwan batted .524 (11-for-21) and Lane Thomas batted .316 (6-for-19), including a grand slam off Tarik Skubal in Saturday’s 7-3 win.
The Guardians dropped four of six meetings in the regular season with the Yankees due to inconsistent offense. Cleveland scored 17 runs across the two wins but was outscored 25-5 in the four losses.
“We know the Yankees are good,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “They played us tough. This is a really good team we’re about to go up against but we’re confident in who we are, and that’s all we can control is us. It is going to be a fun series, and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Rodon was in line to start Game 5 of the ALDS on Saturday and to avoid giving him a longer layoff, the Yankees opted to start the series with him over Clarke Schmidt, who pitches Game 3 on Thursday.
After winning a career-high 16 games during the regular season, Rodon allowed four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings in a 4-2 loss in Game 2 against Kansas City a week ago. Rodon started quickly and got seven strikeouts but struggled to command his slider during a four-run fourth.
Rodon did not face Cleveland during the regular season and is 8-5 with a 2.81 ERA in 21 career appearances (19 starts) against them, including a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox on April 14, 2021.
Ramirez has faced Rodon the most of any current Guardian. The third baseman is 10-for-43 (.233) with five RBIs against him.
“It’s a formidable lineup,” Rodon said. “It is very good. They wouldn’t be in the LCS for no reason. It’s going to be a fun challenge, and a lot of respect for that Cleveland team.”
Cobb took the loss in Game 3 against Detroit on Wednesday when he allowed two runs on three hits in three innings while throwing 41 pitches in a 3-0 defeat. He made that start after various injuries limited him to three starts with Cleveland after being acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline.
Since Cobb spent 2011 to 2020 in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles, he has plenty of experience against the Yankees. In 20 regular-season starts against New York, he is 7-5 with a 3.19 ERA.
“They’ve seen me plenty over the years, most of the guys have at least,” Cobb said Sunday. “I think the positive is that you’ve gone through all these adversities throughout the year, and you’re sitting here and getting the ball in Game 1 of the ALCS.”
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
Sixers star C Joel Embiid (knee) won't play in preseason
Jerry Kelly hangs on to win SAS Championship
