Briefs: Johnson lifts Blues past Penguins

NHL: Erik Johnson scored 50 seconds into overtime, Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0 on Saturday night for their 10th straight home victory.

Johnson scored his first goal of the season after T.J. Oshie stripped the Penguins’ Paul Martin of the puck in the corner. Oshie fed Johnson in the slot and the defenseman beat goalie Brent Johnson.

The Blues are 4-0 at home this season after winning their final six last season.

• Richardson’s hat trick lifts Kings over Avs: Brad Richardson had three goals, including a tiebreaking short-handed tally late in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings beat Colorado 6-4 in Denver. Jonathan Quick had 28 saves for the Kings.

• Capitals nip Thrashers in overtime: Alexander Semin scored three goals and Tomas Fleischmann got the winner 1:37 into overtime, giving the host Washington Capitals a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. Atlanta’s Evander Kane tied it with 32.9 seconds left in regulation.

• Datsyuk leads Wings past Ducks: Pavel Datsyuk scored with 12 seconds left in the game to give the host Detroit Red Wings a 5-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Detroit rallied from a 3-1 second-period deficit. Henrik Zetterberg scored twice for the Red Wings.

• Dvorak’s goal lifts Panthers over Islanders: At Sunrise, Fla., Radek Dvorak’s goal with 6:32 left in the third period lifted the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 victory over the Islanders despite a hat trick by New York’s John Tavares.

• Rinne’s shutout lifts Preds over Stars: Pekka Rinne made 30 saves for his 15th NHL shutout, Cal O’Reilly scored in the game’s first minute, and the visiting Nashville Predators held on to beat the Dallas Stars, 1-0.

Velasquez stops Lesnar for UFC title

MMA: Cain Velasquez stopped Brock Lesnar late in the first round with a relentless flurry of punches, claiming Lesnar’s UFC heavyweight title at UFC 121 in Anaheim, Calif.

Velasquez (9-0) remained unbeaten by outpunching the fearsome Lesnar (5-2), the UFC’s biggest star and top pay-per-view draw. After a frenetic opening minute featuring huge blows by both fighters, Velasquez relentlessly pursued the bigger champion and eventually staggered him across the ring, forcing referee Herb Dean to stop the fight.

In other action at the Honda Center, Jake Shields won a split decision over Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut while Matt Hamill beat Tito Ortiz and Diego Sanchez beat Paulo Thiago, both by unanimous decisions.

Defending champ Laird takes lead

Golf: Defending champion Martin Laird shot a bogey-free 8-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead over Jonathan Byrd (66) in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas.

The Scot had a 19-under 194 total at TPC Summerlin.

Cameron Percy had a career-best 62 to join Webb Simpson (64) at 17 under.

Alex Prugh (Ferris) shot a 1-under 70 to fall into a tie for 16th at 201, seven shots back.

• Hjorth, Lee lead LPGA tourney in Malaysia: At Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sweden’s Maria Hjorth shot her second straight 3-under 68 for a share of the second-round lead with South Korea’s Jee Young Lee in the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.

Lee (70) matched Hjorth at 6-under. South Korea’s Song-Hee Kim (68) was a stroke back, and Juli Inskter (67) was 4 under along with Natalie Gulbis (68) and Mika Miyazato (72).

• Pavin keeps lead at Champions Tour event: Corey Pavin shot a 4-under 68 to maintain a one-stroke lead in the Administaff Small Business Classic at The Woodlands, Texas.

Pavin had a 10-under 134 total on The Woodlands Country Club course. Mark Wiebe (68) was second, and Fred Couples (65) sits third at 8 under.

Federer wins, moves on to Stockholm final

Miscellany: Roger Federer could tie Pete Sampras for career titles after reaching the Stockholm Open final, defeating fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Federer will face Florian Mayer in today’s final. Mayer edged Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

A third title of the year for Federer will earn him the 64th of his career, matching Pete Sampras for fourth in the Open era. Only Jimmy Connors (109), Ivan Lendl (94) and John McEnroe (77) have won more singles tournaments since 1968.

• Sivigny defends title at Head of the Charles : Michael Sivigny successfully defended his singles title in the 46th annual Head of the Charles Regatta, holding off 2002 world champion Marcel Hacker at Cambridge, Mass.

Sivigny won the 3-mile race in 18 minutes, 46 seconds on the first day of the two-day event on the Charles River. Hacker was 4.5 seconds slower.

Gevvie Stone captured the women’s singles in 20:26. Peter and Tom Graves defended their title in men’s doubles, and Jessi Reel and Meg Walsh, led a 1-2-3 sweep by U.S. Rowing in women’s doubles.

• Sacramone wins vault world title: Alicia Sacramone of the United States came out of retirement to win the gold medal in the vault at the world gymnastics championships, edging all-around champion Aliya Mustafina at Rotterdam, Netherlands.