Monday’s “First Call” has an update on increasing contract tensions between the NFL and its officials. Things are really getting muddy in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are set for their second series of the season. Andrew McCutchen seems to be enjoying his time in Texas, and a Pittsburgh product is impressing in St. Louis.

Zebra zingers

The saber-rattling is getting loud between the NFL and the union that represents its officials.

The contract disagreement between those two sides is getting a lot of attention, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network sent out this characterization of events.

The NFLRA responded through ProFootballTalk.com with its own spin.

“Apparently, ‘league sources’ are continuing to put out false and misleading information instead of wanting to meet at the negotiating table,” the NFL Referees Association said. “The bottom line is our officials work for the wealthiest sports league in America, with profits that far exceed any of the others. That’s normally a point of pride for the NFL. However, our officials are substantially under-compensated when compared to baseball and basketball umpires and referees. Our officials also aren’t even provided the health care benefits that those at 345 Park Avenue have.”

The NFLRA seemed particularly miffed about the “performance” angle of the conversation that Pelissero mentioned in his post.

“As far as performance pay, we had ‘high-performing officials’ who worked this year’s Championship games and the Super Bowl who were paid less for those games than what they were paid for a regular-season game. That certainly isn’t rewarding performance, as the NFL claims is their goal.”

As ESPN.com reported, the NFL has a plan in place for replacement officials if CBA talks fail to generate a new deal before the start of the season.

Not dead yet

As the Penguins and New York Islanders had Sunday off to prepare for Monday night’s massive game at UBS Arena, there was some movement around the rest of the Eastern Conference.

Atop the Metropolitan Division, the Carolina Hurricanes lost 3-1 to the Montreal Canadiens. Meanwhile, fourth-place Columbus picked up a point but blew at 3-0 lead in the third period at home to Boston and lost 4-3 in a shootout.

Pavel Zacha forced OT for the Bruins with 11 seconds remaining.

That means the Hurricanes lead the Metro with 98 points. The Islanders are in second with 89, and the Blue Jackets are now tied with the Penguins at 88 points apiece. But, since Columbus has played one extra game thus far, they are in fourth place and occupy a wild card slot with the Bruins (92 points) from the Atlantic Division.

Don’t look now, though, because the Philadelphia Flyers are very much alive. They’ve got 86 points and are tied for ninth place with Ottawa and Detroit, just two points behind Columbus for the final wild card spot.

Philly edged Dallas 2-1 in overtime Sunday for its eighth win in 10 tries. They next play in Washington on Tuesday before tangling with Detroit, the Islanders and Boston the rest of the week.

 

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Divisional duties

The Pirates open their first divisional series of the 2026 season Monday in Cincinnati.

The Reds took two of three from Boston to start the year. The Pirates won Sunday’s game in New York against the Mets 4-3 in 10 innings to salvage a split after dropping their first two contests.

Cincy won on Sunday, 3-2. Eugenio Suarez homered for the Reds.

One thing the Pirates’ pitching staff wants to do better is find the strike zone. The Bucs issued 16 walks to the Mets in their opening series, fifth-most in Major League Baseball’s opening weekend.

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Braxton Ashcraft is scheduled to pitch Monday’s series opener for Pittsburgh. The right-hander was 4-4 with a 2.71 ERA last year. He’ll be opposed by Cincinnati righty Chase Burns (0-3, 4.57).

Hot starts

Andrew McCutchen had a successful first series with the Texas Rangers. The former Pirate had four hits in nine at-bats against Philadelphia. He homered and picked up nine RBIs in those three games.

Texas took two of three and heads to Baltimore for three games starting Monday.

Meanwhile, West Virginia University product J.J. Wetherholt is making headlines in St. Louis. The Mars Area High School product is off to a flying start for St. Louis.

In his first series against Tampa Bay, the rookie infielder went 4-13 with a home run and four RBIs. One of those RBIs was a game-winning hit on Saturday.

OptaSTATS research claims Wetherholt is the first player in MLB history with a home run in his first career game and a walk-off hit in his second.

The Cardinals host the Mets on Monday after taking two of three from the Rays in their opening series. St. Louis posted 22 runs over the weekend.

Speaking of Major Leaguers with Pittsburgh ties, Mason Miller’s new introduction in San Diego is quite a show. The Bethel Park native made his 2026 Padres debut with Korn’s “Blind” as the walkout song. It is something to behold.

The one-time Waynesburg University pitcher got a save in his first appearance of the year against Detroit.

And ex-Pirates manager Derek Shelton got his first ejection of the season with the Minnesota Twins. He was thrown out of a game against the Baltimore Orioles when a ball-four call was overturned by the new ABS video review system. Shelton melted down when former Pirate Josh Bell was called out after a full-count pitch in his favor was overturned to become a strike.

Apparently, Shelton didn’t think Baltimore pitcher Ryan Helsley challenged fast enough to hold up the game.