Jordan Martinook and Martin Necas also scored in the Hurricanes’ big third period, and Frederik Andersen — starting for the fourth time in five games in this series and ninth time in 10 games in the postseason — had 20 saves.

Jacob Trouba scored a short-handed goal and Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots for New York, which has lost two straight after taking a 3-0 series lead.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.

STARS 5, AVALANCHE 1

DENVER (AP) — Wyatt Johnston scored twice on the eve of his 21st birthday as Dallas pushed Colorado to the brink of elimination Monday night with a 5-1 win in Game 4 that came hours after Avalanche standout Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for at least six months.

Johnston had shorthanded and power-play goals for the Stars, who grabbed a 3-1 lead in the second-round, best-of-seven series. Dallas can close it out at home in Game 5 on Wednesday.

Miro Heiskanen and Evgenii Dadonov also scored, while Sam Steel added a late empty-net goal. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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The person spoke to The AP on the condition of anonymity because the team has not announced the move. Buffalo’s hiring of Parry to the role of officiating liaison was first reported by the New York Post.

While most networks have hired former officials to provide analysis on penalties, the Bills are believed to be among the NFL’s first teams to add one to their staff.

Parry spent 19 years as an NFL official, including his final 12 as a referee before retiring after working his third Super Bowl to close the 2018 season. He then spent the past five years serving as a rules analyst for ESPN.

Parry fills a first-time role for the Bills and McDermott, who is entering his eighth season as coach.

McDermott was successful on three of six challenges made last season, but has an overall record of having just 10 of 33 plays overturned, including playoffs, according to Pro Football Reference. Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, by comparison, hit on four of five challenges last season and is 72 of 143 overall.

Parry’s knowledge of the rules can also assist in time management situations late in games in advising when it’s best to call timeouts when dealing with penalties as well as other rule changes introduced by the league.

Parry’s hiring comes after McDermott was added to the NFL rules committee in March.

BY JOHN WAWROW

The post Bills coach Sean McDermott hiring former NFL ref John Parry, AP source says appeared first on Ritmo Deportivo.

Keselowski, in his third full season as a driver-owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, locked himself into the playoffs and marked himself as a title contender for the fall.

There are several other usual suspects to watch including 2021 Cup Series winner Kyle Larson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing leader Denny Hamlin, who is tied with Byron for the series lead with three victories this season.

Not so fast, said former driver and current NASCAR TV analyst Jeff Burton. Just look at the past two champions in Penske racers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.

“Raise your hand if you had them winning the championships this time of year these past two years,” Burton said. “It’s very hard to know what’s going to happen.”

But it’s not difficult to make a few logically informed predictions as the circuit heads into its All-Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro.

Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing Strong Once More

JGR’s Hamlin has been on a championship quest since coming up short last season and has had one of the strongest cars each week. Along with his three victories, Hamlin has led laps at each race this season and finished fourth at the Goodyear 400 this past Sunday. Christopher Bell, who won at Phoenix, gives JGR two playoff participants so far.

Byron and Larson are leading the Hendrick charge, combining for five wins this season including Byron’s success at the Daytona 500 to start Hendrick’s 40th anniversary season. Chase Elliott’s victory at Texas gives Rick Hendrick three spots in the playoffs with Alex Bowman, who was eighth at Darlington this past week, the only team driver without a win. Bowman sits ninth in the standings.

Byron said at Darlington he needed to be more consistent in this upcoming summer stretch to prepare for the playoffs.

“We have the pace,” Byron said. “I feel like that’s what you’re really striving for, to have pace to win races. We have that, it’s just that we’re not consistently putting the weekends together, in terms of balance and execution.”

FORD CHARGING FORWARD

Keselowski’s victory at Darlington was the first for a Ford this season, but likely won’t be the last. Keselowski’s RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher, who has won four times since Keselowski became a co-owner in 2022, has come agonizing close to winning again the past two races.

Buescher lost a photo finish to Larson at Kansas two weeks ago by 0.001 second, the closest finish in NASCAR history. At Darlington, Buescher got knocked into the wall by Tyler Reddick while leading with nine laps to go.

Neither Buescher nor Reddick, 1-2 at the time, were contending after their tangle and Buescher angrily confronted Reddick after both got out of their cars.

Those were tough for Buescher to deal with, but it’s likely he won’t disappear in the season’s second half. In fact, there were four Ford drivers among the top seven finishers at Darlington.

WHO ELSE?

Neither of the past two series champs in Logano and Blaney have won a race to assure themselves the postseason, although Blaney is in better position at eighth in the standings while Logano is 17th, first out of the 16-driver field.

Neither one had a strong showing at Darlington. Blaney got squeezed when Byron clipped Martin Truex Jr., who then pushed Blaney into the wall and out of the race.

Logano got a speeding penalty entering the pits late in the race and was sent to the back of the field. He finished 21st.

Josh Berry, who replaced NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 at Stewart-Haas Racing, had his best placing this season in third.

Other winless drivers among the top 16 on points include Truex in second, Ty Gibbs in seventh and Kyle Busch in 13th.

All will be sorted out when the series returns to Darlington for the final regular-season race, the Southern 500, on Sept. 1.

BY PETE IACOBELLI

The post Halfway Home: Count on surprises, familiar faces in second half of NASCAR’s regular season appeared first on Ritmo Deportivo.

Era el 12 de junio cuando los Nuggets sentenciaron a los Miami Heat y conquistaron el primer anillo de su historia, un triunfo que llevó el nombre del serbio Nikola Jokic y del canadiense Jamal Murray, caras visibles de una franquicia que, tras salir lejos de los favoritos, se ganó el título con mérito tras convertirse en una auténtica apisonadora.

La nueva campaña comenzará con dos partidos este martes, un Nuggets-Lakers, reedición de las Finales del Oeste del año pasado, y un Golden State Warriors-Phoenix Suns.

Unos Suns reforzados en el Oeste y Celtics y Bucks se lanzan en el Este

Si es posible, el nivel competitivo aumenta este año, con rivales en el Oeste como los Suns de Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, la llegada de Bradley Beal y la salida de Chris Paul con destino Warriors.

Los Suns, cuyo sueño de coronarse se está convirtiendo en una obsesión, también cambiaron de pívot. Salió Deandre Ayton y llegó Jusuf Nurkic desde Portland, en el ámbito de una operación que dinamitó los equilibrios de la NBA.

Los Blazers recibieron a Ayton en una operación de tres franquicias que llevó a Damian Lillard a los Milwaukee Bucks. Un nuevo capítulo para ‘Dame’, que formará una dupla estelar en los Milwaukee Bucks junto al griego Giannis Antetokounmpo.

En el Oeste, los Suns se perfilan como principal amenaza para los Nuggets, además de franquicias siempre a tener en cuenta como los Warriors, campeones en 2022, que agregaron a Chris Paul y al español Usman Garuba a una plantilla guiada por Steph Curry, Klay Thompson y Draymond Green. Salió Jordan Poole con destino Washington.

Quieren salir del rendimiento mostrado en la segunda parte de la última campaña Los Ángeles Lakers, en la vigésima primera temporada en la NBA de LeBron James. El grupo está intacto, con Anthony Davis como gran socio de King James.

¿Un despegue de los Clippers o de los Mavericks de Doncic?

Más difícil de descifrar son las ambiciones de Los Ángeles Clippers, que con el permiso de las lesiones cuentan con una plantilla de alto nivel competitivo, liderada por Kawhi Leonard y Paul George. Eso sí, en los últimos años los Clippers han perdido a sus estrellas en los momentos clave de sus temporadas.

Nuevas amenazas llegan de Texas, donde Luka Doncic arranca el año con ganas de revancha tras vivir la peor temporada de su carrera en Dallas, al quedar fuera de la postemporada.

Jason Kidd tiene el reto de encontrar la manera para que expresar al máximo el potencial de la dupla Doncic-Kyrie Irving y, a la vez, encontrar intensidad defensiva, el enorme límite visto el curso pasado.

Será además el primer año del prodigio Wembanyama, primera elección absoluta de los San Antonio Spurs, que a sus 19 años provocó una expectación en la NBA que no se vivía desde hace 20 años, con LeBron como protagonista.

EFE/ Allison Dinner

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