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Archives for May 8, 2024

Panthers Knot Series at 1-All

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SUNRISE – (Staff and wire Service Report) – Florida team captain Aleksander Barkov collected two goals and two assists to fuel the Panthers to a 6-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

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Sam Reinhart notched four assists and defenseman Brandon Montour scored a goal and set up two others to help the Panthers even the best-of-seven series with the Bruins at one victory apiece. Game 3 is Friday in Boston.

Fourth-liner Steven Lorentz, Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida, which recorded six consecutive goals in a playoff game for the first time in franchise history. Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 saves in the win.

Jeremy Swayman, who turned aside 19 of 23 shots, yielded more than two goals for the first time in eight games this postseason. Linus Ullmark made eight saves in relief and Charlie Coyle scored a goal in the first period for the Bruins.

An unmarked Lorentz deftly deflected Montour’s shot from the point past Swayman to forge a 1-1 tie at 1:56 of the second period. The goal was the second of the playoffs for Lorentz, who had one tally in 38 games during the regular season.

Barkov gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead just under eight minutes later after gaining inside position on Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy and cleaning up a rebound off a shot from Reinhart.

Forsling doubled the advantage after he dropped to a knee while blasting a shot past Swayman with two seconds remaining in the second period.

A turnover deep in Boston’s zone allowed Barkov to feed Luostarinen at the back post for an easy conversion and a 4-1 lead for the Panthers at 1:28 of the third period.

Barkov forced a turnover at the blue line and beat Ullmark at 10:52 of the third before feeding Montour at the doorstep just 66 seconds later. Barkov has four goals in his past three games.

Boston’s swarming forecheck resulted in Florida committing a turnover in its defensive end, leading to the game’s first goal with 7:48 remaining in the first period. Pavel Zacha executed a give-and-go with captain Brad Marchand before the latter backhanded a goal-mouth feed that Coyle converted for his first goal of the postseason.

–Field Level Media

Clark Looks to Defend at Wells Fargo

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CHARLOTTE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The last time Wyndham Clark found himself in the field for the Wells Fargo Championship, he didn’t have a single win on the PGA Tour to his name.

What a difference a year can make.

Clark will be gearing up for this year’s edition of the event as a defending champion for the first time ever. After taking the Wells Fargo title in 2023, he added two more victories to his ledger, prevailing at the U.S. Open last June before winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am just three months ago.

In seven events since Pebble Beach, Clark has missed the cut twice, but he has also come away with three top-five finishes. He landed in second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 10, then tied for second at The Players Championship a week later.

Clark most recently finished T3 at the RBC Heritage, and he’s been able to find the silver lining when it comes to finishing just behind the leader.

“I just think the more times I put myself in contention, the better I get even if I don’t win. So recently coming up short in Bay Hill and at The Players, I learned a lot,” Clark said. “I mean, even though I had won three times prior to those two second-place finishes, I still was learning. I just think the more I put myself in that situation, the better I’m going to get and learn.

“And as you put yourself in those positions, you want to be in those positions more. So that’s really what I look forward to every week when we tee it up on Thursday.”

Even though another one of his titles will be on the line in just over a month at the U.S. Open, Clark insists that he isn’t overlooking the Wells Fargo Championship by any means.

“This is one of my favorite Tour events, one of my favorite golf courses,” Clark said of the Wells Fargo, which is held at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. “If there’s anything that I before the year get excited about, it’s this event. So I’m really focused on this week.

“It’s fun, it’s my first chance to defend. I don’t know what that’s like, so it’s been exciting. Hope I can go out and have a great week and play my best and maybe defend it. Yeah, no, I’m focused on this week.”

Clark carded a 19-under 265 at Quail Hollow last year for the lowest 72-hole score in the history of the Wells Fargo. He beat Xander Schauffele by four strokes.

–Field Level Media