Sens’ Cowen, Spezza light up Penguins
NHL: The Ottawa Senators were in the right frame of mind as they headed to the dressing room after a big second period.
Jason Spezza had two goals and two assists, and former Spokane Chief Jared Cowen also had four points to lead Ottawa to a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night in Ottawa.
Daniel Alfredsson scored his 398th NHL goal and added two assists, and Erik Karlsson also had three points.
Colin Greening scored 25 seconds into the second, and Zenon Konopka netted the Senators’ fifth goal of the period with 5.7 seconds left, increasing Ottawa’s lead to 5-3 just 4 seconds into a power play.
Prior to Konopka’s goal, Cowen scored at 13:20 of the period to give Ottawa a 4-3 lead. The highest scoring game of his rookie season leaves him with four goals and six assists.
“We got a big goal from ‘Z’ on a play right at the end of the period, then we come in feeling good about ourselves,” Spezza said.
“It was good to have that break to talk about how we wanted to play against these guys with the lead.”
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby missed his fourth straight game because of a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms. He is out indefinitely, and the Penguins are 1-3 since he was sidelined again.
• Parise scores four points in Devils’ win: Zach Parise had a goal and three assists on the night the Devils retired former captain Scott Niedermayer’s No. 27 and led New Jersey to a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars in Newark, N.J.
David Clarkson, rookie Adam Henrique, Ilya Kovalchuk, Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias also scored as the Devils won their third straight and snapped the Stars’ and rookie goaltender Richard Bachman’s three-game winning streak.
Johan Hedberg finished with 33 saves for the Devils.
Michael Ryder, Brendan Morrow and Toby Petersen scored for the Pacific Division-leading Stars, who went 3-2 on a road trip that covered 6,500 miles.
• In other games: Ray Emery stopped 24 shots, and Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa each had a goal and an assist for Chicago, which beat Anaheim 4-1 at Chicago for its fourth straight win. … Thomas Vanek had two goals and two assists, and Tyler Ennis added a goal and an assist to help lift Buffalo over Toronto 5-4 at Buffalo, N.Y. … Sean Bergenheim scored Florida’s two goals in regulation and Stephen Weiss connected for the shootout winner as the Panthers defeated Calgary 3-2 at Sunrise, Fla.
Cuddyer signs with Rockies
Baseball: The Colorado Rockies and free agent outfielder Michael Cuddyer agreed to a three-year deal worth about $30 million.
CBS Sports and the Denver Post first reported the deal Friday morning.
The former Minnesota Twins star is the first big-time free agent the Rockies have signed since 2000, when they brought in pitchers Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle for a combined $172 million.
Cuddyer, who hit .284 with 20 home runs and 70 RBIs last season, also was pursued by the Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners.
• Tigers’ Alburquerque has elbow surgery: Detroit Tigers reliever Al Alburquerque is likely to be sidelined for the first half of next season after surgery on his pitching elbow.
The right-hander had a screw inserted during an operation by Dr. James Andrews. Alburquerque is expected to start a throwing progression toward the end of spring training and potentially return to game action by the All-Star break.
The Tigers said Alburquerque had the procedure Thursday.
Alburquerque was one of Detroit’s most pleasant surprises in 2011, going 6-1 as a rookie with a 1.87 ERA.
• Fired GM Smith sticks with Twins: Bill Smith is staying in the Minnesota Twins organization after being fired as general manager.
Twins President Dave St. Peter announced that Smith has accepted a position as assistant to the president and general manager.
Feuz edges Miller in super-G
Skiing: Beat Feuz of Switzerland outskied Bode Miller to win a World Cup super-G Friday in an event with shifting weather conditions in Val Gardena, Italy.
He won in 1 minute, 21.51 seconds on the twisty and terrain-filled Saslong course. Miller finished 0.30 seconds behind, and Kjetil Jansrud of Norway was third.
U.S. teen leads Dubai Ladies Masters
Miscellany: American teenager Lexi Thompson has a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Dubai Ladies Masters after making a birdie putt on the 18th for a 2-under-par 70.
The 16-year-old Thompson, the youngest LPGA Tour winner, is 10 under for the tournament, one shot ahead of Sophie Gustafson (69) of Sweden.
Thompson, who led by two shots going into the third round, bogeyed the 15th. Gustafson made three birdies on the back nine. But the American reclaimed the lead when she reached the green in two on the 18th and made the birdie putt.
“I was pretty much like ‘let’s just hit it,’ ” Thompson said. “You’ve been hitting it pretty good, so just got to be confident.”
Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa (67) and Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden (68) are two shots back of Thompson in the season-ending Ladies European Tour tournament.
Michelle Wie (71) is a five shots off the pace at 5 under.
• U.S. dominates in the pool: The United States raced to a commanding lead over Europe after Day 1 of Duel in the Pool in Atlanta.
Led by Ryan Lochte, Natalie Coughlin and Missy Franklin, the Americans won 12 of the 14 events at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center and are well on their way to staying unbeaten in the Duel series with a 93.5-28.5 lead in the points.
• Thorpe struggles in comeback race: In the first long-course meet of his comeback, five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe finished 16th overall in the 100-meter freestyle at the Italian Winter Championships in Riccione, Italy.
Thorpe clocked 50.84 seconds, well behind winner Luca Dotto of Italy’s 48.78.
• DePaul, Miami roll: In Top 25 women’s basketball, freshman Brittany Hrynko scored a career-high 25 points for No. 23 DePaul in a 73-55 victory over Arizona State in Chicago and No. 7 Miami scored the first 22 points in a 103-39 rout of Louisiana-Monroe in Miami.