NHL:
In the NHL, the Islanders edged Washington 3-2, New Jersey beat Detroit 4-3, Boston won against Tampa Bay 4-3, Montreal beat Buffalo 5-2, Columbus topped the Rangers 6-4, Carolina bested Philadelphia 5-1, Pittsburgh doubled up Nashville 4-2, Florida edged Ottawa 6-5, Winnipeg beat St. Louis 5-3, Dallas doubled up Toronto 6-3, Minnesota beat Edmonton 5-2, Los Angeles beat Arizona 3-2, Anaheim won against Colorado 5-1, and it was San Jose over Chicago 3-1.
New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault is now under contract through the 2019-20 season after getting a two-year extension. Vigneault coached his 1,100th NHL game last week and is 175-97-23 in 3 1/2 seasons with the Rangers. He led the Blueshirts to the 2014 Stanley Cup finals, three years after guiding the Vancouver Canucks within one victory of a championship.
Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss has more job security after signing a three-year, $10 million extension. The 31-year-old is 14-7-3 with a 2.25 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in 25 games this season. He usurped Jaroslav Halak as the Islanders' starter earlier this season after helping the team earn its first playoff series victory in 23 years last spring.
NBA:
In the NBA, Washington beat the Knicks 117-101, Houston topped Sacramento 105-83, San Antonio won against Oklahoma City 108-94, Portland bested Charlotte 115-98, the Lakers beat Denver 120-116, and it was Toronto over New Orleans in overtime 108-106.
Kirk Hinrich plans to work out with the Cleveland Cavaliers today as the team seeks a backup point guard who can shoot the ball. The 36-year-old Hinrich has averaged 10.9 points and 4.8 rebounds since turning pro in 2003, but he hasn't played in the NBA since last season. ESPN.com has reported the Cavs will also have free agents Mario Chalmers and Lance Stephenson in for a tryout.
The Toronto Raptors will play one more game without All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan because of a sprained right ankle. He missed three games last week due to the injury, then returned for Sunday's loss to Orlando before sitting out Tuesday's game versus New Orleans.
AHL:
The Albany Devils have made their move to Binghamton official. Following league approval, the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils announced today that it will start play in the Southern Tier city in the 2017-2018 season. Binghamton is losing its current team to Ontario, Canada. Once known as the River Rats, Albany has had an AHL team since 1993. The move is costing the downtown Times Union Center one of its anchor tenants.
NFL:
NFL teams try to avoid distractions as they prepare for a Super Bowl. The Atlanta Falcons have failed in that respect as a controversy swirls concerning the prescribing of painkillers to players under a previous coaching staff. A string of emails that began in 2010 with the team's head trainer and reached all the way to owner Arthur Blank shows a franchise worried about its "excessive" reliance on painkillers to treat players. One topic raised in the email chain concerned the review by an outside agency that found the team spent $81,000 on drug prescriptions for players in 2009, nearly three times the league average. General manger Thomas Dimitroff says the club will not address the story now but will when the time is right because, he says, "it's being litigated now."
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is donating his boat V Rings to a community sailing center in Newport. The Newport Daily News reports that the 24-foot power boat was named after the five Super Bowl rings Belichick had at the time he acquired it. Since then, he's won another ring and bought a larger boat, VI Rings.
The New York Jets have hired New Orleans Saints wide receivers coach John Morton as their offensive coordinator. Morton replaces Chan Gailey, who retired after the season following two years on coach Todd Bowles' staff. The team announced the hiring Tuesday.
Gymnastics:
A woman says Michigan State's women's gymnastics coach tried to dissuade her from making a formal complaint against a sports doctor who is now being sued by more than 20 female athletics for sexual abuse. The woman says Kathie Klages downplayed her concerns about treatments by Dr. Larry Nassar in the late 1990s and warned that a formal complaint about sexual abuse could have major consequences. The woman was a teen in a Michigan State youth program at the time and wants to join a lawsuit that claims Nassar assaulted gymnasts under the guise of treatment.
GNC Ban:
Nutritional supplement seller GNC says its 30-second Super Bowl ad has been yanked by the league because it violates an NFL policy against having supplements advertised during its games. It's the first time in recent memory that an advertiser has been banned completely. GNC's chief marketing officer says the company is sticking with the campaign and will find other outlets for the spot.
MLB:
The Boston Red Sox have defeated pitcher Fernando Abad in Major League Baseball's first salary arbitration hearing this year. Abad was awarded $2 million on Tuesday by arbitrators Robert Herzog, Phillip LaPorte and Dennis Archer rather than his $2.7 million request. The panel heard the case a day earlier.
The Washington Nationals had added depth to their bullpen by signing Joe Nathan and Matt Albers to minor league contracts. The 42-year-old Nathan could assume closer duties after the Nats lost Mark Melancon to free agency. The six-time All-Star appeared in just 10 major league games last season, while Albers went 2-6 with a hefty 6.31 ERA in 58 appearances for the White Sox in 2016.
Lefty Nick Hagadone has signed a minor league contract with Seattle with an invitation to spring training. Hagadone played five years with the Indians and missed all of last season after undergoing surgery for a fractured left elbow.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona is donating $1 million to the University of Arizona baseball program, with the money to be put into a capital projects fund for his alma mater. Francona's donation is in addition to a $1 million matching gift made by an anonymous donor in June for improvements at Hi Corbett Field. Among the planned projects is construction of the Terry Francona Hitting Facility.
Olympic Doping:
The IOC says it has stripped Russia of an Olympic silver medal from the women's 4x400-meter relay at the 2012 London Games for doping. The IOC says Antonina Krivoshapka tested positive for the anabolic steroid turinabol in reanalysis of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Russia previously lost its women's 4x400 silver from the 2008 Beijing Olympics in a separate doping case. Medals could later be reallocated. Jamaica was third in the London relay, which was won by the United States. Ukraine was fourth.
The IOC says Krivoshapka has also been disqualified from her sixth-place finish in the individual 400 in London. Krivoshapka now faces being banned by the IAAF, a move that could threaten her relay gold and individual bronze from the 2013 world championships in Moscow.
NCAA – Lawsuits:
The NCAA and helmet maker Riddell are defendants in separate class-action lawsuits alleging they failed to protect football players from long-term head injuries and didn't educate them about the risks. The lawsuits seek damages for health care costs, lost wages and other personal injury damages.
The Big 12 Conference was listed as co-defendant with the NCAA. Named plaintiffs are former players Cory Brandon of Oklahoma, Kelvin Chaisson of Oklahoma, Derrick Cherry of Texas Tech, Jarrod Blake Roberts of TCU and Joe Walker of Texas. Riddell called the called the claims "meritless" and "sensationalized allegations."
NCAA Top 25 Basketball:
It was a good night to be a Justin Jackson in college basketball. North Carolina's Justin Jackson led the 12th-ranked Tar Heels to their eighth win in 10 ACC games, while Maryland's Justin Jackson was the star as the No. 17 Terrapins pulled out a victory at Ohio State. North Carolina's Jackson scored 20 points and Joel Berry II added 19 in an 80-78 decision over Pittsburgh. Isaiah Hicks had 18 points for North Carolina, which never secured the victory until Jamel Artis missed an off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
In other top-25 finals:
— Nathan Adrian scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in No. 7 West Virginia's 85-72 pounding of Iowa State. Tarik Phillip had 15 points as the 18-4 Mountaineers notched their third win in a row.
— Eighth-ranked Kentucky's two-game losing skid is over after Malik Monk scored eight of his 37 points in overtime to lead a 90-81 decision over Georgia. Monk also tied it by hitting a jumper with eight seconds left in regulation before nailing a pair of 3-pointers in OT.
— Creighton won a matchup of ranked teams as Justin Patton, Khyri Thomas and Marcus Foster scored 15 points apiece to lead the 22nd-rated Bluejays past the No. 16 Bulldogs, 76-67. Creighton hit 13 3-pointers and improved to 2-2 since losing star point guard Maurice Watson Jr. to a torn ACL.
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