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The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
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Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
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.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
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.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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.
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Getty Images for NASCAR
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Finding time to relax has never been easy for Jimmie Johnson, especially during a championship chase.
Now that he’s got a Nextel Cup title on his resume, and a wife who pushes him to chill out every now and then, Johnson has learned how to take a break every now and again.
So he packed up and headed to Mexico following Sunday’s win at Texas Motor Speedway, which gave him a 30-point lead in the standings over teammate Jeff Gordon with two races to go in the Chase for the championship.
“We figured between going to Texas and Phoenix it was easy to stop off for a short getaway,” Johnson said. “My wife is really amazing about planning this stuff and encouraging me to get out and do things. It’s how I took up golf because last year she really started pushing me to take my mind off the racing once in a while.
“In years past, I spent a lot of time just sitting around overthinking everything.”
There’s not much to overthink now, as Johnson has opened a decent lead in this title hunt. A year ago, he took the points lead after Texas and never looked back in winning his first championship. Now he hopes to do it again, and with three straight wins, has tremendous momentum heading into Sunday’s race at Phoenix International Raceway.
Despite the brief getaway, Johnson said he’s not ready to relax on the track just yet. Gordon, the four-time series champion, won’t let up and will try to close the gap at Phoenix, where he won in April.
“Thirty points is good, and if I can maintain it or stretch it, it would be a lot better,” Johnson said. “I just know that I won at Texas, he finished seventh, and it was like a 40-point swing. So if I finish eighth at Phoenix and he wins, he’s back in the lead.
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Johnson heads to Phoenix on Thursday and plans to race go-karts with his No. 48 crew for one last diversion before the Nextel Cup garage opens on Friday morning.
“Once we get into the track, it will be all business,” Johnson said. “But I imagine I’ll be pretty relaxed when I get there.”
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
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