Tuesday’s “First Call” has high praise from the Pittsburgh Steelers for a potential first-round wide receiver. Kicker Chris Boswell was probably happy to hear some news from Dallas. While the Penguins and Flyers are slugging it out in one Metropolitan Division matchup, the other is now up 2-0.

And the Pirates prepare to see former teammate Andrew McCutchen in Texas.

Lovin’ Lemon

It’s well known that the Steelers need a receiver in the NFL Draft. One of the top-rated receivers on most boards is Makai Lemon.

The USC pass catcher is first at ESPN.com, second at NFL.com.

But there were reports that Lemon “bombed” his NFL Combine interviews. The Steelers seemed to have a different experience.

After speaking with Lemon in Indianapolis and in Pittsburgh, general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike McCarthy both said Monday that they enjoyed their interactions with the ex-Trojan.

“He was outstanding,” Khan said before McCarthy jumped in.

“He was,” McCarthy said. “Awesome.”

“He really was,” Khan resumed. “We had a chance to meet him in Indianapolis. He was here and spent some quality time with him. It was excellent time spent.”

Could it be a smokescreen? Sure. But the junior caught 79 balls for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns and a 14.6-yard average. He won the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top college football receiver.

Any negatives gleaned from his interviews can be overlooked with production like that.

The price of doing business

Whatever the extension asking price for Chris Boswell had been, I bet that it just went up.

Dallas just made Brandon Aubrey the highest-paid kicker in NFL history. According to ESPN.com’s Todd Archer, the team and Aubrey agreed to a four-year extension Monday. It makes him the first kicker to earn $7 million per year. In all, $20 million is guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

A source tells Archer that Aubrey’s signing bonus is $8.25 million.

.

Aubrey made 85.7% of his field goals last year, Boswell made 84.4%. Boswell made nine kicks over 50 yards. Aubrey made 11.

Boswell is entering the final year of his contract at $4.72 million against the salary cap.

Canes can

The Penguins are slogging through their first-round Metropolitan Division playoff matchup down 0-2 to Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the Metro champion Carolina Hurricanes are up 2-0 on Ottawa.

That’s because Jordan Martinook scored in double overtime to give the Canes a 3-2 win in Game 2 on Monday night.

That was Martinook’s seventh shot of the night and his first point of the series. He had 12 goals and 29 points during the regular season.

The series shifts to Ottawa for Game 3 on Thursday. Other scores on Tuesday night included Dallas tying its series at 1-1 with Minnesota after a 4-2 Stars’ victory in Texas. Meanwhile, the Ducks-Oilers series finally got underway with Edmonton claiming Game 1 by a final score of 4-3.

 

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Catching up with Cutch

When the Pirates visit the Texas Rangers for their series in Arlington starting Tuesday, they’ll be facing former All-Star Andrew McCutchen.

Maybe.

’Cutch is only hitting .207 on the season (6 for 29). He has one home run and five RBIs on the year. His OPS is .629. The 39-year-old hasn’t had a base hit in his last 15 at-bats.

So far this season, McCutchen has just 13 at-bats against right-handers with two hits. Carmen Mlodzinski, Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler are the scheduled starters for Pittsburgh. They are all right-handed.

The Rangers are 11-11 so far this season. They are in second place of the American League West, half a game behind the Athletics. Texas has allowed only 76 earned runs, fourth-lowest in the American League. At .991, the Rangers are also tied with Kansas City for the second-best fielding percentage, just .003 behind the A’s.

Brandon Nimmo is the team’s best hitter with a .908 OPS and a batting average of .308. He also has four home runs.

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Jake Burger and Corey Seager have five homers apiece to lead the team.

Watch: Tim Benz and Mark Madden host “Madden-Benz: Unfiltered!”