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As each NHL team is eliminated from the postseason, we'll take a look at why its quest for the Stanley Cup fell short in 2018-19, three keys to its offseason, impact prospects for 2019-20 and a way-too-early prediction for what next season will hold.
What went wrong
Let's be clear: This New York Islanders season was not a failure. In many ways, it was a season to be celebrated. Transforming from a team that surrendered the most goals in the NHL (296) to the team with the fewest goals allowed (196), and without making any significant personnel additions to the blue line? That's sensational. Losing the captain and leading goal scorer and replacing him with a bunch of fourth-liners, then seeing the team increase its standings point total by 26? Expectations blown away. Signing a veteran goalie as a stopgap and seeing him get nominated for the Vezina Trophy? And in a platoon? Where the duo combined to win the Jennings Trophy?
There was a lot to like about the 2018-19 Islanders, and coach Barry Trotz and GM Lou Lamoriello (both industry veterans in their first year with the team) will get due credit. When everyone thought the Islanders couldn't sustain it, they did, exceeding 100 points and sweeping the Sidney Crosby-led Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.
And then it all unraveled. You can rationalize that the Islanders ran into a freight train in the second round, and that's partially true. The Carolina Hurricanes are brewing something special this postseason. But in the second-round series, during which the Islanders fell flat, many of their flaws were exposed. Mistakes added up.
Their defense was adequate, but they simply could not muster enough goals. A team of high-character, bottom-nine (and defense-minded) guys can take you only so far. In today's NHL, you need at least one supremely talented superstar who can take over a game, and the Islanders had nobody like that on the roster.
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With 5-2 victory, Carolina advances to Eastern Conference final
Published in
Hockey
Friday, 03 May 2019 19:48
HURRICANES
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Van Dam (77) 'disappointed' after bad putting day at Mediheal
Published in
Golf
Friday, 03 May 2019 12:14
DALY CITY, Calif. – The shortest club in the bag derailed long-hitting Anne van Dam in the second round of the Mediheal Championship.
After opening with a 5-under-par 67 to take a share of the first-round lead at Lake Merced Golf Club, the Dutch rookie stumbled to a 77 on Friday.
“It was mainly my putting,” said Van Dam, 23, who leads the LPGA in driving distance (289 yards per drive). “I had a few bad three putts, missed some short putts, and then that got me out of it with my swing, over the last few holes.”
Van Dam took a whopping 35 putts in the second round and fell back to even par overall.
With Lake Merced playing tough, Van Dam’s consolation is that it looks as if nobody is going to run too far away from her.
“I’m really disappointed about today, but I still have two rounds,” she said. “I know I can shoot a low round out here. I’m just going to go out.”
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Dufner (63) takes 1-shot lead at Wells Fargo Championship
Published in
Golf
Friday, 03 May 2019 12:39
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jason Dufner’s game was going nowhere, so he changed everything from his swing coach to his equipment to his caddie.
It didn’t get any better.
He at least is starting to see signs of it coming together with an 8-under 63 on Friday in the Wells Fargo Championship, matching his career-low score on the PGA Tour and giving him a one-shot lead going into the weekend at Quail Hollow.
Dufner considers it the best two rounds he has put together since the 2017 Memorial, which also is the last time he had a 36-hole lead.
“See how it goes being in the heat of it on Saturday and Sunday,” Dufner said. “I’ve been there before. It’s been a while, but I kind of know what to expect. It will be a good challenge to see where I’m at, what I’m doing.”
Dufner was at 11-under 131.
Full-field scores from the Wells Fargo Championship
Wells Fargo Championship: Articles, photos and videos
Joel Dahmen made his first bogey of the week on his final hole of the second round — from the middle of the fairway, no less — but still had a 66 and was one-shot behind. So was Max Homa, who also knows about coping with bad results when he missed the cut in 14 out of 17 events in 2017. He birdied his last two holes for a 63.
Rory McIlroy, playing on the other end of the course, was stride for stride with Dufner until he dropped three shots over the last two holes. McIlroy made double bogey with a fat shot out of a bunker and a pitch too strong over the green at No. 8, and then went over the green on No. 9 for a bogey and a 70.
Even so, he was five behind and in the mix for a third title at Quail Hollow.
“I stood up here last night talking about that I got the most out of it yesterday, and today it was the complete opposite. I turned a 66 into a 70,” McIlroy said. “Golf, it’s a funny game and these things happen.”
Dufner didn’t find too much funny about last year, when his world ranking fell from No. 41 to No. 124 and missed the cut 11 times. That’s when he decided to make changes to just about everything.
“This is my fourth caddie of the year so far,” he said. “I left Chuck Cook, started doing some other things. I started working with Phil Kenyon. I think I’m on my fourth or fifth putter this year. I’m on my fourth or fifth driver, my fourth or fifth golf ball, fourth or fifth lob wedge. I’m trying to find stuff that’s going to work.”
It worked on Friday at Quail Hollow.
He started his round by missing the green 35 yards to the left and holing the chip over the bunker. He made a 20-foot eagle. He missed a 3-foot par putt. He drove the green on the par-4 14th for another birdie. And he capped it all off with a 40-foot birdie putt on the peninsula green at the par-3 17th.
It was the first time he shot 63 since Oak Hill in 2013, the year he won the PGA Championship.
“I’m just getting to that point where I’m kind of settled with everything,” he said. “Sometimes you make a change and it happens immediately. For me, that wasn’t the case. But kind of getting past all those changes and settling into playing some better golf instead of coming to tournaments wondering how I might play or how it might go or is this going to be the right change. Getting to where I feel more comfortable with that and I can just go out play free and play some good golf.”
Dufner turned 42 in March and realizes he doesn’t have many years left to compete at a high level.
“I’m not really trying to be mediocre,” he said. “I’m searching for things that are going to make me a better player.”
Homa always had the talent, winning the NCAA title at Cal with a three-shot victory over Jon Rahm. He just fell into the trap of thinking he had to be even better when he got to the PGA Tour, and he’s had a rough go of it. But when he’s driving it well, it frees up the rest of his game.
He also went back to longtime friend Joe Greiner, who caddied for him his first year on tour until leaving for another friend, Kevin Chappell.
“Joe stayed with me until it became financially irresponsible for him to work for me,” Homa said.
Chappell had back surgery and is out until the fall, and Homa brought him back.
“My attitude is awesome nowadays,” he said. “I don’t really get too down on myself. I have an awesome, awesome caddie that doesn’t let me. If I’m quiet, he yells at me and tells me quiet golfers are usually very mean to themselves, so we have a good thing going.”
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Ridderstrom tries to fight her way out of LPGA priority doldrums
Published in
Golf
Friday, 03 May 2019 12:49
DALY CITY, Calif. – Sweden’s Louise Ridderstrom knows how difficult opportunities are to come by with the priority ranking she received coming out of LPGA Q-Series last year.
She was the final player to make it into the Mediheal Championship when the field list was updated Sunday night.
That’s what made putting out so satisfying Friday as she finished up the second round.
She could see she did a lot more than make her first cut as a rookie. She saw her name on the leaderboard over the 18th green.
“That was really fun to see,” said Ridderstrom, who used a 3-under 69 Friday to move into contention at 4 under entering the weekend.
Full-field scores from the LPGA Mediheal Championship
Ridderstrom, a 25-year-old former UCLA Bruin, is making just her third start of the year. After finishing T-36 at Q-Series, she found herself low in Category 14 of the tour’s priority list. She spends a lot of time on her computer now seeing where her priority status ranks her for upcoming events.
“I think I spend pretty much every day looking at it,” Ridderstrom said.
Ridderstrom didn’t get into her first LPGA event this year until the Lotte Championship two weeks ago and missed the cut. She Monday-qualified to get into last week’s Hugel-Air Premia LA Open, but missed the cut there, too. So this week brings a welcome first chance to make some money, improve her status and begin to secure a tour card for next year.
“I’m in a good spot right now and very happy about it,” Ridderstrom said.
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N.Y. Choi earned biomechanics degree: 'I learned a lot about my swing'
Published in
Golf
Friday, 03 May 2019 15:09
DALY CITY, Calif. – Na Yeon Choi’s nearly yearlong hiatus from golf to heal her mind, body and spirit didn’t include a total escape from the game.
After climbing on to the leaderboard Friday at the Mediheal Championship, she revealed that she earned a master’s degree in biomechanics while away last year.
“It was hard,” Choi said. “Sometimes, I’d go to bed at 3 or 4 in the morning after studying.”
Choi, whose nine LPGA titles include the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open, once climbed as high as No. 2 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings. A back injury, however, led to driver yips, which precipitated a slow spiral down the world rankings. In April of 2018, she decided to leave the LPGA to give her ailing back the time it needed to fully heal. She visited castles in Eastern Europe, read books she never had time to read and also wrote a 50-page thesis. It was on the biomechanics of the golf swing. It earned her a master’s degree from the University of Kunkok last December.
“I learned a lot about my swing,” Choi said.
Choi, 31, returned to the LPGA at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup in March feeling healthy again but unsure what to expect. She had plummeted to No. 486 in the world.
“It was like I was a rookie again,” she said. “I was really nervous, my hands almost shaking.”
Choi didn’t look like a rookie. She shot 65 in her first round back at the Founders Cup before slipping to a tie for 27th. Her finish almost didn’t matter, she said.
“I felt so happy, excited just being back on the course,” Choi said. “This is where I belong.”
Choi is playing on a medical extension. She has eight events left, including this week, to see how much money she can make and where that would rank her on the final 2018 money list. She will be reshuffled into this year’s priority rankings based on that medical extension tally.
In four starts so far this year, Choi has missed two cuts, with that T-27 finish her best effort. She has earned $22,097 when combined with her limited starts in 2018. She’s looking poised to boost that in a big way this weekend. A 5-under-par 67 Friday at Lake Merced Golf Club left her tied for fourth, two shots behind fellow South Korean So Yeon Ryu.
“I just want to keep doing what I’ve been doing the first two days,” Choi said.
Choi said her back was a little sore in the damp, cold air here this week, but she’s feeling just fine.
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Late charging O'Toole breaks up a dominating South Korean leaderboard
Published in
Golf
Friday, 03 May 2019 15:30
DALY CITY, Calif. – American Ryann O’Toole’s late charge Friday broke up a leaderboard that looked like a “Who’s Who” of South Korean women’s golf.
O’Toole birdied three of her last four holes to shoot 7-under-par 65 and tie the low round of the Mediheal Championship this week.
“My swing has just been evolving in a great direction, very consistent,” O’Toole said. “I haven't played great this season, but I felt like it's been right there.”
O’Toole is the lone American on a leaderboard dominated by Koreans.
So Yeon Ryu (70) leads at 7 under overall.
Sei Young Kim (66) is tied with O’Toole one shot back.
Inbee Park (69), Na Yeon Choi (67), Eun Hee Ji (72) and He Yong Choi (65) are tied with England’s Charley Hull (70) two shots back.
In Gee Chun (71) and Chella Choi (68) are just three back.
O’Toole, 34, is looking to claim her first LPGA title. She said she’s inspired at Lake Merced. She won a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier here that got her into the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open at Broadmoor, where she tied for ninth. That helped her get on the U.S. Solheim Cup that year.
“I like the way this course sets up,” O’Toole said. “I like more challenging golf courses. Harder, firmer, longer, faster. To me, it's more of a shot-making golf course. And I think it doesn't put the pressure on, like if it's a birdie-fest. I don't think that's ever been really my style of golf.”
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'We've lost most games on Powerplay battles' - R Ashwin
Published in
Cricket
Friday, 03 May 2019 19:52
Injuries to key players, the ineffectiveness of their overseas fast bowlers, and an inability to win key moments in the Powerplay overs were the reasons behind Kings XI Punjab's failure to qualify for the IPL playoffs, their captain R Ashwin has said.
Speaking to the media after Kings XI's eight-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders, Ashwin said injuries - Varun Chakravarthy (finger) and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman (shoulder) missed large parts of the tournament - forced Kings XI to look beyond plans developed ahead of the auction, but maintained that the reasons for not qualifying this season were poor Powerplay performances across the tournament.
"Yes, we haven't been up to the ball-mark this year," Ashwin said. "We had a few challenges going into this year from last year, we had a few options, we picked up a few people [at the auction] and they've got injured. So that's not ideally how we'd like to look at it. We definitely put our best team we could in the park and we've tried our best and there have been a lot of positives that have come out of this season.
"One of the areas we've definitely lacked is the Powerplay, both with the ball and the bat - in hindsight if we look at it. Because last year we had a great Powerplay batting with Chris [Gayle] and KL [Rahul] but this year we couldn't get off to great starts obviously because the pressure was on them and they had to do a job. But we have to address this going into the next year because we've lost most games on Powerplay battles."
Ashwin also said Kings XI were banking on Andrew Tye, the Purple cap winner from IPL 2018, to come good this season too, but admitted that the Australian wasn't "very good this season". Tye took just three wickets in five outings and returned an economy rate of more than 10 per over, but Ashwin expected the fast bowler to learn from the experience.
"When you have your overseas seamers and overseas bowlers, you definitely bank on them," Ashwin said. "It's like some sort of a banking over. But like I said, Powerplay has been one of our massive problems, most games we've won is through the middle overs or sometimes at the death where we've had some incredible performances by [Mohammed] Shami or Sam [Curran].
"In hindsight, bowlers go through such phases. AJ [Tye] had a fantastic IPL last year but it's also about batsmen coming after him in different methods. He's definitely tried hard. It's not lack of efforts that he's not been very good this year. But I'm sure he will definitely get better as a cricketer, he's quite a smart cricketer, he tries to give everything on the field. These sort of phases are quite common in a cricket career but I'm sure he will learn from this."
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Alvarez-Jacobs lovefest ends with weigh-in scuffle
Published in
Breaking News
Friday, 03 May 2019 19:31
LAS VEGAS -- So much for the lovefest between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs.
A promotion that bordered on boring because they were so respectful to each other and spoke about each other in such glowing terms went out the window Friday. Emotions boiled over after they weighed in for their middleweight world title unification fight, which will take place Saturday (DAZN, 9 p.m. ET) at T-Mobile Arena.
After Alvarez weighed in at 159.5 pounds -- a half-pound under the division limit -- and Jacobs weighed in at 160, they strode toward each other for the traditional faceoff, and they immediately put their heads together. When Jacobs tried to push Alvarez's head back with his, Alvarez shoved him, and there was a brief skirmish. They were quickly separated, and the largely pro-Alvarez crowd on Cinco de Mayo weekend cheered wildly.
"I see fear, and that was fear right there what he did," Alvarez said moments later through an interpreter. "For me and my people, my team and for my fans, it's very important [to win]. This is the challenge we have, but I'm ready for it, and we're going to win. I hope he tries [to take my belts], but he won't be able to."
Alvarez shoved Gennady Golovkin in September after they weighed in for their much-anticipated rematch, also at T-Mobile Arena, and the next night, Alvarez won two major world titles by majority decision. That was a rancor-filled buildup, but Alvarez-Jacobs had been entirely different.
After the weigh-in, Jacobs was highly animated and had words for Alvarez.
"Emotions flying high. I ain't never backed down from a challenge in my life," Jacobs said. "I'm from Brownsville [in Brooklyn, New York]. I never did, and I never will.
"Listen, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I feel like I'm the best middleweight in the world, and that m-----f----- right there, he gonna get it. ... Let's do this Saturday night! Period! Bumping me with that big-ass head, it's time to put on. I'm gonna talk with my fists [on Saturday]."
Even though both fighters made weight, they are subject to a contractual rehydration clause that Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs), 28, of Mexico, demanded because of Jacobs' size advantage. He wanted to assure that Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs), 32, would not bulk up too much before the fight, and Jacobs agreed to it, admitting that without agreeing he probably would not have gotten the fight.
Alvarez and Jacobs, both of whom will be making their first title defenses, will be subject to a weight check at 8 a.m. PT Saturday, at which neither man can weight more than 170 pounds, 10 over the middleweight limit.
Each man will reweigh in his respective hotel suite with a member of the other camp on hand to observe. If either fighter is more than 170 pounds, he will be fined $250,000 per pound that he is over. If a fighter is, for example, a half-pound over, he will get a $125,000 fine. Should either fighter blow off the weight check, he will be subject to a $1 million fine.
Both should have plenty of cash to cover a possible fine. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Alvarez's purse is $35 million for the second fight of the five-year, 11-fight, $365 million deal he signed with sports streaming service DAZN last fall. Jacobs' official contract purse is $2.5 million, according to the commission, though he is guaranteed more than $10 million under his deal with DAZN.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. (12-0, 12 KOs), 21, of Dallas, one of boxing's best prospects, weighed in at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds for his 10-round co-feature against Mauricio Herrera (24-8, 7 KOs), 38, a former world title challenger from Riverside, California, who was 146.5 pounds.
Junior lightweight Joseph Diaz Jr. (28-1, 14 KOs), 26, of South El Monte, California, a former featherweight world title challenger, was 129.5 pounds, and Nicaraguan southpaw Freddy Fonseca (26-1-1, 17 KOs), 27, was on the division limit of 130 pounds for their title elimination fight.
Junior lightweight Lamont Roach (18-0-1, 7 KOs), 23, of Washington, D.C., was 129.5 pounds, and Jonathan Oquendo (30-5, 19 KOs), 35, of Puerto Rico, was 130 for their 10-round regional title bout.
Former junior middleweight world titleholder Sadam Ali (27-2, 14 KOs), 30, of Brooklyn, New York, was 147 pounds, and Anthony Young (20-2, 7 KOs), 31, of Atlantic City, New Jersey, was 146 for their 10-rounder.
John Ryder (27-4, 15 KOs), 30, of England, was 167.5 pounds, and Bilal Akkawy (20-0-1, 16 KOs), 25, of Australia, was 167.5 for their fight for a vacant interim super middleweight world title bout. Ryder was initially supposed to face former middleweight titlist David Lemieux, who was moving up in weight, but Lemieux dropped out three weeks ago because of a right hand injury.
The commission released the rest of the purse totals. Ortiz and Herrera will each make $75,000, Diaz $100,000, Fonseca $10,000, Roach $75,000, Oquendo $50,000, Ali $150,000, Young $45,000, Ryder $100,000 and Akkawy $30,000.
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No good: Bears kickers boot early shot to dazzle
Published in
Breaking News
Friday, 03 May 2019 16:53
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The Chicago Bears' search for a replacement for Cody Parkey led the team to host eight kickers at its annual three-day rookie minicamp.
The early results from Friday are not encouraging.
Bears coach Matt Nagy instructed all eight kickers to attempt a 43-yard field goal in front of the entire rookie minicamp roster at the end of Friday's practice. It was the same distance that Parkey, whom the club released in the offseason, missed from at the end of a bitter playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in January.
The final verdict: Chicago's kickers combined to go 2-of-8.
"That's not good enough," Nagy said. "Now I will say this: We always look at the end result of what happens, which is 100 percent what matters, right? But as we're learning, two of those eight holds and snaps, it wasn't 100 percent. All right. I'll leave it at that.
"So it's not always, 'So we've got to work through that.' That's why after today we're not going to just go about and make rash decisions or anything. We're going to play it out."
The Bears have four kickers under contract and four at rookie minicamp on a tryout basis. Chicago plans to whittle the number down and have a full-blown kicking competition when the team reports to training camp in July.
"We have a method to our madness, and again, I think for us, just besides finding a kicker and being able to see what they can do in practice, we want to be able to see as much as we can in game situations, how they handle that too," Nagy said. "Because it's one thing to be able to go over and bang 8-for-8 when it doesn't really matter. But what about when it matters? You know that's what we're trying to figure out too because we have young kickers, and we're trying to create that."
The Bears have been unable to stabilize the kicker position since they released veteran Robbie Gould -- the team's all-time leading scorer -- prior to the start of the 2016 regular season.
The San Francisco 49ers applied the franchise tag to Gould in the offseason, but he told ESPN last week that he wants to be traded and will not report before the 49ers' season opener on Sept. 8.
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