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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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.
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PITTSBURGH - Evgeni Malkin and the Pittsburgh Penguins are assured of being in the playoffs, yet they still had much to play for during their final regular-season home game.
The New York Islanders once again had nothing to play for, and performed exactly like they didn’t.
Malkin picked up two assists to lengthen his lead in the NHL scoring race and the Penguins stayed in contention for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, beating the Islanders 6-1 Thursday night to assure New York of finishing with the NHL’s worst record and the best odds of winning Tuesday's draft lottery and the chance to draft prized prospect John Tavares first overall.
Malkin has 112 points, or four more than reigning champion Alex Ovechkin of Washington. Both players have one game remaining. Ovechkin went scoreless during the Capitals’ 4-2 victory at Tampa Bay.
“Yeah, I feel good,” Malkin said. “One game left, it’s OK. I think it’s too much points (for Ovechkin to catch him).”
And if Ovechkin gets four points in his final game?
“I will score too. I will,” Malkin said.
The Penguins are more concerned with getting two points of their own against Montreal on Saturday night. They improved to 17-3-4 under interim coach Dan Bylsma and tied Carolina and Philadelphia with 97 points each in the race to finish fourth in the Eastern Conference and gain the home-ice edge for at least one playoff round.
The Flyers have two games remaining, while the Hurricanes and Penguins each have one remaining.
Carolina, which finishes the regular season Saturday at New Jersey, lost 5-1 at home to Buffalo and the Flyers were 2-1 losers to the Rangers. Pittsburgh can finish no lower than sixth.
“We want to win as many games as we can,” Pascal Dupuis said. “The standings are not set yet. We still want the home-ice advantage, so tonight was a big win for us. We had to put our mind to it — obviously when you clinch already and you play against a team that is last in the league, it’s always a little hard to get pumped up for that game, but we seemed to be able to do it in the second and third.”
Dupuis put the Penguins ahead 2-1 by scoring with 3:51 gone in the second period and Matt Cooke’s wide-open shot from the right circle created by Jordan Staal’s drop pass made it a two-goal game less than five minutes later. Mathieu Garon, playing for only the fourth time since joining the Penguins in mid-January, made 28 saves for his second Penguins victory.
The Islanders have two games left in a season that can’t end soon enough. Their 26-45-9 record — they went 1-5 against Pittsburgh — assures them of finishing last in the league for the first time in eight seasons. Their consolation prize is a chance for the top draft pick.
New York has been outscored 15-1 in its last two games, including a franchise-worst 9-0 loss to Carolina on Tuesday night in which it was outshot 57-12. This performance was slightly better, but not by much.
“We have a lot of guys up (from the minors) right now, getting a chance, and I think everybody should do a better job than we’ve done the last couple of games,” Sean Bergenheim said.
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.