Rinne stops last-minute flurry to lead Predators past Sabres
Stars cruise to 3rd straight win, end Oilers’ streak
GM Jerry Dipoto said in a statement.
Diaz had a 1.96 ERA and struck out 124 in 73 1/3 innings.
Seattle has not reached the playoffs since 2001, the longest postseason drought across the four major pro American sports. After finishing third in the AL West despite an 89-73 record, the Mariners decided to go in another direction.
Bruce, a three-time All-Star with Cincinnati who is 31, was acquired by the Mets at the 2016 trade deadline, dealt to Cleveland in August 2017, became a free agent and returned to the Mets last January. He hit .223 this year and set career lows with nine homers and 37 RBIs, sidelined from June 18 through Aug 24 by a right hip issue.
Swarzak, 33, was 0-2 with a 6.15 ERA in 29 relief appearances. He was on the disabled list twice, from April 1 through June 4 due to a strained left oblique and from Aug. 4 through Sept. 8 with right shoulder inflammation.
Bruce is owed $13 million in each of the next two seasons, and Swarzak is due $9 million in the final season of his two-year deal.
Kelenic, a 19-year-old outfielder, was the sixth overall selection this year and hit .286 with six homers, 42 RBIs and 15 steals in 56 games of rookie ball. Dunn, a 23-year-old right-hander, was the 19th overall pick in 2016 and was 8-8 with a 3.59 ERA this year over 24 starts at Class A and Double-A.
MLB.com slotted Kelenic as the No. 2 prospect in Seattle’s system and Dunn at No. 3. They’re behind left-hander Justus Sheffield, who was acquired from the Yankees last month for Paxton.
Bautista, a 23-year-old right-hander, made his big league debut with the Mets last April and had a 12.46 ERA in five big league appearances. He was 4-1 with a 5.14 ERA in 37 games at Double-A and Triple-A, striking out 69 in 49 innings.
Seattle will pay $5 million to the Mets this Dec 21 and $3.75 million on each Dec 1 from 2019-22.
Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have accepted an invitation to the White House to celebrate their World Series championship.
“We’ve accepted and we’re going to see if there’s a date that works,” team President Sam Kennedy said Monday night before the premiere of the ballclub’s 2018 highlight video.
Once a standard, non-partisan perk of winning it all, the traditional champions’ visit to Washington has become more politicized. Some teams have declined invitations from President Donald Trump; in other cases, individual players stayed home.
Kennedy says it’s up to players to decide whether they want to attend.
NASHVILLE, Tennessee, Dec 4, (RTRS): Pekka Rinne had 21 saves including five in the final 90 seconds to lead the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.
Kevin Fiala and Ryan Ellis both scored goals for the Predators, who were playing their 13th game over a 24-day span and were without the services of top scorer Filip Forsberg (broken hand), defenseman P.K. Subban (upper body), second leading goal scorer Viktor Arvidsson (broken thumb) and center Kyle Turris (undisclosed).
Rinne was playing in his 10th consecutive game and starting his fifth straight contest. It is Rinne’s longest streak since playing in 27 games in a row from Feb 5, 2015, to April 9, 2015.
Sam Reinhart scored his seventh goal of the season for Buffalo, which suffered its third straight loss after winning 10 games in a row. Carter Hutton had 22 saves for the Sabres.
Ellis gave Nashville a 1-0 lead late in the first period with a power play goal, one-timing a pass from Roman Josi from the top of the left circle into the top far corner and over the glove of Hutton for his second goal of the season.
Reinhart was credited with the tying goal early in the second period when Josi, battling Jeff Skinner for a rebound of Reinhart’s shot in the crease during a goal mouth scramble, knocked the puck inside the right post after Rinne had stopped three straight shots.
Fiala scored what proved to be the game-winner late in the second period when he also one-timed a shot from the top of the left circle off a Craig Smith pass through Hutton’s pads for his fifth goal of the season.
Jack Eichel had a chance to tie it early in the third period when he stole the puck near center ice and went in on a breakaway, but Rinne got his right pad on his backhand try.
Buffalo pulled Hutton with 1:40 remaining and Rinne made a blocker save on a close-in shot by Skinner to the left side of the net with 1:03 left, the best of a five-shot flurry by the Sabres.
Lightning 5, Devils 1 In Newark, New Jersey, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point continued their sizzling play as the Lightning cruised to another lopsided win over New Jersey, beating the Devils 5-1.
Kucherov recorded a goal and three assists to extend his point streak to 10 games, and Point had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who won their third straight overall and swept the three-game season series against the Devils.
In their three wins over New Jersey, the Lightning outscored the last-place Metropolitan Division team 18-6.
Kucherov moved out of a third-place tie with Toronto’s Mitchell Marner in the scoring race. His four points gave him 42, moving him closer to Colorado Avalanche teammates Mikko Rantanen (45) and Nathan MacKinnon (43).
The high-scoring Russian has 24 points in the 10-game streak – five goals and 19 assists. Point had a whopping 11 points in the three wins over New Jersey.
Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson, Yanni Gourde and Steven Stamkos also scored goals. Louis Domingue won for the 11th time and started his 11th straight contest – the longest goaliestart streak in the NHL this season – and posted 26 saves.
Defenseman Egor Yakovlev scored his first NHL goal for the Devils, who have lost six straight. Keith Kinkaid stopped 16 shots in two periods in goal, and Cory Schneider made five saves in relief during the third period.
Kucherov zipped in his 12th goal at 13:31 of the first period. Using New Jersey defenseman Sami Vatanen as a screen, the right winger fired a shot from near the left circle that beat Kinkaid on the glove side for a 1-0 lead.
On the power play as the period was winding down, Kucherov fed a pass
Erik Cernak #81 of the Tampa Bay Lightning carries the puck against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Dec 3 in Newark, New Jersey. (AFP)
from the right circle to Point, who lifted a shot from the slot with 26 seconds left in the period for his 20th goal – nine of them on the man advantage.
Johnson deflected in a long shot by McDonagh for his 11th goal at 8:20 of the second period for a 3-0 lead. Shortly after Yakovlev’s goal at 11:26, Gourde chipped in a clever backhand pass from Stamkos for his 10th marker and a 4-1 lead. Stamkos scored his ninth goal of the season on the power play 20 seconds into the third period on Kucherov’s third assist, and the Lightning kept the Devils scoreless down the stretch en route for the win.
Stars 4, Oilers 1 In Dallas, Brett Ritchie had a goal and an assist, Mattias Janmark recorded two assists, and Anton Khudobin turned away 28 shots at the Dallas Stars defeated the visiting Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Monday to earn their third straight win.
Dallas got on the board at the 10:59 mark of the first period. Janmark snapped his stick on a one-timer from the point but got enough on the shot for the puck to head right to Jason Dickinson, who slammed it past Edmonton goaltender Mikko Koskinen. Ritchie also got an assist on the goal.
After a scoreless second period, the Stars added to their lead two minutes into the third, and Janmark had a hand in that goal as well.
Janmark circled from mid-ice into the Edmonton zone, picking up a full head of steam as he split defenders and skated in on net. However, he lost the puck as he started to shoot, and it went across the crease to Ritchie, who slid a shot under Koskinen’s right pad for a 2-0 advantage.
Dallas all but put away the game at the 7:24 mark of the third period as Jamie Benn scored a power-play goal off assists from Gavin Bayreuther and Alexander Radulov. The Oilers pulled within 3-1 on Jujhar Khaira’s goal with 5:24 to play as he backhanded a rebound of his own shot past Khudobin. Leon Draisaitl and Chris Wideman got assists on the score that allowed Edmonton to get back into the game.