Bruins enjoy rare success vs. Canadiens
NHL: Zdeno Chara had three assists as the Boston Bruins turned a grudge match into a blowout and beat the visiting Montreal Canadiens 7-0.
Thursday’s win left Boston five points ahead of second-place Montreal in the Northeast Division.
Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell scored twice, and David Krejci and Milan Lucic also had three assists for the Bruins as they beat Montreal for just the second time in six games this season. Tim Thomas stopped 24 shots for his career-high eighth shutout of the season and the 25th of his career.
• Pens edge Flyers in shootout: Chris Kunitz’s shootout goal lifted the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Pittsburgh’s Alex Kovalev scored the first shootout goal. He was matched by Philadelphia’s Danny Briere. Kunitz got the final shootout attempt through the legs of Sergei Bobrovsky for the winner.
Philadelphia’s Mike Richards and Pittsburgh’s Tyler Kennedy scored goals in regulation.
• Schremp, Ladd lead Thrashers past Islanders: Rob Schremp scored the winning goal against his former team as the Atlanta Thrashers beat the New York Islanders 2-1 at Uniondale, N.Y.
Andrew Ladd scored the other goal for Atlanta, while backup Chris Mason only needed to make 14 saves.
• Halak shuts out Oilers: Jaroslav Halak needed to make only 12 saves to earn his sixth shutout of the season and T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist in the St. Louis Blues’ 4-0 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers.
• Kulemin scores twice in Toronto’s win: Nikolai Kulemin had two goals, and Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak also scored, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs past the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 at Denver.
• Senators win in shootout: Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal of the shootout in the fifth round and the visiting Ottawa Senators snapped the New York Rangers’ season-best, five-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory.
Mavs get 11th straight 50-win season
NBA: Dirk Nowitzki had 30 points and 11 rebounds, Jason Terry added 18 points and the Mavericks rallied in the fourth quarter for a 104-96 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves, giving Dallas 50 wins for the 11th straight season.
Shawn Marion added 17 points and Peja Stojakovic had 16 to help the Mavericks win for the third time in four games.
Anthony Randolph had a career-high 31 points with 11 rebounds for the Timberwolves.
• Okafor, Paul lead Hornets past Jazz: At Salt Lake City, Emeka Okafor banked in a 20-footer at the regulation buzzer to force overtime, and reserve Aaron Gray scored six points in the extra period to lead the New Orleans Hornets to a 121-117 victory over the short-handed Utah Jazz.
David West scored 29 points for the Hornets before being taken off in a wheelchair holding his head and grimacing in pain after going down hard after a powerful dunk that tied the game at 103.
Paul Millsap had 33 points to lead the Jazz, who have dropped four straight.
Chris Paul scored five of his 24 points in overtime for the Hornets, and Trevor Ariza added 14, including a 3-pointer in the extra period.
• Wolves coach says Love could be out for season: Minnesota Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis says there’s a chance that All-Star forward Kevin Love could miss the rest of the season because of a strained left groin.
Love, averaging 20.3 points and an NBA-high 15.4 rebounds per game, did not travel with the team while he receives treatment.
Expert recalls steroid THG’s discovery
Baseball: One of the world’s foremost experts in detecting performance- enhancing drug use among athletes recounted for the Barry Bonds jury how authorities unmasked the designer steroid dubbed the “clear.”
Bonds has admitted using the steroid, but said his personal trainer misled him into believing it was flaxseed oil.
Larry Bowers, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s chief scientist, told the jury that his agency anonymously received a syringe with trace amounts of liquid in the summer of 2003. Scientists using highly technical chemical-detection equipment came up with a recipe for the liquid. Using the recipe, the agency had a batch ginned up and injected into baboons on their way to developing a urine test for the steroid, also called “THG,” that was put in place by late 2003.
A chemist named Patrick Arnold developed the steroid to evade detection and it was distributed to elite athletes by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and Bonds’ personal trainer Greg Anderson.
Levin flawless in the wind to lead Bay Hill
Miscellany: In warm, blustery conditions on a course that allowed only three rounds in the 60s and the most rounds in the 80s in nearly two decades, Spencer Levin had a 6-under 66 and a three-shot lead over Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan in the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf event at Orlando, Fla.
Levin built the largest 18-hole lead of the year on the PGA Tour, but even that doesn’t illustrate how well he played. His 66 was nearly nine shots better than the average score at Bay Hill, which featured gusts over 20 mph and crusty conditions in the afternoon.
Spokane native Alex Prugh (Ferris Hi, UW) shot a 79.
• Blumenherst leads Kia Classic: Amanda Blumenherst birdied the final four holes for a 7-under 66 and a one-stroke lead over Germany’s Sanda Gal in the Kia Classic golf event at Industry, Calif.
Blumenherst, the former Duke star seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, had nine birdies and two bogeys in her opening round on the Industry Hills Golf Club course.
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., opened with a 78.
• Moscow to host Figure Skating Championships: The World Figure Skating Championships that were moved from Japan after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the country this month were given to Moscow.
The worlds will be staged April 25-30 in the Russian capital.