NHL draft lottery losers last year, the Florida Panthers had their number come up this year. In the meantime, chalk up yet another loss for the Buffalo Sabres. The Panthers bucked the odds Tuesday by jumping up a spot and earned the right to the top pick in June. Florida, which finished 29th in the league, vaulted ahead of the last-place Sabres, who had the best odds of winning the lottery held in Toronto. "It means a lot to us. Weve very excited," said Travis Viola, Panthers president of hockey operations. "Were looking to continue to build on our core talent of young players. Its just a great opportunity." It also marked a reversal of fortune for Florida. After finishing last a year ago, the Panthers were relegated to the No. 2 pick after Colorado won the lottery. The top two projected prospects are left wing Samuel Bennett, of OHL Kingston, who finished first in the final rankings released by NHL Central Scouting last week, and OHL Barrie defenceman Aaron Ekblad. The draft will be held in Philadelphia on June 27-28. The Panthers (29-45-8) had an 18.8 per cent chance of winning the lottery, behind only Buffalo (21-51-10), which had a 25 per cent shot. The Sabres continued whats been a losing trend since the season began in October. Buffalos 51 losses were a franchise worst, and the most losses in the NHL since the New York Islanders went 21-51-7-3 in 2000-01. General manager Tim Murray took the latest loss in stride, telling the teams website that he almost anticipated losing out on the No. 1 pick. "Were very comfortable," Murray said. "The other way wouldve been gravy, but its kind of what we thought would happen, and we prepared for it." The Sabres were guaranteed falling no further than second. Florida will have the first pick for the fourth time in franchise history. The Panthers are gradually rebuilding. They made a splash this year by acquiring goalie Roberto Luongo in a trade with Vancouver. And theyll be picking third or better for the fourth time in five years. Their previous top three picks -- defenceman Erik Gudbranson (in 2010), wing Jonathan Huberdeau (2011) and centre Aleksander Barkov (2013) -- all played significant roles this season. "Were anxious to put a winner in Florida," Viola said. The Panthers move up marked the fourth straight year in which the last-place team failed to win the lottery. Since the NHL lottery system was introduced in 1995, the last-place team has earned the No. 1 pick only six times. The Panthers had the No. 1 pick in the 2002 and 2003 drafts, but traded them away both times. They also had the No. 1 pick in 1994, when they selected defenceman Ed Jovanovski. The remaining 11 teams maintained their draft order based on the final standings, starting with the Edmonton Oilers staying with the No. 3 draft pick. Calgary will select fourth followed by the New York Islanders. The top 10 picks are rounded out by Vancouver picking sixth, followed by Carolina, Toronto, Winnipeg and Anaheim. The Pacific Division champion Ducks earned a lottery spot by acquiring a first-round pick in a trade with Ottawa, which finished 21st. The New Jersey Devils, who finished 20th, were included in the lottery to maintain the weighted odds, but were not eligible to be selected. The Devils are already slotted to pick 30th after being sanctioned by the NHL. The league ruled New Jersey circumvented the collective bargaining agreement by attempting to skirt the salary cap by signing Ilya Kovalchuk to a 17-year, $102 million contract in 2010. Center Sam Reinhart (WHL Kootenay) and left wing Leon Draisaitl (WHL Prince Albert) were ranked third and fourth among North American skaters, while the top-ranked European skater is Finnish right wing Kasperi Kapanen. The Sabres actually have a shot at holding three first-round picks based on two trades they made this year. The Islanders have to until June 1 to decide whether to hand over their first-round selection to Buffalo this year or next year. Islanders head amateur scout Trent Klatt said the team has not yet determined its plans. The Sabres will also acquire the Blues first-round pick should St. Louis reach the Western Conference finals.
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Xavier Sua-Filo Jersey .com) - The Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors are back in the great white north for a brief moment and will host the Dallas Mavericks Friday night from Air Canada Centre. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Omar Infante told Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar that on a muggy night at Kauffman Stadium, with a stiff breeze blowing out to left field, any ball hit solidly would clear the fence. Infante never predicted that hed hit one with the bases loaded. The veteran capped a seven-run inning with his first career grand slam Friday, and Kansas City held on to beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-6 on a rough night for starting pitchers. "There was a lot of wind," Infante said. "I just wanted to make contact, do something." The grand slam in the third gave the Royals a 7-2 lead, and they tacked on one more run the next inning. Then, after starter Jason Vargas gave up four runs in the fifth, the Kansas City bullpen twirled five scoreless innings to preserve the victory. Michael Mariot (1-0) picked up his first career win with 1 1-3 innings of relief, and Greg Holland earned his 23rd save by tossing a perfect ninth. "We just knew that with Vargas going four innings, we needed to piece it together," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Mariot did a phenomenal job." Lorenzo Cain, Billy Butler and Alex Gordon each drove in a run for Kansas City, which ended the Angels six-game winning streak after limping into the series having lost six of seven. Vargas and Angels counterpart Matt Shoemaker (5-2) combined to give up 14 runs on 20 hits -- four of them home runs -- and neither got an out in the fifth. "It was definitely not fun," Shoemaker said. "Its going to make me tougher, not that I wasnt, but you learn from it. The third inning was a long inning. There were a lot of runs." C.J. Cron hit two homers for Los Angeles, and Mike Trout sent a shot to centre in the first inning that cleared the fence, four rows of seats and a walkway before landing in a fountain. "I squared it up. I definitely barrelled it," Trout said. "I was trying to put a good swing on it and got a pitch I could hit. Im always looking fastball and reacted. I got a heater." Trouts mammoth drive only counted for one run, though. It was going to take moree than that to win, with the ball carrying so well.dddddddddddd Cron added a homer to left with two outs in the second inning, but Kansas City quickly erased its two-run deficit in the third by matching its biggest inning of the season. The seven-run outburst against Shoemaker began with a double by Escobar, who added a single later in the inning. Jarrod Dyson, Cain and Eric Hosmer hit singles, Butler walked, Gordon hit a sacrifice fly and Salvador Perez added another base hit. By that point, the Royals had pulled ahead 3-2 and the bases were loaded for Infante, who hit a high fly to left field that carried just over the wall and landed in the bullpen. His first career grand slam came in his 1,268th game. "The ball was really carrying tonight," Yost said. "I knew he hit it good." Butler added an RBI single in the fourth to make it 8-2. Shoemaker finished the inning but did not emerge for the fifth after allowing eight runs on 11 hits and a walk. The rookie was 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA in his previous seven starts. Vargas nearly squandered the big cushion when Cron hit a two-run shot in the fifth for his first career multihomer game. David Freese, Chris Iannetta and Collin Cowgill joined Trout in stringing together enough hits to eventually put up four runs. Howie Kendrick nearly tied the game with a shot to the wall in right, but Cain caught it on a gallop at the warning track to end the inning and preserve the Royals 8-6 lead. Despite some hiccups, their bullpen kept the Angels off the board the rest of the way. "We had a lot of great opportunities. We could have easily put our heads down when it was 8-2, but we fought back," Trout said. "We just fell short." NOTES: The Angels traded RHP Ernesto Frieri to Pittsburgh for RHP Jason Grilli before the game. "Were trying to get a bullpen with some chemistry," manager Mike Scioscia said. ... The Angels optioned INF Efren Navarro to Triple-A Salt Lake and recalled RHP Michael Kohn after the game. ... Royals RHP Yordano Ventura faces Angels LHP Hector Santiago on Saturday.
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