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ALBANY, N.Y. -- Any chance the St. Johns IceCaps had of stealing a second American Hockey League road playoff victory was ruined by penalties. The Albany Devils were awarded nine power-play opportunities Saturday night and cashed in three of them to defeat the IceCaps 4-2. After the IceCaps 2-1 victory Friday night, the best-of-five series is tied at one game apiece as the teams move to St. Johns, N.L., for the remaining games. "We have to stay more disciplined," said defenceman Brenden Kichton, who scored both St. Johns goals. "Youre not going to win hockey games when youre in the box, but we to have credit them. They did a good job on their power play. They got three goals out of it, and thats not how we play to win." The IceCaps, who allowed the Devils only two power-play chances in Game 1, still got out of Albany with a split. "Its a five-game series here, as everybody says, and we were able to get the one game in here," St. Johns coach Keith McCambridge said. "We would have really liked to get this game. Well have a chance to refocus here and get ourselves back in the right direction for Wednesday." The Devils, buoyed by the largest home crowd at 8,026 in Albanys 21-year AHL history, made their potential path to the next round a little more negotiable. A loss would have forced Albany to sweep three games at St. Johns in order to advance. "Going into that building and having to win all three would definitely be pretty tough," Devils coach Rick Kowalsky said. "We said before, you cant sit here and talk about a must win. We talked about individually and as a team trying to be better than we were last night and realizing that I felt we grew as a team just in that short 60 minutes." Stefan Matteau, Mattias Tedenby and Scott Timmins had Albanys power-play goals. Kelly Zajac assisted on two of them, winning face-offs both times on the St. Johns half of the ice. Tedenby snapped a 2-2 tie at 8:08 of the second. Zajac won a draw just outside the IceCaps blue-line and skated in a 2-on-1 with Tedenby, who took the pass and beat St. Johns goaltender Michael Hutchinson from in close. Timmins got an insurance goal with 9:59 remaining in the third. "We would have liked not to be on the short end of the penalties for a good majority of the night," McCambridge said. "Weve got to make sure we are in control. Weve got to make sure we realize where we are in the game and try to keep it 5-on-5." St. Johns had only four power-play opportunities. Kichton first goal bounced in off the skate of Devils defenceman Jon Merrill. He also converted on a power play early in the second period, capitalizing when Albany defenceman Seth Helgeson fell at the blue-line. Keith Kinkaid, who gave up a soft goal with 23.1 seconds remaining Friday night, got his first professional victory in goal. Both he and Hutchinson made 30 saves. "There were a lot of opportunities tonight," Kichton said, "and we didnt cash in on those." .com) - Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll knows about life in the NFL from other stints around the league. . -- James Harden scored 31 points, including 25 in the second half, and the Houston Rockets dug out of a double-digit, first-half hole to beat the Orlando Magic 101-89 on Wednesday night. . Yup, he definitely needed this one. Craig homered twice and had three RBIs Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Craig went 4 for 5 and Yadier Molina added three hits for the Cardinals, who salvaged the final game of a three-game set in hopes of staying within shouting distance of front-running Milwaukee in the NL Central. .C. -- The Carolina Panthers announced Thursday theyve signed free agent wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery to a two-year contract, helping rebuild a depleted wide receiving corps. . There will be no Down Under four-peat for Djokovic, as the eighth-seeded Swiss slugger Wawrinka outlasted the second seed 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 at Melbourne Parks Rod Laver Arena in yet another five-set thriller in their burgeoning rivalry.GLASGOW, Scotland - A Commonwealth Games that began with an oft-injured Kirsten Sweetland racing to silver in the triathlon ended with Michelle Li capturing an historic badminton gold medal on Sunday. And in between, Canada racked up more medals than it did four years ago in New Delhi, India, and climbed back onto its traditional place on the Commonwealth medal podium. "Mission accomplished," said the Canadian teams general manager Scott Stevenson. Canada finished a solid third at the Games behind traditional powerhouses England and Australia, winning 82 medals — 32 gold, 16 silver, 34 bronze. Four years ago in India, Canada claimed 76 medals to finish fourth, kept off the medal podium for the first time since 1962. "What we were really pleased with is that we closed the gap a little bit (on England and Australia)," Stevenson said. "Not just us, some of the other nations as well. We all took a little bite out of those two big guns, and were pretty proud of that. Not just in total medals but also in gold medals." England topped the medal table with 174, while the Aussies wound up second with 137. Sultana Frizell of Perth, Ont., was chosen to carry Canadas flag into Sunday nights closing ceremonies, days after she won gold in the hammer throw, breaking the Commonwealth record three times in the process. Frizell led a strong Canadian track and field team that claimed 17 medals at storied Hampden Park, highlighted by Damian Warners victory in the decathlon, Derek Drouins high jump gold medal, and Brianne Theisen-Eaton and Jessica Zelinka finishing 1-2 in the heptathlon. Cam Levins won bronze in a thrilling 10,000-metre race, and the picture of the 25-year-old powering down the homestretch in the lead will be one of the enduring images of these Games. Canada sent its A team in every sport except judo, and 265 athletes in all — its largest team for a Commonwealth Games not on home soil. Sweetland, a 25-year-old from Victoria, started Canadas run to the medal podium in the Games first event, racing to silver to put all the frustration of six years of injuries behind her. "It was a gutsy performance by someone whos gone through some challenges. . . a great start to the Games," Stevenson said. There would be numerous other memorable moments over the ensuing 10 days of competition, including Patricia Bezzoubenko nabbing five of the six rhythmic gymnastics gold medals. "An absolutely spectacular performance," Stevenson said. In mountain biking, Catharine Pendrel pulled away in the first of six laps and never looked back to lead Canada to a 1-2 finish, crossing the finish line waving the Maple Leaf. Emily Batty won the silver. "Incredible, a very dominant performance by those two. Fantastic day when you see someone riding across with no hands, holding the flag over their head," Stevenson said. Ryan Cochrane set a personal best in winning the 400-metre ffreestyle, and then successfully defended his gold medal in the 1,500 freestyle.dddddddddddd "This is not someone whos a young athlete," Stevenson said of the 25-year-old swimmer. "Many look at him and say hes still in his prime, but some say hes winding it down. I hope hes not." Ryan Bester won lawn bowling silver — Canadas first medal in the sport in 80 years. Twelve of Canadas 14 wrestlers won medals, and womens boxing made its Commonwealth Games debut, with Ariane Fortin taking silver at 75 kilograms and Mandy Bujold winning bronze at 51 kg. Canadas tag line for these Games was: the road to Rio goes through Glasgow and Toronto, and that was a talking point at the teams closing news conference on Sunday. "Were really pleased with what was accomplished here going forward, to the next Commonwealth games, but before that, going into Toronto next summer (the 2015 Pan American Games)," Stevenson said. "I think things are going in the right direction, and also towards Rio in two years. These are the people youre going to see going forward, and for obviously winning medals for Canada down the road." Chantal Petitclerc, Canadas chef de mission in Glasgow, said the Games were crucial in Canadas preparation for Rio. It was a chance for athletes to get a taste of the multi-sport Games experience before the bright lights shine on them at the Olympics. "I leave Glasgow convinced even more than ever before that these Games are important, we need them in the sports system," said Petitclerc. "You cant take athletes from their own specific sport to multi-sports Games and expect them to perform the first time." It was a chance for athletes to compete in front of a crowd. "For many sports you do that once every four years, so you cant expect athletes to go from performing in front of their family to a major Olympic stadium and have no impact. You cant prepare for it by visualization, thats not realistic." Glasgow was an enthusiastic host, rolling out the red carpet for the worlds 71 teams from the former British Empire. Fans packed the venues for virtually every session of every sport. "What was most impressive was the fact that you could go to a preliminary session and it was full. You dont always see that," Stevenson said. Finals: exciting, fantastic. But you go to preliminaries at 9 oclock on a mid-week and you get a full house." Nearly 5,000 athletes competed in 261 events in 18 different sports in the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland. Halifax bid to host the 2014 Games but dropped out of the Commonwealth race after the municipal and government withdrew its funding for what would have been $1.7 billion project. Gold Coast, north of Brisbane, Australia, will host the Games in 2018. Edmonton will bid to host the 2022 Games. So far, Durban, South Africa is the only other city to express interest in bidding. ' ' '
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