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B2 — Friday, Dec. 6, 2013

Arizona Daily Sun — azdailysun.com

Canadiens continue strong play, beat Bruins MONTREAL (AP) — Max Pacioretty scored his ninth goal in the last nine games and the surging Montreal Canadiens stretched their unbeaten run to nine with a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night. Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal (18-9-3), which jumped a point ahead of Boston (18-8-2) into first place in the Atlantic Division — although the Bruins have two games in hand. The Canadiens are 8-0-1 in their last nine. Gregory Campbell scored for Boston, which is 6-2-1 in its past nine. The first meeting of the season between these bitter rivals had the Bell Centre at top volume to start, but the building got quiet when Boston defenseman Johnny Boychuk was wheeled off the ice on a stretcher 4:28 into the game. Boychuk was injured on a hit by Pacioretty, who got 2 minutes for boarding. Boychuk was able to move all his limbs as he was taken to the hospital.

PENGUINS 5, SHARKS 1

WILD 4, BLACKHAWKS 3

MAPLE LEAFS 3, STARS 2 (OT)

BLUES 5, ISLANDERS 1

PITTSBURGH — Chris Kunitz scored twice during a four-goal second period and Pittsburgh beat San Jose for its fifth straight victory. Pascal Dupuis, Jayson Megna and Kris Letang also scored for the Penguins, who snapped San Jose’s six-game winning streak in a showdown between Stanley Cup contenders. Sidney Crosby added three assists in his 500th career game to push his point total to an NHL-leading 42. Marc-Andre Fleury made 44 saves for the Penguins against the league’s highestscoring team. Pittsburgh played without star Evgeni Malkin, scratched after sustaining an injury during the morning skate.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Marco Scandella’s slap shot with 1:48 left, the defenseman’s first goal this season, lifted Minnesota over Chicago. Jonas Brodin scored on a power play with 5:39 remaining to tie the game for the Wild, who raised their home record to 12-3-2 and handed the Blackhawks their first loss in their past seven road games. With Charlie Coyle partially screening Corey Crawford at the edge of the crease, Brodin wound up and sent the puck ricocheting off Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya and past the goalie’s outstretched glove. Crawford made 19 saves.

TORONTO — Trevor Smith scored at 4:18 of overtime to help Toronto end a fivegame skid. The Maple Leafs won for the first time since Nov. 23 despite being outshot for the 10th consecutive game, this time 50-24. Nazem Kadri scored twice for the Leafs in his return from a one-game absence to attend his grandfather’s funeral. It looked as if his second goal would stand. But Toronto’s best penalty-killer Jay McClement took a tripping penalty late in the third and Shawn Horcoff scored when he tipped Kevin Connauton’s shot past Jonathan Bernier at 17:14 to tie it a 2-2.

ST. LOUIS — Derek Roy and David Backes scored power-play goals 2:31 apart in the second period to lead St. Louis over struggling New York. St. Louis won for the sixth time in eight games. The Islanders have lost eight straight overall (0-6-2) and eight in a row on the road. Jay Bouwmeester, Magnus Paajarvi and Brenden Morrow also scored for the Blues, who improved to 12-1-2 at home and tied Boston (12-3-2) for the most home wins in the NHL. Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves and upped his record to 15-4-2.

LIGHTNING 3, SENATORS 1

SUNRISE, Fla. — Dylan Olsen scored his first NHL goal to help Florida beat Winnipeg. Jimmy Hayes, Nick Bjugstad, Tomas Fleischmann and Erik Gudbranson also scored for the Panthers. Tim Thomas stopped 29 shots and Scottie Upshall had two assists. Olsen also added an assist. Olli Jokinen and Andrew Ladd scored for the Jets. Ondrej Pavelec made 21 saves. The Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak and earned their first points during that span.

RANGERS 3, SABRES 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves to lead New York over Buffalo. Rick Nash, Brad Richards and Mats Zuccarello scored for New York, which bounced back from a 5-2 loss to Winnipeg. Tyler Ennis scored and Ryan Miller made 28 saves in a loss that drops the Sabres to 3-12-1 at the First Niagara Center. Lundqvist, playing his first game since signing a seven-year, $59.5 million contract, was outstanding in the third period.

HURRICANES 5, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jeff Skinner had a hat trick to lead Carolina to a victory over Nashville. Skinner has five goals in his past two games. Justin Faulk and Riley Nash also scored for Carolina, winners of its past two. Mike Fisher and Viktor Stalberg scored for Nashville, which completed a fourgame homestand 0-3-1.

TAMPA, Fla. — Martin St. Louis scored two goals, Ben Bishop won his 15th game this season, and Tampa Bay beat Ottawa. Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lightning, who were coming off consecutive shutout losses to Columbus (1-0) and Pittsburgh (3-0). St. Louis beat goalie Robin Lehner from just outside the crease to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 advantage. The Lightning captain tied Jason Arnott for 91st place on the NHL points list with 938.

Yanks spending: McCann, Ellsbury just the start NEW YORK (AP) — Brian McCann arrived at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 19 and was greeted on the field by CC Sabathia and the pitcher’s kids. McCann toured the opulent clubhouse, then went to a hotel room arranged by the team at the $695-and-up Mandarin Oriental overlooking Central Park. McCann merely had to take an elevator downstairs for a dinner with manager Joe Girardi and three other team executives at Porter House New York, a sleek steak restaurant in the Time Warner Center, filled with cherry wood floors and leather seating. Four days later, he had a deal for an $85 million, five-year contract, the start of a new spending spree by the Yankees that also includes a pending $153 million, seven-year agreement with outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. “When the Yankees call you and then you go through the process that I went through,

you leave blown away,” McCann said Thursday during a news conference at his new home ballpark. “There’s a reason that they’re the New York Yankees. You walk in here, everything’s bigger. They put attention to detail with everything. They make you feel the way that you want to feel.” “It was,” he added, “a perfect fit.” While the Yankees are adding players, they appear less likely to re-sign Robinson Cano. New York believes it may be outbid by the Seattle Mariners for the All-Star second baseman, who at first sought a 10-year deal for more than $300 million. “We’re still talking, but obviously we’re a decent distance apart,” Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said. General manager Brian Cashman met last month with Jay Z, going to the office of the rap mogul who is one of Cano’s agents.

“Our club has negotiated very hard with Robinson Cano and has made fair offers to Robinson Cano,” Girardi said. Himself a former Yankees catcher, Girardi was excited about upgrading with McCann, a seven-time All-Star who joins a lineage that includes Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Thurman Munson and Jorge Posada. “We think we have the next great Yankee catcher here with us,” Girardi said. Cashman went further, calling McCann “a potential Hall of Famer.” New York was 16th in the major leagues with 650 runs this year, its lowest ranking since 1991, according to STATS. McCann and Ellsbury, who hope to benefit from Yankee Stadium’s short porch in right field, appear to be just the start of an upgrade. Ellsbury and Brett Gardner should help form a superior defensive outfield.

“These guys are going to cover a lot of ground,” Girardi said. “They both can put a lot of pressure on a pitcher when they’re on the basepaths, and their ability to go from first to third or first to home on a number of base hits.” Assuming Ellsbury’s deal gets finalized, New York’s luxury tax payroll will be about $138 million — starting to approach the roughly $177 million for salaries under next year’s $189 million tax threshold. The Yankees hope to get under the threshold — but that appears unlikely unless Alex Rodriguez is suspended for most or all of next season — eliminating his $25 million salary. “I think we can do it, but it’s not going to come at the expense of fielding a good team,” Steinbrenner said. “Right now we’re still under it. Right now, we’ve still got a decent amount of money to spend, quite frankly. We’re going to put it back into the team the way we always do.”

PANTHERS 5, JETS 2

Knicks crush Nets in 1st meeting this season NEW YORK (AP) — The Knicks are no longer the biggest losers in New York. The Brooklyn Nets look like the real Big Apple busts. Carmelo Anthony had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Iman Shumpert scored a season-high 17 points, and the Knicks ended a nine-game losing streak with 113-83 romp Thursday night in the first meeting of the season between the city rivals. The Knicks (4-13) snapped a tie with the Nets (5-14) for most losses in New York, winning the game and the crowd with a dominant second half that had Spike Lee and the rest of the fans wearing blue and orange cheering perhaps the Knicks’ most complete performance of the season. Andrea Bargnani scored 16 before he was ejected in the fourth quarter, Knicks fans roaring in support of him standing up to Kevin Garnett. CLIPPERS 101, GRIZZLIES 81 MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Reserves Darren Collison and Jamal Crawford scored 15 points each and the Clippers used a strong second half to beat the Grizzlies. Chris Paul also had 15 points and eight assists for the Clippers, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Blake Griffin added 14 points and nine rebounds, while DeAndre Jordan had 10 points and 14 boards for Los Angeles. Kosta Koufos led Memphis with 17 points, while Mike Conley had 16 on 6-for-8 shooting.

Rocky fans set to make tribute run PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Yo, Adrian, Rocky devotees are gonna run now, a grueling tribute to their mythical champ. Nearly 35 years after Rocky Balboa returned for his first sequel, Philadelphia’s favorite adopted son has inspired city runners to go to the distance. Rocky’s faithful followers are set to run a 50K that will end, of course, triumphantly atop the art museum steps. The fictitious fighter left as a big a cultural imprint on the city as any founding father, and hundreds of runners are expected to follow in his championship footsteps, truly, through the streets, steps and past the statue he showcased to the world through six movies. Sparked by a story on the Philadelphia Magazine website, Philadelphia’s debut Rocky Run kicks off at 7 a.m. Saturday, with a start just around the corner from the house where Balboa lived in “Rocky II.” This is the kind of ultra-marathon that would make Ivan Drago flinch. The route is set for 31 miles and based on the inspirational montage in the 1979 flick as Balboa trains for his heavyweight championship rematch with Apollo Creed. For even diehard fans, the scene is nothing but 2 minutes, 30 seconds of Sylvester Stallone’s character sprinting and sweating through the city, arms raised high and mobbed by children that flocked to him and followed him up those celebrated steps.

For Philadelphia-based writer Dan McQuade, a native and “Rocky” fan, the underdog boxer’s disjointed route made little sense. “Obviously, the montage isn’t meant to be taken seriously as an actual workout; it’s just a few scenes strung together so ‘Gonna Fly Now’ can play and Rocky can finish at the top of the Art Museum steps,” he wrote in mid-September. “But, I wondered, what if this roadwork were treated as one actual run? How far would Rocky go?” He pieced the scenes together through two viewings of the film for the story (http://bit.ly/1jojnMQ), had some friends help identify locations, and mapped distances off a USA Track and Field distance-measuring tool to come up with the whopping total of 30.61 miles. “This is one long run,” McQuade wrote. “I don’t recommend anyone try it.” Not so fast. He may as well have suggested hungry tourists head to Geno’s Steaks, order a cheese steak, but hold the cheese. Philly resident Rebecca Schaefer, an avid runner, read the story and contacted McQuade the day it was published for his blessing to organize the run. “I could not get it out of my head,” she said. “This has to happen.” She set up a Facebook event page and website. Almost 400 people have committed to the race.

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Cyclist Danilo Di Luca banned for life for doping ROME (AP) — Former Giro d’Italia winner Danilo Di Luca was banned from cycling for life Thursday following a third doping offense, joining Lance Armstrong as one of the highest profile riders to be kicked out of the sport. The Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping court issued the verdict after the 37-year-old Di Luca tested positive for the blood booster EPO in a surprise test in April, five days before this year’s Giro. “It’s certainly not very nice,” Di Luca said. “It makes me think that I have to pay for everyone. ... Now we’ll decide whether to appeal.” The ban matched the re q u e s t f ro m CO N I ’s anti-doping prosecutor Tammaro Maiello. Di Luca was also fined more than $50,000.

After a hearing with the prosecutor in September, Di Luca did not deny doping, saying that the case “doesn’t change much” for his fans. Still, Di Luca could appeal to the Switzerlandbased Court of Arbitration for Sport. Last year, Armstrong was banned for life by the United States Anti-Doping Association and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping. The Vini Fantini-Selle Italia squad fired Di Luca immediately after his latest positive test was announced with the Giro nearly finished. “Whatever I won in cycling I won with my own skills. I never won anything I couldn’t win,” Di Luca said. “For example, I never won a time trial at 60 kph, whereas others have and maybe still do.”

In 2009, Di Luca was given a two-year ban after testing positive during the Giro for CERA, an advanced form of EPO. That ban was subsequently reduced by nine months after he collaborated with Italian anti-doping authorities. And a short time after winning the 2007 Giro, Di Luca was banned for three months for frequent visits to Carlo Santuccione, a physician at the center of a four-year doping investigation titled Oil for Drugs. Di Luca was stripped of his second-place finish and two stage wins in the 2009 Giro, which was won by Russian rider Denis Menchov. Seemingly headed for retirement just a few months before this year’s Giro, Di Luca signed with Vini Fantini in April — a week before the race began.

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