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?
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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
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
PITTSBURGH - Sidney Crosby found a lot of ways to score in his 300th career NHL regular-season game.
Crosby had a power-play goal and a short-handed score in the third period, and had the only goal in a shootout to help the Pittsburgh Penguins win their seventh straight game, 3-2 over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
“We struggled in the first half, but we were able to rebound,” said Crosby, who has 407 career points. “We stuck with things, and that shows a lot.”
After erasing a two-goal deficit in the third period, Crosby beat Tomas Vokoun with a nifty deke in the shootout for the Stanley Cup champion Penguins, an NHL-best 9-1-0.
Steven Reinprecht scored twice in the first period for Florida. The Panthers have lost six of seven to drop to 2-5-1.
“The effort’s good, but effort doesn’t get you two points,” Florida defenseman Keith Ballard said. “We were kind of dumb in the third period. We took too many penalties and stayed in our end the whole time... In the third, they pick it up a little bit and it’s almost like we just kind of clammed up just trying to hang.”
In the shootout, Crosby moved in slowly on Vokoun and made three moves to his forehand before finally tucking it into the net as Vokoun dove to his left.
Crosby improved to 3-for-3 in shootouts this season with his 10th career game-deciding shootout goal.
Brent Johnson stopped the Panthers’ Reinprecht, Ville Koistinen and Nathan Horton during the shootout and made 27 saves during regulation and overtime in winning for the first time as a Penguin.
Pittsburgh won in the first game since All-Star defenseman Sergei Gonchar was lost for at least four weeks because of a broken bone in his wrist.
“We were still in striking distance (heading into the third),” Crosby said. “We felt like even in the second half of the second period, we created some chances. Even though we were down 2-0 going into the third, we felt like we were pretty close.”
Crosby tied it with 3:19 to play with his short-handed goal, one-timing a feed from Evgeni Malkin with a shot that appeared to deflect off a Florida player. The short-handed goal was the first in the NHL for Crosby.
Crosby’s first goal of the game came a second after a 5-on-3 power play had expired 2:14 into the third after a diving effort to keep in the puck in the zone by Malkin. Malkin swatted the puck to Alex Goligoski, who fed an open Crosby in the right-wing circle.
“We had a bad start, but after that we played better and did a good job in the third period,” Malkin said. “(Johnson) played very well.”
Reinprecht scored twice in a 2:37 span.
Florida entered the game with only one power-play goal in three road games this season, but scored one on its second opportunity 12:39 into the fist period when Reinprecht flipped a wrist shot past Pittsburgh backup goalie Brent Johnson.
Reinprecht then scored for the fourth time in his past three games by tapping in a loose puck into a wide open net when Johnson couldn’t handle a shot from Nathan Horton.
“We couldn’t get a third goal,” Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said. “We had opportunities, I thought maybe four or five tonight; some 2-on-1s, some chances around the net, but we have to find a way to get more goals.”
For a while, it appeared as if Vokoun would make that hold up. He made 41 saves, including stopping Malkin while on a power play 40 seconds into he third period with a glove save but the sequence included Rostislav Olesz’s hooking penalty that led to Crosby’s power play goal.
“It’s a good way to develop that third period mentality, wear teams down and have a pretty good number of goals in the positive for the third period,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “That is something we talk about.”
This was only the third game this season Pittsburgh did not score first and also only the third time it trailed heading into the third period. The Penguins improved to 2-1 in each instance.
“Every game’s not going to be perfect,” Crosby said. “We found a way to turn the game around.”
Notes: Penguins C Jordan Staal left the game briefly late in the second period and early in the third because of an undisclosed injury. He returned to finish the game. ... D Cory Stillman assisted on both Florida goals. ... Vokoun hasn’t won since the Panthers’ season opener. ... D Martin Skoula made his season debut for the Penguins in place of Gonchar.
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.
ProHockeyTalk headlines |
 | Video: NHL from NBC Sports |
 Panthers pounce on Islanders Florida easily handed the New York Islanders a 4-1 loss after a big second period |
 | 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.
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.
Paul Pierce has been around long enough to know what Rajon Rondo's performance can mean for the aging Boston Celtics.