Canes collapse, the Panthers paint and a NASCAR fight in the Sports Moments of the Week

By Clark Gerber, WRAL Sports contributor

The internet is a big place. Unless you're 100% plugged in all the time (and let's be clear, that is NOT recommended), you're going to miss some stuff.

Let us do that work. You can be a well-adjusted human being and still catch all the best sports moments of the week, with a quick review ...

Hurricanes give up 4 third period goals, bow out of playoffs

What a gut punch.

Every sports fan knows the sinking feeling after a crushing loss, and Thursday night was certainly that for the Carolina Hurricanes.

While holding a 3-1 lead at second intermission -- at home -- in Game 6, I don't think anyone thought the Canes were going to lose.

Sure, they weren't exactly dominating play (in fact, you could argue that the Rangers were a little bit sharper) but after Jordan Martinook's ridiculous save to maintain a two-goal cushion, it seemed like destiny was on Carolina's side.

Then the third period started and Chris Krieder scored a goal.

And then another.

And then another.

In less than 9 minutes of game time, the 12-year veteran scored a natural hat trick for the Rangers, completely turned the game upside down and sucked the life out of PNC Arena.

A few minutes after that, New York added an empty net goal and the Hurricanes season was over.

It wasn't supposed to end this way.

As we've covered in this space before, only six teams in NHL history have recorded three straight 50-win seasons.

The Hurricanes are now the only one of those six who failed to win a Stanley Cup during their streak.

There is still reason for optimism moving forward, especially now that Rod Brind'Amour has officially signed his contract extension.

But with so many pending free agents on the roster (and the Canes don't exactly have a reputation for being big spenders), it's likely that the team will take at least a small step backwards next season.

This was arguably the most complete Hurricanes team since 2006. And they didn't even make it out of the second round.

Silver lining or not, that's a tough pill to swallow.

Heating up on the diamond

Make it three years in a row for Duke softball.

Marissa Young's group cruised through the Durham regional this weekend, winning three straight games by an aggregate score of 24-2 and advancing to another Super Regional.

The Blue Devils, who now have a program-record 50 wins this season, will head west to take on No. 7 seed Missouri for a best-of-3 series this weekend.

Win that, and Duke is going to the Women's College World Series for the first time ever.

Meanwhile, the ACC Baseball Championship is officially underway in Charlotte. All three Triangle teams should be safely in the NCAA Tournament field, but still have plenty to play for as they try to lock down a Regional hosting bid.

NC State and Duke are both in Pool C this week. They are set to play each other on Wednesday in a game that could determine a berth in the semifinals.

North Carolina is the No. 1 overall seed after winning the ACC regular season crown. They are in Pool A alongside Wake Forest and Pitt.

Win it all this week, and the Tar Heels could be looking at the No. 2 overall (or maybe even No. 1 overall) seed in the Big Dance (which would be pretty handy since UNC is 32-2 at home this season).

Painting Panthers unveil 2024 schedule

The Carolina Panthers' offseason program is in full swing as they gear up for year one under new head coach Dave Canales.

Following rookie mini-camp earlier this month, the Panthers started their three-week OTA program on Monday, and early reports are that Bryce Young is ahead of schedule in picking up the new offense (and apparently establishing a good connection with new receiver Diontae Johnson).

That's all great, but that's not what we're here to discuss.

Wednesday was NFL Schedule Release Day, which has become kind of a big event for social media teams around the league.

Well, somebody with the Panthers had a stroke of genius (see what I did there?) and decided to feature the players painting each other as a vehicle to unveiling the 2024 slate.

Do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing here.

It went about how you might imagine NFL players drawing portraits would go... except Johnny Hekker who actually did a pretty good job on JJ Jansen.

A couple things that jump out about the schedule itself:

1. Zero primetime games. Not even a Thursday nighter. I guess that's what you get when you go 2-15.
2. Week 10 Germany game against the Giants could be the lowest rated game of the season. 9:30am kickoff and I have a sneaking suspicion that both teams will be out of playoff contention by then.
3. Hosting the Chiefs the Sunday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 24, Week 12) is pretty cool.

Contender for Sports Weekend of the Year?

If you were productive at all this weekend, good for you.

I know I was very distracted because there was a ton going on in sports (that, frankly, we don't have enough room to sufficiently cover in this space).

It started on Friday morning, with one of the strangest breaking news stories I've seen in a while.

Scottie Scheffler, the heavy favorite to win the PGA Championship, was arrested for apparently failing to comply with police and dragging an officer with his car.

Scheffler was charged, booked into jail (orange jumpsuit and all) and still somehow made his tee time and shot a 5-under 66.

Incredible.

(An aside, pretty much everyone on social media made the same joke that Scheffler's theme for next year's Masters Champions Dinner should be prison food. So that was funny.)

Scheffler may have gone on to win the whole thing if not for his caddy, who skipped the Saturday round to attend his son's graduation.

Where are his priorities??? (I kid.)

Scheffler shot a 2-over 73 on that day, by far his worst of the weekend.

But enough about Scheffler, let's give credit to the actual winner, Xander Schauffele.

After an astounding twelve Top 10 finishes in his career, the 30-year old finally broke through to win his first major championship thanks to a clutch birdie putt on the final hole.

You can't ask for more drama than that... and that's just the golf!

We also had two NBA teams win on the road in a Game 7, punching a pair of improbable tickets to the conference finals.

I thought home court was supposed to mean something!

The Indiana Pacers went into Madison Square Garden and set a playoff record against the Knicks, shooting 67.1% from the field in a 21-point blowout.

Much to the dismay of Knicks superfan Spike Lee.

Later on Sunday, the Minnesota Timberwolves erased a 20-point halftime deficit and knocked out the defending champs in convincing fashion.

The Wolves held the Denver Nuggets to just 32 points in the final 23 minutes of game time, advancing to their first conference finals in 20 years.

There, they will face Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, who pulled off their own comeback on Saturday night thanks in part to a controversial late foul call.

Former Hornet PJ Washington hit two free throws to win Game 6 and knockout the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Did I miss anything?

Oh, Manchester City became the first team ever to win four straight Premier League titles, Seize the Grey won The Preakness and the Edmonton Oilers held on to win Game 7, on the road, in Vancouver on Monday night.

As I said, Sports Weekend of the Year contender. No doubt about it.

NASCAR fight!

The NASCAR Cup Series was in North Wilkesboro this Sunday for their annual All-Star Race, and although Joey Logano earned a historically dominant win, a big post-race brawl stole most of the spotlight.

Hours after being knocked out of the race in just the second lap Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did what a lot of people in racing would like to do -- punch Kyle Busch.

Stenhouse and Busch clashed on the track in the first two laps of the race. Stenhouse made an aggressive move right out of the gates in Lap 1, which may have caused Busch to bump into the wall.

Busch retaliated the next time around, bumping and turning Stenhouse and leaving the No. 47 car with too much damage to continue.

Now, because North Wilkesboro has no tunnel or bridge from the infield to the outside of the track, Stenhouse was forced to sit and stew on the crash until the race was over, which certainly contributed to the heated exchange.

Sure beats the heck out of most other sports' All-Star games!

The College Football 25 trailer is here

So is the official release date. July 19th.

It looks absolutely awesome (although I guess not everybody is happy about it).

We'll see you next week.