NHL
Penguins 3, Sabres 2: PITTSBURGH -- Ruslan Fedotenko had a goal and an assist and Sidney Crosby -- in his first game since winning the Olympics for Canada -- set up Sergei Gonchar's 200th career goal to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Crosby, playing two days after beating United States goalie Ryan Miller for the game-winning overtime goal for Canada in Vancouver, could have opposed Miller again, but Sabres coach Lindy Ruff chose to start backup Patrick Lalime.
Ruff said Miller deserved a night off after the emotionally draining two-week Olympic tournament in which Miller was chosen MVP.
The pro-Olympic buzz created by the memorable Canada-U.S. game was evidenced by the standing ovations given Miller and Crosby during pregame introductions -- and, for perhaps the first time in his career, Crosby drew fewer cheers than an opposing player in his own arena. The ovation given Miller was noticeably louder and longer.
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Rangers 4, Senators 1: OTTAWA -- Ryan Callahan had two goals, and the New York Rangers scored three times within 2:02 late in the second period of a victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Callahan, a member of the U.S. Olympic team that won the silver medal, scored 22 seconds into the second to tie it at 2. He added his second of the game during New York's three-goal outburst late in the middle period, which chased Ottawa's Brian Elliott from the net.
Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves for New York, which has won three in a row.
Milan Michalek scored his 21st for Ottawa, which entered the break in first place in the Northeast Division. The Senators had won 14 of 16 games, including a team-record, 11-game winning streak that began with a 2-0 victory in New York on Jan. 14.
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Canadiens 4, Bruins 1: BOSTON -- Glen Metropolit tied the game early in the third period, and Maxim Lapierre scored the go-ahead goal for Montreal as the Canadiens scored four times in the final period to beat the Boston Bruins.
Mathieu Darche had a goal and an assist for Montreal, scoring to make it 3-1 with 2:30 left. Carey Price stopped 23 shots for the Canadiens, who had lost three of four before the Olympic break.
Montreal improved to seventh in the Eastern Conference and dropped the Bruins into the eighth and final spot in the playoff race.
Tuukka Rask made 28 saves for Boston, which had won four straight before the Olympics.
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Islanders 5, Blackhawks 3: UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Blake Comeau had his first career hat trick and sparked a four-goal, second-period rally to lift the New York Islanders over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Comeau, Jon Sim and Richard Park scored three goals in a 4:39 stretch in the second, helping the Islanders win for the just the third time in 12 games.
U.S. Olympian Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists. Brian Campbell and Dustin Byfuglien also scored, but the Blackhawks lost for the first time in five games.
Dwayne Roloson, who could be moved by Wednesday's trade deadline, made 41 saves in his first win since Jan. 21.
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Thrashers 4, Panthers 2: ATLANTA -- Rich Peverley scored and added an assist to reach 100 career points, and Johan Hedberg made 34 saves as the Atlanta Thrashers defeated the Florida Panthers.
Colby Armstrong, Todd White and Pavel Kubina also scored for Atlanta, which returned from the Olympic break just outside a playoff spot in the NHL's Eastern Conference.
Stephen Weiss scored for Florida and David Booth, who missed 45 games with a concussion, had his first goal since Oct. 24 and had an assist. Backup goaltender Scott Clemmensen made his first start time since Dec. 27 and made 35 saves.
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Canucks 4, Blue Jackets 3, OT: COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Vancouver defenseman Christian Ehrhoff scored 1:33 into overtime as the Canucks rallied to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets.
U.S. Olympic team member Ryan Kessler missed the net wide right, but the puck caromed off the end boards to Ehrhoff, who snapped home a shot at the other side of the net for his 12th goal.
Kyle Wellwood scored the tying goal, his eighth, with 5:19 left in regulation.
Alexandre Burrows and Pavol Demitra also found the net for Vancouver. Andrew Raycroft finished with 27 saves, filling in for Roberto Luongo, who won an Olympic gold medal with the Canadian team.
Andrew Murray, Antoine Vermette and Derek Dorsett scored for Columbus.
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Hurricanes 5, Maple Leafs 1: TORONTO -- Chad LaRose had a goal and two assists, Justin Peters stopped 32 shots and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the teams' first game since the break for the Vancouver Olympics.
Tuomo Ruutu, Brandon Sutter, Jussi Jokinen and Sergei Samsonov also scored for the Hurricanes, and Joni Pitkanen had two assists.
LaRose returned to the lineup after missing the previous seven games before the break due to injury, and Peters was making just his third NHL start. He stopped every shot the Leafs threw his way until John Mitchell finally broke the shutout bid with 5 minutes to go in the third.
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Flyers 7, Lightning 2: TAMPA, Fla. -- Mike Richards had a goal and three assists, and the Philadelphia Flyers used a five-goal third period to win their fifth straight game, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Simon Gagne scored two power-play goals, Claude Giroux had a man-advantage goal, Jeff Carter contributed a short-handed goal and James Van Riemsdyk added an even-strength goal in the third.
Dan Carcillo also scored for the Flyers, who won all four games against Tampa Bay this season.
Steven Stamkos had two goals to set a Tampa Bay record by extending his points streak to 14 games.
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Predators 4, Oilers 3: NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jason Arnott scored the tiebreaking goal 5:02 into the third period, lifting the Nashville Predators over the Edmonton Oilers.
Colin Wilson, Denis Grebeshkov and Shea Weber also scored for Nashville. Grebeshkov also had an assist while making his Predators debut against his former team, one day after being acquired from the Oilers in exchange for a second-round pick in this June's NHL draft.
Mike Comrie, Gilbert Brule, and Marc Pouliot scored for Edmonton.
Neither team led by more than a goal, and Pouliot tied it at 3 at 2:54 of the third before Arnott put the Predators ahead for good.
MLB
Mets 4, Braves 2: PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Tommy Hanson threw two scoreless innings for Atlanta, but the New York Mets spoiled the last spring training opener for Braves manager Bobby Cox with a 4-2 victory Tuesday.
Jason Pridie, Jesus Feliciano and Ruben Tejada each drove in a run in the fifth inning for New York. The Mets scratched Jose Reyes and all of their regulars from the lineup when morning showers drenched the field.
Hanson allowed a leadoff single to Feliciano before retiring six straight batters. The right-hander went 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA last year as a rookie.
Cox has said he's going to retire after this season.
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SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton will miss the team's exhibition opener Thursday because of a bruised left shoulder.
Hamilton was scratched Tuesday from the second of the team's two intrasquad games because of the shoulder contusion, sustained when he dived for a ball during a pop-up drill on Feb. 25.
Rangers manager Ron Washington said there's no timetable for Hamilton's return.
"He'll let me know when," said Washington, whose team opens against the Kansas City Royals in the annual charity game Thursday.
Tuesday's intrasquad game between the regulars and reserves ended after four innings in a 4-4 tie.
David Murphy had an RBI double, scored a pair of runs and stole a base, and Vladimir Guerrero had an opposite-field RBI single for the regulars. Justin Smoak hit a two-run double off closer Frank Francisco in the first inning for the reserves.
Francisco recorded only one out in the shortened inning, striking out Taylor Teagarden after surrendering four consecutive base hits capped by Smoak's double.
"I thought he threw the ball well," Washington said. "It looked good leaving his hand. Guys just put it in play on him."
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TUCSON, Ariz. -- Colorado Rockies closer Huston Street is experiencing inflammation in his right shoulder, a condition he calls normal for this point in spring training and one he said is improving.
Street, who converted 35 of 37 save opportunities last season, has thrown four times in spring training, three bullpen sessions and 10 minutes of live batting practice Friday.
"Coming off the mound, I felt normal," said Street, referring to Friday. "When we came in the next day, it was pretty stiff."
Street rested for two days. He said he began taking anti-inflammatory medication Monday and played catch. He played catch again from 90 feet on Tuesday.
"It definitely feels a little bit better," Street said. "There's still some inflammation we're trying to work out."
Keith Dugger said the inflammation felt by Street is "pretty normal" when pitchers "up the intensity a little bit" while going from bullpen sessions to batting practice.
"I would put last year's flare-up in September significantly more serious than what we're dealing with now," Street said. "And we came back in three weeks after that. We don't really have a timetable. But I want to be in games sometime soon."
After Street made an appearance Sept. 1 last season, he was sidelined with shoulder inflammation and didn't pitch again until Sept. 22.
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NEW YORK -- Turns out the New York Yankees' World Series shares didn't set a record.
A full share for the World Series champions was revised to $350,030 by the commissioner's office after an accounting error was discovered that caused three people to be left off the original distribution list.
In November, Major League Baseball said a full share was worth $365,053 -- topping the $362,173 a full share was worth on the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. The revised figure for last year was below the $351,504 a full share was worth on the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies.
The original accounting said the Yankees split their $21.27 million portion of the players' pool into 46 full shares, 12 1/4 partial shares plus two cash awards. The revision has it divided into 49 full shares, 11 3/4 partial shares plus the cash awards.
Two trainers and a player were not properly accounted for, a baseball official said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made.
Baseball will now have to collect $15,023 from each individual who received a full share from the original distribution.
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SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Luke Hochevar, the overall No. 1 draft pick of the 2006 amateur draft, agreed Tuesday to a one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals that will pay him $1.76 million in the major leagues.
The deal includes a salary of $772,500 if Hochevar is in the minors, but he is out of options. He was coming off a $5.3 million, four-year contract that included a $3.5 million signing bonus. The $1.76 million salary represents the maximum 20 percent cut from his 2009 major league salary ($1,325,000) plus $875,000, which represents a prorated share of the $3.5 million signing bonus in his previous deal.
Hochevar was 7-13 in 25 starts for Kansas City last year with an ERA of 6.55. The 26-year-old right-hander did have a few encouraging bright spots, including an 80-pitch, complete-game victory over Cincinnati.
NFL
NEW YORK -- In their latest round of bickering, the NFL and its players' association have exchanged prickly statements disputing whether players will have to take pay cuts as part of a new collective bargaining agreement.
After the NFL wrote on its labor Web site last week that no player would take a cut as a result of its proposal, the NFLPA responded Tuesday by saying -- tongue in cheek -- that it was ready to sign a deal guaranteeing that the salary cap won't be lowered and there will be no reduction in retired players' or other benefits under the CBA.
The NFLPA says on its site that, based on the league's statement, it renewed its proposal to freeze the salary cap at the 2009 level and asked the league to meet with its representatives immediately to extend the current labor agreement.
The NFL released a statement in response, saying the NFLPA intentionally misstated the league's proposal and is simply trying to "preserve an unacceptable economic system."
The current CBA expires in March 2011 and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has characterized the possibility of a work stoppage as a "14" on a scale of 1 to 10.
Without a new deal in place by Friday, 2010 will be the league's first uncapped season since 1993.
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HONOLULU -- The Pro Bowl will be played before the Super Bowl when it returns to Honolulu next year.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority and the NFL announced Tuesday that the game will be at Aloha Stadium on Jan. 30, the Sunday before the Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
The Pro Bowl had historically been played in Honolulu the week after the Super Bowl, but was changed when the all-star game moved to Miami this year.
Frank Supovitz, the NFL's senior vice president of events, said playing the Pro Bowl before the big game generated more excitement and interest and was a good kick off to Super Bowl week.
Ratings were up for the AFC-NFC matchup that was televised on ESPN. It was watched by an average of 12.3 million viewers, the most since 2000. That's up 40 percent from the 2009 Pro Bowl on NBC, which drew 8.8 million viewers when the event was held after the Super Bowl.
This year's game was in a later time slot, when more people watch TV, and competed against the Grammys on CBS, which attracted 25.8 million viewers, the most since 2004.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The national champion Alabama football team's visit to the White House is set.
The Crimson Tide will leave Monday morning for Washington, D.C. The team will spend time with area youth as part of a service project during the visit and then meet President Obama.
The Tide is also scheduled to make stops at the U.S. Capitol, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and National Mall during its day in the nation's capitol.
Obama called Nick Saban on the morning after the Tide's win over Texas. A spokesman for the coach says he invited the president to play in the staff's lunchtime basketball games in the spring.
Saban turned down an invitation to dine with President Bush in 2006 when he was with the Miami Dolphins.
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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Middle Tennessee State has selected former Illinois assistant coach Mike Schultz to replace Tony Franklin as offensive coordinator.
The university announced the selection Tuesday pending approval by the Tennessee Board of Regents.
Schultz was hired in 2009 as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Illinois, but was let go along with several of head coach Ron Zook's staff after a 3-9 season.
Schultz spent 11 previous seasons at TCU. The Horned Frogs in 2008 set school records for points scored and touchdowns and he directed four of the five highest-scoring teams in school history.
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