Rivera entered to a nice ovation and worked a scoreless ninth inning for his 31st save, closing out a strong effort by New York’s pitchers that carried the Yankees to a 5-2 victory.

“I always love to pitch here, always,” the 43-year old Rivera said. “Yankee Stadium’s home, but I love to come here. It’s a great atmosphere. We’ve played big games here. It’s always good.”

Lyle Overbay and Brett Gardner each collected three hits and drove in a run to back Hiroki Kuroda’s seven strong innings. David Robertson worked a scoreless eighth, setting the stage for Rivera, the All-Star game MVP.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Overbay said of Rivera’s ovation. “He deserves it. I think everybody’s embracing what he’s done as a pitcher, so it’s well-deserving and shows you the respect they have for him.”

Rivera could smile when he was reminded about a standing ovation he got on Opening Day in 2005, the year after Boston rallied from a 3-0 deficit against New York in the American League Championship series en route to the World Series title.

“That’s what happened,” he said.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the injury-riddled Yankees, who hope to be bolstered by the return of captain Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez soon.

Mike Carp had three hits and scored a run for the Red Sox. It was just Boston’s second loss in its past 11 games at Fenway.

In a matchup of veteran right-handers, Kuroda and John Lackey both mostly relied on fastballs in the low 90s with hard sliders to go along with outstanding control. The pair combined for just one walk — by Kuroda — and threw a high percentage of strikes.

“It was a close game all along, so I had to be careful with my pitches,” Kuroda said through a translator. “But when they gave me the run support, I think I was able to be more bold.”

Kuroda (9-6) gave up two runs and five hits, striking out four with a pair of wild pitches — one that led to a run. Robinson Cano added two RBIs.

“I think what was most impressive was, in these conditions, to be able to touch 95 in the sixth, seventh innings against the meat of our order when he needed it,” Boston manager John Farrell said of the 38-year-old Kuroda. “He’s a very good pitcher and had a good day today.”

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The game was tight when Lackey left with a pair of runners on, trailing 2-0 in the seventh. New York then built its lead to 4-0 in the inning on consecutive RBI singles by Cano and Overbay against reliever Matt Thornton.

Lackey (7-7) was charged with four runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven. It snapped a stretch of six consecutive starts when he allowed two or fewer runs, and was just the third time in his 17 starts this season he’s given up more than three.

“With how good their guy pitched, it doesn’t really matter,” Lackey said of being in a tight game. “I’m kind of used to it. A lot of mine have been like that this year. It’s kind of been fun.”

Jonny Gomes had a sacrifice fly and Carp scored on Kuroda’s wild pitch, cutting it to 4-2 in the seventh.

Pitching in sweltering conditions with a game-time temperature of 91 with oppressive humidity, the pair battled through four scoreless innings until New York took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on Gardner’s two-out, RBI single.

It appeared the Yankees had squandered a good chance when they had a runner cut down at the plate on Luis Cruz’s grounder to short. But Cruz, who reached on the fielder’s choice on the play, advanced on a wild pitch before Gardner’s soft liner up the middle just got past the glove of diving second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Eduardo Nunez had a leadoff single, stole second, and was sacrificed, but was thrown out by Stephen Drew.

Cruz’s RBI single made it 2-0 in the seventh before Cano and Overbay added their hits.

Boston also had a runner nailed at the plate when Carp was tagged out by Kuroda in the fifth, ending the inning after his pitch ticked off the glove of catcher Stewart and about 20 feet behind the plate.

Game notes

Farrell said before the game that OF Shane Victorino “felt better than I think he expected to feel” after leaving Friday’s game with left hamstring tightness. Farrell also said “we expect him back in the lineup (Sunday).” … Boston moved LHP Jon Lester back a few days and will send right-hander Ryan Dempster (5-8, 4.24 ERA) in the series finale against the Yankees’ CC Sabathia (9-8, 4.07 ERA) on Sunday night. … Count Sabathia as one that really enjoyed the four-day All-Star break. In fact, he didn’t even know that teammate Cano got plunked on the right knee in the midsummer classic until he heard from one of the coaches before his flight to Boston. “I was just hoping he didn’t come in on crutches,” he said, smiling. “It was good to get the four days. I got away from baseball. As far as anything going on (with the All-Star game or Home Run Derby), I didn’t know anything.” … At the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Fla., C Francisco Cervelli (right hand and elbow) said he has started hitting drills in an indoor cage and OF Curtis Granderson (broken pinkie), expected back early next month, ran the bases during a simulated game but did not hit. He is taking batting practice. … The start was delayed 21 minutes because of a threat of thunderstorms in the area.

The post Hiroki Kuroda sharp as Yankees control Red Sox appeared first on IdealCapper.

Therrien was angry after the Canadiens lost by four goals for a second straight game — this time 7-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.

Max Pacioretty, Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk scored for the Canadiens (26-11-5), who were coming off a 5-1 loss in Toronto on Saturday. They have had two lopsided losses since clinching a playoff spot on Thursday.

“Since we clinched, our intensity and concentration level, our attention to detail and our work ethic, have fallen a lot,” Therrien said after the loss that helped the struggling Flyers end a four-game losing streak. “You see the results.

“It’s a game of pride. You have to come to the rink ready to play. That’s what we were not doing the last two games. There’s no work ethic there right now. It’s disappointing.”

Scott Hartnell scored three goals, Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek each had a goal and two assists, and Wayne Simmonds and Erik Gustafsson also scored for the Flyers (18-21-3), who matched their season high for goals as they try to make a late push for a playoff spot.

Philadelphia is in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, four places and seven points behind the New York Rangers and the postseason cutoff. The Flyers have six games remaining, starting with a home matchup with the Rangers on Tuesday.

The Flyers outshot Montreal 33-28 in a sloppy game that had the 21,273 at the Bell Centre booing the Canadiens.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price was pulled for a second game in a row in favor of Peter Budaj. Price left at the end of the second period after allowing six goals on 29 shots.

“Carey Price obviously didn’t have his best night,” said Hartnell, whose team scored only three goals in its previous four games. “We had traffic in front, we were making plays, we were moving our feet in the offensive zone.

“We weren’t standing still with the puck. It’s lot more fun to play games like that instead of 0-0.”

The Canadiens are in danger of losing three in a row for the first time this season when they play at first-place Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

“We always bounced back all season,” said defenseman Francis Bouillon, who was minus-3 on Monday. “We’ve got a lot of character in this room.

“It would be nice to win a few games. We’re not focusing on the playoffs now, but it’s important for us to play some good hockey before the playoffs.”

They could be without Ryan White for a while. White was ejected in the first period for a direct hit to the head of defenseman Kent Huskins, when the Canadiens were trailing 2-0 just 6:11 in. The Flyers said Huskins had a concussion, and he didn’t return to the game.

White launched himself at Huskins but missed his body and caught him on the jaw. Already in trouble with Therrien earlier in the season for taking ill-timed penalties, White’s future with Montreal now looks in doubt.

Price, pulled in Toronto on Saturday after allowing three goals on four shots, gave up two goals on five Philadelphia shots before settling down. The Flyers outshot Montreal 17-8 in the first period.

“It isn’t easy to play every game at the same level,” Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov said. “Other players can make a mistake, and your partner can cover you. We support him.”

Simmonds broke down right wing and fired a shot that was stopped by Price, but the rebound hit rookie Montreal defenseman Nathan Beaulieu and went in at 2:45.

Gustafsson’s wrist shot from the point went through several bodies in front and trickled between Price’s pads at 5:49.

Consecutive cross-checking calls on the Flyers’ Oliver Lauridsen allowed the Canadiens to tie it as Pacioretty tipped in Tomas Plekanec’s pass in the slot at 19:02. Gallagher scored from in front 38 seconds into the second.

Only 24 seconds later, Josh Gorges overskated a puck behind his net, and Giroux pounced and fed Voracek as the Flyers took a 3-2 lead. Voracek’s 18th goal tied a career high set last season.

Hartnell scored from the slot on a power play at 7:30, but Galchenyuk fought off a check to score at 9:11. Giroux put one in off Markov’s stick at 10:46 for a 5-3 Philadelphia lead.

Hartnell snapped a shot past Budaj from the top of the left circle 12:45 into the third.

Game notes

A moment of silence was held for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. … Montreal rested banged-up forward Brandon Prust. White took his place in the lineup.

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Al Jefferson had 22 points and eight rebounds to help Utah keep its playoff hopes alive with a 96-80 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night, setting up one more must-win game in the season finale on Wednesday.

“It comes down to one game now,” Jefferson said. “It’s a big game. The only thing we can worry about is what we can control, going out there and trying to take care of the game, and trying to win, and just leave the rest up to the Lakers, I guess.”

Mo Williams had 15 points and seven assists for the Jazz, who needed a win to avoid being eliminated in the Western Conference playoff race.

To get into the playoffs, the Jazz need to win at Memphis on Wednesday and for the Los Angeles Lakers to lose at home against Houston that night. Utah owns the tiebreaker after beating the Lakers two out of three times this season.

“I guess I have to try and get in touch with Kevin McHale and tell him to handle it for me,” said Jefferson, who played for the Rockets’ coach when both were in Minnesota.

Derrick Williams had 18 points and six rebounds for the Timberwolves, who were missing center Nikola Pekovic because of a bruised left calf.

The Jazz entered the night clinging to the postseason picture, down 1½ games to the Lakers with two to play.

For a team that could have as many as nine expiring contracts this summer, the Jazz are desperately chasing one more playoff appearance. Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Mo Williams and Randy Foye all could be looking for new teams when the season ends, with a bevy of young players waiting to assume larger roles next year.

They’ve won nine of their last 11 games since a four-game losing streak in the middle of last month threatened to bury them.

“Talk about this group of guys, man, the character that they have, there was no quit in this group,” coach Tyrone Corbin said. “The guys just continued to work and put ourselves in a position to get back when we were struggling there.”

Utah didn’t play all that well early, but it was just good enough to stay on top of a Timberwolves team that is slogging to the finish of another long season. The Wolves shot just 33 percent in the first quarter, and without Pekovic patrolling the paint they didn’t grab an offensive rebound until late in the third quarter.

A 13-4 run by Minnesota cut Utah’s lead to three points late in the third quarter, but once again the Wolves had no answer for Jefferson. The former Wolf scored 40 against the Wolves in a 107-100 win on Friday night in Salt Lake City and continued to attack the team’s soft middle on Monday night. He scored six straight points after Minnesota’s run to give the Jazz some breathing room again, and they never looked back.

Foye scored 14 points for the Jazz.

“You want to finish up better than that,” coach Rick Adelman said of the home finale. “I know they had something to play for, but it was our last home game. I thought we should have had better effort, but we didn’t.”

The Timberwolves have one game left in what has been a miserable, injury-plagued season. They will enter this offseason as they have every one since 2004 — with a spot in the lottery coming in June and plenty of questions about the roster and who will be back to lead it. Owner Glen Taylor has been mum on president David Kahn’s future. Kahn has a team option on his contract for next season.

Coach Rick Adelman has two years left on his deal, but has considered stepping down to help his wife, Mary Kay, who is being treated for seizures. Her condition caused him to miss 11 games earlier this season. She is due to meet with doctors again shortly after the season ends and Adelman is hoping her condition will continue to stabilize. Before the game, Adelman said he was going forward with the idea that he would be back next season and hoped to have a definitive answer in the next couple of weeks.

“I think what happens with Mary Kay or any of that, that certainly would turn things in a different direction,” Adelman said. “Right now I don’t see that (happening), but I’m going to wait and see until we talk to the doctors and see what direction they’ve decided we need to go at this point. Then we’ll move from there.”

Game notes

Wolves PG Ricky Rubio had a quiet night with six points on 2-for-9 shooting and four assists. … The Wolves finish the season with a game at San Antonio on Wednesday. … It was just the 13th win on the road for the Jazz this season. They’ve won three straight away from home.

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His wife, kids and father-in-law drove down from Buffalo, N.Y., to see Pominville in action against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It was a good night for the former Buffalo Sabres’ captain — he scored a goal and had an assist for his first points for the Wild since his trade last week — in supporting Niklas Backstrom’s 24 saves in a 3-0 Minnesota victory.

“I didn’t really expect them to come down,” said Pominville, acquired with a fourth-round selection in 2014 from Buffalo for goalie Matt Hackett, forward Johan Larsson, a first-rounder in 2013 and a second-rounder in 2014. “I talked to my wife on the phone and everything seemed normal. It was a nice surprise to see her and the kids before the game.”

The win was a big one for the Wild, who snapped a three-game losing streak that included their first shutout loss of the season in their last game.

“You can’t avoid it: Everyone is talking about (the playoffs),” Backstrom said after his second shutout of the season and 28th of his career. “But for us it’s still one day at a time, one game at a time.”

Ryan Suter’s wrist shot in traffic started the scoring, and Charlie Coyle benefited from a perfect pass from Mikael Granlund as the Wild netted two power-play goals in the second period.

Backstrom and his staunch defense did the rest until Pominville scored late off a tape-to-tape pass from Zach Parise.

“What you saw tonight is what our game is supposed to look like,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “I really liked a lot of players tonight. I thought everybody was on top of their game.”

It was a turnaround win for Minnesota, which had also lost four of five since a seven-game winning streak. The Wild scored only three goals in the three-game skid.

“Our last couple of games weren’t what we wanted and it’s nice to kind of get back on track, regroup and get things going again,” Coyle said.

The Wild came in ranked eighth in the NHL in road power plays. After a scoreless first period, the Wild made the most of a hooking penalty on Blake Comeau, who was playing his first home game for the Blue Jackets after being acquired from Calgary for a fifth-round pick.

Suter took a drop pass from Pominville, and Suter tucked a hard wrister from the high slot inside the far post through heavy congestion. It was the fourth goal of the season for Suter, a big-ticket free agent last summer.

Columbus’ Vinny Prospal was called for hooking later in the period, and the Wild cycled the puck while the Blue Jackets tried in vain to clear it.

Granlund slid a backdoor pass from the right wing to Coyle, who had slipped to the left doorstep for a jam shot that made it 2-0 at 15:03.

This defeat was extremely costly to Columbus, which is four points behind eighth-place Detroit in the West.

Now the Blue Jackets have little wiggle room with just nine games remaining in the regular season — including six on the road.

“This one definitely hurts,” said defenseman Jack Johnson, who said Columbus might have to win out to make the postseason.

The Blue Jackets came in having earned points in 16 of 19 games (11-3-5) and riding a four-game winning streak at home. Since their previous regulation home loss on March 7, they had gone 9-0-3 at Nationwide Arena.

“It’s a blow,” coach Todd Richards said of the loss that opened a three-game homestand. “We know what’s ahead of us. The players have talked, we have talked, about the importance of these home games. We lacked energy in the second period. We picked it up in the third, but we still didn’t do enough.”

Marian Gaborik, acquired by the Blue Jackets in a multiplayer deal with the New York Rangers at Wednesday’s trade deadline, was greeted by several signs in the crowd as he made his debut at home.

“We have to stay positive,” Gaborik said. “We have nine games left. We’ll do everything we can to be in the hunt.”

Backstrom was solid when needed. The Wild killed off four penalties, although Backstrom was at his best on even-strength threats. He gloved a hard one-timer by Jack Johnson midway through the first, stymied R.J. Umberger on a rush in the third, and turned aside Cam Atkinson’s blast in transition in the final minutes.

“What can you say about Backie?” Yeo said. “That was a good response by him. That’s what he does.”

Game notes

Columbus D James Wisniewski caught a skate to the leg in the second period and made it to the bench with some difficulty. He returned in the third. … Minnesota, which solidified its playoff spot heading into the final three weeks, ended a streak of five games in which it had allowed the first goal. … Sergei Bobrovsky had 21 saves for the Blue Jackets. … The Wild have 10 games remaining, including six at home.

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Brandon Knight scored 20 points Sunday night to help the Pistons snap an 18-game losing streak against the Bulls with a 99-85 victory. The loss dropped Chicago two games behind Brooklyn in the race for the fourth seed and a chance to host a first-round series in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Jonas Jerebko added 17 points and a season-high nine rebounds for the Pistons, who also ended an eight-game home skid.

The Bulls led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter but Detroit gradually caught up and took the lead in the second after starting the period on a 12-4 run.

“From that point on, we started to get stops and get out in transition,” coach Lawrence Frank said. “We made a lot of winning-type plays and played with a lot of intensity.”

The Pistons took a 50-46 lead to intermission and pushed it to as many as 10 in the third quarter. Knight scored a dozen points in the period, including a 3-pointer that killed Chicago’s last good chance at getting close. Detroit scored the first four points of the fourth and never let the Bulls get closer than 10 points the rest of the night.

“It felt good,” said Knight, who’d seen the Pistons drop the first three games of the series against Chicago by a combined eight points.

“We were the team to not make mistakes and capitalized on their mistakes.”

Jerebko and Charlie Villanueva (12 points) sparked a bench that outscored Chicago’s 33-12.

Rodney Stuckey, starting in place of injured point guard Jose Calderon, had 14 points and rookie Andre Drummond, who shot airballs on two late free throws in a one-point loss at Chicago on March 31, added 10 rebounds for Detroit.

Carlos Boozer had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who played without leading scorer Luol Deng. Coach Tom Thibodeau wasn’t feeling sorry for his team, which has been missing former league MVP Derrick Rose all season.

“You can’t use that as an excuse,” he said. “Whoever is out there, we have to go out and get the job done.”

Nate Robinson added 18 points and Jimmy Butler scored 14 as Chicago’s two-game winning streak ended. Two of the Bulls’ last six games are against playoff-bound teams, the same number Brooklyn faces.

The teams will not see each other before the postseason.

Deng, the Bulls’ leading scorer and the NBA’s leader in minutes per game, missed the game with a sore hip. Thibodeau said the decision to bench him was “precautionary.”

Chicago’s Joakim Noah, who missed eight games with an injured right foot, and Marco Belinelli, who was out seven with an abdominal strain, each returned Sunday night. Noah finished with 13 points and seven boards.

The Bulls were aiming to match the franchise record for consecutive victories over an opponent, which also was against the Pistons. Michael Jordan’s 1990s teams won 19 in a row against Detroit.

The Pistons treated home fans to their first win since the All-Star break. They hadn’t won at the Palace of Auburn Hills since Feb. 13.

Game notes

Calderon, who had started all 28 games since Detroit acquired him in a Jan. 30 trade, missed the game with a right triceps strain. … Chicago’s last loss to the Pistons was Dec. 23, 2008. … The Bulls used their 13th different starting lineup.

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Ruslan Fedotenko added an empty-net goal for the Flyers, who began the day in 14th in the Eastern Conference but only six points out of the eighth and final playoff spot. Boston, meanwhile, entered with the third-most points in the conference (46).

The trade deadline can’t arrive soon enough for the Bruins, who lost for the fifth time in seven games after an uninspired stumble through Philly, writes Joe McDonald. Story

“That was a huge two points for us and hopefully from here we can play with confidence like we did tonight and keep on the same tracks and keep going,” Read said. “It’s been kind of a tough season for us and tonight is a momentum builder. With the remaining games, if we keep playing like that, who knows? We just have to keep winning and try to make a playoff run.”

With just 14 games left, Philadelphia is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007. That made Saturday’s performance against the loaded Bruins somewhat perplexing for the Flyers.

“You feel good about it, but then you’re frustrated too because that’s an upper-echelon team in our league and you ask yourselves, ‘Why don’t you do it more often? Why doesn’t it happen more often?'” Knuble said. “You make the commitment right from the start and everybody was on board today.”

Nathan Horton scored for the Bruins, who dropped to 2-4-1 in their last seven games. They had won four in a row against the Flyers and were unbeaten in their previous 10 trips to Philadelphia (9-0-1).

“We know we have to get better,” said Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, who made 19 saves. “We haven’t played that bad, but it’s uncharacteristic mistakes. And it’s something we need to get rid of.

“It happens but then again … we know we need to get better in all areas. It’s weird because we’re not playing awful and we’re losing games, but we know it’s not good enough.”

Coach Claude Julien said the Bruins aren’t playing with any consistency.

“You get some spurts where you’re seeing some good things, but then the next line going up can’t follow up,” he said. “So we are not able to sustain much right now. The biggest challenge is every game we have one line that’s scoring and the other three don’t do a thing. Then it’s a different line another game and then the other three don’t do it. We can’t win hockey games with just relying on one line per night producing for us.”

The Flyers opened the scoring with their fifth consecutive successful power play, this one coming against the NHL’s top penalty-killing unit (91.2 percent). Knuble one-timed Brayden Schenn’s pass from behind the net and beat Rask low and on the glove side to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead with 4:41 left in the first period.

“We’ve been keeping it simple, moving the puck when we’re supposed to,” Read said of the power-play success. “It’s hard work and you have to outwork the penalty killers, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Philadelphia tacked on another goal in the second when Read scored 3:18 into the period. Jakub Voracek found a streaking Read alone between the circles. Read settled the pass, then ripped a slap shot past Rask’s glove side.

“It was one of those changeups,” Rask said. “It was rolling when he shot it. I don’t think I was perfectly positioned.”

The two-goal deficit was indicative of Boston’s recent struggles.

“We fell behind and that’s been happening to us too much lately,” Rask said. “We just can’t bear down and get that lead. … Just go out there and play our game. They were good goals but when we’re on top of our game, we don’t necessarily give up those chances. Or if we do, I save them.”

The Flyers continued to get strong goaltending from Bryzgalov in the second period. His best save came with just more than eight minutes remaining in the period when he sprawled to his left to stop Patrice Bergeron’s diving wraparound try.

Read nearly made it 3-0 about 30 seconds after Bryzgalov’s save, but his breakaway attempt caromed off the right post.

Boston cut the deficit to 2-1 on Horton’s 10th goal of the season 5 minutes into the third. Dennis Seidenberg took the initial shot from the point and it eventually bounced over to a wide-open Horton, who deposited the puck into the empty net.

“Yeah I mean there was already somebody in front that created the screen, but he jumped on that loose puck,” Julien said of Horton. “Absolutely I think we need more of that. Right now, like I said, we’re very average in all areas. Average and not even playing Bruins hockey. Like I said when you only go in spurts, you can’t expect to win.”

Boston went 0 for 2 on the power play and has scored once in its last 16 chances with the man advantage.

Game notes

Before the game, the Flyers acquired defenseman Kent Huskins from Detroit for a conditional 2014 draft pick. Huskins, in his seventh NHL season, was scoreless in 11 games for the Red Wings this season. … Philadelphia defenseman Oliver Lauridsen made his NHL debut. The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder has appeared in 59 games for the Adirondack Phantoms of the AHL this season, with a goal, five assists and 77 penalty minutes. … Before the game, Philadelphia unveiled a statue of Flyers greats Bob Clarke and Bernie Parent hoisting the Stanley Cup to commemorate the club’s back-to-back championships in 1974-75.

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He helped them pick up two Wednesday night.

Couture scored twice in regulation and added a shootout goal, and Dan Boyle netted the tiebreaker winner in the Sharks’ 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

After Couture pulled the Sharks within a goal on a power play at 6:50 of the third, Tommy Wingels tied it at 9:15. San Jose snapped a two-game losing streak with its second victory in eight games.

“It’s a battle every night,” Couture said. “There are no easy points in this conference, every single team is so good. To win the way that we were able to and come back with two goals in the third, hopefully that can get us going in the right direction.

“We needed something. We need all the points we can get right now,” Couture said. “We need to find ways to get points every single night right now.”

Sharks head coach Todd McLellan credited Couture for being a real spark for the team in the comeback win.

“Logan is always really determined, but he gets excited to come here and play in Edmonton, I don’t know why,” he said. “He had six shots on goal, a couple of goals, and an amazing shot in the shootout. We’re really proud of him and we’re happy to have him.”

Sam Gagner, Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Jones scored for Edmonton. The Oilers have earned eight points in their last five games.

The Oilers opened the scoring midway through the first period on a power play. Nail Yakupov fed the puck across the ice to Gagner, who had time to tee up a slap shot from the top of the circle that beat Antti Niemi to the glove side. It was Gagner’s 12th goal of the season.

“It is very disappointing losing the penalty shots,” Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said. “We are a good team at that.

“It’s painful, but we have to look at the fact that we have points in five games and move forward,” he said. “But right now of course the pain of giving up a 3-1 lead dominates.”

Couture tied it off a rebound with just under six minutes to play in the period.

Edmonton regained the lead with 8 minutes left in the second period. Nick Schultz picked up a pass as he stepped on the ice from the penalty box, raced in on a 2-on-1 and fed Horcoff.

The Oilers made it 3-1 early in the third period when Jones stole the puck from defender Matt Irwin behind the San Jose net and hooked around to send the puck through Niemi’s legs.

Couture scored his 14th goal of the season to make it 3-2, sending a shot through traffic and past Dubnyk, and Wingels tied it with a quick wrist shot.

Game notes

Both teams are off until Saturday. Edmonton closes out a four-game homestand against St. Louis, and the Sharks are at Minnesota for the fourth game of a five-game trip. … It was the last of three meetings between the two teams. The Sharks spoiled the Oilers’ home opener Jan. 22 by scoring six first-period goals in a 6-3 win, and San Jose won 3-2 at home in a shootout. … Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed the game because of the flu. … Defenseman Marc-Edouard played in his 500th NHL game, all with San Jose.

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Lopez scored 38 points and Williams had 31 in his first visit since spurning his hometown team in free agency, leading the Brooklyn Nets past the Mavericks 113-96 on Wednesday night.

Williams scored 26 in the second half, repeatedly hitting shots and occasionally assisting on baskets by Lopez to prevent a Dallas rally in the fourth quarter.

Lopez matched the 38 points he scored in one of the five games he played last season, when the Nets snapped a 12-game losing streak in Dallas. Both times, he finished one point shy of his career high from two years ago against Detroit.

“The team played well in both games,” Lopez said with a laugh. “I think that’s the correlation. It just depends on who’s hot. We have so many options on this team.”

Williams and Lopez combined for a defining play midway through a fourth quarter full of big shots from both teams when Lopez blocked a shot and Williams hit a fadeaway jumper on the baseline after dribbling the length of the court. Williams ran to his bench with a big smile after Dallas called timeout trailing 97-88.

The Mavericks, who pulled within three twice during a back-and-forth quarter, got no closer than six after that.

“When you’re feeling good and feel like you can’t miss, it’s a good feeling,” said Williams, who shot 11 of 18 in the second half at one of his favorite arenas. “I looked over at my bench and saw the excitement. It’s a big win for us. It’s a big win no matter what.”

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 16 points and had a team-high six rebounds compared to 22 boards for Reggie Evans of the Nets, who outrebounded the Mavericks 45-34.

The Nets improved to 2-0 on a season-high, eight-game road trip that now makes five straight stops out West. Brooklyn is two road wins shy of the franchise record of 20.

The Mavericks, who fell 3 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, lost the opener of a six-game homestand as they try to keep a 12-year postseason streak alive.

“They had two guys who had great games and we didn’t do a good job there,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s a bad result for us.”

Lopez, who set a season high for points, and Williams led a third-quarter run that put Brooklyn ahead for good. Lopez did most of his scoring inside but had a 12-foot bank shot and another jumper from just inside the 3-point line as the Nets built a 10-point lead.

Lopez, who also had 11 rebounds, was 15 of 22 from the field and 8 of 10 from the line.

Williams scored seven of nine Brooklyn points to start the third quarter, and Lopez had the other two. They combined to go 11 of 12 from the field in the third, and the only miss was a desperation heave from beyond halfcourt by Williams at the end of the quarter.

Williams even got into the act on the defensive end, taking a charge from O.J. Mayo on a fast break with the Mavericks trying to stop Brooklyn’s key third-quarter run.

“In the first half we kind of held him under control and then he knocked down a jumper and he was aggressive,” Dallas forward Elton Brand said. “You could see it in his eyes. He was going to shoot it no matter what. We all know about free agency and our fans and us recruiting him. We knew he wanted to play well here.”

Williams, who grew up in the Dallas area, got a smattering of boos during introductions and even fewer the first time he touched the ball. It wasn’t his first game against Dallas since last summer. The Mavericks started March — their best month of the season by far — with a 98-90 win in Brooklyn.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who infamously attended a “Shark Tank” taping instead of joining the Dallas contingent when free agency opened, intentionally stayed away from Brooklyn when the Mavericks visited. He still wasn’t interested in Williams talk Wednesday.

“That’s old, old, old, old news,” Cuban said before the game.

Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo said he didn’t know if Williams was a little extra motivated against the team he turned down so he could move to Brooklyn from New Jersey with the Nets.

“But I’m sure he understands that you’re not going to expect intelligent statements from Mark, anyhow,” Carlesimo said.

The Nets were actually better without Williams in the first half. While he was sitting to start the second quarter, Brooklyn went on an 18-6 run for a 40-38 lead.

Andray Blatche scored 14 in the second quarter for Brooklyn on 6-of-6 shooting, and not all of them were easy. He hit three long jumpers, two of them over Nowitzki.

Game notes

Nowitzki surpassed the 9,000-rebound mark and became the 10th NBA player with at least 24,000 points and 9,000 boards. … Mavericks F Shawn Marion missed his eighth straight game with a left calf strain. … Nets F Kris Humphries was a game-time scratch with a bad back. It was the eighth straight game on the bench for the former Maverick. … The Mavericks spread the scoring wealth in the first half. Nowitzki, Chris Kaman and Mike James led with six points apiece, while Jae Crowder and Brandan Wright each had five.

The post Brook Lopez-Deron Williams tandem powers Nets past Mavs appeared first on IdealCapper.

Maybe too relaxed.

Jermaine O’Neal had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Wesley Johnson hit a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to force overtime and the Phoenix Suns rallied to upend San Antonio 105-101, stunning a raucous crowd that had begun celebrating midway through the third quarter only to exit in silence.

Tony Parker had 22 points to lead San Antonio, which had not lost at home since Nov. 19 against the Los Angeles Clippers. Tim Duncan had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and DeJuan Blair and Kawhi Leonard added 15 points apiece.

Luis Scola added 15 points and Goran Dragic had 13 points and 13 assists for Phoenix, which snapped a six-game losing streak against the Spurs.

“We are all very upset, especially after the performance we had on the road,” San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili said. “Coming back home and losing the first one is hard, but it happens. We got relaxed after such a long road trip, but this is what happens in the NBA when you do not play your best.”

After going 7-2 on the road trip due to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, the league-leading Spurs (45-14) appeared to have the game well in hand following a strong third quarter by Parker.

Amid cries of “MVP,” Parker had 10 points in the period as San Antonio extended its lead to double digits. His assist to Duncan with 10 minutes left in the third gave the Spurs a 56-45 lead and his 10-foot jumper put them up 69-58.

Leonard’s 3 with 1.1 seconds gave San Antonio a 77-67 lead entering the fourth.

Trailing by 11 points with 11:29 left in the game, the Suns rallied behind O’Neal. The veteran center had 13 points and five rebounds as Phoenix (20-39) outscored San Antonio 33-23 in the fourth.

“For us, we’re obviously not in the playoff run, but it’s about trying to be a better team,” O’Neal said. “Games like these are what build character and put us in the right direction. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

The Suns pulled within 97-95 with less than a minute remaining on Marcus Morris’ 3. Parker attempted to keep the Spurs ahead, tossing in a floater, a jump shot and feeding Duncan for a jumper that gave San Antonio a 99-97 lead with 11 seconds left.

Ginobili made one of two free throws with 3.7 seconds left to make it 100-97. O’Neal rebounded Ginobili’s second free throw attempt, firing a pass down court to Johnson, whose 3 at the buzzer tied the game at 100 and sent it to overtime.

“Overall we made a lot of mental errors,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Especially on that last play on the free throw line when Johnson went all the way down the court and he wasn’t picked up. That cost us the game.”

Johnson’s 3 seemed to stun the Spurs even more so than the fans.

“I think we were kind of surprised that Manu missed that last free throw, but they made a great play,” Parker said. “Wesley made a big 3.”

San Antonio went 0-for-10 in overtime, its only points in the extra period coming when Parker made 1 of 2 free throws.

“I think they missed some shots they normally make, so defensively we did some things great that worked great for us,” Phoenix coach Lindsey Hunter said.

The teams combined to go 0-for-14 to open overtime. Marcin Gortat’s tip follow was the first basket of overtime, giving Phoenix a 102-101 lead with 1:07 left.

Game notes

After three weeks on the road, the Spurs were finally able to honor Parker as the NBA Player of the Month for January, doing so prior to the game. … San Antonio observed a moment of silence in honor of Dr. Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers owner who died Feb. 18. … The Spurs have won 64 games overall on its rodeo road trips, which began in 2003. … A video highlighting the Spurs’ recent road trip played prior to the game to Phillip Phillips’ “Home.” … Dragic and reigning MVP LeBron James of Miami are the only players leading their team in points, assists, steals and free throw attempts. … Scola, Gortat and Markieff Morris have played all 58 games for Phoenix, with Gortat starting each.

The post Suns snap Spurs’ 18-game home streak in OT appeared first on IdealCapper.

Pouliot scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, lifting the Lightning to a 6-5 victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

The Lightning ended a six-game losing streak and got their first victory since Feb. 1, against Winnipeg, after opening the season at 6-1.

On the winning score, the puck bounced off the end boards and out to Pouliot, who was open in front. His wrist shot went into the net 1:19 into overtime.

“I was surprised it came back in front,” Pouliot said. “I just put my head down and went to the net. It made a weird bounce and came back out to me and I just put it in. Coming out of here with a big win like this; it’s going to be huge for us.”

Steven Stamkos also scored twice, and Purcell and Alex Killorn each had a goal for the Lightning. Anders Lindback made 25 saves.

Purcell’s goal with 11 seconds left in regulation tied it 5-all as his shot from the slot hit off the post and into the net. Purcell was camped in front of the Panthers’ net as players scrambled for control of the puck while the final seconds of regulation ticked off, and was rewarded for his effort.

“I knew the puck was going to come out to the front,” Purcell said. “I was just trying to get a little space away from the defenders, and I was luckily uncovered and I was able to one-time it on net.”

Tomas Kopecky and Jonathan Huberdeau scored third-period goals to give the Panthers a lead they couldn’t hold. Jerred Smithson, Jack Skille, and Shawn Matthias also had goals for the Panthers and Jose Theodore stopped 30 shots. Mike Weaver had two assists and Matthias also had an assist.

Florida lost its fourth straight and third in a row in overtime.

“We’re not finishing,” Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said. “You’re not going to get in the playoffs with 48 points. You can’t try to get a point a game; it’s just not going to work. We’ve got to find a way a more complete effort and end up with two points.”

The Panthers got two goals early in the third to build a 5-3 lead.

The tiebreaking score came on the efforts of a couple of rookies as Drew Shore passed across the crease in front to Huberdeau, who redirected it into the net at 1:53 for his sixth goal of the season. Kopecky’s shot from the right side of the net put the Panthers ahead by two at 3:24.

Stamkos’ second goal came during a 4-on-3 power play and closed the score to 5-4. His slap shot from the left circle rifled past Theodore at 7:28. Stamkos has nine goals and three assists over a seven-game point streak against the Panthers.

“At that point of the game, you have to put teams away,” Smithson said. “You have to work to get that puck out, you have to do things the hard way. We obviously didn’t do it and let another point slip away.”

Trailing 3-2, Florida tied it in the waning seconds of the second period when Smithson poked in a rebound with 5 seconds left.

The Panthers tied it 2-all in the second on Skille’s goal at 2:27. The Lightning regained the lead quickly. Stamkos pounced on a rebound in front of the Panthers net and backhanded the puck past Theodore a little over a minute later to make it 3-2.

“We never quit. That’s never a question and never will be a question and we showed it again tonight,” Stamkos said. “We finally got a bounce our way on the overtime goal. Hopefully, this sparks some momentum and will help us moving forward.”

The Panthers, who were shut out in their last game, wasted no time changing that trend, taking a 1-0 lead 48 seconds in. Weaver took a shot from just inside the blue line on the right side. Matthias deflected the puck past Lindback.

The Lightning tied it at 1 on Pouliot’s first goal. Vincent Lecavalier passed the puck from behind the net out to Pouliot in front, who wristed in into the net at 4:48. The Lightning took a 2-1 lead on Killorn’s first career goal at 6:51 of the first.

“It felt really good. It was not a great shot or anything like that, but that’s usually how the first one goes in,” Killorn said. “I’m just happy that I was able to provide for the team.”

Game notes

Panthers W Kris Versteeg missed his second consecutive game with an upper body injury. … Lindback returned in net for Tampa Bay after missing Thursday’s game against Washington because of illness. … Lecavalier has recorded a point in four straight games.

The post Benoit Pouliot’s 2nd goal helps Lightning snap 6-game skid in OT appeared first on IdealCapper.