The 18-year-old left wing had one shot on goal in 16:59 of ice time.
“It was great and I’m sure it will only be better and better, like when the season starts (Oct. 12), but it was great,” Slafkovsky said. “It was faster for sure, but those are little things. I will get used to it.
“I won a couple of pucks, I lost a couple of pucks. I can be better. I know myself, I can play better, I can skate faster and shoot more.”
It was the first preseason game for each team.
Tomas Tatar and Graeme Clarke scored for the Devils. Mackenzie Blackwood started and made 15 saves on 16 shots for the Devils. Nico Daws came on midway through the second period and made five saves.
Cole Caufield scored for the Canadiens. Jake Allen made 18 saves in 29:18, and Cayden Primeau made 11 saves on 13 shots in relief.
Caufield scored on the power play at 12:32 of the first period to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.
Tatar tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 16:07 of the second period.
Clarke scored at 14:03 of the third period for the 2-1 final.
New Jersey center Nico Hischier left the game after the first period due to cramping. Hischier, who is Devils captain, had one shot on goal in 6:24 of ice time.
Panthers 4, Predators 3 (OT): Aleksander Barkov scored with one second left in overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 4-3 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville in the preseason opener for each team.
Barkov’s shot from the left circle on the rush deflected in.
Paul Maurice made his debut as Florida coach in the first of two split-squad games between the teams. Nashville won the second game 4-0.
Ryan Lomberg, Eetu Luostarinen and Kai Schwindt scored, and Aaron Ekblad and Santtu Kinnunen each had two assists for the Panthers. Barkov had an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 10 saves on 12 shots in 31:45 before being replaced by Mack Guzda, who made 12 saves.
Juuso Parssinen had a goal and an assist for the Predators. Connor Ingram made 10 saves on 12 shots in 31:17 before being replaced by Devin Cooley, who made 18 saves.
Nino Niederreiter had an assist in his Predators debut after signing a two-year, $8 million contract ($4 million average annual value) on July 21.
Ryan Johansen tied it 3-3 for Nashville with 5:25 left in the third period on a deflection.
Luostarinen gave Florida a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal with 43 seconds left in the first period when he scored on a 2-on-1.
Schwindt made it 2-0 at 3:41 of the second period before Parssinen cut it to 2-1 at 4:42. Roland McKeown tied it 2-2 at 11:45.
Lomberg put the Panthers ahead 3-2 at 2:11 of the third on a rebound at the left side of the net.
Rangers 4, Islanders 1:Igor Shesterkin stopped all 14 shots he faced playing midway into the second period, helping the New York Rangers to a 4-1 win against the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden in New York.
It was the first preseason game for each team.
K’Andre Miller scored a shorthanded goal, and Brennan Othmann had two assists for the Rangers. Dylan Garand made nine saves in relief of Shesterkin, who played 31:41 after winning the Vezina Trophy last season voted as the best goalie in the NHL.
Robin Salo scored for the Islanders, who lost in Lane Lambert’s first game as coach. Semyon Varlamov allowed four goals on 20 shots in 31:15 before being replaced by Jakub Skarek, who made 15 saves.
Jimmy Vesey gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead on the power play at 10:51 of the first period with a sharp-angled shot over Varlamov’s left shoulder from the right side. The 29-year-old forward, who played his first three NHL seasons (2016-19) with the Rangers, is in training camp on a professional tryout contract.
Chris Kreider made it 2-0 on a rebound at 15:48.
Miller extended the lead to 3-0 with four seconds left in the period when scored off a feed from Othmann, who chased down a loose puck in the corner after an Islanders turnover.
Zac Jones pushed it to 4-0 with a one-timer at 11:41 of the second period.
Blues 4, Stars 0:Josh Leivo had two goals and an assist for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-0 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Logan Brown had a goal and an assist for St. Louis, which has won its first two preseason games. Thomas Greiss made 10 saves in the first period, and Colten Ellis made 23 saves to complete the shutout.
Anton Khudobin made 11 saves on 13 shots in the first, and Jake Oettinger made 13 saves on 15 shots for Dallas in its preseason opener.
Brown scored his third goal in two games on a rebound at 13:13 of the first to make it 1-0.
Leivo made it 2-0 at 19:04, then scored again at 11:54 of the second period for a 3-0 Blues lead.
William Bitten scored at 13:01 of the third period for the 4-0 final.
Predators 4, Panthers 0: Forward Matthew Tkachuk was held without a point in his Florida Panthers debut, a 4-0 loss to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
It was the second of two split-squad games between the teams. Visiting Florida won the first game 4-3 in overtime.
Tkachuk, who had one shot on goal in 18:13, was acquired July 22 in the trade that sent forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames.
Ryan McDonagh had an assist in his Predators debut, and Matt Duchene and Mattias Ekholm each had two assists. Kevin Lankinen stopped all 13 shots he faced before being replaced midway through the second period by Yaroslav Askarov (12 saves).
Spencer Knight started in goal for the Panthers and made 19 saves on 20 shots in 29:56. Alex Lyon made 15 saves in relief.
Filip Forsberg put Nashville up 1-0 at 14:23 of the first period. It was his first game since signing an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) on July 11.
Cody Glass pushed it to 2-0 at 8:01 of the third period from the right hash marks off a pass from Duchene for a power-play goal.
Colton Sissons made it 3-0 at 13:30 when he finished a breakaway with a backhand, and Tanner Jeannot tipped a McDonagh shot at 17:12 for the 4-0 final.
McDonagh was traded to Nashville by the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 3.
Kraken 3, Oilers 0:Matty Beniers, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, scored for the Seattle Kraken in their 3-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
Beniers, who had nine points (three goals, six assists) in 10 NHL games last season, gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 2:12 of the second period.
Martin Jones stopped all 13 shots he faced in 32:15, and Joey Daccord made 15 saves in relief for Seattle in its first preseason game.
Olivier Rodrigue started in goal for Edmonton and allowed one goal on nine shots in 30:00. Ryan Fanti made 16 saves in relief.
Ryan Donato made it 2-0 at 14:15 of the second, and Morgan Geekie scored shorthanded 43 seconds into the third period for the 3-0 final.
Kings 2, Golden Knights 1 (OT):Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist in his debut with the Los Angeles Kings, a 2-1 overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fiala, a forward, was acquired by the Kings in a trade with the Minnesota Wild on June 29 and signed a seven-year, $55.125 million contract ($7.875 million average annual value) the next day.
He tied it 1-1 for Los Angeles at 14:07 of the second period, then assisted on Adrian Kempe‘s power-play goal at 1:48 of overtime for the 2-1 final.
Cal Petersen stopped 10 of 11 shots in the first period for the Kings, and Pheonix Copley stopped all 23 shots he faced in relief.
Jack Eichel scored, and Phil Kessel had an assist for Vegas. Logan Thompson stopped all nine shots he faced in 30:13, and Adin Hill made seven saves in relief.
Eichel gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 7:10 of the first.
NHL.com independent correspondent Sean Farrell contributed to this report
MONTREAL – On a night when New York’s top line was missing in action, the bit players grabbed the spotlight and led the Rangers to a commanding 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
“That’s the kind of team we have,” said Filip Chytil, who led the Rangers with a pair of power-play goals Tuesday. “The guys on the top line had chances but when they don’t score we have three other lines to pick up the slack.”
The Rangers’ dominance was reflected in the amount of time they spent in the Canadiens zone and their 45-23 edge in shots.
“If you’ve watched us practice, you know that’s something we work on all the time,” said Chytil. “When we get the puck, we want to hold on to it.”
The Rangers grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Mika Zibanejad at the 56-second mark and Jonny Brodzinski at 2:05, but it was Montreal which pressed the play in the first minute.
“I thought we had a good start but they turned it around on us,” said Montreal coach Martin St. Louis.
Lane Hutson controlled the puck off the opening faceoff and had two early shots, both of which were blocked by New York’s Jacob Trouba.
“That was huge for us,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. “We know (Trouba) can generate offence but he can come up with those big defensive plays.”
Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault exited at 11:05 of the first period after giving up four goals on 10 shots. Zibanejad, Brodzinski, Chytil and Reilly Smith all scored on the Habs’ starter.
His replacement, Cayden Primeau, stopped 33 of 35 shots, giving up goals to Braden Schneider, Kaapo Kakko and Chytil.
Nick Suzuki scored both of the Montreal goals, his first strikes of the season
“It didn’t really feel like a 7-2 game until the end there when you look up at the scoreboard,” Suzuki said. “But we obviously keep digging ourselves these holes, and against a good team like that, our details early on have to be really sharp. And we were definitely a little sleepy coming out and they jumped on us.”
Hutson led the Canadiens in ice time with 24:10 but this wasn’t one of his better games. Smith scored on a breakaway after taking the puck off Hutson’s stick and the rookie was minus-4 for the night.
After Tuesday’s morning practice, the Canadiens announced forward Juraj Slafkovsky will miss at least a week with an upper-body injury. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle missed a second consecutive game with an upper-body injury but the team said it isn’t a long-term ailment.
The injury situation didn’t get any better after Trouba flattened Justin Barron at 7:11 of the third period. Barron didn’t return to the ice but there was no immediate word on his condition.
The Rangers welcomed back defenceman Ryan Lindgren, who made his season debut after missing five games with a jaw injury.
Before the game, 14 players from the Canadiens’ team that won four consecutive Stanley Cups between 1976 and 1979 were introduced at the Bell Centre. Among them were Hockey Hall of Fame members Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Bob Gainey and Ken Dryden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball has sold at auction for nearly $4.4 million, a record high price not just for a baseball, but for any ball in any sport, the auctioneer said Wednesday.
“We received bids from around the world, a testament to the significance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s impact on sports, and I’m thrilled for the winning bidder,” Ken Goldin, the founder and CEO of auctioneer Goldin Auctions said in a statement.
The auction opened on Sept. 27 with a starting bid of $500,000 and closed just after midnight on Wednesday. The auctioneer said it could not disclose any information about the winning bidder.
The auction has been overshadowed by the litigation over ownership of the ball. Christian Zacek walked out of Miami’s LoanDepot Park with the ball after gaining possession in the left-field stands. Max Matus and Joseph Davidov each claim in separate lawsuits that they grabbed the ball first.
All the parties involved in the litigation agreed that the auction should continue.
Matus’ lawsuit claims that the Florida resident — who was celebrating his 18th birthday — gained possession of the Ohtani ball before Zacek took it away. Davidov claims in his suit that he was able to “firmly and completely grab the ball in his left hand while it was on the ground, successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 ball.”
Ohtani and the Dodgers are preparing for Game 1 of the World Series scheduled for Friday night.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk before they rose from the Lakers bench. Amid rising cheers, they walked together to the scorer’s table — and then they stepped straight into basketball history.
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play in the NBA together Tuesday night during the Los Angeles Lakers ‘ season opener, fulfilling a dream set out a few years ago by LeBron, the top scorer in league history.
“That moment, us being at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, it’s a moment I’m never going to forget,” LeBron said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”
Father and son checked into the game against Minnesota simultaneously with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone. The 39-year-old LeBron had already started the game and played 13 minutes before he teamed up with his 20-year-old son for about 2 1/2 minutes of action.
LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, a four-time champion and 20-time All-Star, while LeBron James Jr. was a second-round pick by the Lakers last summer. They are the first father and son to play in the world’s top basketball league at the same time, let alone on the same team.
“Y’all ready? You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though,” father told son on the bench before they checked in, an exchange captured by the TNT cameras and microphones. “Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard.”
Their time on court together was fast and furious, just as LeBron promised.
LeBron, who finished the night with 16 points, missed two perimeter shots before making a dunk. Bronny had an early offensive rebound and missed a tip-in, and his first NBA jump shot moments later was a 3-pointer that came up just short. He checked out one possession later with 1:19 left in the second quarter, getting another ovation.
“(I) tried not to focus on everything that’s going on around me, and tried to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up,” Bronny said. “But yeah, I totally did feel the energy, and I appreciate Laker Nation for showing the support for me and my dad.”
After the final whistle on the Lakers’ first opening-night victory in LeBron’s seven seasons with the team, father and son also headed to the locker room together — but not before stopping in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, LeBron’s wife and Bronny’s mother. The entire family was in attendance to watch history — on little sister Zhuri’s 10th birthday, no less.
Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. also were courtside at the Lakers’ downtown arena to witness the same history they made in Major League Baseball. The two sluggers played 51 games together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 as baseball’s first father-son duo.
LeBron first spoke about his dream to play alongside Bronny a few years ago, while his oldest son was still in high school. The dream became real after Bronny entered the draft as a teenager following one collegiate season, and the Lakers grabbed him with the 55th overall pick.
“I talked about it years and years ago, and for this moment to come, it’s pretty cool,” LeBron said. “I don’t know if it’s going to actually hit the both of us for a little minute, but when we really get to sit back and take it in, it’s pretty crazy. … But in the moment, we still had a job to do when we checked in. We wasn’t trying to make it a circus. We wasn’t trying to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the team.”
LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of father-son professional athletes who played together. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago, and they even homered in the same game on Sept. 14, 1990.
Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.
In hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, with the WHA’s Houston Aeros and Team Canada before one NHL season together on the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, when Gordie was 51.
While the other family pairings on this list happened late in the fathers’ careers, LeBron shows no signs of slowing down or regressing as he begins his NBA record-tying 22nd season.
LeBron averaged more than 25 points per game last year for his 20th consecutive season, and he remains the most important player on the Lakers alongside Anthony Davis as they attempt to recapture the form that won a championship in 2020 and got them to the Western Conference finals in 2023.
Bronny survived cardiac arrest and open heart surgery in the summer of 2023, and he went on to play a truncated freshman season at the University of Southern California. He declared for the draft anyway, and the Lakers eagerly used the fourth-to-last pick in the draft on the 6-foot-2 guard.
LeBron spent the summer in Europe with the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Paris Olympics, while Bronny played for the Lakers in summer league. They started practicing together with the Lakers before training camp.
The duo first played together in the preseason, logging four minutes during a game against Phoenix just outside Palm Springs earlier this month.
“It’s been a treat,” LeBron said at Tuesday’s morning shootaround. “In preseason, the practices, just every day … bringing him up to speed of what this professional life is all about, and how to prepare every day as a professional.”
The Lakers were fully aware of the history they would make with this pairing, and coach JJ Redick spoke with the Jameses recently about a plan to make it happen early in the regular season.
The presence of the Griffeys likely made it an inevitability for opening night, even though Redick said the Lakers still wanted it “to happen naturally, in the flow of the game.”
The Lakers have declined to speculate on how long Bronny will stay on their NBA roster. Los Angeles already has three other small guards on its roster, and Bronny likely needs regular playing time to raise his game to a consistent NBA standard.
Those factors add up to indicate Bronny is likely to join the affiliate South Bay Lakers of the G League at some point soon. LeBron and Redick have both spoken positively about the South Bay team, saying that player development is a key part of the Lakers organization.
Miami forward Kevin Love, who knew all the James children — Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri — from his time as LeBron’s teammate in Cleveland, said it was “an unbelievable moment” to see father and son playing together.
“I grew up a Mariners fan, so I got to see Griffey and then Griffey Sr. But this is different, because LeBron is still a top-five player in the league,” Love said. “This game, man. It’s why we have that ($76 billion) TV deal. The storylines and the things that happen like this, it’s an unbelievable story. This is really cool to see.”
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AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed.
