UR MAG

The task facing the Buffalo Sabres is not easy, but it is straightforward.

The Sabres must drum up a win when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday or their season is over.

The Canadiens lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series 3-2 with a chance to close it out in front of their frenzied home faithful. The Sabres head to Montreal with a chance to spoil that party and then have the same opportunity in their arena on Monday.

"What is there, five teams left? To be sitting here talking to you guys, I think that it's a wonderful place to be, and I'll tell the team the same thing," coach Lindy Ruff said on Friday. "We get to go to Montreal in Game 6 in the middle of May to move on to a Game 7."

The series winner will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final. Carolina swept its opponents in each of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs and has been off since Sunday.

To prolong their series, the Sabres must regroup from a deflating 6-3 home loss on Thursday. Buffalo held a 3-2 lead after the first period, but surrendered four unanswered goals.

This would be a perfect time for a couple of struggling first-liners to find their form. Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs have failed to net a single point in the first five games of this series. Tuch netted four goals and three assists while Krebs had six points (two goals, four assists) in the six-game series victory over the Boston Bruins to open the playoffs.

"I can't play the way I'm playing right now," Tuch said. "Just going to be will and determination, but I've got to move past it, I've got to move on to the next game, and I've got to be better for the guys in this room."

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The Canadiens return home to a city and arena that will be filled with excitement.

The young squad had high hopes for the season and going into the playoffs. Reaching the third round may have exceeded anybody's expectation back in October, but now is a reality they can all envision.

"Saturday night at the Bell Centre, I don't think you can write it any better to close out a series," forward Joe Veleno said on Friday. "I think the boys know that, and we're all ready for it."

It's the same situation they had in their opening-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal failed to beat the Lightning in that Game 6 on the road, although it was as much due to a great goaltending performance by Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy as anything else.

Still, there was a lesson learned about the difficulty of closing out a series.

"I think it's the hardest game," defenseman Alexandre Carrier said. "Any time a team's got its back against the wall, that's when they're desperate, that's when they play their best most of the time. We've just got to stick to our game plan and really do what we do best."

Though there will be a euphoric atmosphere in Montreal, the Canadiens' track record this postseason has shown they will likely not be overwhelmed.

"I think we're just focused on each and every day," coach Martin St. Louis said. "We're not worried about the day before. We're not worried about what's ahead. Let's just take care of today. I think when you just take care of today, usually you don't get anxious or too ecited. I feel like you just stay present where your feet are."

--Field Level Media

Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell was scratched from his Friday start hours before the opener of the Freeway Series against the Angels in Anaheim and placed on the 15-day injured list.

The Dodgers said the 33-year-old Snell was scratched due to loose bodies in his left elbow.

The IL move is retroactive to Tuesday.

The Dodgers are now listing right-hander Will Klein (1-2, 2.76 ERA) to be the first pitcher in what will be a bullpen game.

The contest was slated to be Snell's second appearance of the season. His season got off to a late start due to shoulder issues and he made his season debut last Saturday against the Atlanta Braves.

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Snell struggled against the Braves as he allowed five runs (four earned) and six hits while throwing 77 pitches in just three innings. He struck out five and walked two while taking the loss.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner was limited to 11 starts last season due to a shoulder injury and went 5-4 with a 2.35 ERA in his first season with the Dodgers. In the postseason, he went 3-2 with a 3.18 ERA in six appearances (five starts) to help the Dodgers win the World Series.

Snell is 81-63 with a 3.17 ERA in 223 career starts over 11 major league seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays (2016-20), San Diego Padres (2021-23), San Francisco Giants (2024) and Dodgers.

Snell won the American League Cy Young with the Rays in 2018 and took National League honors in 2023 for the Padres.

Los Angeles recalled left-hander Charlie Barnes in a corresponding move. Barnes, 30, hasn't appeared in a game for the Dodgers since being claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs last Saturday. He gave up four runs (three earned) in three innings in his one outing for the Cubs.

--Field Level Media

Why did Virginia's Supreme Court reject the state's new congressional map? 04:01

Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by Virginia Democrats to revive its new voter-approved congressional map that was drawn to advantage the party for the upcoming midterm elections.

In an unsigned one-sentence order, the Supreme Court left intact a ruling from Virginia's highest court thatinvalidated an amendmentto the state constitution authorizing adoption of the new House district lines. No dissents were noted.

Virginia Democrats hadmounted a last-ditch effortto restore the new voting boundaries earlier this week, but it was considered a longshot, since the Supreme Court typically does not review interpretations of state law by a state's highest court.

Democrats have been working to counter Republican-led redistricting efforts in several states to bolster the GOP's chances of holding onto the House majority in November.

The mid-decade redistricting push began last year after Texas, at President Trump's urging, adopted a congressional map that could give Republicans five additional House seats. In response, California officials drew — and voters approved — new House boundaries that aimed to net Democrats five new seats, offsetting Republicans' potential gains in Texas. The Supreme Court hasallowedboth of those maps to beusedin the midterm elections.

State lawmakers in North Carolina, Missouri and Florida have alsoreconfiguredtheir House voting lines to give Republicans more of an advantage.

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In Virginia, Democratic legislative leaders began their effort to redraw the state's congressional map in October, when the General Assembly first passed a proposed constitutional amendment allowing it to change Virginia's House districts in the middle of the decade. The measure was approved by state lawmakers a second time in January.

The issue went before Virginia voters in April, whoapproved the proposaland cleared the way for the new map.

But days later, the Supreme Court of Virginia blocked the redistricting plan. In a 4-3 decision, the court found that state lawmakers failed to follow the proper process for putting the proposal before voters, in violation of the Virginia Constitution.

State Democratic leaderssought emergency relieffrom the U.S. Supreme Court soon after and argued that the state court's decision was "deeply mistaken" on issues of federal law.

"By forcing the Commonwealth to conduct its congressional elections using districts different from those adopted by the General Assembly pursuant to a constitutional amendment the people just ratified, the Supreme Court of Virginia has deprived voters, candidates, and the Commonwealth of their right to the lawfully enacted congressional districts," they wrote in their request.

Virginia Republicans urged the high court not to grant Democrats' request, arguing that they "have no case on the merits" and that the Supreme Court of Virginia's decision hinged on state law, not federal law.

The request from Virginia Democrats was just the latest attempt to get the Supreme Court to intervene in state redistricting fights. While states had sought to change their maps for partisan gain, Republicans in some Southern states are also scrambling to redraw their House district boundaries after the Supreme Courtweakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Actin a landmark decision last month.

Since then, officials in Louisiana,Alabamaand Tennessee havesaid they'll pursue new mapsahead of their primary elections.

By Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration ‌on Friday moved to ‌strip U.S. Department of Health and ​Human Services workers of civil service job protections, according to an email reviewed by Reuters.

HHS employees ‌at several ⁠agencies received the email, which said members of ⁠their teams would be affected by the reclassification, known as ​Schedule P/C ​and formerly ​as Schedule F.

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At ‌HHS the reclassification will initially apply to employees "on the order of hundreds, not thousands," the email said, with additional tranches ‌to follow.

An HHS ​official confirmed the ​email's authenticity ​and said it "reflects the ‌finalization of previously announced ​RIFs," ​referring to reductions in force or mass layoffs. The official ​said ‌no new RIFs were planned.

(Reporting ​by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing ​by David Gregorio)

The Spaghetti Warehousein downtown Akron, where pasta, pizzas, sandwiches and more are served in nostalgia-filled surroundings inside a former B.F. Goodrich building, is set to close May 17.

The restaurant posted on social media that this is "a goodbye that feels bittersweet, but also a celebration of everything we’ve shared."

Michael Kim, president of Spaghetti Warehouse parent company The One Esca Group, said the main factor in his decision to close the restaurant is declining traffic coming into downtown Akron. .

Kim said the restaurant at 510 S. Main St. – known in its Goodrich days as Building 33 – was taking in $2 million in annual sales prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Last year we didn't even hit a mill," he said. "This year, it hasn't started that well, either. Some of it admittedly has to do with the weather, we've had a brutal winter. But the traffic has gone down so dramatically. The number of University of Akron students is starting to deplete. It's a combination, a lack of events driving people to downtown, fewer students at UA. The decrease in our sales has been quite dramatic. We probably lost half of our clientele."

GPD Group plans to move into Spaghetti Warehouse building

The Spaghetti Warehouse's lease on the buildingis set to expire in 2027. Neighboring GPD Group, an architecture and engineering firm,announced this past Decemberthat it had plans to use the structure for its own operations.

Representatives from GPD Group could not be reached for comment on whether the closure of Spaghetti Warehouse would accelerate its plans. GPD Group has more than 900 employees across 14 offices.

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Final week will include lunch, dinner through last day

Kim said he wanted to give customers one final week to come and have a meal at the restaurant, which has been opened in Akron in 1993. The restaurant will offer a reduced menu, serving lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The restaurant will operate in a "fast casual model," where customers will order at the register, and then sit anywhere they wish in the restaurant and have their food brought out.

Kim said the timetable is designed to provide employees a chance to seek work elsewhere before the restaurant closes.

Kim said it is possible that Spaghetti Warehouse will find another location in the region despite unsuccessful searching so far.

"For about a year, year and a half, when we heard about GPD taking over the building, we started looking around," Kim said. "But we just could not find something we loved. But we are always open to listening."

There are two other Spaghetti Warehouse locations in Ohio, in Toledo and Dayton.

Reporter April Helms can be reached at ahelms@thebeaconjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal:Spaghetti Warehouse closing in Akron, blames decline in customers