In brief: Bruins’ Thomas avoids Capital punishment

NHL: Tim Thomas’ return to the nation’s capital was less political and more successful.

Playing about 10 blocks from the White House – a place he famously avoided two weeks ago – Thomas carried a shutout deep into the third period Sunday as the Boston Bruins snapped a two-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals.

Thomas’ no-show, accompanied by a Facebook post about a federal government that he said was “out of control,” overshadowed his teammates’ day of celebration when the reigning Stanley Cup champions were honored by President Barack Obama on Jan. 23. He didn’t play the next day, when the Bruins lost 5-3 to the Capitals.

But last year’s Vezina Trophy winner and playoff MVP was in fine form. Among his 35 saves was a quick reflex stop against Alex Ovechkin when the Capitals forward had an open look after a rebound.

Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand scored first-period goals, and Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley tallied in the third for the Bruins, who built a 3-0 lead and rediscovered some offensive pop after scoring only once during their two-game skid.

Marcus Johansson scored the lone goal for the Capitals, who have lost three of four and haven’t scored a power-play goal in seven games.

• Rangers win sixth straight over Flyers: Artem Anisimov had a goal and two assists, Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves and the Rangers continued their recent success against the Flyers, earning a 5-2 victory in New York.

Marian Gaborik, Michael Del Zotto, Brandon Dubinsky and Ruslan Fedotenko also scored for the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers, who have won six straight against Philadelphia, including four games this season.

Lundqvist’s career-best shutout streak ended at 182 minutes, 37 seconds when Brayden Schenn scored in the second period, but the All-Star goaltender still improved to 24-14-4 on the season.

’Canes claim first win at Cameron Indoor

Men’s basketball: Reggie Johnson scored five of his career-high 27 points in overtime and Miami upset No. 7 Duke 78-74 in Durham, N.C.

Kenny Kadji added 15 points for the Hurricanes (14-7, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who blew a 16-point lead in the second half, then regrouped to claim their first victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium and just their second win over Duke since joining the ACC.

Seth Curry scored 22 points for the Blue Devils (19-4, 6-2), who missed all six of their free throws in overtime.

• Green, Spartans top Wolverines: Draymond Green had 14 points and 16 rebounds to lead No. 9 Michigan State (18-5, 7-3 Big Ten) to a 64-54 win over No. 23 Michigan (17-7, 7-4) in East Lansing, Mich., backing up his guarantee of a victory.

Green played, as he promised, with a sprained left knee and the senior had the best game of his career in the series.

Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr. missed his first six shots and had a season-low four points.

Tigers end Wildcats’ winning streak at 10

Women’s basketball: Adrienne Webb scored 16 of her 19 points in the second half and LSU snapped No. 6 Kentucky’s 10-game winning streak with a 61-51 upset in Baton Rouge, La.

LaSondra Barrett scored all of her 12 points in the final 20 minutes for the Lady Tigers (15-8, 5-5 Southeastern Conference), who came in having lost five of six games but rarely trailed as the Wildcats (21-3, 10-1) managed to shoot only 35 percent (21 of 60).

• No. 2 Irish cruise to win over DePaul: Natalie Novosel scored 17 of her 21 points in the first half to help second-ranked Notre Dame (23-1, 10-0 Big East) coast to a 90-70 victory over DePaul (17-7, 5-5).

The Irish scored 56 points in the first half, shooting 72 percent from the field – including hitting six of their seven 3-pointers. The win was the 20th straight for Notre Dame matching the second longest streak in school history.

• Lady Lions rally over Gophers: Mia Nickson scored 20 points and Alex Bentley added 16 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 38.9 seconds to play, to help No. 19 Penn State (18-5, 8-3 Big Ten) rally for a 68-65 victory over Minnesota (12-13, 4-7) in Minneapolis.

The Lady Lions trailed by 15 points in the first half and still trailed by three with 90 seconds remaining. But Penn State closed the game on an 8-2 run to secure its eighth win in its past 10 games.

Garnett lifts Celtics to fourth straight win

NBA: Kevin Garnett matched his season-high with 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Celtics to their fourth straight win, 98-80 over the Memphis Grizzlies in Boston.

Paul Pierce scored 21 points, moving nine behind Hall of Famer Larry Bird for second place on the club’s all-time list, and Ray Allen added 12. Rajon Rondo had 14 assists and reserve Chris Wilcox chipped in with 12 points.

Rudy Gay paced the Grizzlies with 21 points and seven rebounds, and O.J. Mayo scored 15 points for Memphis, which has lost six of eight.

Boston took charge with a 21-7 run early in the fourth quarter that turned a six-point lead to 90-70 on Garnett’s jumper.

• Heat hold off Raptors’ late charge: LeBron James scored 30 points, Dwyane Wade had 25 and the Heat survived a shaky fourth quarter to beat the Toronto Raptors 95-89 in Miami.

Chris Bosh scored 12 points against his former team. Mario Chalmers added 11 for Miami, which saw a 15-point edge trimmed to three in the final minutes, but never surrendered the lead.

Berdych beats Monfils for seventh title

Tennis: Tomas Berdych won his seventh career title, beating defending champion Gael Monfils 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the Open Sud de France final in Montpellier, France.

The top-seeded Czech broke for a 5-3 lead in the final set on a double fault from Monfils. He wrapped it up with his 12th ace.

Berdych relied on a strong serve and deep groundstrokes to grab the lead, but made several unforced errors to drop the second set.

• Youzhny tops Lacko at Zagreb Indoors: Mikhail Youzhny beat Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-3 to win the Zagreb (Croatia) Indoors in his 18th career final.

Youzhny faced no break points and lost only 12 points on serve during the 68-minute match.

• Monaco takes Vina del Mar title: Juan Monaco beat Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-1 in an all-Argentina final at the Vina del Mar (Chile) VTR Open in win his fourth ATP title.

Mancuso wins super-G as Vonn falters

Skiing: Julia Mancuso won a super-G at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, for her first World Cup victory of the season, while fellow American Lindsey Vonn skied off the course and did not finish.

Anna Fenninger of Austria was second and Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was third.

Vonn remains the overall leader.

• Baumann wins super-combined race: Romed Baumann held off a strong challenge from Frenchman Alexis Pinturault to win a World Cup super-combined race in Chamonix, France, for his second career victory.

Baumann led Pinturault by a comfortable 3.27 seconds after posting the fastest time in the morning’s downhill run on the La Verte des Houches course, and the Austrian held firm in the afternoon slalom session to win by 1.10 seconds.

Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, tied for fifth after the downhill, was 1:19 behind Baumann in third.