Tues AM BRB (5-25-21)
This Day in Music (5-25-1996)
Brad Nowell, lead singer and guitarist of Sublime, dies of a heroin overdose at 28, two months prior to the release of the band’s third and final album.
Photo Credit: Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press
Margins were razor-thin Monday night between the Islanders and Penguins, as the series shifted back to western PA for game five. Deadlocked 2-2 in the series, it was fitting that this most pivotal game in the best-of-seven would take not one, but two overtimes to decide. 51 seconds into overtime, the game became one for the ages, as Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry attempt to clear a loose puck landed directly onto the tape of Islanders center Josh Bailey, who once again beat Jarry high glove side to send the Isles into delirium. This was a blistering conclusion to what had long since become a battle of wills, as the Islanders withstood 50(!) Penguins shots on goal to their 28, only to shock the home team when it mattered most. This was truly a star-making performance for Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin, who stopped 48 of the 50 Penguins shots he faced and provided the Isles with a much-needed center of gravity on which to mount their comeback. This certainly was not the high-scoring track meet that the previous games had devolved into, but patience was a virtue for the Islanders. After Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Beauvillier traded goals in the first period, the Islanders fell behind midway through the second period when Bryan Rust rifled home a Sidney Crosby one-timer to give the Penguins a 2-1 advantage going into the third period. Yet, despite being badly outshot throughout the game, the Islanders never went away, biding time until the ideal opportunity arose. That opportunity came 8:50 into the third period, as Jean-Gabriel Pageau executed a brilliant forecheck allowing Leo Komarov to find a wide-open Jordan Eberle for the game-tying goal. Both teams encountered brushes with defeat in the first overtime period, but neither goalie was willing to yield as the Islanders bore down and sent the Penguins fans home in utter disbelief. Perhaps now there will be some controversy over who should be the main man in net for the Islanders going forward, but if Sorokin continues to play at the level he did Monday night, even Semyon Varlamov may have to admit it’s now his countryman’s time to own Long Island. Legions of rabid Islanders fans will surely pack Nassau Coliseum to its fullest, protocol-friendly capacity when they go for the series win on Wednesday night.
Hard times continued for the Mets on Monday night as the lowly Colorado Rockies offered no quarter in a 3-2 victory in Queens. Falling to 21-20 on the year, Mets bats were once again rendered largely ineffective against Rockies starter Austin Gomber, who dominated the struggling Mets lineup for the better part of his 8+ innings of work. Mets starter David Peterson held his own over six innings, but second inning solo home runs by Ryan McMahon and Elias Diaz put just enough pressure on an already-slumping lineup which struck out eight times against Gomber Monday night. Things went from bad to worse in the top of the fourth inning, as Rockies CF Garrett Hampson lined a bullet to center causing Mets OF Johneshwy Fargas to crash shoulder-first into the wall and coming up in immediate and obvious pain. If Fargas is to miss any significant amount of time, he would mark the fifth Mets OF currently spending time on the injured list, joining Brandon Nimmo, Albert Almora Jr., Michael Conforto and Kevin Pillar in the hall of pain. The Mets plague of injuries has caused Luis Rojas to get a bit creative with his lineup construction, with catcher James McCann serving as the team’s first baseman Monday night. This move provided the Mets with a glimmer of hope, as McCann not only made a brilliant diving grab in the field, but got the Mets comeback rolling with a solo home run off Gomber in the 7th inning. Pinch-hitter Brandon Drury sent Gomber off into the night with a solo HR of his own to open the ninth inning, but unfortunately for the Mets, the comeback stopped there. Though the Mets are hurting in a significant way right now, they maintain a fairly tenuous lead over the NL East and will receive an enormous boost when ace Jacob deGrom makes his first start off the I.L. Tuesday night.