Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
Reuters“It was a hard game, a very physical game they made it very difficult for us,” Flyers forward Mike Knuble said. “The team kind of fed off him. He made some big saves and it carried through their team.”
Pittsburgh scored on four of its first 11 shots against Robert Esche, a performance more reminiscent of the Lemieux-Jaromir Jagr days than those during the franchise’s four consecutive last-place division finishes since 2003. The Penguins frequently outskated the Flyers to the puck, fed off a succession of excellent saves by Fleury and a strong game by the Ouellet-Dominic Moore-Ruutu line.
Moore and Ruutu were among new general manager Ray Shero’s off-season pickups — not big-name players but ones he felt would fit in well with a fast-skating, youthful team that will have four players 20 or younger when Russian star Evgeni Malkin recovers from his dislocated left shoulder.
The Penguins played three teenagers — an almost unheard of occurrence in a major team sport — with first-round pick Jordan Staal, who just turned 18, and 19-year-old defenseman Kris Letang making their NHL debuts.
No wonder the Flyers didn’t see this coming. The game got away from them quickly when Ouellet powered a shot from the top of the right circle beyond Esche slightly more than four minutes into the game.
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Ouellet then set up Ruutu less than three minutes later for a tap-in that made it 2-0. The big lift provided by that lead clearly gave a boost to a Penguins team whose 22 victories last season were the fewest for the franchise since the 1983-84 team won only 16, giving them the chance to draft Lemieux.
“Last year doesn’t mean anything now,” Crosby said. “It’s an opportunity to start fresh. It’s hard to compare, but we came out prepared to play the best we can.”
Crosby made it 3-0 early in the second period, beating Esche inside the near post from below the left circle.
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Lemieux’s No. 66 jersey banner was raised again to the Mellon Arena ceiling before the game, nine months after the Hall of Fame center retired for the second time.
Notes: Crosby has eight goals in nine career games against Philadelphia. ... Fleury’s shutout was his second; he won a 1-0 decision against Chicago in the first month of his rookie season. ... The Penguins had lost six consecutive openers, last winning in 1999 against the Islanders.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Check out highlights from the Rangers 3-2 win over the Capitals.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
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