Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
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.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
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.
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.
AP
STOCKHOLM - Paul Kariya knows all about playing games that count in Europe, including in the Olympics.
Kariya is still remembered by many hockey fans in Sweden. At the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, he missed the last penalty shot for Canada in a shootout that clinched Sweden’s gold medal.
“I would love to get an opportunity to play for my country again,” Kariya said. “Lillehammer in 1994 was probably one of the biggest highlights in my career even though we lost.”
On Friday, his team won. Kariya scored two goals as the St. Louis Blues rallied to edge the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in their opening game of the NHL regular season.
St. Louis turned it around by scoring three straight goals within a span of 5:05 in the second period.
The comeback started when Kariya got the first of his two goals on the power play, beating goalie Chris Osgood with a shot from the point. The veteran forward scored again at 17:36 to win it, beating Osgood with a shot to the stick side after skating in alone.
“In the first half of the game, we weren’t playing our game,” Kariya said. “We started to get going in the second period, playing in their zone and getting the power play.”
B.J. Crombeen had tied the score 3-3 when he knocked in a rebound.
The third period was scoreless.
The Blues’ win spoiled the homecoming of seven Swedes on the Detroit team.
Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom, a six-time winner of the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman who hails from a city near Stockholm, had a disappointing outing and finished with no points.
“My body feels good, but I just have to play better tomorrow,” said the 39-year-old Lidstrom, Detroit’s oldest player. “We didn’t really generate a whole lot. It was fun to play at home before a sold-out crowd. But it would have been much more fun if we had won. We’ll get another chance tomorrow.”
The Blues and Red Wings face off again Saturday in Stockholm.
For the Red Wings, it was almost like home. There were red jerseys all over the building.
Detroit was listed as the home team and the pro-Detroit sellout crowd of 13,850 at Ericsson Globe arena gave the Red Wings the biggest ovation during pregame presentations. Detroit is arguably the most popular NHL team in Sweden.
Several hundred fans from the Detroit area made the overseas trip for the game.
After a slow start, the Blues took the lead 7:54 in when Jay McClement one-timed a shot from just outside the crease.
Jonathan Ericsson, one of Detroit’s eight Swedes, tied it off a rebound after Kirk Maltby skated in from the right side.
Maltby put Detroit ahead 2-1 with a short-handed goal on a solo breakaway, beating Chris Mason with a shot high to the glove side.
At the end of the period, Detroit had a two-man advantage for nearly 2 minutes but failed to score.
Ville Leino made it 3-1 for Detroit with a power-play goal in the second period. Unchecked, the Finnish forward sent a shot from the right circle past Mason’s glove side.
NHL players in Sweden is nothing new. Canada played an exhibition in an adjacent arena to the Globe before heading to Moscow for the last four games in the historic Summit Series in 1972 that had NHL players facing the Soviet Union for the first time.
And many NHL teams, among them such Original Six clubs as the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, and teams from the old World Hockey Association have played tournaments and exhibitions in Sweden over the years.
But this is only the second time in league history two teams began their regular season in Sweden, one of Europe’s top hockey nations which won the 2006 Olympic gold medal at Turin. Last year, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators split their opening weekend series in the same arena.
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.
ProHockeyTalk headlines |
 | Video: NHL from NBC Sports |
 |
 | Slideshow |
 | NHL All-Stars Take a look at the players who competed in Team Chara's 12-9 victory over Team Alfredsson. more photos |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
| Slideshow |
 |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
 | Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
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.
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.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.