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

Rangers hold off Flyers in Winter Classic

Netminder Henrik Lundqvist helped the Rangers to a Classic win. (Associated Press)

Hockey: Henrik Lundqvist stopped Danny Briere’s penalty shot with 19 seconds left, Brad Richards scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the New York Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Flyers 3-2 in the Winter Classic on Monday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Mike Rupp scored twice for New York.

Rookie Brayden Schenn and Claude Giroux scored for the Flyers. It was Schenn’s first career goal.

• Alfredsson nets Ottawa’s OT winner: Daniel Alfredsson beat Martin Brodeur with 59.4 seconds left in overtime to give the Senators a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils in Ottawa.

• Sharks beat Canucks in shootout: Michael Handzus scored the only goal in a shootout and the San Jose Sharks beat the Canucks 3-2 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

• Hurricanes’ Skinner returns to practice: Last year’s NHL Rookie of the Year, Jeff Skinner, has returned to practice with the Carolina Hurricanes in the latest step in his recovery from a concussion suffered at Edmonton on Dec. 7.

• Russia tops Czechs in OT: Grigori Zheldakov scored at 1:30 of overtime to lead Russia to a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in a quarterfinal at the world junior championship in Calgary, Alberta. Russia will face Canada in a semifinal match tonight.

Dominik Uher of the Spokane Chiefs was scoreless for the Czech Republic.

In the other quarterfinal, Finland defeated Slovakia 8-5 and will face Sweden in the other semifinal.

Hawks hand Heat first loss of season

NBA: Joe Johnson scored 21 points, Tracy McGrady hit a pair of big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and the visiting Atlanta Hawks ended Miami’s (5-1) perfect start by beating the Heat 100-92.

McGrady and Al Horford each scored 16 for the Hawks, who opened the final period on a 15-3 run to take control.

• Mavericks send Thunder to first loss: Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 of his 26 points during the third quarter, sending the Dallas Mavericks to a 100-87 home victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

No. 25 Tar Heels edge No. 12 Miami

Women’s basketball: Chay Shegog hit the go-ahead free throws with 1:11 left, helping No. 25 North Carolina (11-2, 1-0 ACC) rally past No. 12 Miami (11-3, 0-1) in an Atlantic Coast Conference opener.

Shegog finished with 20 points to lead the Tar Heels.

Baylor still undisputed No. 1: After receiving all the first-place votes, Baylor remains the unanimous No. 1 choice in the Associated Press poll for the fifth straight week.

The first five teams remain unchanged. Connecticut is No. 2, followed by Notre Dame, Stanford and Maryland.

Men’s basketball: Chase Grabau scored 18 points as Idaho State (3-10, 1-1 Big Sky) ended a five-game losing streak with a 57-55 victory over Northern Colorado (4-9, 1-1) in Big Sky play in Greeley, Colo.

U.S. loses to Denmark 2-1 at Hopman Cup

Tennis: The United States lost to Denmark 2-1 at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, with Caroline Wozniacki and Frederik Nielsen beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mardy Fish 7-5, 6-3 in the deciding mixed doubles match.

Fish gave the U.S. an opening victory in this Australian Open tuneup, defeating Nielsen 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4. The top-ranked Wozniacki beat Mattek-Sands 7-6 (4), 6-2 to tie the best-of-3 series before the Danish pair joined to win mixed doubles.

In another Group A series, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych won singles matches to send the Czech Republic past Bulgaria 2-1.

• Federer, Nadal set to open season at Qatar: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are eyeing the season-opening Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar.

Nadal, seeded first, opens today against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. Federer faces Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, whom he beat in the final last year.

Steelers’ Mendenhall to miss postseason

NFL: The Pittsburgh Steelers’ journey through the playoffs won’t include running back Rashard Mendenhall.

A person familiar with the injury told the Associated Press that Mendenhall has a torn ACL in his right knee and is out for the entire postseason. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not made an official announcement about Mendenhall’s status.

• 49ers’ coordinator a finalist for Penn State job: San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman is a finalist to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State, his agent said.

Mike Harrison told the AP by phone that Roman interviewed for the position in November and is on the “short list” to take over the embattled program, rocked in recent months by a sex-abuse scandal.

Storm deal Cash to Chicago for draft pick

Miscellany: The Seattle Storm have traded WNBA All-Star Swin Cash and forward Le’coe Willingham to the Chicago Sky for the No. 2 pick in the 2012 draft.

Seattle also sent a second-round pick to Chicago, the 23rd overall.