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NHL Commentary
By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, February 1, 2014

GLENDALE, Ariz. – In a season loaded with ups and downs, the Phoenix Coyotes may have reached their ultimate low point this past Thursday, when they blew a lead at home and lost to the Buffalo Sabres – the worst team in the National Hockey League.

Following the game, and a closed-door session with his teammates, Phoenix captain Shane Doan called the performance “unacceptable.” In particular, the way the Coyotes allowed themselves to play to the low level of their opponent.

A standing-room, sellout crowd of 17,362 at Jobing.com Arena watched to see how the Coyotes would respond to the challenge of facing Pittsburgh, the top team overall in the NHL Eastern Conference finishing a two-game Pacific Division road swing.

At least 10,000 of those fans, by the way, were decked out in Penguins gear. Local ownership, however, was likely glad to see the luxury suites filled, even with the black or powder blue jerseys from the Pittsburgh faithful. It’s all part of the major league experience in the Valley of the Sun. Same thing will happen Friday when the Chicago Blackhawks arrive for the final game prior to the Olympics.

Because of a recent funk that bumped Phoenix out of the top eight in the NHL West, the Coyotes needed a big win and got one Saturday – 3-1 over Pittsburgh while shutting down the Pens’ top line of Sidney Crosby, Craig Adams and Trevor Glass. After scoring 15 goals in January, NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby was held scoreless on two shots on goal.

Marc-Andre Fleury was 13-4 in his previous 17 starts, still searching for win No. 30 on the season. That 30th win could happen for Fleury when the Penguins return home Monday to meet Ottawa.

Evgeni Malkin scored his 16th goal in the second period, but Coyotes netminder Mike Smith slammed the door after that, stopping 23 of 24 shots.

Mike Ribeiro put Phoenix on the board in the first period with his 200th NHL career goal and Radim Vrbata tacked on an important goal early in the third period. In between, Zbynek Michaelek scored his first NHL goal in 83 games to put the Desert Dogs ahead to stay.

The Penguins, like San Jose, are among the teams the Coyotes don’t want to face in an overtime or shootout situation. Vrbata made sure it didn’t come to that.

“Our guys came to play, that’s for sure,” Phoenix Coach Dave Tippett said. “It was a tough game, a fast game, and our guys figured out a way to get on top of it.

“We’ve got three games left before the (Olympic) break and we’d like to carry this levell of play through,” Tippett said.

Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma said, “We ran into a hot goaltender and we had a lot of chances. (Smith) made four really good saves early. I don’t think we tested him nearly enough.”

While the Pens weren’t happy with a loss coming 48 hours after a 4-1 at Los Angeles, the Coyotes were happy to pick up a couple of badly needed points, especially after embarrassing themselves 48 hours earlier in the same building.

Daniel Dullum covers the NHL for SportsTalk

(TAGS: NHL.Pittsburgh,Penguins,Phoenix,Coyotes)

By Jeremy Harness

 

Three days after nearly pulling off a monstrous upset, the Stanford men’s basketball team came back to beat a very good Arizona State team, using a dominant second half to come away with a 76-70 win at Maples Pavilion Saturday afternoon.

 

Dwight Powell scored 28 points on 8-of-19 shooting to lead the Cardinal, while Chasson Randle added 21 and made eight of his 14 shots from the field. 

 

The Cardinal came within a couple of possessions of knocking off top-ranked Arizona Wednesday night before faltering in the final minute, but there would be no second-half letdown this time around. They trailed by one at halftime on Saturday, but they took charge almost as soon as the second half got under way.

 

They went on a 12-3 run in the first five minutes of the second stanza and led by as many as 13  points. However, the Sun Devils, who squeaked by Cal Wednesday night, kept hanging around and proceeded to cut the lead down.

 

Arizona State managed to get the lead trimmed to three with 1:09 to play when Jermaine Marshall hit a 3-pointer, but they could not get any closer, as the 3’s stopped falling.

 

Meanwhile, Stanford knocked down their free throws when Arizona State was forced to foul in order to keep the game close.

 

Jahii Carson, the Sun Devils’ dynamic point guard, scored 24 points on Saturday while Marshall chipped in with 22 and made six of his eight 3-point attempts.

{Giants} {MLB}

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCSICO-After sweeping the Detroit Tigers in the 2012 World Series, the San Francisco Giants looked to become the first National League team since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976 to win back-to-back World Championships.

Unfortunately, the Giants were plagued by injuries to key players like Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Ryan Vogelsong and ended up the 2013 season with a record of 76-86.

This offseason was a different one for the Giants, as they re-signed key players such as pitchers Ryan Vogelsong and Tim Lincecum, but did not re-sign longtime stalwart Barry Zito, who left the team after seven years wearing the Orange and Black.

To make up for the loss of Zito, General Manager Brian Sabean signed Zito’s former Oakland A’s teammate Tim Hudson, who spent the last nine years pitching for the Atlanta Braves

David Huff, who pitched last season for the New York Yankees was acquired this week and will be competing for a spot as a long reliever.

Huff, who grew up in Orange County is happy to be back on the West Coast, as he is closer to his family and friends, who travel to the Bay Area to see him play and is also reuniting with a former college teammate in Brandon Crawford from their days with the UCLA Bruins.

Sabean was not done signing players, as he went out and signed power hitting outfielder Michael Morse as another outfielder.

After Fanfest on Saturday, the Giants return again together in just two weeks at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Arizona for Spring Training.

By Morris Phillips

There’s no mystery to California Coach Mike Montgomery as to why his Bears have followed a six-game win streak with three straight losses, the latest loss in overtime to Arizona State on Wednesday, 89-78.  According to Montgomery, it’s simply life in the grueling Pac-12.

“Teams are playing better than we are,” Montgomery admitted.  “It’s the game of basketball.  You’ve got to make plays.  You’ve got to make shots, you’ve got to defend.”

Once again, the Bears started slow, trailing 17-7 to the Sun Devils just seven minutes in, and found themselves fighting uphill the rest of the evening.  A spirited rally led by Justin Cobbs and Tyrone Wallace got the Bears a 72-69 lead with 26 seconds remaining, but ASU’s Jermaine Marshall forced overtime with a 3-point basket with 19 seconds left.  In overtime, all the energy expended getting even caught up to the Bears as they were outscored 17-6 in overtime. 

“Emotionally, we have a hard time when things go wrong,” Montgomery said of the overtime.  “We have a hard time adjusting and reacting to that.  They made some plays and we got down four.  Then our body language kind of goes down.”

The Bears fell to 14-7, 5-3 in conference play with the loss.  But now, the only thing standing in between Montgomery’s young team and a four-game skid is No. 1 Arizona who visits Haas Pavilion on Saturday night.  Against the top-ranked, undefeated Wildcats the Bears won’t have the luxury of a slow start or a sluggish finish.

Win, and the Bears will have temporarily righted the ship.  Lose to Arizona, and the Bears tenuous hold on an upper-division finish in league play and the possibility of an NCAA tournament bid will be lost.

Cal will need to shoot better than they did against Arizona State in order to have any success.  The Pac-12’s worst 3-point shooting team missed 9 of 13 attempts from distance and fell behind early when they didn’t get any offense in the paint.  David Kravish and Richard Solomon provided quality options, combining to shoot 10 of 17 for 24 points, but the interior duo didn’t see the ball much as the game slipped away in overtime. 

The Bears were led by Cobbs and Wallace with 21 points and 20 respectively.  Cal lost the battle of the glass, 38-32 and missed 8 of their 20 free throw attempts, which was significant in such a close game. 

ASU got 29 points from Jahii Carson and 22 from Marshall as the Sun Devils’ backcourt got the best of Cal with its’ quickness in transition and early offense.  The Sun Devils were picked to finish ahead of Cal in most pre-season polls, but ASU started conference play with losses in three of their first five games.

The Arizona-Cal game is slated for a 7:30pm tip on Saturday but the game is officially sold out.