In brief: Avalanche skate past Cup champs in OT

NHL: Paul Stastny scored two goals, including the winner 3:40 into overtime, to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-3 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night at Denver.

Chris Stewart and Matt Duchene also scored after the Avalanche honored their 1996 Cup-winning team in a pregame ceremony.

Stastny’s winning goal from in front was set up by a pass out of the corner by Duchene. Blackhawks goalie Marty Turco got a piece of the puck, but it trickled into the net.

Patrick Sharp tied the game midway through the third period for Chicago. Bryan Bickell and Marian Hossa also scored for the Blackhawks, who have dropped five of their last six season openers.

• Flyers, rookie goalie ruin Pens’ arena debut: Surprise starter Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots in his NHL debut, Danny Briere and Blair Betts scored the first two goals, and the Flyers spoiled the Pittsburgh Penguins’ debut game in their new arena by winning 3-2 at Pittsburgh.

Claude Giroux also scored for the Flyers. Alex Goligoski and Tyler Kennedy found the net for the Penguins.

• Giguere leads Leafs to rare home-opening win: At Toronto, Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 25 saves, and the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in the regular-season opener for both teams.

Tim Brent, Phil Kessel, Clarke MacArthur scored for the Maple Leafs, who won their first home opener since October 2000. Dustin Boyd and Jeff Halpern scored for Montreal.

• Hurricanes defeat Wild in season opener in Finland: Brandon Sutter scored twice as the Carolina Hurricanes held on to beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in Helsinki. Anton Babchuk and Jussi Jokinen also scored for the Hurricanes.

Pac-10 A.D.s discuss expansion options

College football: The Pac-10’s athletic directors wrapped up two days of agenda-setting meetings in San Francisco and, not surprisingly, nothing was settled.

Faced with the complex task of creating plans for revenue sharing, divisional alignment and a championship game in football, the athletic directors hashed out the details that will set the foundation for the conference’s presidents and chancellors at their meeting on Oct. 21.

The meetings were never intended to reach any final conclusions, only recommendations for the board as the conference expands to 12 teams next school year with the addition of Colorado and Utah.

Revenue sharing is the marquee issue, whether to continue with the current appearance-based model, which favors USC and UCLA, or to split up the money equally among the 12 schools.

• BYU, Utah agree to continue football rivalry: BYU and Utah will continue playing each other in football once they leave the Mountain West Conference next year.

The in-state rivals said they had agreed to a home-and- home series beginning in 2011. Utah is leaving the Mountain West to join the Pac-10 after this season. BYU is leaving and will become an independent program in football.

The schools also agreed to a four year home-and-home series in basketball.

Kite early leader at Senior Players

Golf: At Potomac, Md., Tom Kite shot a 3-under-par 67 in calmer morning conditions to take a one-stroke lead over fellow early starters Mark O’Meara, Michael Allen and Joe Ozaki in the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, the Champions Tour’s final major of the season.

After a bogey on No. 7, the 60-year-old Kite – winless since the 2008 Boeing Classic – birdied Nos. 9, 10, 14 and 17 at new-look TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.

Russ Cochran, a two-time winner last month, was three strokes back at 70 along with Jeff Sluman, Eduardo Romero, Loren Roberts, Trevor Dodds and David Peoples.

• Rollins early leader at McGladrey Classic: John Rollins doesn’t want his year to end without a trophy.

Rollins kicked off the new McGladrey Classic with his best round of the year, a 7-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over David Toms and rookie Troy Merritt at St. Simons Island, Ga.

Rollins birdied four straight holes late his round, starting with the tight 14th and ending with a 6-iron to 3 feet on the par-3 17th.

Merritt is 123rd on the money list. A group at 65 includes Joe Durant, who is at No. 131, and Michael Letzig at No. 145.

• Kerr leads Navistar LPGA Classic: LPGA Championship winner Cristie Kerr shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Morgan Pressel, Anna Nordqvist and Dorothy Delasin in the Navistar LPGA Classic at Prattville, Ala.

Long-hitting Brittany Lincicome was two strokes back at 67, along with Christina Kim, Vicky Hurst, Giulia Sergas.

Wendy Ward (Edwall, Wash.) shot a 2-under 70 and sits five shots back in a tie for 35th.

• Simson wins USGA Senior Amateur: Paul Simson won the USGA Senior Amateur Championship at Orlando, Fla., by beating stroke-play medalist Pat Tallent 2 and 1 to become the first player to win the event and the British Seniors Open Amateur Championship and Canadian Men’s Senior in the same year.

The 59-year-old Simson, from Raleigh, N.C., was 4-up after nine holes at Lake Nona and ended the match with a halve for par on the par-3 17th.