Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4.6.26
Masters week and Frozen Four week is upon us.
Both Final Fours have been duds so far. Sure looks like Michigan should roll tonight, too.
Two NHL coaches whose teams were in a playoff spot got fired with just a handful of games left in the regular season. Peter DeBoer, who replaced Patrick Roy in Long Island yesterday, has coached 19 consecutive NHL seasons despite being fired FIVE times, per The Athletic.
Kaprizov Hat Trick Lifts Wild Within Two Points of Dallas
The worst thing an Eastern Conference team fighting for the final playoff spot wants to see is the Minnesota Wild.
Kirill Kaprizov completed a hat trick late in regulation, as the Wild barely avoided a collapse with a 5-4 win at Detroit. This on the heels of a Saturday win against Ottawa - also fighting for the eighth spot.
The win moved the Wild within two points of the Stars for second place. Each team has five games left. Dallas, which hosts the Wild Thursday in a game that may decide home ice in their first-round series, wins any tiebreaker. The Stars have three should be gimmes - Toronto, Calgary and the Rangers.
Detroit managed just seven shots in the next 39 minutes after its early goal for a 1-0 lead.
The Wild, meanwhile, got two goals from Kaprizov, and one each from birthday boy Matt Boldy and Vladimir Tarasenko in the middle frame. Boldly and Kaprizov scored 67 seconds apart early on in the second.
But the Red Wings fought back to score three times in the third, before Boldy hit Kaprizov for a nasty one-timer from the right circle for the winning goal. Boldly also blocked a shot - the Wild’s 25th block of the game - in the closing seconds.
Minnesota warms up for its big tilt with Dallas when they host flaililng Seattle on Tuesday.
Hornets Send Reeling Wolves to Another Loss
If you look up “backing into the playoffs” in the dictionary, there will be a picture of the 2026 Timberwolves.
Four games left, and they’re still not assured an actual playoff spot. They lead Phoenix by three games to avoid the play-in round, but nothing’s guaranteed right now.
The Wolves watched LaMelo Ball go for 35 points in a 122-108 home loss to Charlotte last night. Minnesota led by five at halftime thanks to a 39-point second quarter. They only scored 48 the rest of the way.
No Anthony Edwards again, no Jaden McDaniels again. The Wolves got 26 points from Julius Randle and 18 from Bones Hyland, but a lot of passengers all around.
Tuesday’s road game in Indy against the 18-60 Pacers SHOULD be enough to lock up the sixth seed. They’ve got three games left after that to try to right the ship before a first-round series against either the Lakers or Nuggets (two of the hottest teams in the league).
Twins Held to Single Run, Again
Richie Palacios hit a two-run homer off one of the Twins’ most consistent relievers in the 10th inning, lifting the Rays to a 4-1 victory and a series win on a chilly weekend at Target Field.
Topa, appearing in the sixth of the Twins’ nine games, started the 10th and promptly allowed a 382-foot blast to Palacios with the ghost runner on. The problem with being your team’s most consistent reliever, is you’re going to be overworked.
The Twins wasted another strong start (I can just copy and paste this 2-3X a week) by Simeon Woods Richardson, who pitched into the seventh inning and yielded just one run. But the Twins have scored just two runs in Woods-Richardson’s two starts.
The light-hitting Twins managed three hits - two by Matt Walner, including a solo homer. They’ve scored exactly one run FOUR times in nine games - all losses.
The 3-6 Twins host Detroit for four games starting tonight.
Loons’ Strong Second Half Propels Them to Win Over Galaxy
Kelvim Yeboah scored the winning goal in the 67th minute as the Loons won their first road game of the season, 2-1 at the L.A. Galaxy. It was a good win for the Loons, who were missing two starters with injury and/or illness.
The game kicked off an unusual three-game Western swing. Minnesota doesn’t play at San Diego until Saturday, and then plays in Sacramento in the U.S. Cup next Wednesday.
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