Florida Panthers enter elimination game without Matthew Tkachuk

Florida star forward Matthew Tkachuk, injured earlier in the series, will not play in Tuesday's Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena, where the Panthers will look to avoid elimination and force a Game 6 vs. the Vegas Golden Knights.

TORONTO -- Darko Rajakovic has been in a good mood ever since the Toronto Raptors made him the 10th head coach in franchise history.

"The last three days I've had a smile on my face so much my jaw is starting to hurt," Rajakovic joked Tuesday at an outdoor news conference.

Rajakovic, 44, replaces Nick Nurse, who was fired on April 21 after Toronto went 41-41 and lost in the opening round of the play-in tournament.

"We're really, really excited for this day," Raptors president Masai Ujiri said, seated alongside Rajakovic on a stage set up outside the team's downtown arena. "I know it's change and sometimes change is hard, but we believe change is good, and change is good for our ballclub and our organization now."

General manager Bobby Webster said Rajakovic "didn't go in as the favorite" when Toronto started its search, but won over the Raptors as the process evolved.

"He's really smart, he's detailed, he's structured," Webster said. "He has a really diverse set of experiences internationally, but also in the NBA. He's worked for a number of organizations and directly with a lot of, like, high-caliber players and it just kind of all fit. He just exceeded our expectations and just really impressed us."

Rajakovic said he felt an immediate connection with Toronto's front-office staff.

"The first time we started talking on a Zoom call, what I felt from day one was unity," Rajakovic said. "Everyone in the organization, you could just feel that everybody is together."

Born and raised in Serbia, Rajakovic has been involved in coaching since his teens. He coached in Spain before coming to the United States.

Rajakovic was a head coach for two seasons in the G League (then called the NBA Development League) before joining the Oklahoma City Thunder as an assistant before the 2014-15 season. He spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant with Phoenix, then joined Memphis the following year.

At his introductory news conference, Rajakovic fielded a question in Serbian from a Serbian-language broadcaster based in Toronto. The city has a significant population of Serbian immigrants.

Rajakovic said it "means the world" to be the second Serbian-born coach in the NBA after Igor Kokosov, who led the Suns in 2018-19.

"It means so much to the Serbian community here in Toronto," Rajakovic said. "A lot of people reached out to me. It means a lot to my family back home and the whole basketball community in Serbia."

Toronto's new hire was introduced on the four-year anniversary of the team's first and only NBA title. The Raptors beat Golden State in six games in the Finals in 2019, Nurse's first season as coach.

"Let's go and do it again," Ujiri yelled to a small group of watching fans as the event wrapped up. "We saw this thing happen last night [with Denver winning the NBA title]. We've done it here before and we're going to do it again."

Raptors players Precious Achiuwa, Dalano Banton, Christian Koloko, Jeff Dowtin Jr., Ron Harper Jr. and Joe Wieskamp were on hand for Rajakovic's introduction.

Webster confirmed Tuesday that guard Fred VanVleet has opted out of the final year of his contract and will become a free agent.

"Obviously on good terms with Fred, spoke to him yesterday," Webster said. "I think that [decision] was just kind of expected, wasn't really unexpected."

Guard Gary Trent Jr. faces a similar decision on whether to opt out of the final year of his deal before the end of next week, Webster said.

ABC, ESPN and TNT averaged 5.47 million viewers per game during the NBA playoffs, the most-watched playoffs in five years, the networks announced Tuesday.

As for the NBA Finals, ABC brought in an average of 11.64 million viewers -- a decrease from 2022, when a six-game series between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics averaged 12.402 million.

The 2023 Finals concluded Monday night with the Denver Nuggets defeating the Miami Heat in five games for their first NBA title in franchise history. Game 5 averaged 13.084 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That was a four-year high, slightly beating out last year's NBA Finals Game 5 between the Warriors and Celtics (13.016 million).

Though Denver and Miami are large markets with teams in all four major North Americans sports leagues, some skeptics believed a Nuggets-Heat series would not garner as much interest as a potential matchup between the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, historic rivals who each lost in their respective conference finals.

Denver led the nation with an average household rating of 21.55 for the length of the series, according to the blog Sports TV Ratings.

DETROIT -- Atlanta Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna avoided a serious injury to his right wrist when he was hit by a pitch Monday night.

Ozuna was sent to a hospital for testing after leaving a 6-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers when he was struck by a pitch from Garrett Hill.

"It's good; everything was negative," Ozuna said Tuesday. "We're going to take it day by day and see how I feel going forward."

Ozuna originally thought he was seriously injured.

"I thought it might be broken because it swelled up and I couldn't grip," he said. "But it is just a bruise, and I can grip today. I might be able to pinch hit tonight or play tomorrow, but we'll see."

Ozuna is hitting .246 with 13 homers and 29 RBIs in 51 games for the Braves, serving as the regular designated hitter while also seeing time in left field.

Earlier this month, Ozuna was removed from an 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks for not hustling after hitting a drive to deep center field, manager Brian Snitker confirmed after the contest.

In the fourth inning of that game, Ozuna smashed a Zac Gallen offering to deep center. He ended up on first base, settling for a 415-foot single because he stood at home plate and watched the ball reach its destination instead of running right after contact.

Instead of landing in the seats, the ball hit an overhang just below the line that marks a home run. Snitker then replaced Ozuna with Sean Murphy in the sixth inning. Murphy went 0-for-3 after entering.

"I guarantee he feels worse than I do for having to take him out," Snitker said of Ozuna.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Nevada Senate passed a $380 million bill on Tuesday to help fund a new stadium for the Athletics in Las Vegas, the first step toward the expected move of the franchise from Oakland.

After days of questioning from lawmakers about the wisdom of using public tax dollars to support a team owned by billionaire John Fisher, two amendments to the bill added Tuesday morning prompted a 13-8 vote in favor of the project.

While multiple steps remain to finalize the A's move, the passage of Senate Bill 1 -- in a special session called by Gov. Joe Lombardo, a proponent of Las Vegas adding a baseball team to the NHL's Golden Knights and NFL's Raiders -- paves the way for it to happen. If the 42-person Nevada Assembly approves it by a majority vote and Lombardo signs the bill into law, MLB owners plan to authorize the A's to relocate and end the team's half-century-plus-long tenure in Oakland.

The passage of the Senate bill came on the same day A's fans planned a so-called "reverse boycott," in which they would show up to the moribund Oakland Coliseum wearing shirts that say "SELL" and encourage Fisher to unload the team rather than move it. A's fans have abandoned the team this season after a Fisher-forced fire sale led to a depleted roster and the worst record in baseball at 18-50.

Instead of a potential expansion team, Las Vegas would inherit the A's, who have proposed a 30,000-seat stadium -- the smallest in MLB -- on a nine-acre plot at the site of the Tropicana Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The original bill did not include specifics on the stadium site, which changed after the A's announced in April they'd had a "binding agreement" for a larger parcel of land.

By making their intention to move to Las Vegas public, the A's sought to end more than 20 years of uncertainty. Failed moves to San Jose and Fremont, California, left them pursuing a new stadium in Oakland for the past decade. While there was momentum on a waterfront project at Howard Terminal site -- Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao told ABC7 in the Bay Area that "we are very close to a deal" if Fisher were to sell the team -- he instead continued to pursue the $1.5 billion stadium in Las Vegas.

After the original bill met resistance from officials, senators met with A's officials and received improvements, including the use of a suite at the stadium for community groups, an annual $1.5 million donation to the community and resources toward helping homelessness in Las Vegas.

Additionally, two other measures that had been vetoed by Lombardo -- providing 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for certain businesses and forcing monorail projects to comply with the state's wage laws -- were tied into the bill.

Andy Murray says there are "more important things than tennis" after three people were killed and another three injured in attacks in Nottingham.

Murray said he did not know if play would be suspended at the Nottingham Open, but it went ahead with the Briton winning his first-round match.

"It was obviously shocking when I woke up this morning," said Murray, 36.

"When I was going down to breakfast a few messages on our team chat came up.

"We are staying in the city centre and had been out for dinner last night and walking around those areas. You never expect something like that to happen."

The three-time Grand Slam champion added: "Really shocking and obviously heartbreaking for the victims and the people involved.

"We were talking about it this morning, saying that we didn't know if the tournament was going to be suspended for the day because there are way more important things than a tennis event."

A man, 31, was Tasered by police before being arrested on suspicion of murder, after the attacks began at 04:00 BST on Tuesday.

Murray, who won the Surbiton Trophy on Sunday and is building up to Wimbledon, earned a comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory over Belgium's Joris de Loore.

The Edmonton Oilers signed forward Derek Ryan to a two-year contract extension worth $1.8 million on Tuesday.

Ryan, 36, could have been an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

He recorded 20 points (13 goals, seven assists) in 80 games this season. He added three points (one goal, two assists) in 11 playoff games for the Oilers, who were eliminated in the second round by the Vegas Golden Knights.

An undrafted player, Ryan totaled 191 points (76 goals, 115 assists) in 500 career games with the Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames and Oilers.

In a letter sent to Congress two days after the PGA Tour announced a groundbreaking agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan pushed back on lawmakers who are now questioning the circuit’s decision to work with the PIF.

“During this intense battle, we met with several members of Congress and policy experts to discuss the PIF’s attempt to take over the game of golf in the United States, and suggested ways that Congress could support us in these efforts … we were largely left on our own to fend off the attacks, ostensibly due to the United States’ complex geopolitical alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Monahan wrote in the letter which was obtained by Politico.

Multiple lawmakers – including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who sent a letter to Monahan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman Monday requesting more information about the deal – have challenged the “framework” agreement as “sportswashing” and questioned how the new for-profit entity will impact the Tour’s tax-exempt status.

In the two-page letter, Monahan explained the details of the agreement and pointed out the Tour will “retain administrative oversight of golf tournaments.”

“Let me be clear that despite numerous reports, this arrangement is not a merger between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and the PIF.” Monahan wrote.

The Tour will maintain a majority of seats on the board of the new entity with the PIF’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, serving as chairman.

“After a divisive battle spanning two years including extensive ligation that divided our great sport, we have decided on an arrangement that will end the divisiveness and grow the sport of golf, while preserving the PGA Tour as the primary organizing entity for men’s professional tournament golf,” he wrote.

Blumenthal – who is chairman of the permanent subcommittee on Investigations – requested any information regarding the agreement between the Tour and the PIF, any communication relating to the agreement between board members and executive management for both organizations and any internal communications about how the agreement could impact the Tour’s tax-exempt status.

LOS ANGELES – Patrick Cover’s qualification for the U.S. Open is one of the bigger surprises in the entire field.

The former UNC-Wilmington golfer has played 60 events between the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour China, PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica, finishing inside the top 10 at just two of those tournaments.

He’s made the weekend in four of his last eight starts on the Korn Ferry Tour. But inward, Cover felt this kind of breakthrough was on the horizon.

“I actually feel like I’ve been playing well. The last two tournaments I had some iffy putting on funky greens in Raleigh,” he said. “I just haven’t had tournaments where I’ve put all four rounds together, but I’m feeling really confident, and I think this golf course sets up really well for me.”

Cover shot a 67 at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pennsylvania, during local qualifying before posting rounds of 67 and 65 at the final qualifying stage. He shared co-medalist honors with Yuto Katsuragawa at Old Chatham Club in Durham, North Carolina.

The Charlotte native is no stranger to USGA events in California. Cover played in the 2017 and 2018 U.S. Amateur championships at Riviera and Pebble Beach. He’s already appreciative that playing this week at LACC is another milestone crossed off his California checklist.

Now that he’s here, qualifying isn’t enough. He’s prepared to tee it up next week at the Compliance Solutions Championship in Oklahoma, but there are aspirations for a flight change to Connecticut.

“If you top-10 here, I think you automatically get into the Travelers,” Cover said. “I’m planning on jumping right back into it on the Korn Ferry, but it’s nice to be on the big stage, so why not try and make the most of it.”

LOS ANGELES – Rory McIlroy arrived at Los Angeles Country Club late Monday afternoon, eschewing a practice round for some range time and then a nine-hole stroll carrying just a putter and a few wedges.

That was intentional.

Sure, he said, much of the intricacies of the design can be found on and around the greens, so extra attention should be paid there. But also: “It’s been a long couple of weeks.”

That could have been taken any number of ways.

He has played each of the past two weeks, putting himself deep into contention at both the Memorial and RBC Canadian Open before Sunday fades. (More on that later.) But McIlroy was also dealing with the fallout from the shocking news last week that the PGA Tour – which he had fiercely defended for more than a year – had entered into an agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the details of which are still murky, even to him, as a player director on the Tour policy board.

As the defending champion in Canada, McIlroy was brought into the media center about 24 hours after the news broke. He said that interview that day was the most “uncomfortable” he’s been in the past year.

Believing he’d already addressed the stunning development, McIlroy canceled his Tuesday-morning press conference here at the U.S. Open but appeared in good spirits as he attempted to learn a course that is a virtual unknown to almost every player in the Open field.

McIlroy said that he “loves” the design at LACC, with its five par 3s and three par 5s, and that it’s “so cool.” After 18 holes, he couldn’t quite settle on a comparison. Shades of Seminole, he said. Shinnecock Hills, too. Australia’s Sun Belt, for sure.

“I keep having people ask me what the winning score is gonna be,” he said. “I have no idea. I have no idea.”

McIlroy laughed that his lone U.S. Open win in 2011 was so long ago that most of his memories now are from watching the replays. Twelve years later, he still doesn’t think he has ever struck the ball better than he did that week at Congressional. Though he has had his “ups and downs” in this championship, he is on an upward swing of late, with four consecutive top-10 finishes in golf’s most grueling test.

“I’ve started to figure out how to handle U.S. Open conditions and tests,” he said, “and I think there’s certainly a lot more patience in my game than there used to.”

His patience has certainly been tested recently. After a missed cut at the Masters, he took time off ahead of the PGA Championship and felt uncomfortable with the state of his game at the year’s second major. (He still tied for seventh at Oak Hill.) There have been signs of progress in his last two starts preceding the Open, too, but those performances were marred by final rounds of 75 and 72, respectively, when he was a non-factor by the time the tournament was decided on the back nine.

At Muirfield Village, McIlroy wondered if the outcome might have been different had he played about an hour earlier on Sunday – he made a putt on the final green Saturday that put him in the last group – before the course got pushed to the edge. And in Canada, he struggled to adjust to the speed of the greens on Sunday after morning rainfall.

“I’m building toward something,” he said. “I’m certainly feeling a lot better coming into this major championship than I was going into Oak Hill and did OK there. Minus the last two Sunday, I think, have been really big steps of progress. And it’s just a matter of trying to build on that.”