Capitals clinch overall No. 1 seed in NHL playoffs

NHL: All season the Washington Capitals have thrived after losses and in the third period. Fittingly, they earned the official distinction as the top regular-season team by doing what they do best.

The Capitals dominated the third period to beat visiting Columbus 4-1 Monday night and clinch the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. A three-goal third period allowed them to remain the only team without consecutive regulation losses.

“Third period is usually our strength, and it was tonight,” said goaltender Braden Holtby, who downplayed winning the Presidents’ Trophy because it felt like such inevitability. “We’ve known for a while that we were going to get it, just mathematically it was going to happen, so it’s not a surprise.”

It’s the second Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history. Six players remain from the group that won it in 2009-10, when the Capitals lost in the first round to the Montreal Canadiens.

That defeat and other recent playoff exits tempered the joy about the accomplishment. Defenseman Matt Niskanen said players weren’t exactly spraying champagne around in the locker room after beating Columbus.

But the Capitals were proud of their showing against Columbus, which included 17 shots in the third period to the Blue Jackets’ six.

“It’s been a while since we really had a good effort,” said forward Tom Wilson, who scored the winner 3:46 into the third. “It’s not the best hockey club over there. We want to be playing our best hockey against other kind of best teams around the league.”

Red Wings stay alive: At Detroit, Dylan Larkin, Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening scored, and the Red Wings held on for a 3-2 victory against Buffalo.

Detroit needed the two points to boost its chances of extending its postseason streak to 25.

Detroit is tied with Philadelphia for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, but the Flyers have one more game to earn at least a point.

Lightning tied for first: Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist, Ben Bishop made 34 saves and Tampa Bay beat visiting Toronto 3-0 to move into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Westbrook in rare air with triple-double

NBA: Russell Westbrook had 26 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in his 16th triple-double, Kevin Durant scored 34 points and Oklahoma City won 119-100 at Toronto for its eighth straight victory.

Westbrook has the most triple-doubles in a season since Magic Johnson had 17 in 1988-89.

Oklahoma City has the NBA’s longest current winning streak and the Raptors lost at home for just the fourth time in 2016.

Blazers coast: Reserve Allen Crabbe scored 21 points and Portland cruised to a 105-93 victory over Sacramento.

Portland led by as many as 28 points to remain sixth in the Western Conference with seven games to go. The Blazers have won 14 of their last 16 games at home, including five straight.

Jazz sing: Rodney Hood scored 30 points and the Jazz turned Kobe Bryant’s last visit to Utah into the worst loss of his career with a 123-75 victory that matched the Lakers’ largest defeat in franchise history.

Weisner and Plum

AP All-Americans

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Breanna Stewart has earned Associated Press All-America honors three times, becoming just the sixth player to do so.

UConn’s star headlined the team Monday, along with teammate Moriah Jefferson, Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell, Minnesota’s Rachel Banham and South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson.

Oregon State’s Jamie Weisner, a Spokane native who graduated from Clarkson, is on the second team with Kelsey Plum of Washington and Jillian Alleyne of Oregon on the third team.

Buffs hire former Zag: Colorado has hired JR Payne from Santa Clara as the replacement for women’s basketball coach Linda Lappe.

The 38-year-old Payne was 34-27 in two seasons at Santa Clara. Payne graduated from St. Mary’s (California) in 1999 where she played for former Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves and then was an assistant coach with him in Spokane.

Tulane hires Dunleavy: Long-time NBA coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. is taking his first college coaching job at Tulane.

The 62-year-old Dunleavy played for South Carolina before a lengthy career as an NBA player and coach, most recently the Los Angeles Clippers from 2003 to 2010, but has been out of coaching since then.

Little Rock coach to UNLV: Coming off his first season as a Division I coach, Chris Beard is leaving Little Rock to become the new head coach at UNLV.

A&M assistant to Western Kentucky: Western Kentucky has announced the hiring of former Texas A&M assistant Rick Stansbury as its next men’s coach.

Nevada falls in opener: Lyonell Gaines scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Morehead State to an 86-83 victory over visiting Nevada in the opening game of the College Basketball Invitational finals.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series will be played Wednesday at Reno, Nevada.

Murray, Serena fall

in wild Miami Open

MISCELLANY: No. 2 seed Andy Murray lost the final five games and was beaten by No. 26 Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the upset-filled Miami Open.

Murray’s elimination leaves the tournament without four of the five top-seeded men.

In addition, eight-time Key Biscayne champion Serena Williams lost in the fourth round to Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2.

Vince Boryla passes: Vince Boryla, 89, a former player, coach and general manager in the NBA, has died. He was 89.

He was a member of Team USA that won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics.

Charges dropped against Street: A Utah judge has dismissed domestic violence and assault charges against Olympic gold-medal skier Picabo Street.

Street was facing misdemeanor charges after prosecutors say she threw her 76-year-old father down the stairs and locked him in the basement during a fight at her home near Park City. Her lawyer says the 44-year-old Street was defending herself during the Dec. 23 incident.

Braves cut Swisher: The Atlanta Braves released high-priced Nick Swisher, 35, ditching a former All-Star outfielder/first baseman whose numbers plummeted the last two seasons.

Dodgers pitcher retires: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jamey Wright, 41, has announced his retirement after 19 seasons in the majors.