Anaheim close to owning best record in NHL

NHL: Nailing down the NHL’s best regular-season record isn’t the top priority for the Anaheim Ducks. Being ready for the postseason is.

John Gibson made 26 saves and the Ducks took another step to securing the NHL’s best regular-season record with a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.

“It’s not even a thought in our minds at all,” Ducks leading goal scorer Cory Perry said of the Presidents’ Trophy. “We want to go into the playoffs on the right track, playing playoff hockey. It’s not a focus. If it happens, fine, but we’re not thinking of it.”

The Ducks played a solid game against the Devils in closing out their five-game road trip with three straight wins.

Ryan Kesler and Francois Beauchemin scored and Gibson was outstanding in goal, getting a lot of help from his teammates.

“I made the saves when I had to. That’s what I get paid to do,” Gibson said. “We knew that they would be coming hard at us, but we just had to play our game. Just keep it simple. I’m a pretty laid-back guy. I like to sit back and enjoy the game as well. I’m trying to help the team win as much as I can.”

The victory allowed the Ducks to open a three-point lead over Nashville and Montreal in the race for the best record. Anaheim has four games left in the regular season, one less than Predators and two fewer than the Canadiens.

“It was a good game for us,” said Beauchemin, whose winner went into the net off the neck of Devils defenseman Jon Merrill. “Gibby made some big saves and we tried to keep the puck away from him as much as possible.”

Dainius Zubrus spoiled Gibson’s shutout bid with a goal in close with 3:25 left.

• Bruins get breathing room: David Pastrnak scored on a nice centering pass from Carl Soderberg at 4:23 of overtime, giving visiting Boston a 2-1 win over Carolina. The win put the Bruins three points ahead of Ottawa and four up on Florida in their race for the eighth playoff spot in the East.

Nets move past Boston into eighth

NBA: Brook Lopez had 30 points and 11 rebounds, and Brooklyn kept up its playoff push by beating the Los Angeles Lakers 107-99 in New York for its third straight victory.

Joe Johnson added 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Nets, who moved a half-game ahead of Boston, which lost to the L.A. Clippers, for eighth place in the East.

• Wade comes up big: Dwyane Wade scored 40 points one day after having fluid removed from his balky left knee, Udonis Haslem set season highs with 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Miami beat visiting Detroit 109-102.

U.S. women win 4-1 in world hockey

HOCKEY: Hilary Knight had two goals and an assist and the U.S. beat Finland 4-1 to improve to 2-0 in Pool A play in the women’s world hockey championships in Malmo, Sweden.

Canada beat Russia 4-0.

The U.S. faces Russia Tuesday.

In Pool B, Japan beat Germany 2-0, and Sweden topped Switzerland 3-2.

• Frozen Four set: Ryan Massa made 40 saves and Nebraska-Omaha beat Rochester Institute of Technology 4-0 in South Bend, Indiana, to win the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Omaha (20-12-6) will face Providence (23-13-3) on April 9 in Boston. The Friars won the East Regional at home, topping Denver 4-1 after Tom Parisi broke a tie on a power play goal with 5:01 left.

Boston University will play North Dakota in the other semifinal.

Belmont’s big inning sets NCAA records

BASEBALL: Belmont broke three NCAA Division I records and tied a fourth during a 20-run sixth inning in a 34-10 victory at UT Martin.

The Bruins, who lost the first two games of the series, set records for most plate appearances (26), total bases (43) and RBIs (20) in an inning.

Belmont homered seven times in the sixth to tie the record for most homers in an inning. Southern Utah hit seven in the first inning against Western Illinois in 2001.

Belmont’s 20 runs in the sixth were one shy of the record for most runs in an inning. That mark was set by Penn in 1983 and by Wichita State in 1984.

Belmont ended up with 12 homers, two shy of the single-game record set by Georgia Southern against Columbia in 2008.

Alabama dismisses Taylor after arrest

MISCELLANY: Alabama coach Nick Saban has dismissed Jonathan Taylor from the team following the second domestic violence arrest of the defensive lineman’s college career.

Saban announced the decision a day after Tuscaloosa police arrested Taylor when a woman reported she was assaulted by her boyfriend. Taylor signed with the Crimson Tide about six months after his dismissal from Georgia following his arrest in a girlfriend’s assault.

“Jonathan Taylor has been dismissed from the team and is no longer a part of our program,” Saban said in a statement released through the athletic department. “This will still need to go through the legal process, but when he was given an opportunity here, it was under strict guidelines and we made it clear there was a zero tolerance policy.”

• Easy win for Williams: Seven-time champion Serena Williams needed only 41 minutes to beat 15-year-old American CiCi Bellis 6-1, 6-1 in the third round of the Miami Open.

Bellis made headlines by winning a match at last year’s U.S. Open, but she couldn’t stay with the world’s No. 1 player. Williams won 51 of the 65 points and lost only two points in seven service games.

On the men’s side, Andy Murray’s 499th career victory put him in the fourth round. The No. 3-seeded Murray beat Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-4.

• Chodounsky defends slalom title: David Chodounsky successfully defended his slalom title with a fast and clean second run in the last event at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Carrabassett Valley, Maine.

Trailing after the first run, the 30-year-old Chodounsky navigated the tight course at Sugarloaf resort in a combined time of 1 minute, 43.88 seconds. He edged AJ Ginnis by 0.15 seconds. First-run leader Tim Kelley was third.

• Australia wins cricket title: Michael Clarke signed off with a half century and another World Cup title, leading host Australia to a seven-wicket victory over first-time finalist New Zealand in front of a crowd of 93,013 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Clarke (74) and Steve Smith (56 not out), the current and the likely future captain, spearheaded Australia to the winning target of 184 in the 34th over to capture its fifth World Cup title.

Clarke, who played in the winning team in 2007, was bowled by Matt Henry nine runs short of the target.

Australia’s left-arm pacemen did the damage early, with Mitchell Starc (2-20), Mitchell Johnson (3-30) and James Faulkner (3-36) combining to dismiss previously unbeaten tournament co-host New Zealand for 183 in 45 overs.