Marcus Kruger scored the tiebreaking goal with 8:16 left in the third period, Duncan Keith added a power-play goal 1:55 later and the Blackhawks beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 on Sunday night for their third straight victory.Kruger was alone at the edge of the crease when he took a pass from Ben Smith off the boards, turned and wrapped the puck past Devan Dubnyk to put the Hawks ahead 4-3.Keith added his first of the season on a screened shot from the point. It turned out to be the game-winner because Jordan Eberle scored short-handed for the Oilers on a deflection of Nick Schultz’s point shot with 1:28 remaining.Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks (12-2-4), who are 6-0-1 in their last seven games.Edmonton also got an even-strength goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and power-play scores from Nail Yakupov and David Perron, but lost its third straight and fifth in six games. Sam Gagner missed on a second-period penalty shot.Corey Crawford made 19 saves, while Dubnyk had 31.Both teams and goalies played their second games in two days. The Blackhawks won 5-2 at Dallas on Saturday night, and the Oilers lost 4-2 at Philadelphia in an afternoon game.Michal Rozsival left with just more than 4 minutes left after being hit in the face with a puck.The Oilers entered with the NHL’s worst goals-against average (3.83) on 48 goals in their first 18 games. The Blackhawks came in averaging 3.47 goals, second only to San Jose, and had scored 27 during their last six games.Saad scored the only goal of a sluggish first period with 1:37 left.After Brent Seabrook fired the puck around the boards in the Oilers zone, Brandon Pirri centered from the left side of the net.Edmonton’s Philip Larsen got a stick on the centering attempt, but the puck popped into the air and landed in the slot. Saad drove to the net between two Oilers defenders and put a shot into the lower left corner.Nugent-Hopkins tied it 54 seconds into the second period on a quick shot that fooled Crawford high on the stick side. After taking Perron’s feed, Nugent-Hopkins turned and in one motion whipped a shot into the upper left corner.Gagne was awarded a penalty shot at 4:13 after Seabrook hooked him from behind on a breakaway. On his attempt, Gagne lost control of the puck and slid it wide right after several quick moves in close.Yakupov’s power-play goal at 8:55 put Edmonton ahead 2-1. Set up by Larsen, Yakupov ripped a one-time shot from the top of the right circle past Crawford’s glove.The Blackhawks picked up the pace, tested Dubnyk and tied it at 2 with 2:42 left in the period when Shaw capitalized on another Oilers coverage breakdown.Saad powered into the Edmonton zone with the puck, but was steered aside by Anton Belov and Larsen. Shaw snuck in behind the play, took Saad’s pass and scored on a wrist shot from inside the hashmarks.Bickell gave Chicago a 3-2 lead at 5:33 of the third when he was left alone at the edge of the crease and stuffed in a rebound of Rozsival’s drive from the blue line.Perron’s power-play goal 2:25 later, on a deflection of Larsen’s shot from the point, tied it at 3.

NOTES—Gagne is 0 for 2 on penalty shots in his career.. The Oilers finished 1-3-0 on their road trip. …Michal Handzus missed his eighth game with an injury and is still “one or two weeks” from returning, according to coach Joel Quenneville..

So now the Bears are no longer in first place, in fact they and Green Bay now trail Detroit by  a game in the NFC North.The Bears had problems with Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford.The result was a franchise record for one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, and a tough loss for the Bears.Johnson caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Stafford with 2:22 to go, helping the Lions edge Jay Cutler and the Bears 21-19 on Sunday. Johnson also had a tiebreaking TD reception in the third quarter and Reggie Bush rushed for 105 yards as Detroit (6-3) swept the season series against the Bears (5-4) for the first time since the 2007 season. When Green Bay lost 27-13 to Philadelphia, the Lions were all alone in first in the division for the first time since the end of Week 5 of the 2005 season. Johnson’s ninth touchdown grab of the season was the 63rd of his career, breaking a tie with Herman Moore for the Detroit record. Moore still leads with 670 career receptions for the Lions, but Johnson might take that record down at some point, too. Cutler threw for 250 yards and a touchdown in his first action since he injured his groin last month. He injured his left ankle in the second quarter and looked progressively worse as the game wore on. Marc Trestman finally decided to put in Josh McCown before the Bears’ final drive.

“I didn’t want to take him out unless he felt he couldn’t do the job,” Trestman said. “It was, I thought, a very courageous performance throughout. Then at the end I took him out because I knew he would have to run around in the two-minute drill and that’s when we decided to put Josh in the game.”

McCown drove the Bears down the field, throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to

Brandon Marshall with 40 seconds left. After a roughing penalty on Willie Young gave the Bears another chance at the tying 2-point conversion, Nick Fairley threw Matt Forte down in the backfield to preserve the win for Detroit. Stafford threw for 219 yards for Detroit, which has won two in a row for the first time since the end of September. Johnson had six catches for 83 yards.The Lions were clinging to a 14-10 lead when Chris Conte intercepted an overthrown ball by Stafford and returned it 35 yards to the Detroit 9. Forte then had a touchdown run negated by a holding penalty on left guard Matt Slauson and an apparent scoring pass to Alshon Jeffery was overturned when a replay showed he lost control of the ball when he hit the ground. Robbie Gould’s 32-yard field goal trimmed the Lions’ lead to one with 9:17 remaining, setting the stage for the frantic finish. It was Cutler’s first game since he was sacked by Redskins nose tackle Chris Baker in the first half of the Bears 45-41 loss at Washington on Oct. 20. He had to be helped off the field, and an MRI revealed a torn groin muscle that was expected to sideline the quarterback for at least four weeks.Cutler had other ideas. The Bears had a bye week after the Washington loss, and Cutler watched while McCown led the Bears to a big 27-20 victory at Green Bay last Monday. Cutler then was cleared to play on Thursday and made the start against Detroit with the Lions, Bears and Packers all tied for the NFC North lead entering the day.He insisted he was 100 percent, but it was clear his groin was bothering him more and more as the game wore on. He grabbed his groin area and dropped to the ground after one third-quarter throw. He then popped right back up and remained in the game.

“It held up OK. It’s all on the same leg so I think that was a problem,” said Cutler, referring the groin and ankle injuries. “But the groin, you take the ankle out of the equation and I would have been fine, I think.”

Cutler threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Marshall on the first drive of the game. But he also had a pass tipped by

Ndamukong Suh and grabbed by DeAndre Levy in the end zone for the linebacker’s fifth interception.

NOTES—The Bears host Baltimore for the first time since 2005 next Sunday….Levy began the day tied with seven other players for the NFL lead in interceptions…..Each team played without a key defensive end. Shea McClellin tweaked a hamstring during practice after he had three sacks in the victory at Green Bay and Detroit rookie Ziggy Ansah was out with a left ankle injury.

PITTSBURGH—Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly knew his team’s margin for error remained thin even as the 24th-ranked Fighting Irish put together a four-game winning streak to build momentum for an outside shot at a Bowl Championship Series berth.Two Tommy Rees passes proved just how narrow it had become.Rees threw a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions to Pittsburgh’s Ray Vinopal, allowing the Panthers to rally for a 28-21 victory on Saturday night and quash any notion the Irish (7-3) had of earning a BCS bid for the second straight year.

“Our mantra is you can’t start winning until you stop losing and we did things tonight that caused losing,” Kelly said.

Repeatedly. Notre Dame extended two Pitt touchdown drives with major penalties, fumbled the ball deep inside Panther territory and inexplicably failed to jump on a fourth-quarter fumble by Pitt quarterback Tom Savage that could have swung momentum back in its favor.

“We made mistakes, they didn’t,” Notre Dame wide receiver TJ Jones said. “We didn’t execute when we needed to, they did.”

James Conner ran for two short touchdowns for the Panthers (5-4), including the go-ahead score with 9:36 remaining. Pitt’s defense made it stand up, giving coach Paul Chryst the biggest victory of his two-year tenure when cornerback Anthony Gonzalez batted aside a fourth-down heave by Rees with 2:26 to play. Savage passed for 243 yards and two scores to Devin Street as the Panthers exacted a bit of revenge. Pitt nearly upset Notre Dame a year ago, blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in South Bend then allowing the Irish to escape in triple overtime, a victory that kept Notre Dame’s perfect regular season alive. This time, Pitt kept its composure. This time, the Irish’s vanished. The Irish had won 10 straight games decided by seven points or less, the second-longest streak in school history.It ended after a pair of regrettable decisions by Rees, who threw for 318 yards and two touchdowns but also struggled with his accuracy, completing just 18 of 39 passes.Notre Dame was driving for a go-ahead score early in the fourth quarter when Rees floated a pass to the back of the end zone that Vinopal leapt in front of to end the threat.Pitt punted, but Rees gave it right back. He tried to go deep down the seam but overshot his receiver. The ball sailed into Vinopal’s hands and the safety returned it 45 yards to the Notre Dame 5. Two plays later Conner ran up the middle to put Pittsburgh in front to stay.

“You can’t turn the ball over and I take responsibility for that,” Rees said. “You know, when you put your defense in compromising situations like that, it’s hard for your defense to make stops.”

Not that the defense didn’t have its own issues. Defensive end Stephon Tuitt was ejected in the first quarter when he was flagged for targeting Savage with a helmet-to-helmet hit. The drive ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Savage to Devin Street. A pass interference penalty on fourth down in the third quarter helped Pitt tie the game at 14. The biggest miscue came in the fourth when Prince Shembo drilled Savage, jarring the ball loose and sending it rolling to the sideline in Pitt territory. The ball rolled for several seconds without a whistle and without a single member of the Irish chasing after it. Pitt’s Isaac Bennett alertly pounced on it and the Panthers eventually punted. Rees’ second pick came two plays later and Pitt was in control.

“It’s on everybody,” Kelly said. “To a large degree, the execution was very poor.”

Jones caught six passes for 149 yards and a touchdown and ran for another, but Notre Dame also fumbled while trying to score a touchdown in the second quarter. The Irish are off next week and finish up the regular season with games against BYU and at Stanford.

EVANSTON—Chris Collins won his coaching debut for Northwestern as Drew Crawford scored 25 points to help the Wildcats beat Eastern Illinois 72-55 in their season opener on Saturday.Clapping his hands at times and consistently barking out instructions, Collins was a ball of energy while standing in front of the Northwestern bench for most of the night. The 39-year-old Collins, who grew up near campus in suburban Northbrook, pumped his right arm after JerShon Cobb came up with a big steal that led to a layup for Dave Sobolewski at the beginning of the second half.Cobb had nine points and eight assists for the Wildcats, who beat Lewis 57-46 on Wednesday in their only exhibition game. Sanjay Lumpkin was 3 for 3 from 3-point range for nine points, and Alex Olah added eight points and eight rebounds.Reggie Smith had 19 points for Eastern Illinois, which is coming off an 11-21 season a year ago. The Panthers went 2 for 18 from 3-point range, compared to 10 for 21 for the Wildcats.NU opened the second half with a 7-0 run to build a 39-28 lead and continued to pull away even after Crawford picked up his fourth foul with 7:14 to go. Lumpkin made a 3-pointer, Cobb had a free throw and Crawford had another 3 to make 67-47 with 4:14 remaining.Collins was hired in March to take over for Bill Carmody, who was let go after the Wildcats lost their final nine games to finish 13-19 in the coach’s 13th season at the school. Carmody coached Northwestern to four straight NIT appearances, but was never able to get school into the NCAA tournament for the first time.Enter Collins, a former Mr. Basketball in Illinois who was an assistant to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski for 13 years. The son of former NBA coach Doug Collins quickly emerged as the top candidate to take over for Carmody, and he decided the timing and situation were right for his first job as a head coach.With his father watching from the stands, Collins finally got a regular-season look at what he has to work with in Evanston.Crawford hit a 3-pointer to give Northwestern a 29-11 lead with 6:16 left in the first half, but the Wildcats then went scoreless for the next five minutes as Eastern put together a 15-0 run.Smith scored seven straight points to get the Panthers within three with 1:38 left. Olah responded with a tip-in basket, ending the Northwestern drought, and Tre Demps hit a free throw to help the Wildcats halt the Panthers’ charge.Crawford was 8 for 14 from the field, including a 5-for-7 performance from long range, and also had 11 rebounds. The fifth-year senior was the only player to score in double digits for Northwestern (1-0) and likely will carry a heavy load all year long.Sherman Blanford had nine points for Eastern Illinois (0-1), which was 21 for 38 at the free-throw line. Dennis Green had eight points and seven rebounds.

Richard Carter scored a career-best 38 points and Drake hung on to escape UIC with a 61-59 victory for new coach Ray Giacoletti on Saturday.Carter, who averaged less than 10 points per game last season, hit 12 of 17 from the field and was 12-for-12 from the line, but even so the Bulldogs had to sweat the ending as a 9-point lead evaporated in the final eight minutes.UIC’s Hayden Hume slashed to the basket with one second remaining only to have his layup rim in and out. Drake’s Jacob Enevold, who only played 11 minutes because of foul trouble, had subbed in for defense with 6 seconds left and snagged the win-preserving rebound, his only one of the game.Marc Brown led the Flames with 22 points, Kelsey Barlow added 11 and Hume 10.

DALLAS—Marian Hossa scored two goals and the Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 5-2 Saturday night.Patrick Sharp assisted on the first four goals, Patrick Kane added a power-play goal and Niklas Hjalmarsson had a short-handed empty-net goal and Jonathan Toews also scored.The Blackhawks used two short passes across the ice, from Sharp and Andrew Shaw across the ice to Kane, to set up the game-winning shot at 18:15 of the second period.Against the Hawks penalty-killing unit, which ranked last in the NHL, Dallas failed to score on six power plays. The Stars are 0 for 24 at home this season.Hossa evened the score 1-1 in the first period after Cody Eakin had scored for Dallas. Toews scored midway through the second period, after a goal by Tyler Seguin.Eakin scored at the end of what was virtually a 4-minute power play because of consecutive minor penalties against the Hawks had barely returned to the ice from serving a tripping penalty when Trevor Daley took a backhand shot. Corey Crawford tried to control the rebound, but Dallas’ Shawn Horcoff and Eakin poked at the puck and it crossed the goal line. Crawford finished with 31 saves.Eakin’s goal came at 6:10, 2 seconds after Hjalmarsson’s penalty had expired. He had gone into the penalty box just 1 second after teammate Brandon Saad’s high sticking penalty ended.The Blackhawks tied the game at 16:51 of the first when Toews passed across the goalmouth to Hossa.A late first-period rally pulled the Blackhawks within one shot on goal of the Stars at 11-10.In the second period, Dallas continued to put pressure on Crawford. It paid off at 6:54. Seguin took a pass from Jamie Benn and fired in a shot from an angle low in the right faceoff circle. The Blackhawks continued to frustrate the Stars’ power play, killing off two more power plays in the period.The Hawks tied the score 2-2 at 10:19. Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped a short-range shot by Toews, but Toews maneuvered around defenseman Brenden Dillon to knock in his own rebound. Lehtonen finished with 26 saves.On the Blackhawks’ first power play, their only man advantage, they took their first lead. After a one-man rush into the Hawk end, the Stars were late getting back before Kane’s shot from the right circle beat Lehtonen.Dallas’ goalie stopped a breakaway by Kane 23 seconds before the period ended.Notes: Dallas entered the game as the only NHL team that hadn’t scored on a power play at home this season. … The Stars had been on a three-game winning streak. Their previous seven games had been decided by one goal.
NOTES—The Blackhawks host Edmonton at 6:30pm Sunday evening….Michal Handzus was inactive for the seventh consecutive game because of an injury. … On several occasions, Blackhawk fans in the arena chanted, ”Let’s go, Hawks!”

BLOOMINGTON, Ind—Cody Latimer set career highs with 11 catches and 189 yards receiving and hauled in three touchdowns as Indiana defeated Illinois 52-35 on Saturday.The Hoosiers (4-5, 2-3 Big Ten) snapped a three-game skid, while Illinois (3-6, 0-5) extended its school-record conference losing streak to 19 games.Tevin Coleman rushed 15 times for a career-high 215 yards, the most by a Hoosier in the last 10 seasons. The teams engaged in a back-and-forth shootout until Coleman’s 75-yard touchdown run edged Indiana ahead 42-35 with 12:41 remaining. Indiana burned the Illini’s run defense for 371 yards and gained a season-high 650 yards overall.Nathan Scheelhaase completed 38 of 57 passes for 450 yards and two touchdowns to lead Illinois. He added 45 yards and a score on the ground. Receiver Steve Hull exploded for 224 yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions.

Freshman Tommy Hamilton IV scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his college debut to help the DePaul Blue Demons to a 96-58 victory over Grambling State in their season-opener at McGrath-Phillips Arena on Saturday.Senior Cleveland Melvin poured in a team-high 17 points, knocking down all five of his 3-point attempts.The 6-foot-8 senior was named to the second team preseason All-Big East. He averaged 16.6 points per game as a junior.But it was Hamilton, a Chicago native, who stole the show. He secured his first career double-double by halftime to help send Grambling State to its 29th straight loss.He used his 6-foot-10, 284-pound frame to dominate the glass and get to the free throw line.DePaul (1-0) started the second half on a 13-2 run and maintained a healthy lead to lock up its sixth consecutive season-opening victory.A’Torri Shine had a game-high 21 points for Grambling (0-1), which hasn’t won since March 3, 2012, a 75-72 OT win against Alabama A&M.The Tigers were sloppy out of the gate, committing 12 turnovers in the first half and making only six of 12 free throws.They fared no better in the second half, finishing with 23 turnovers.Head coach Joseph Price, entering his second season, has yet to win a game at the helm.DePaul senior Brandon Young, who led the team last year with 16.7 points per game, was held to seven points, but dished out six assists. He dealt with an eye issue just a minute into the game. Timeout was called so he could readjust a contact lens.

Try as they might, the Bulls couldn’t get Luol Deng his first triple-double. No matter, the Bulls still won handily.Deng had 19 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and five steals to lead the struggling Home team to a 97-73 victory over Utah on Friday night that snapped the Bulls’ two-game skid and kept the Jazz winless. Carlos Boozer added 18 points, Joakim Noah had 14 and Derrick Rose 12 for the Bulls.

”I think we tried like five times [to get the triple-double for Deng], but it didn’t work out,” Rose said. ”When Tibs [head coach Tom Thibodeau] brought him out, the fans got kind of upset, but if anything, I’m super proud of his performance tonight.”

The Bulls dominated in the paint, scoring 56 points to 22 for Utah. Overall, they outshot Utah 52.8 percent to 29.8 percent in winning its sixth straight against the Jazz.

”I thought there was a lot of unselfish play, guys making the extra pass,” Thibodeau said. ”I thought the screen was a lot better, hitting the open man, running the floor, a great effort defensively, and that’s what it’s going to take.”

The Jazz (0-6) are off to their worst start since their debut NBA season in New Orleans in 1974-75, when they lost their first 11 games.

”We have to make sure that we don’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. ”We have to just keep fighting. We’re struggling. We’re in a bad spot right now. They’re a good defensive team. We made them look real good tonight, shooting 29 percent.”

The Bulls built their biggest lead of the first half at 38-22 with 8:10 left in the second quarter and never looked back. The Bulls took their biggest lead at 89-60 with 8:39 left in the game.With the game in hand, Thibodeau gave his reserves plenty of playing time, and four of the Bulls starters (Rose, Boozer, Noah and

Jimmy Butler) played 28 or less minutes. Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with 15 points, while Derrick Favors and Alec Burks had 10 points apiece, and Rudy Gobert grabbed 12 rebounds.

”[We’re] frustrated, frustrated,” Hayward said. ”[We’ve] got to find some way to get the job done. We just got to get through this real rough patch we’re going through. If you can’t score the basketball, it just puts too much pressure on your defense.”

The Bulls jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, backed by five points from Rose, but the Jazz got back to 9-7, the closest they would get in the game. Then Bulls then went on a 21-11 streak to close the first quarter ahead 30-18. The Bulls outshot the Jazz 72.2 percent (13 of 18) to 33.3 percent (7 of 21) in the opening quarter.

”I thought the first quarter was terrific and that set the tone for the game,” Thibodeau said. ”Our starters made sure that the group functioned well together and that was a big plus for us.”

Utah never got closer than eight points the rest of the way, shooting a 27.7 percent (13 of 47) in the first half. The Bulls made 60.6 percent (20 of 33) of its shots in the first half and led 51-40 at intermission. Things didn’t get much better for the Jazz in the second half. Before the game, Corbin said fatigue had been an issue with his young team thus far, and that showed once again in the final two quarters. Even with the win, Thibodeau was not completely happy with the game, particularly turnovers. The Bulls coughed up the ball 21 times, leading to 13 Utah points.

”We still have a lot of questions we have to [answer],” Thibodeau said. ”One game doesn’t mean everything is straightened out. We have to take a hard look at ourselves and make the necessary corrections.”

Added Rose, ”We’re just trying to iron out the wrinkles and I think we’re still a good team.”

NOTES—Thibodeau had long-time friend and Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford on his mind before the game. Clifford had two stents inserted in his heart earlier in the day after complaining of chest pains Thursday night. ”I’ve been texting with him,” Thibodeau said. ”Thankfully, he’s feeling better. He’s a good friend. I’ve worked with him a long time. I’m concerned.” Assistant coach Patrick Ewing coached the Bobcats as Clifford missed Friday’s game against the New York Knicks due to the procedure. … Corbin, who starred at DePaul University, is trying to stay patient with his team’s poor start. ”It’s a process to win,” Corbin said. ”We’re asking more of some guys in certain situations and we have a lot of games back-to-back. It’s wearing on the guys.”

CHAMPAIGN—Rayvonte Rice scored 22 points and had nine rebounds in his debut to lead Illinois to a season-opening 80-63 win over Alabama State on Friday.Rice is a Champaign native but spent two seasons at Drake before transferring to Illinois (1-0). The hometown kid made the most of his chance Friday.He scored seven points over a three-minute span early in the second half to push Illinois’ lead to a commanding 54-37.Nnanna Egwu had a double-double for Illinois with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Joseph Bertrand scored 14.Jamel Waters led Alabama State (0-1) with 27 points. He was 5-of-6 from 3-point range.The Illini host Jacksonville State on Sunday. The Hornets will travel across Illinois to face Bradley.