NHL
SABRES EXPLODE IN THIRD TO BEAT LIGHTNING
The Tampa Bay Lightning were in control of things with the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night-until they started the third period.
Leading 4-1, in front of a booing Buffalo crowd, the Lightning collapsed! Jason Pominville, Jochen Hecht, and Thomas Vanek all scored goals-Vanek tallied a natural hat trick and Hecht scored two-to give the Sabres a rare six-goal third-period explosion.
The win helped Buffalo sweep the season series with the Lightning, and moved them within one point of the Philadelphia Flyers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Vincent Lecavalier scored a pair of goals for the Lightning to reach the 40-goal plateau.
OTHER NHL SCORES
Detroit 3, Columbus 1
Anaheim 2, Dallas 1
Chicago 5, Washington 0
Carolina 5, Atlanta 3
San Jose 4, Minnesota 3 OT Shootout
New York Rangers 2, New Jersey 1 OT Shootout
NBA
SIXERS WELCOME A.I. BY BEATING NUGGETS
Welcome home, Allen Iverson.
The longtime Philadelphia 76er returned to the Wachovia Center to a warm reception from the fans who watched his high-energy act for more than 10 seasons. The Sixers themselves, though, spoiled the homecoming by beating Iverson's new team 115-113.
Both the Nuggets and the Sixers are fighting for their playoff lives, but Philadelphia is in a better position than their western opponents in Wednesday's game. The Sixers (34-34) are solidly in seventh place in the East, five games in front of eighth-place New Jersey and Atlanta. Meanwhile, the Nuggets, who have won six more games than Philly in the same number of games, are 2 1/2 games out of the Top 8 in the West. Amazingly, they are only 6 1/2 games behind the conference leaders while Philadelphia is 20 1/2 games in back of Boston in the East.
Iverson led the Nuggets in scoring with 32 points while his sidekick, Carmelo Anthony, scored 26.
Andre Miller topped the Philly attack with 28 points and 12 assists. Samuel Dalembert had 17 points and 12 rebounds as well.
OTHER NBA SCORES
Phoenix 110, Golden State 105
Indiana 102, Charlotte 95
Washington 87, Orlando 86
Toronto 96, Miami 54
New Jersey 125, Atlanta 117
Minnesota 98, Memphis 94
Cleveland 89, Detroit 73
New Orleans 90, Houston 69
NBA NOTES
* The Rockets fizzled in the fourth quarter against New Orleans. They and the New Orleans Hornets were tied heading into that final quarter, but New Orleans outscored them 31-10 to win handily. Bonzi Wells, who started the year with Houston, scored 20 fourth-quarter points to ice the game away for NO and give the Rockets a losing streak.
* How do you score 54 points in an NBA game? By shooting 25 percent (20 for 78), including 21 percent from three-point land (5-23). By being outrebounded 49-34. Not much Pat Riley can do about that.
* Washington found one way to beat Orlando. Shut down Dwight Howard. The Wizards, led by the defense of Brendan Haywood, held Howard to three points.
FACT OF THE DAY
NHL CONFERENCE STANDINGS
EAST
New Jersey 91
Montreal 90
Carolina 85
Pittsburgh 89
Ottawa 87
NY Rangers 87
Boston 83
Philadelphia 82
Outside, looking longingly in
Buffalo 81
Washington 80
Florida 78
WEST
Detroit 102
San Jose 97
Minnesota 87
Anaheim 92
Dallas 89
Vancouver 84
Calgary 84
Colorado 84
Packing up, but willing to unpack
Nashville 80
Edmonton 79
SPORTS SPECTRUM INSIDER
Getting to the heart of what matters in life
TODAY'S FEATURE:
SUE SEMRAU, women's hoops coach, Florida State
BIO NOTE: Semrau is in her 11th season as the coach of the Seminoles.
RECENT NEWS: On Sunday, Semrau's Seminoles were given an 11th seed for the women's NCAA tournament. They will play No. 6 Ohio State in Round 1.
FAITH QUOTE: "I think I realized that God's blessing is not what we human beings always think is good. His blessing can also be a difficult thing for us. I feel we [her coaching staff] were all blessed with an inner strength that maybe we never would have developed without [bad] circumstances."
-Sports Spectrum magazine
MINI MEMOS
Putting the SS spin on today's sports news
KOHL PROMISES STABILITY
Two things you know about Herb Kohl. You can always find discounted prices at his department stores, and you can always find the Bucks in Milwaukee. The wealthy Wisconsin senator has made it clear that he is no Clay Bennett. He's not going to wrest a well-established NBA team from its foundation and ship it off to another city. The Bucks will get another crack at a high draft pick this spring-their third lottery pick in four seasons-as they try to build a team that will improve attendance at the Bradley Center. One person who will not be around for that pick is Larry Harris. Kohl relieved Harris of his GM responsibilities on Wednesday. Milwaukee is 22nd in the league in home attendance, averaging 15,484 per contest. They are ahead of Charlotte, Sacramento, Minnesota, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Seattle, Memphis, and Indiana.
MUDDLING THEIR WAY THROUGH
How could baseball have allowed the little controversy related to paying coaches for the Oakland-Boston season-opening games in Japan get as far as it did? This seems to be one of those public relations messes that should have been cleaned up before it ever reached the public's notice. Could the people in charge not see that refusing to pay coaches for this trip would be a polarizing controversy that would make baseball look bad however it was decided? Some fans would scream, "Forty-thousand dollars for one trip to Japan-for coaches! Are you kidding me?" Others would scream, "You expect people to work for nothing-especially the lowest paid employees? Are you kidding me?" This is one of those deals a wise management group would quietly and without publicity handle so as not to bring on negative criticism.
ORE SHIPPED OUT
Frank Beamer is a patient man. But he finally had more than he could handle of Branden Ore and what some are calling a less-than-committed attitude toward what the Hokies were doing in football. Ore was the leading rusher for Virginia Tech in 2007, but he won't be carrying the leather anymore in Blacksburg. He was dismissed from the football team on Wednesday. One would hope that Ore figures out what he is doing to his life by tossing away such an opportunity. Unfortunately, some young people just don't get it and sadly they continue their own immature attitudes and decisions-no matter what the consequences-to be valid and good. Ore has one more year of eligibility, so perhaps he can hook up with another school that will give him one more chance to mature.
SPRINT CUP STANDINGS
With five races in the books, here's a look at the leaders in the Sprint Cup standings. Next up for the NASCAR guys: Martinsville's half-mile track in Martinsville, Virginia and the Goody's Cool Orange 500. The NASCAR circuit, as is tradition, takes Easter weekend off. Good for NASCAR.
Driver | Points | 2007 finish
1. Kyle Busch 782 5
2. Greg Biffle 752 14
3. Kevin Harvick 749 10
4. Jeff Burton 745 8
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 686 16
6. Kasey Kahne 674 19
7. Tony Stewart 656 6
8. Ryan Newman 635 13
9. Clint Bowyer 606 3
10. Kurt Busch 605 7
Other notables:
Matt Kenseth 11th
Jeff Gordon 14th
Carl Edwards 16th
Sam Hornish Jr. 35th
INSIDE SPORTS SPECTRUM
Do you read Sports Spectrum magazine? If you do, you'll be able to identify the following athlete featured in the March-April edition of the magazine, which is arriving in mailboxes across the country this week.
THURSDAY'S SPORTS SPECTRUM FEATURE
* He has won the French Open in tennis.
* He has won the US Open in tennis.
* He has won the Australian Open in tennis.
* He has won those playing doubles with Dan Nestor.
WHO IS THIS PERSON?
WEDNESDAY'S SPORTS SPECTRUM FEATURE
* He's a former PGA golfer.
* He played in more than 300 tournaments.
* He is known today for his teaching books and videos.
* He has recently written a new book called The Mulligan.
WHO IS THIS PERSON? WALLY ARMSTRONG
SPORTS SPECTRUM RADIO
SS DAILY INTERVIEW
To hear today's interview, go to the Sports Spectrum radio home page. It can be found at www.sport.org.
THE THURSDAY GUEST
C.J. WOOLUM, men's basketball coach, Christopher Newport University
TWEET! TIP-OFF! And here we go. In what seems like one continual basketball game from Thursday through Sunday, 128 basketball teams (men and women) will play the most important game of the NCAA D-I season. Coach Woolum has been paying attention to the brackets, and he has some ideas about how things have developed on the men's side of things. Let Coach Woolum get you ready for tip-off.
