Shohei Ohtani has already had an illustrious career. He has won four MVP awards along with the Rookie of the Year award and two World Series titles. One award he hasn’t won is the Cy Young, yet Ohtani is laying claim to it this year.

The starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers has had a rough start on the mound. He posted an MLB-leading 0.82 ERA entering Thursday’s game. Ohtani also has a ridiculously low 0.82 WHIP in 44 innings. Can that success continue long enough to earn him a National League Cy Young Award?

What changed for Ohtani?

Prior to 2026, the highest Ohtani had ever achieved in Cy Young voting was fourth in 2022 when he was with the Los Angeles Angels. Despite a career 2.83 ERA over seven seasons in MLB, he was never a top-three finisher. This season is his first full year of pitching since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023. He made his pitching debut with the Dodgers in June of 2025 and impressed with a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings.

So how has Ohtani never won the award before? However, his biggest strength has also been his biggest weakness. Ohtani’s ability to be a two-way player has made him a unicorn of an athlete. But that kind of game also costs money. This has divided his attention between hitting and pitching rather than allowing him to concentrate on either one of them.

Ohtani has always been talented at both, but it’s no surprise that his best hitting seasons came when he couldn’t pitch. The year he was rehabilitating from Tommy John, Ohtani wrote the first 50-50 season in MLB history. It was arguably the greatest offensive season ever. That season he concentrated only on hitting and defied all expectations.

It is no surprise that the same holds true in 2026. For the first time in his career, Ohtani has decided not to hit in the games he plays. It’s turning out incredibly well so far. Although he has had a rough offensive start, hitting .240/.370/.427, his pitching has been excellent.

The underlying metrics are somehow even better

It’s easy to attribute Ohtani’s hot start to good luck, and part of it certainly is. his era is excess His lower than expected ERA, although the expected mark is still incredibly good at 2.17. The same goes for his .182 expected batting average. So luck is definitely a factor to some extent. But, overall, Ohtani’s pitching run value has increased from the 85th percentile (2023) to the 97th percentile (2026). What is the reason behind this change?

The biggest change has come in his speed. Since his Tommy John surgery, the pace has really picked up considerably. In 2023, Ohtani’s two primary pitches were his sweeper and four-seam fastball. Both averaged 83.7 and 96.8 mph, respectively. In 2026? He is using his four-seamer more frequently and has added nearly two miles of distance to it while averaging 98.0 mph. The sweeper also moved up, averaging 84.9 mph. These are, by far, Ohtani’s two most valuable pitches.

Ohtani is also scoring good marks in underlying statistics like Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP). That metric ensures that pitchers are graded only based on outcomes they control (strikeouts, walks, home runs, and hits-by-pitch). In that stat, Ohtani posted a 2.52 FIP with an xFIP of 3.11. Even though his chase percentage is low (30.9 percent), his whiff percentage is in the 89th percentile at 32.0 percent. The ability to make bats miss has worked wonders for Ohtani.

The question is whether luck will favor him or not. ERA- and FIP- (metrics that adjust ERA and FIP by park and league where 100 is average and lower is better) have historically been solid ways to analyze pitching. So far in 2026, Ohtani has boasted a 24 ERA—and 60 FIP—for the best and seventh-best marks in the league, respectively. Skill-Interactive ERA (SIERA), a statistic that predicts future ERA, paints an even better picture of Ohtani’s ability. He has averaged 2.95 points, good for 11th-best mark in MLB.

Shohei Ohtani: King of the Shutout

Ohtani has four shutout starts so far this year. The strangest thing is that he has accomplished this in only seven starts. This has been a big part of his historically low ERA. Tonight, Ohtani added to that by throwing seven shutout innings against the division-rival San Francisco Giants. He scattered four hits and two walks throughout the outing, but neither of them were for extra bases.

The long and short of it is that Ohtani has dominated on the mound this season in a way he never has before. honestly it’s a way No one Have ever done it before. If Ohtani continues to pitch at this level, despite stiff competition from players like Nolan McLean, Jakub Misiorowski and Paul Skenes, he should be able to take home the NL Cy Young Award. only time will tell.

Logan Stankoven is currently the living, breathing embodiment of the chaos and suffocation that the Carolina Hurricanes are known for.

Their second line was the first line on the board against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night, as it has in every game this postseason. It was Stankoven who scored the first goal just 1:31 into the game – the third-fastest playoff goal in franchise history – as he extended his postseason-opening goal-streak to five, becoming the youngest player in NHL history to do so.

The next goal came off the stick of Jackson Blake at exactly 7:30 in the first period, helping Stankoven earn his second point of the game. Assists came from Taylor Hall and Mike Reilly, who interestingly scored his second point of the game, also assisting on Stankoven’s goal.

As for Reilly, who was filling in for Alexander Nikishin after he failed to clear the NHL’s concussion protocol, he had only 1:42 of ice time in three shifts when he played a crucial second game to help the Hurricanes advance. It was his first multi-point game since December 23, 2023, when he was with the New York Islanders – ironically, they were playing against the Hurricanes.

The third and final goal of the game was, once again, Stankoven’s – the goal came on a wonderful pass from Seth Jarvis, assisted by Andrei Svechnikov. Stankoven had just come off the bench, and fell down while doing so, but that little mishap put him in the right place at the right time to find the back of the net.

When play resumed after the goal, Stankoven wasted no time in trying to get a hat trick – firing the puck over Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar immediately after winning the following faceoff. He didn’t get that third goal, but the Snapperjacks certainly tried, tying Sean Couturier on goal for a game-leading five shots.

Frederik Andersen earns second shutout of postseason campaign

However, Stankoven certainly wasn’t the only standout in the match.

Throughout his 60 minutes on the ice, Frederik Andersen turned away every shot he faced en route to a 19-save shutout. During an empty-net situation, he also responsibly missed a potential goaltender’s chance with clear ice ahead. He may have taken a tripping penalty against Porter Marton, but he produced an incredibly disciplined performance in the Hurricanes’ 3–0 win.

Saturday night is fight night’

A melee broke out at the Lenovo Center, slowly moving from silly to downright chaotic. In the first period, Nick Seiler playfully grabbed Jordan Martinook’s stick and appeared to hit himself in the face on the Flyers power play…somehow.

Later, the aforementioned Marton trip from Andersen came when Jakob Slavin slid straight into the net.

But then, things turned dangerous.

In the final minute of the second period, Andrei Svechnikov took a hit on rookie Martone in a board battle for the puck, and Tyson Foster took a hard hit to the back of Andrei Svechnikov’s right knee – the same knee that required surgery to repair a torn ACL in the 2022–23 season.

Svechnikov remained down due to Hurricanes head athletic trainer Doug Bennett running onto the ice, and the game was called for a five-minute major before review reduced it to a two-minute minor. Thankfully, Svechnikov did not go down the tunnel and was able to finish the game.

However, this was not the end of things. Rough penalties were given throughout the final frame, and an altercation between Jackson Blake and Trevor Zegras resulted in both of them receiving 10-minute misconducts with 8:14 left. It was the first misconduct of Jackson Blake’s NHL career, and the second misconduct of Zegras’ postseason following a Game 4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round One.

Less than two minutes later, Shayne Gostisbehere and Seiler were both given 10-minute misconducts for their moment of scuffling after an offside whistle.

By the end of the game, both teams had a combined 34 penalty minutes, equaling 68.

TJ Luxmore followed up that whole mess with a simple announcement:

“Multiple penalties, it will be a power play”

Storm with the man advantage, Zegras and Blake have left the game, clips are coming #SoundTheSiren #LetsGoFlyers #nhl #stanleycup

– Queen of the Puck (@rbarkleyhockey) 3 May 2026

storm game notes

The Carolina Hurricanes are the fifth team in NHL history not to trail in their first five playoff games. The Washington Capitals were the last to do so in the 1986 postseason campaign, extending their series to six games.

With his sixth goal of the postseason, Logan Stankoven tied Matt Boldy and Brandon Hagel for the leaguewide lead. Both Boldy and Hagel have played one more game than Stankoven.

Of the 14 goals scored by the Hurricanes this postseason, 10 had at least one second-row player (Stankoven, Blake, Hall) on the scoresheet.

Notching his 24th postseason win with the Hurricanes, Anderson passed Cam Ward for most playoff wins in franchise history. Additionally, with his fourth postseason shutout with the Hurricanes, Anderson tied Ward for the most in franchise history. Rock on, Freddy.

Rachel Barkley is a beat writer covering the Carolina Hurricanes for Carolina Hockey Now on SportsNote. Painting Stories…More About Rachel Barclay

If there was a textbook way to set the tone for a series, this was the way to do it.

In sixty minutes, the Carolina Hurricanes rang the bell, leading the way with scoring from deep, putting up hits when needed (and even when it didn’t), and earning a shutout in Game 1 of the first round against the Ottawa Senators, as they won 2–0.

Captains Jordan Staal and Brady Tkachuk battle in the opening draw

As soon as the puck dropped, captains Brady Tkachuk and Jordan Staal took off their gloves and began attacking each other.

“I saw some guys out there talking about the draw,” Logan Stankoven said of the moment after the game. “I can’t remember who was furthest down there, but they weren’t really ready to line up for puck drop, so I thought maybe something was going on, and sure… great way to get the crowd involved, and I thought ‘Jordo’ did a great job.”

Head coach Rod Brind’Amour confirmed that he did not see anything between them before puck drop, and did not expect a fight.

To be honest, this moment was less surprising in relation to Tkachuk, but certainly in relation to Staal, who is not known as a fighter.

Both entered the box after three seconds and were given five minutes to fight.

Secondary scoring propels Hurricanes to victory

Ultimately, it wasn’t until the second period before someone came on the board. With a nifty puck flip from the blue line in the crowded area, Alexander Nikishin’s playmaking move immediately found the stick of Taylor Hall, who passed it to Jackson Blake, who then passed it to Stankoven, who sent a wrister past Linus Ullmark – the netminder was getting a piece of it, but not enough to stop it. Nikishin didn’t get any points for it, but he got the game going with the game-winning goal.

In the third frame, the Senators lost their top-pairing defenseman, Artem Zub, who was absent from the bench when the game began.

Early in the period, Drake Batherson tried to put the puck in on the power play, but Frederik Andersen’s glove managed to catch it. Due to the spot where it was covered by the glove, it was called a goal on the ice, and was immediately reviewed to see if it had crossed the goal line. After a few moments, it is removed from the board after it has been proven that it has not been crossed.

Shortly thereafter, the Hurricanes’ second-row trio struck again as Ullmark was left with the puck loose in the crease. There was a momentary chaos as he tried to move the puck over the goal line and eventually, he did. The goal was initially awarded to Stankoven, but after a few minutes it was changed to Hall.

The senators tried to keep the pressure on the stormtroopers, but ultimately did not succeed. Carolina outshot them 57–39, outshot them 29–22 and outshot them 35–23 in all situations. Ottawa led in the faceoff dot with 56.4% of draws, but the Hurricanes managed to keep it from going much further.

storm notes

This marked the first time in Stanley Cup playoff history that the Hurricanes faced the Senators.

In early November, Staal became involved in a fight in defense of Jalen Chatfield, who took an illegal check to the head during a game against the Minnesota Wild. It was the first time in nine seasons that he was in a fight.

With his sixth career NHL postseason shutout, Anderson is tied for third-most postseason shutouts among active goaltenders, behind only Jonathan Quick and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Both teams were perfect on the penalty kill.

Rachel Barkley is a beat writer covering the Carolina Hurricanes for Carolina Hockey Now on SportsNote. Painting Stories…More About Rachel Barclay

Darcy Kuemper stopped all 19 shots to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena on a brutal Thursday night.

According to NHL.com, the win snapped a four-game losing streak for Los Angeles and moved the Kings to within one point of the second Western Conference wild-card spot.

For the Kings, it was the consecutive wins needed for a team in the playoff race. Kuemper’s clean sheet was his 3rd of the season and the 39th shutout of his career.

For the Canucks, it looked like the franchise going through the rounds holding the rope. In fact, the score could have been worse. Kevin Lankinen made 34 saves, and that number tells only a part of it.

The Kings were bigger, heavier and more direct, and it continued to force the Canucks into defensive changes that made the shutout inevitable.

sovereign king

At 17:34 of the first period, Scott Laughton opened the scoring on a power play with a deflection in front, following a byfield shot from the right circle.

Earlier, Kuemper had put up a big stop on Teddy Blueger in the slot, and on reflection, that was the beginning and end of the night for the Canucks.

Moore made it 2-0 just 1:21 in on another tip puck across the crease. Artemi Panarin made it 3–0 with 39 seconds remaining after Adrian Kempe forced Jake DeBrusk into a neutral-zone turnover.

The Kings outshot the Canucks 32–12 over two periods, and Canucks coach Adam Foote said Los Angeles came out “big, heavy on the puck, and mean and hungry”. This looks exactly like the game was supposed to look like.

The Canucks never created enough offensive-zone time, and when they finally got a decent look late, Kuemper put aside a Drew O’Connor redirect from the top of the crease.

Soon after, Byfield finished it off with a goal into the empty net. Ordinary hockey defeated hopeful hockey.

familiar ending

The Canucks have now lost four in a row and end their eight-game homestand at 2-6-0. They have shut out 14 of their last 17, and it was the sixth time the club was shut out this season, including a fifth home shutout that set a franchise record.

For Canucks fans, now comes the hard part. It’s not just about losing. What little room this team leaves for itself once the game starts to tilt in the wrong direction.

Another day, another loss for the Vancouver Canucks. On Monday night at Rogers Arena, the Ottawa Senators won 2-0, and the score faithfully reflected the flow of the game.

At 10:11 of the second period, Artem Zub’s shot from the point hit Shane Pinto high, and the puck fell into open space, where Ridley Gregg collected it alone in the slot before switching from backhand to forehand and beating Kevin Lankinen.

Vancouver challenged, arguing that the puck was played with a hand, but review ruled it a deflection rather than a hand pass, so the goal stood.

Brady Tkachuk later sealed it with an empty-net goal late in the third minute.

According to NHL.com, the big story for the Senators is momentum. The Senators extended their point streak to seven games, ending the five-game trip at 4–0–1, and got another point from Tim Stützle, who extended his scoring run to 13 games.

The Senators have now gone 5-0-2 over the seven-game span, which says a lot more about where this team is going than where the Canucks are stuck.

Reimer takes charge

James Reimer stopped all 16 shots he faced, and when you add in the fact that the Senators’ formation stuck all night, even with top defenseman Jake Sanderson out of the lineup, it’s an even more disappointing story for the Canucks.

Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that Reimer was making his first start since Feb. 5, which highlighted the shutout even more. It was his 1st shutout of the season and the 32nd of his NHL career.

I’ve watched enough Canucks hockey over the years to know when the night is starting to wear thin, and this time it was starting to show quite early.

The Canucks never applied much pressure, never forced the Senators into long, ugly defensive turnovers and finished the third period with only three shots on goal. That included two power plays without a single shot, which is the kind of detail that tells the story better than any disappointed postgame quote.

What keeps going wrong?

Reuters reported that the Canucks have now lost five straight at home, and the numbers surrounding this slump are hard to ignore.

The Canucks have won just one in their last 10 games, and it was the ninth time this season they have been held to under 20 shots.

Lankinen did what he could with 22 saves, and CBS coverage found that he at least kept the game within reach long enough for a push that never really came.

For the Canucks, it was another reminder that good goaltending isn’t enough when the offense is quiet for long periods of time.

The Canucks will play the Nashville Predators on Thursday, while the Senators go home to face the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, with real playoff life still ahead of them.