MONTREAL—P.K. Subban scored a power-play goal at 1:19 of overtime and the Montreal Canadiens clinched a playoff spot with a 2-1 win over the Blackhawks on Tuesday.Carey Price made 42 saves for Montreal, which went on a 4-on-3 advantage 37 seconds into the extra period when Jonathan Toews was called for hooking Subban in the Canadiens’ zone.Subban drove a slap shot past Corey Crawford after Montreal coach Jacques Martin used his timeout going into the overtime. The rookie Canadiens defenseman turned and skated towards Price, who checked Subban to the ice as the Canadiens gathered around their teammates to celebrate their return to the postseason.Michael Cammalleri scored in the second for Montreal, which is sixth in the Eastern Conference with 93 points. Patrick Kane scored his 27th goal for The Hawks, who moved into a tie with Anaheim for seventh in the West with 93 points. The Blackhawks, who have three games remaining, are two points ahead of ninth-place Calgary, which has two games left.Price played his 71st game, breaking the single-season record for a Canadiens goalie he shared with Gerry McNeil and Jacques Plante. It was his 37th win, the most by a Montreal goalie since Ken Dryden in 1977-78.Montreal native Crawford made 33 saves in his 24th straight start. Crawford gloved power-play shots by Cammalleri and Subban midway through the third after Tomas Kopecky was called for interfering with Price.The Canadiens’ goalie denied Ryan Johnson’s short-handed chance moments later.Price topped that stop on a Hawk power play at 13:35 when he stuck out his glove at the goal line to stop Toews’ shot off a rebound. A brief video review confirmed that the puck did not cross the line. Troy Brouwer suffered an apparent right shoulder injury 6:53 into the third. The Blackhawks’ right wing landed awkwardly against the boards in the left corner of the Canadiens zone after Lars Eller avoided Brower’s attempt for an open-ice hit.Brouwer skated off the ice to the dressing room on his own with his right shoulder hanging down. He did not return.The Hawks have already lost forwards Patrick Sharp (knee) and Dave Bolland (concussion) to injury.Cammalleri opened the scoring with his 18th goal 6:55 into the second. Andrei Kostitsyn fed a pass from behind the net to Cammalleri, whose shot from the slot struck Brent Seabrook on its way past Crawford.Kane scored his 27th midway through the period to tie the game at 1-all with a wrist shot from the slot into the top left corner.Brian Campbell came close to giving the Blackhawks the lead 15 minutes into the second when he drove a slap shot off the right post moments after the Canadiens killed off Subban’s delay-of-game penalty.

NOTES—Joel Quenneville used his timeout as the Hawks prepared to go on a power play 13:20 into the third. … Sharp missed his seventh straight game because of a knee injury and will not play Wednesday night against St. Louis. … The Canadiens’ single-season record for wins by a goalie is 42, shared by Plante (1955-56 and 1961-62) and Dryden (1975-76). … C Jeff Halpern and Ds Alexandre Picard and Yannick Weber did not dress for Montreal.

CHAMPAIGN—It seems that the saga of Jereme Richmond at Illinois is finally over.Tuesday, Richmond made it official, announcing that he was leaving Illinois and would look to hire an agent.

“I enjoyed my time at the University of Illinois and would like to thank the coaching staff and my teammates for everything they’ve done for me,” Richmond said in a statement. “At this time, I’m ready to follow my dreams and achieve my life-long goal of playing in the NBA.”

Richmond had his ups and downs during his freshman campaign under Bruce Weber. He missed practice in January and then didn’t play in either NCAA tournament game amidst rumors that he was involved in a fight with teammates in early March.He averaged 7.6 points and 5.0 rebounds.In addition to Richmond, the Fighting Illini also lose senior starters Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale, as well as forward Bill Cole. Next season, wings D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul will need to take a step forward offensively, while Meyers Leonard has to become more assertive down low. After that, the rotation seems unclear.Fortunately, Weber brings in a tremendous recruiting class. Mycheal Henry is an explosive scorer, Tracy Abrams is a solid point guard, and Mike Shaw and Nnanna Egwu should be able to help down low.While Richmond would have been the most talented player on the roster next season, his off-court distractions would not have been worth the risk.

James Russell (1-0) worked 1 2/3 innings and gave up two hits while Sean Marshall closed out the ninth for his first save as the Cubs edged the Arizona Diamondsbacks 6-5. Russell allowed two inherited runners to score in the seventh and struck out pinch-hitter Russell Branyan. He then gave up a single to Diamondbacks leadoff batter Willie Bloomquist that scored two and tied the game at 4.After the Cubs went ahead 6-4 in the bottom half, Russell shut down the Diamondbacks in the eighth, coaxing Miguel Montero into a double play and ended the inning by striking out Chris Young.The Cubs also had a solid outing from starter Andrew Cashner, a 2010 reliever making his first career start. Cashner worked 5 1/3 innings before leaving with one out in the sixth with stiffness in his right shoulder.Cashner, who is likely to have an MRI, shut down 11 of the first 12 batters he faced and gave up just one run on two hits — including a third inning lead off homer to Ryan Roberts.Marlon Byrd went 3-for-4 and drove in pinch-hitter Jeff Baker with a one-out double to left off Sam Demel (1-1) for a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh.Diamondbacks reliever Joe Paterson came in and walked Tyler Colvin with the bases loaded to force in another run.The Cubs got key hits from Starlin Castro, who doubled home a run in the second, and Colvin. He broke out of a 1-for-9 slump with a two-run homer in the third.The Diamondbacks, losers of three straight, erased a 4-1 deficit in the top of the seventh as Bloomquist drove in a pair of runs with a two-out single.Diamondbacks starter Barry Enright pitched six innings. He gave up four runs and seven hits, struck out three and walked three.The win, before a crowd of 27,039, was the Cubs’ seventh straight over Arizona dating back to last April 30.

NOTES—It’s not quite a Wrigley Field version of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic “The Birds,” but the flock of seagulls swooping through the park on Monday definitely had manager Mike Quade concerned. “What triggers it?,” he said prior to Tuesday’s game. “They were here in the third inning yesterday. And then you think, ‘OK, it’s all the food laying around.’ Maybe if I get my [Rottweiler] here, maybe we can clean it up a little.” ….Colvin started at first base and batted fifth in place of Carlos Pena, who is day to day with a sprained right thumb….Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood had the day off after making three straight appearances…..Following Wednesday’s series finale, the Diamondbacks return to Phoenix for Friday’s home season opener against the Reds at Chase Field.

Backup Mike Smith made 31 saves for his first shutout in more than a year, and Vincent Lecavalier scored a power-play goal in the first period before leaving with an injury in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2-0 win over the Blackhawks on Sunday night.Nate Thompson added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left to seal Tampa Bay’s fifth straight victory. The Lightning improved to 99 points, one behind fourth-place Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference.Smith was tested heavily in the final 30 minutes, but held off the Blackhawks and earned his 11th NHL shutout. The defending Stanley Cup champions remained in eighth place in the West, and are still trying to secure a playoff spot with four games left.Lecavalier was accidentally high-sticked by Michael Frolik early in the second period and didn’t return. The team said Lecavalier sustained a cut to his face.Simon Gagne had two assists to extend his point streak to six games. He has four goals and seven assists in the span.Corey Crawford made his 24th straight start and stopped 13 shots.Lecavalier’s power-play goal at 7:56 of the first was the only score in the period.Seconds after winning a faceoff in the Hawk zone, Lecavalier drove to the edge of the net, past defenseman Brent Seabrook, and directed in St. Louis’ perfect feed from the right corner.Lecavalier was clipped by Frolik’s stick at 4:42 of the second period as Frolik drove to the net. Lecavalier paused for a minute to shake off the impact, but then skated off the ice without help and went directly to the dressing room.After killing off a double-minor penalty to Frolik, the Blackhawks began dominating and outshot Tampa Bay 11-4 in the period.Smith blocked several tough chances as the period progressed. Among his best stops were a point-blank pad save on Frolik, a body save on Viktor Stalberg’s deflection, and a pad save on Tomas Kopecky’s drive.During a Hawk power play early in the third, Smith stopped Kopecky’s drive from the right circle and a rebound by Troy Brouwer.Smith made a point-blank stop on Marian Hossa with 40 seconds left after the Blackhawks pulled Crawford for an extra skater.

NOTES—Lightning D Eric Brewer sat out with an undisclosed lower body injury(isn’t everything UNDISCLOSED in this League these days? LW Ryan Malone was a healthy scratch….. Patrick Sharp, the Hawks leading goal scorer with 34, missed his sixth game because of an injured left knee. Dave Bolland sat out his 10th due to a concussion.

CLEVELAND—Justin Masterson yelled out two and got three outs.Masterson pitched seven solid innings and yelled instructions to his teammates during the majors’ first triple play of the season, helping the Indians beat the White Sox 7-1 on Sunday for their first win.Orlando Cabrera assisted on the game-changing play in the fourth inning and hit a two-run homer off John Danks (0-1) in the sixth to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead — its first advantage in 24 innings this year against the White Sox.Cleveland avoided a three-game sweep. Carlos Santana started the triple play in his first major league game at first base. Santana, normally a catcher, made a diving catch on Alexei Ramirez’s bunt with two runners in motion. He threw to first to double off A.J. Pierzynski. Second baseman Orlando Cabrera took the throw and tossed to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to catch Carlos Quentin off second base.”It was an amazing play by Carlos,” Orlando Cabrera said.It was Cleveland’s first triple play since Asdrubal Cabrera’s unassisted one against Toronto on May 12, 2008. The White Sox had not hit into a triple play since April 22, 1978, at Toronto.Masterson (1-0) allowed one run and seven hits. Two of the hits were singles by former Cleveland star shortstop Omar Vizquel, giving him 2,801 for his career.Masterson recorded 16 outs on ground balls. The right-hander walked two and did not strike out a batter.Tony Sipp pitched the eighth and Chris Perez finished for Cleveland, which was outscored 23-13 in the first two games of the series.The attendance of 8,726 was the lowest for a game at Progressive Field, which opened in 1994. It was 1,127 fewer than the previous low on Saturday.Paul Konerko hit an RBI single in the third inning.Cabrera’s homer, his first since signing with Cleveland as a free agent this winter, gave the Indians their first lead of the season. Cleveland fell behind 14-0 on Friday before falling 15-10, then lost 8-3 on Saturday.The Indians added two more in the seventh. Lou Marson hit an RBI double off Will Ohman and Asdrubal Cabrera delivered a sacrifice fly.Pinch-hitter Shelley Duncan hit a two-run single off Matt Thornton in Cleveland’s three-run eighth.Danks struck out eight in six effective innings, yielding two runs and six hits with one walk.

NOTES—Cleveland released minor league OF Preston Mattingly, son of Dodgers manager and former Yankees star Don Mattingly….Danks had visited a dentist on Saturday with a root canal problem, but insisted on starting…..Indians OF Grady Sizemore (left knee surgery in June) and RHP Joe Smith (abdominal strain) are on the disabled list, but will play in an exhibition game Monday in Akron between two Cleveland farm teams…..The Sox scored 20 of their 24 runs in the first four innings this year.

Willie Mays Hays would have been proud.Neil Walker just kept coming around third and with a hard slide he capped a two-run rally in the ninth inning against Cubs closer Carlos Marmol that sent the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory Sunday.What a way to kick off the season.The Pirates took two of three against the Cubs in the three-game set. They won only four road series last year — two at Wrigley Field.

“It goes back to the aggressive baserunning trend, try to be smart and try to be aggressive,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “Nick [Leyva] is a very aggressive third base coach and Neil plays the game that way when he’s on the bases. Once he saw the play develop from second base, he knew there was a very good shot he was going to pull something off and he did.”

With the Cubs leading 4-3, Pittsburgh’s Garrett Jones led off the ninth with a walk against Marmol (0-1) and Walker singled before Lyle Overbay sacrificed to put runners at second and third.

Pedro Alvarez hit a slow roller to shortstop Starlin Castro. As Jones raced home, Castro’s throw to first pulled Carlos Pena off the bag and Walker rounded third. Pena threw to the plate, but Walker made a hard slide under Cubs catcher Geovany Soto to score the go-ahead run.

“My goal was just to score,” Walker said. “I knew [Castro] had a tough play and if he comes up and picks that ball clean and makes a good throw to first, he still has to make a really good throw to home to get me. … I don’t know if he [Leyva] tried to hold me or not, but my goal was to be at home and fortunately I was and it ended up being a big play.”

Jeff Karstens (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Joel Hanrahan the ninth for his second save, getting Marlon Byrd to hit into a game-ending double play after an error by Pirates shortstop Ronny Cedeno helped the Cubs put runners at first and third.Pittsburgh’s rally prevented Matt Garza from getting a victory in his Cubs debut. He left with a 4-3 lead after allowing 12 singles and striking out 12 in seven innings.Both the hits allowed and strikeouts were career highs for Garza.All 16 of the Pirates’ hits were singles.Garza, who struggled this spring, was the Cubs’ major offseason acquisition, coming over in a trade from Tampa Bay after winning 15 games last season for the Rays in the tough AL East. He did not walk a batter.Alfonso Soriano homered in the sixth against Pirates starter Ross Ohlendorf to put the Cubs up 4-3. The Cubs thought they had preserved that lead when right fielder Tyler Colvin made a strong throw to cut down a potential run in the eighth.Ohlendorf gave up eight hits in six innings, including a tying double to Pena in the fourth when his high drive hit the ivy in right field and Jones couldn’t make a leaping catch as a fan’s drink splashed over the wall.The fan was apparently trying to get ready for a catch when he lost his drink. He was not ejected but relocated to another section. Jones said the liquid didn’t interfere with his attempt to catch the ball.Hurdle went out to question the umpires for several minutes about a potential interference call before returning to the dugout. Ohlendorf settled down, got two outs and after an intentional walk to Colvin loaded the bases, retired Garza on a roller to first to end the inning.Overbay had an RBI single in the fifth to put the Pirates up 3-2. But Castro’s leadoff triple — his first of two three-baggers on the day after being moved into the leadoff role — and a sacrifice fly by Darwin Barney tied it in the bottom half.Pittsburgh loaded the bases against Kerry Wood in the eighth but Colvin caught Jose Tabata’s medium fly and made a perfect throw to the plate to nail Jason Jaramillo for a double play to end the inning.

NOTES—Quade said Carlos Zambrano was OK on Sunday, a day after the right-hander had to leave in the seventh inning with a hand cramp. Zambrano is expected to make his next start Friday when the Cubs begin a series in Milwaukee. Zambrano has had cramping issues in the past and had to start drinking more water while increasing his potassium intake….Quade said Castro would return to second in the order Monday against the Diamondbacks….Pirates CF Andrew McCutchen was scratched with a stiff neck after making a diving attempt Saturday at a ball off the bat of Zambrano.

Derrick Rose remembered the celebration the last time the Bulls met Toronto. He wasn’t about to let the Raptors yuck it up this time.Rose had 36 points and 10 assists, and The Bulls took another step toward the top seed in the Eastern Conference with its 15th victory in 17 games, hanging on to beat the short-handed Raptors 113-106 on Saturday night.The Bulls lead Miami by three games and Boston by 3½. They also are within one of San Antonio for the NBA’s best record after squeezing by one of the league’s weakest teams.Rose scored at least 30 for the third time in five games and got a measure of revenge for a perceived slight in a loss at Toronto in late February.Jerryd Bayless, charged with the unenviable task of guarding Rose, had nothing but praise for him.Thanks in part to his star, Tom Thibodeau broke Phil Jackson’s club record for wins by a first-year coach as the Bulls improved to 56-20, but Rose was hardly alone.Carlos Boozer added 18 points and 10 rebounds despite early foul trouble, and Luol Deng scored 17 points, Taj Gibson had 15 points and nine rebounds. Kyle Korver came up big down the stretch to finish with 10 points, and Chicago won despite some shaky stretches on defense, with Toronto shooting only over 50 percent.It helped that the Bulls outrebounded the Raptors 43-33 even though Joakim Noah missed his third consecutive game because of a sprained right ankle. The Raptors were no picture of health either.With leading scorer Andrea Bargnani sidelined by a sore right ankle and guard Jose Calderon staying home because of a sore left hamstring, the Raptors dropped their sixth straight.Bayless, filling in for Calderon, and DeMar DeRozan each scored 26 points for Toronto. Leandro Barbosa added 18 points, and Ed Davis had 17 points and 11 rebounds in Bargnani’s place.The Bulls led by as much as 13 in the first half and were up 53-43 at the break, but the Raptors wiped that out in the third, tying it at 74 at one point before the Bulls regained the lead and got it back up to 11 in the fourth quarter, hanging on after seeing it shrink to four several times.It was 102-98 after DeRozan drove for a layup with 2:30 left, but Korver buried a 3 from the right corner with 1:40 remaining. Then, after Bayless banked in a runner, Korver nailed a jumper at the shot-clock buzzer to make it 107-100 with just over a minute left.The Raptors weren’t quite finished as Barbosa banked in a runner.Rose answered by nailing a floater with 26.3 seconds left to boost the lead back up to seven — 109-102 — and give the Bulls some breathing room, although he followed that with a poor defensive play. He flew out at Bayless and fouled him as he attempted a corner jumper with 20.3 seconds left. Bayless hit both free throws after the shot was downgraded from a 3, but Korver hit two from the line and the Bulls hung on.

NOTES—The Bulls hope to have Noah back Tuesday night against Phoenix. “He’s almost there,” Thibodeau said. “We’re going to wait one more day. He’s good straight ahead and not quite there laterally yet.” ….Rose said he was fine after hurting his left ankle in the second half Friday night at Detroit. “Right now, it’s good,” he said before the game….. Longtime assistant coach Tex Winter has reportedly been selected for induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Assistant coach is, without a doubt, one of the least glamorous and recognized positions in the NBA world. The best assistants toil for years — if not decades — for the chance to spread their wings and run their own ship.Not Tex Winter though. After coaching in college and briefly in the pros, Winter settled into the role that he’s best known for: Phil Jackson’s triangle offense guru. Winter served as Jackson’s assistant coach in Chicago for all six of Michael Jordan’s Bulls‘ titles and then went to Los Angeles to accumulate even more bling with the Lakers. Winter Coached the Northwestern Wilcats from 1973-74 through 1976-77 and before that he Coached at Marquette and Kansas State,later going on to Long Beach State. He was also the Head Coach of the Houston Rockets in 1971-72.

CLEVELAND—The Rush (3-1) failed to continue its undefeated start to the season as the Cleveland Gladiators (3-0) handed the team their first loss 55-48 Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 8,305 at the Gladiators’ home opener.

“Our guys played hard, but we had a few mistakes throughout the game that hurt us,” said Head Coach Bob McMillen.

The game started quickly as Gladiators’ QB Kurt Rocco connected with WR Troy Bergeron for a 23 yard touchdown pass just three minutes into the first quarter. Rocco and Bergeron connected for five additional touchdowns in what became a common theme throughout the game.The Rush couldn’t defend Bergeron at all during the game and that along with key mistakes cost them a game that was winable.The Gladiators’ offense proved to be too powerful for the Rush to contain. Rocco was 21 of 37 passing with 320 yards and 8 touchdowns. Bergeron led the Gladiators’ wide receivers with 187 yards receiving and 6 touchdowns.Rush QB Russ Michna went 21 of 35 passing and totaled 235 yards with 5 passing touchdowns as well as a rushing touchdown. Reggie Gray was Michna’s favorite target throughout the game and accumulated 144 receiving yards with 3 touchdowns.DB Vic Hall led the Rush defense with a season high 10 tackles and was named Defensive Player of the Game for the second time this season. DB Jason Simpson also contributed on defense with five tackles. JLB Kelvin Morris also contributed on both sides of the ball while scoring a one yard touchdown reception which helped him earn the title of Ironman of the Game.

“I am not taking anything away from Cleveland. They have a great football team here,” said McMillen. “We will take a look at this game and make the necessary adjustments to improve for our game against Iowa.”

The Rush have a bye before traveling to Iowa to take on the Barnstormers on Saturday, April 16th at 7:05 p.m.

HOUSTON — We’re not done yet! Unfinished business, baby!” That was the rallying cry from the Butler Bulldogs, who are headed back to the title game, not as lovable underdogs but a team intent on making up for last year’s heartbreak.Maybe this time that final, riveting shot will go in.Maybe this time Butler won’t need it.Shelvin Mack scored 24 points, Hahn scored all eight of his points during a 90-second span in the second half that gave Butler control of the game for good and the Bulldogs shut down hot-shooting Virginia Commonwealth with their trademark unforgiving defense. The eighth-seeded Bulldogs (28-9) will face Connecticut on Monday night, the lowest-seeded team to play for the national title since Villanova won it as a No. 8 seed in 1985. VCU (28-12) sure didn’t look like a team critics dismissed as “unworthy” — and a whole lot worse — after it skidded into the NCAA tournament with five losses in its last eight games. But Butler’s stifling defense was too much for the Rams, only the third No. 11 seed to reach the Final Four.But not enough of them.Jamie Skeen scored 27 and Bradford Burgess had 15, including three 3-pointers before the game was even seven minutes old. But Stevens is known for his tactical acumen, and this game was no different. He tweaked Butler’s defense, and Burgess had just one more three the rest of the night.

When the options boil down to winning or heading home, nobody’s better than Kemba and Connecticut.Kemba Walker scored 18 points Saturday night to lift UConn to its 10th straight victory since finishing off a .500 Big East regular season, a 56-55 win over cold-shooting Kentucky that moved the Huskies a victory away from their third, and most improbable, NCAA title.Walker, a quick-handed junior from the Bronx, added seven assists and six rebounds to help the young UConn team (31-9) extend a winning streak that started with a five-wins-in-five-nights leg-drainer at the conference tournament and now includes five more at the tournament that really counts.The third-seeded Huskies — lowest seed left in a tournament that has been as unpredictable as any in history — will face No. 8 Butler, a 70-62 winner over 11th-seeded VCU in the first semifinal, on Monday. But this win, which improved Calhoun to 5-1 in his four Final Four appearances, was not a work of art on either end.Fourth-seeded Kentucky (29-9) shot 33.9 percent for the game and went 5:39 without a point late in the second half. UConn wasn’t much better, but Walker, Alex Oriakhi and Shabazz Napier all made baskets to turn a 48-48 tie into a 54-48 lead with 2:29 left. DeAndre Liggins made a 3-pointer for the Wildcats to cut the deficit to three, and Kentucky had its chances. But Brandon Knight, one of John Calipari’s three sensational freshmen, barely drew iron on a 3-pointer. After Kentucky got the rebound, Liggins drew a foul but only hit one of two free throws.Kentucky forced one more turnover and went for the win, but this time, it was Liggins whose 3-pointer was short. Napier made two free throws to make it 56-52, then Knight ended the game with a 3-pointer at the buzzer — a meaningless make and a cruel close to what has otherwise been a remarkable season for Calipari and Co. — Kentucky’s first trip to the Final Four since winning it all in 1998. The Wildcats, the nation’s all-time winningest program, stayed stuck on 105 NCAA-tournament wins in the program history, still tied for first with North Carolina, the team they beat to get here.