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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Capitals dispatch Bruins in OT

Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom scores during the Capitals’ 3-2 overtime victory over Boston.  (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

NHL: Brooks Laich’s power-play goal 44 seconds into overtime gave the Capitals a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins in Washington.

The Bruins gained a point and moved into seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 85 points. Montreal is sixth with 86 points and Philadelphia is in eighth place with 84 points in the tight race.

Laich’s goal came 20 seconds after Boston’s Dennis Wideman was called for high-sticking, and the Capitals had the four-on-three advantage.

Laich beat Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, who finished with 27 saves. It was Laich’s 25th goal of the season.

The Capitals played their first game as winners of the Presidents’ Trophy for most points in the league.

St. Louis slides past Columbus: Erik Johnson scored on a power play with 1:01 to go in overtime, keeping the St. Louis Blues’ slim playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

Andy McDonald had a goal and an assist and Chris Mason made 27 saves for St. Louis, which has won a season-high five straight at home. The Blues are four points behind Colorado with three games to go for the final Western Conference playoff spot and need to finish ahead of the Avalanche, who swept them in the regular season.

Olympic jersey, puck sold: A jersey worn by Sidney Crosby during a Team Canada game against Switzerland at the Vancouver Olympics has sold at auction for $35,034.

A puck from the overtime period of the gold-medal hockey game is in an Ohio resident’s hands at the cost of $13,088. A tray that held the medals presented to the gold-medal winning women’s hockey team sold for $4,990.

Extra alcohol agents patrol Panama City

College football: Even before a Notre Dame football recruit died in a drunken fall from a hotel balcony, extra alcohol enforcement agents were on duty in Panama City, Fla., just as they are every year for spring break.

Matt James, 17, of Cincinnati, was the second teenager in two weeks to die. Brandon Kohler, a 19-year-old from Winder, Ga., died March 24 when he also fell from a fifth-floor balcony at another Panama City hotel.

The Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco said it sends 18 agents – up from five the rest of the year – to Panama City during spring break because of the high school and college students who go there.

James, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound offensive lineman, was drunk and acting belligerent when he fell Friday night as he leaned over a fifth-floor railing to shake his finger at people in an adjoining room.

Rogers’ gun had bullet in chamber

NFL: A police report says a gun that Cleveland Browns player Shaun Rogers allegedly tried to carry through airport security was cocked with a bullet in the chamber.

Rogers has pleaded not guilty to a concealed weapons charge after authorities say he tried to carry the handgun through Cleveland Hopkins International Airport security in a carryon bag.

Lakers’ Jackson fined for criticizing refs

NBA: Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson has been fined $35,000 for criticizing game officials.

Jackson was fined for comments he made after the Lakers’ 100-81 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday at the Staples Center.

Recently convicted Odesnik triumphs

Tennis: Jerzy Janowicz was not happy to be facing American Wayne Odesnik at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston.

Odesnik, playing for the first time since pleading guilty to importing human growth hormone into Australia, beat the 19-year-old Janowicz of Poland 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match. Odesnik was fined $7,200 and could be banned by the ATP.

Cibulkova moves into second round: Third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of The MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Woman wins discrimination case

Golf: An amateur golfer has won a federal discrimination lawsuit she filed after a Massachusetts municipal golf course barred her from playing in a men’s tournament.

Elaine Joyce sued the town of Dennis and others after she was told she couldn’t play in a 2007 men’s tournament at the Dennis Pines Golf Course. Joyce has a single-digit handicap and has won multiple tournaments.

Valverde victorious at Basque Tour stage

Miscellany: Alejandro Valverde won the first stage of the Tour of Basque Country bicycle race in Zierbena, Spain, after Oscar Freire was penalized for breaking the rules during the critical home stretch.

Freire crossed the line ahead of Valverde but the three-time world champion was dropped from first place after race officials judged that the Milan-San Remo winner had blocked Valverde’s path.

UCLA basketball’s Moser won’t return

College men: Forward Mike Moser is leaving UCLA after one season and plans to transfer, although his destination is unknown.

Moser became the third underclassman to leave the Bruins in the past four months. UCLA was 14-18, its worst record since coach Ben Howland’s first year in 2003-04.

Sophomore center J’mison Morgan was dismissed from the team last Tuesday, and sophomore forward Drew Gordon left the Bruins last December.

Moser played in 15 of the Bruins’ 32 games as a freshman, scoring nine points while apparently struggling with the Bruins’ defense-minded style.

Newcastle back in Premier League

Soccer: Newcastle clinched a return to the English Premier League when Nottingham Forest was held to a 0-0 tie at home by Cardiff, guaranteeing the Magpies a top-two finish in the second-tier League Championship.