Dismantling of Lightning Begins
The bubble didn’t take long to burst on the Lightning’s Stanley Cup party.
The effects of a flat salary cap took its toll on the Lightning less than two weeks after winning their second Stanley Cup. The team bid farewell to defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who signed with the Ducks, and it was forced to place center Tyler Johnson on waivers as the NHL’s free agency period opened Friday.
Also, the league’s higher profile free agents such as defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and winger Taylor Hall, remained on the market with a $81.5 million cap — unchanged from last year — adding a layer of uncertainty to a coronavirus pandemicaltered economy.
“It’s a bit of a new world right now with the flat cap and the revenue situation,” Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. “You don’t want to risk anything too long on either side because it just might not make sense.”
It seemed to make sense for the Blues to effectively end the Pietrangelo era by signing defensemen Torey Krug to a $45.5 million, seven-year deal. Krug will count $6.5 million against the salary cap through the 2026-27 season.
Suitors for Pietrangelo have been cut down by the signing of Krug and the Maple Leafs’ inking T.J. Brodie to a $20 million, four-year deal. The Golden Knights cleared cap space to take a swing, though general manager KellyMcCrimmon refused to answer a question about Pietrangelo because he’s not on the roster.
TENNIS It’s Djokovic vs. Nadal, again
Novak Djokovic seemed well on his way to yet another ho-hum victory, yet another French Open final in Paris, yet another matchup against rival Rafael Nadal. And then, suddenly, what had been a gallop became a grind.
Slightly more than two hours into his semifinal against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic was serving for the match, one point from ending things in straight sets. But a down-the-line backhand veered a tad wide, Djokovic rolled his eyes and, eventually, he was stuck in a serious situation, somehow pushed to five sets.
As is usually the case, though, he was up to the task when it mattered the most. Djokovic got back in gear down the stretch to hold off the much younger, much less accomplished Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1 to reach his fifth title match at Roland Garros.
“I stayed calm on the surface,” Djokovic said, “but deep down, it was a totally different matter.”
Standing in the way of No. 1 Djokovic on Sunday at Court Philippe Chatier will be, as it’s been so often, No. 2 Nadal.
It will be their 56th meeting, the most between two men in the professional era (Djokovic leads 29-26), 16th at a major (Nadal leads 9-6) and eighth at the French Open (Nadal leads 6-1).
“It’s his house,” Djokovic said.
In addition to closing in on an unfathomable 13th French Open championship with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (0) win over 12th-seeded Diego Schwartzman, Nadal now gets a chance to tie Roger Federer for the men’s record of 20 Slam titles.
GOLF Kim leads by one inWomen’s PGA
Sei Young Kim birdied five of the final six holes as darkness fell at Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, for a 5-under 65 and one-shot lead after two rounds of the KPMGWomen’s PGA Championship.
† Patrick Cantlay made four consecutive birdies at the midway point of his second round in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas to be part of a five-way tie for the lead.