NHL: Crosby’s hat trick sparks Pens
Sidney Crosby had his second career playoff hat trick and the Penguins beat the Senators 4-3 last night in Pittsburgh to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Brenden Morrow added his first playoff goal in more than five years, Tomas Vokoun made 19 saves, and the Penguins rode their superstar captain to their fourth straight victory.
SOCCER: Ferguson finale tomorrow
Alex Ferguson has one final challenge to overcome — beating West Bromwich Albion tomorrow in his 1,500th and last game as Manchester United manager.
The end of the road in Ferguson’s 39-year coaching career comes at The Hawthorns, an unassuming stadium in central England. Ferguson already has had one emotional farewell — at Old Trafford on Sunday after a 2-1 win over Swansea that marked his final home match as United manager.
Paris Saint-Germain hopes to strike a deal with David Beckham in the next two weeks in which he will work with the club after his retirement.
Atletico Madrid ended a 14-year winless run against Real Madrid to capture the Copa del Rey title, coming from behind to win 2-1 in extra time after its city rivals’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho were sent off for fighting.
SOFTBALL: Hofstra, Galati win
Olivia Galati threw a complete-game five-hit shutout and scored a run and fellow senior Tessa Ziemba broke open a deadlock with a two-run double in the fifth to lift Hofstra to a 2-0 victory over Oregon State in the NCAA Columbia (Mo.) Regional.
Also in Columbia, Stony Brook held No. 6 seed Missouri scoreless into the fifth inning, before succumbing losing 3-0.
Despite a record-breaking home run from Elise Fortier in the top of the first inning, Fordham fell to Arkansas, 5-1, in the first game of the Norman, Okla., Regional. Fortier’s 20th homer of 2013 broke the single season A-10 record of 19 set by UMass’ Sam Salato in 2009.
OLYMPICS: A Phelps comeback?
A report from a Fort Myers, Fla., television station said swimmer Michael Phelps will return to swimming with an eye toward competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The three-paragraph story on the station’s website was posted by news anchor Peter Busch, who is the son of Frank Busch, director of the U.S. national swim team.
Phelps went on Twitter to downplay the report, but didn’t specifically deny it either.
ETC: Sharapova withdraws
Afraid she might not be ready for next month’s French Open, Maria Sharapova withdrew before her Italian Open quarterfinal match against seventh-seeded Sara Errani due to illness.
Serena Williams beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-0 to reach the semifinals and extend her victory run to 22 matches, the longest winning streak of her career. On the men’s side, top-ranked Novak Djokovic was beaten 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 by sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych.
Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin has been suspended for the first four games of the 2013 season for violating the NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Joel Quenneville, Bruce Boudreau and Paul MacLean are finalists for the NHL’s Jack Adams Award, given to the coach who has contributed most to his team’s success.
In Moscow, Alexander Povetkin stopped Andrzej
Wawrzyk by a technical knockout at 2:29 of the third round to retain his WBA heavyweight title. On the same card, Guillermo Jones of Panama regained the WBA cruiserweight title stopping local favorite Denis Lebedev in the 11th round.