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NEW YORK — Mika Zibanejad helped the New York Rangers get off to a strong start in their first game in a week, and they held on to get a big win in their second-round series opener against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, Artemi Panarin also scored and the Rangers beat the Hurricanes 4-3 on Sunday in Game 1.

Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, and Chris Kreider had two assists as the Rangers, playing for the first time since completing their first-round sweep of Washington one week earlier, won their seventh straight including the regular season.

“We really wanted to have a good start, especially at home, Game 1,” Zibanejad said. “Been off for a few days and been able to rest, and I thought that was most noticeable. Guys were excited to play and when we’re able to score on our chances early on and get a little bit momentum, that was good.”

Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 shots to become the third goalie in franchise history to open a postseason with five straight wins, joining Dave Kerr (1937) and Mike Richter (1994).

“A week out from the last time you played, I thought the start was really good and we followed that through right through the game,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said.

Jaccob Slavin, Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis each had a goal for Carolina, which last played Tuesday night when it finished its first-round win against the New York Islanders. Frederik Andersen finished with 19 saves.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2: Rangers vs. Hurricanes

Keep up with the latest news and analysis as the New York Rangers battle the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Full coverage

The Hurricanes had the second-best power play in the NHL during the season and the top penalty-killing unit. However, they went 0 for 5 with five shots on goals during the advantages against a Rangers team that was third on the PK. New York was 2 for 2 on its power plays that totaled 23 seconds.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. ”On a couple of (penalty) kills we didn’t quite execute right and they did. … We were just a step off and that’s the difference. It’s tough because we played pretty hard. Overall, as the game went on we got a little better.”

Necas got in alone on Shesterkin early in the third period and quickly put it through the goalie’s legs to pull the Hurricanes to 3-2 at 2:48.

Panarin beat Andersen from the left circle at 8:21 to restore the Rangers’ two-goal lead. It was his third of the playoffs after finishing with a career-high 49 in the regular season.

Carolina pulled Andersen for an extra skater with 3 minutes to go, and Jarvis scored from the left side with 1:45 remaining.

Shesterkin made a glove save on Andrei Svechnikov with just under a minute remaining to preserve the Rangers’ lead.

Jacob Trouba was sent off for cross-checking 2 1/2 minutes into the second period. The Hurricanes got one shot on goal during the advantage. After the penalty expired, the Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal had a breakaway but his attempt was gloved aside by Shesterkin.

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The Hurricanes got another power play with 4:46 left in the period, but did not get a shot on goal during the advantage.

Zibanejad got the Rangers on the scoreboard on the game’s first shot on goal 2:46 into the game. Jack Roslovic skated around the back of the net and sent a pass in front and Zibanejad put it past Andersen.

Slavin tied it 1:02 later on the Hurricanes’ first shot as he fired a shot from the left point that bounced and went over Shesterkin’s right shoulder.

Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei sent a shot off the right post 20 seconds later.

The Hurricanes got the first power play of the day when Kreider was sent off for boarding at 6:14. A little more than a minute later, Necas skated in on Shesterkin from the right side and hit the left post.

New York went on the power play midway through the period when former Ranger Tony DeAngelo was sent off for roughing. New York needed just 9 seconds to take advantage as Kreider got the puck on the right doorstep and sent a no-look pass to the left to Zibanejad, who fired it in.

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The Rangers got their second power play with 3:46 remaining, and needed just 14 seconds to score as Trocheck backhanded the rebound of Zibanejad’s shot in front past Andersen to make it 3-1.

“First game, new round and the crowd was into it,” Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. “We need a better start.”

It was Trocheck’s fourth of the playoffs and gave him a goal in four straight games and a point in five straight.

“He’s somebody that we just count on for both sides of the puck, offensively and defensively,” Laviolette said. “Tonight was more just a reflection of the regular season.”

Zibanejad has an 11-game point streak, including the regular season, with five goals and 13 assists in the stretch. Roslovic extended his point streak to six games.

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LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani went 4 for 4 with two home runs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon to sweep the three-game series.

Ohtani launched a hanging curveball from Braves started Max Fried 412 feet over the center field fence for a two-run homer in the first inning. He added a pair of singles in the third and the sixth before leading off the eighth inning with a 464-foot blast off reliever A.J. Minter deep into the left center field bleachers.

“He just keeps doing things that we just hadn’t seen haven’t seen before,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s deep. People don’t hit the ball out there, whether you’re left-handed or right-handed.”

It was Ohtani’s first multihomer game with the Dodgers and the 17th of his career. His four hits also tied a career high. He is now tied for the major league lead with 10 home runs this season.

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“I just feel like we’re overall playing really well,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So that’s really helping me have quality at-bats. Just feeling good overall.”

Teoscar Hernandez added a two-run homer and James Paxton took a shutout into the seventh inning for the Dodgers. Paxton (4-0) finished with 6 2/3 innings pitched, five hits and one run allowed, two walks and three strikeouts to remain unbeaten on the season.

Paxton retired 16 of his first 18 batters to open the game and delivered his longest start since June 30 with Boston.

“I felt great,” Paxton said. “I finally felt some rhythm out there. I’ve been working hard between games here trying to figure it out. Just feels good to make some progress.”

Marcell Ozuna homered for the Braves, who have lost five of their last six. Fried (2-1) pitched seven innings, allowed four hits and four runs, walked three and struck out seven.

The Braves have scored three runs or less in six of their last eight games. They didn’t advance a runner past first base until Ozuna’s homer in the seventh.

“We’re in a little bit of an offensive rut, that’s all there is to it,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s one of those things where if we only go through it one time this year, we’ll be lucky.”

Blake Treinen pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Dodgers in his first appearance since the 2022 postseason. Michael Grove retired the side in order in the ninth to wrap up the sweep.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: RHP Evan Phillips was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Saturday, with a right hamstring strain. Treinen was activated from the 15-day IL after missing the start of the season with a bruised lung and fractured ribs.

UP NEXT

Braves: RHP Reynaldo Lopez (2-1, 1.50 ERA) starts the opener of a two-game series against Boston on Tuesday.

Dodgers: RHP Walker Buehler (0-0, 0.00) makes his first start since June 2022 in the opener of a three-game series against Miami on Monday.

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PWHL Ottawa visits Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre for the final regular season game on Sunday evening. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. You can follow the game with the Live PWHL tracker.

WASHINGTON — Three innings in on Sunday, you would’ve sworn the year was 2021.

Alek Manoah was convicted and resilient, working his way out of some hairy situations with timely outs while sitting in the mid-90’s and breaking off filthy sliders that were quickly clipped by Pitching Ninja. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was confident and dangerous, shooting a 106-m.p.h. liner the opposite way for a first-inning single, before coming back up an inning later, hitting a majestic, 416-foot grand slam, and taking half a minute to round the bases.

But this article is not being written in June 2021. It is nearly June 2024, and although those two star performers from years past can still show flashes of brilliance, they also haven’t looked consistently like that version of themselves in some time.

So, in his next two trips, Guerrero struck out chasing a full-count pitch well outside the zone with a runner on before beating a 2-1 fastball right into the ground for an out. And in Manoah’s fourth inning, he missed sporadically both off the plate and on, running up his pitch count while allowing five runs on four hits and a walk. He did not return for the fifth in his MLB season debut.

Ultimately, the Blue Jays lost, 11-8, to the Washington Nationals in a chaotic, back-and-forth game because no one who took the mound for them pitched particularly well, including the four relievers that entered after Manoah and each allowed a run. First Nate Pearson, then Genesis Cabrera, next Erik Swanson, and finally Zach Pop.

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Swanson gave up the biggest blow — a go-ahead, two-run homer by Eddie Rosario off a splitter in the seventh. Swanson’s splitter has been getting hammered all year, with Rosario’s drive the seventh extra-base hit — four of them homers — he’s allowed on what’s typically his best pitch. Swanson allowed only five homers combined off his splitter in 221.1 career innings entering this season.

The issue appears to be twofold. Not only is Swanson leaving his splitter in bad areas of the zone, but Blue Jays manager John Schneider has publicly ruminated about the possibility he’s tipping pitches. Giving hitters a pitch they know is coming over a fat part of the plate is a pretty bad combination for success as a reliever. That’s why Swanson’s allowed runs in six of his eight appearances this season with only four strikeouts over six innings.

Of course, it’s not only him. The Blue Jays bullpen has been taking on water for a week, as Chad Green’s IL stint and Yimi Garcia’s unavailability due to a lower back issue has caused knock-on impacts for other relievers, forcing them into heavy workloads, sub-optimal matchups, and leverage spots they wouldn’t enter if all hands were on deck.

“You still trust the guys to get the outs we’re expecting them to get. But it’s been a tough stretch for those guys, for sure,” Schneider said. “Got to keep plugging along, though. Hopefully we get everyone back to full health. But, yeah, been a little bit of a tough stretch.”

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Toronto’s bullpen entered Sunday with MLB’s fourth-highest ERA (5.30), second-highest FIP (5.25) and sixth-lowest K-BB% (9.2). And those numbers will not improve after the Nationals got to them for four runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts over four innings. The Blue Jays bullpen has now allowed 22 homers on the season — tied for the most in MLB with the Rays, whose frequent use of openers skews their relief stats.

So, that’s a concern. The Blue Jays can’t afford to cough up so many runs on a rare day their offence is doing damage. But there do not appear to be straightforward solutions internally until Green and Garcia are healthy. Just as the Blue Jays haven’t been able to find solutions for the inconsistencies of Manoah and Guerrero, whose day reflected the uncertain place their careers have arrived.

Start with Manoah, who made his first big-league start in nine months following a winter’s worth of work on his body, mindset, delivery, and everything in between.

Taking the mound following an 85-minute weather delay, Manoah’s first inning was an adventure. First, Nationals leadoff hitter Jacob Young reached on a Bo Bichette throwing error after Manoah induced a routine groundball with his second pitch of the ballgame. Manoah then struck out CJ Abrams with a nasty slider, allowed a Luis Garcia Jr. groundball single on a pitch beneath the zone, caught Nick Senzel looking at an elevated fastball, and walked Jesse Winker on five pitches to load the bases.

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Another walk of Joey Meneses brought in a run before Manoah got Keibert Ruiz to send his bat helicoptering into Washington’s dugout while chasing a running sinker. So, make that 29 pitches, 15 strikes, five whiffs, three strikeouts, two walks, an error, and an unearned run. Quite the way to return to the majors for the first time in nine months.

Manoah’s second inning was smoother — three up, three down on 15 pitches, including two more punchouts. But a loud Garcia solo shot off a hung slider put a run on his line in the third. And the Nationals second baseman got Manoah again in the fourth, lining a sinker right at the bottom of the zone back up the middle to cash a pair with two out.

That’s where Manoah needed to stop the bleeding, and getting ahead of Senzel, 0-2, was a good start. But the DH shot Manoah’s next pitch up the left-field line before Winker, after patiently working a full count, hammered a slider out over the plate 393-feet over the right-centre wall.

Manoah got out of the fourth with a fly ball, but with his pitch count up to 92, Blue Jays manager John Schneider decided to pull the shoot. In all, it was an uneven 2024 debut for Manoah, who sprayed his pitches at times and generated awkward swings at others. He hung out over the plate with his slider much too often, but also located some nifty sinkers arm-side to lefties and over the lower outside corner to righties.

“I feel like when I was attacking the zone, I was pretty tough to hit,” Manoah said. “Started to nibble, tried to be too perfect, got behind in some counts, and they made me pay with a couple of big swings. So, I’ve just got to continue to get in that rhythm, continue to attack, stay in that mode and not get away from that.

“I don’t think it was a control thing. I think it was just me trying to hit an outside corner or trying to be too fine. I’m not Greg Maddux. I’m not going to be Greg Maddux. Fastball’s got great life and I’ve just got to go out there and trust it.”

The final line — seven runs (six earned) on six hits, four walks, six strikeouts, and two homers — was not what anyone was hoping for. Yet, there were positive components of Manoah’s day he can build on. That’s why he’ll remain in the Blue Jays rotation going forward, with clear priorities of finding a way to be more pitch efficient and quicker to self-correct in-inning when he gets away from attacking the zone.

“To his credit, he battled out of some jams. Definitely a good first step to hopefully get a little bit better,” Schneider said. “Today, he was as good as I’ve seen him stuff-wise in quite a while. I think it’s just being efficient with that stuff going forward. And trying to get a little bit deeper in the game.”

OK, Guerrero. It was the second inning and the bottom of the Blue Jays order had something going against Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore, as five consecutive batters reached thanks to a couple hits, a walk, a force out, and a Gore error on a comebacker.

With the bases loaded, one out, and the count full, George Springer whiffed on a 98-m.p.h. Gore fastball off the plate. That brought up Guerrero, who took a 2-0 fastball right down the middle, before Gore came back with a changeup the Blue Jays first baseman couldn’t help but pull the trigger on:

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That is a swing Guerrero, the Blue Jays, and their entire fanbase has been wanting to see more consistently for going on 13 months — 109-m.p.h. of pull power on a line so true Winker barely bothered to move in left field. It was Guerrero’s fifth career grand slam and his first home run in 21 games. A timely swing in a big spot; a pressure valve release for a scuffling offence and a prodigious talent who’s struggled to perform to his potential.

Think of how many times over the last two seasons you’ve seen Guerrero barrel pitches like that with little to show for it. He hit a back-up Seth Lugo slider 115.1-m.p.h. on Wednesday. Only 15 balls have been hit harder across MLB this season. But instead of parking that ball in the seats, as he did regularly did against mistake pitches like that when he was an MVP contender in 2021, Guerrero lined it into left field for a single. Two outs later, he was stranded at first.

For one reason or another, Guerrero hasn’t been getting the most out of his uncommon ability to hammer the ball for some time now. This season, his slugging percentage (.346) is 109 points below his expected slugging percentage (.455) based on the quality of contact he makes. That’s the 18th-largest negative difference among 269 qualified MLB hitters. Similar refrain in 2023, as the -.059 difference between Guerrero’s xSLG (.503) and actual SLG (.444) was 10th-largest among 258 hitters.

It’s tough to write that off as merely bad luck when it’s been happening for more than 800 plate appearances. Surely there’s something else going on under the hood here. Whether it’s something mechanical, something environmental, something in the way the ball’s spinning off his bat — who’s to say?

“I wish I had the magic answer,” Schneider said. “His at-bats, really all year, have been pretty damn solid. I think he’s in a really good spot right now. And I think they’ll come a little bit more consistently as he continues to feel better and better.”

What we know is Guerrero — typically a strong starter — just completed one of the toughest months statistically of his MLB career. His only other full month with an OPS lower than the .678 he posted this March/April was the final one of his rookie season in 2019. Every player slumps — but we’ve seldom seen Guerrero fighting to find his stride as much as he was last month. And we’ve been watching him fight to find that stride since the beginning of 2023.

But maybe something’s quietly starting for him. Guerrero entered Sunday batting .321/.367/.429 over his last seven, then went 2-for-4 with a walk and a throwback, towering homer. Four of his last six balls in play have come off his bat over 105-m.p.h. Of course, Guerrero always hits the ball hard. Getting more out of those well-struck balls is the task now.

Guerrero’s still only 25 and feels perpetually on the verge of putting it all together Remember, David Ortiz didn’t break out until he was 27 and became a hall-of-famer. Carlos Delgado didn’t surpass a 127 OPS+ until he was 26. Guerrero’s 129 career OPS+ is higher than Jason Giambi’s was entering his age-29 season. Todd Helton and Adrian Gonzalez both went from pretty good to great at 26. Edwin Encarnacion went from E5 to Eddy at 29.

Guerrero’s making plenty of hard contact, walking a ton, and running the lowest chase rate of his career. His expected rate stats all rank within the top 25 per cent of the league. If you knew nothing of the context of his last 13 months, and were looking for an MLB hitter on the verge of a breakout, this is the peripheral profile you’d choose. What needs to happen to turn that process into more consistent results is the dilemma the Blue Jays must solve.

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