OMAHA—Forrest Robinson made his first five 3-pointers, all in the first six minutes of the game, and scored a career-high 20 points as DePaul took sole possession of first place in the Big East with a 70-60 victory over Creighton on Wednesday night.The Blue Demons (9-7, 3-0) have won their first three Big East games for the first time since they joined the conference in 2005-06.Creighton (9-7, 0-3) has lost its first three conference games for the first time since 1993-94, when it was in the Missouri Valley, and four in a row overall for the first time since 1999-2000. The Bluejays also had their 11-game home conference win streak end.Myke Henry added 11 points for DePaul.Toby Hegner had 15 points and Avery Dingman added 10 for Creighton.Robinson scored all 15 of his first-half points in the opening six minutes. He swished four straight 3s, and after Aaron Simpson hit from deep, he got the shooter’s roll on a ball that hit the front of the rim and banked in off the backboard. Robinson finished with a career-high six 3s.The Blue Demons led by 16 points a little over seven minutes into the game after Durrell McDonald made the seventh of his team’s season high-matching 11 3s.DePaul missed 10 of its next 13 shots, allowing Creighton to cut the lead to single digits. But a 9-0 spurt pushed DePaul’s cushion to 17 points before James Milliken’s 3 from the corner made it 39-25 at half.Hegner’s 3-pointer ended an 11-2 run that pulled Creighton to 49-43. Billy Garrett’s 3-pointer finished a 13-5 run that pushed DePaul’s lead back to 14 points with 5:10 to play.Creighton wasn’t done, though. A pair of three-point plays by Dingman and Isaiah Zierden’s 3-pointer cut it to 66-60 with two minutes left. The Bluejays got no closer.DePaul: The Blue Demons wore their red road uniforms for the first time this season.

Semyon Varlamov was busy all night, but he was thankful his teammates made sure he could see the puck.Nathan MacKinnon scored and set up a goal by Maxime Talbot in the opening 1:17, Varlamov finished with 54 saves for his third shutout of the season and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Blackhawks 2-0 on Tuesday night.Colorado was outshot by 30 but held on for its third win in four games behind Varlamov’s 16th career shutout. The Avalanche improved to 7-3-2 in their last 12 as they avoided screening their goalie and quickly cleared loose pucks.

”The good thing is, the guys weren’t staying in front of me,” Varlamov said. ”They were giving me a chance to see the puck all the time. That was key.”And they played very well on the rebounds,” he added. ”The D’s and forwards played very well in front of me.”

Varlamov has three straight wins against the Hawks and has won four of his last five games against the Blackhawks. In the four wins, he’s allowed just five goals.

”(Varlamov) had plenty of work out there,” Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. ”If we want to have a chance to get back in the playoff picture, it’s going to start from him.”

MacKinnon, who won the Calder Trophy last season as the NHL’s rookie of the year, scored 53 seconds into the game with just his second goal in his last 22 games. He had 24 goals and 39 assists in 2013-14 as an 18-year-old, but has just seven goals and 17 assists this season.

”We pressed early,” MacKinnon said. ”Maybe we got a couple of shots that weren’t really quality shots, but that’s OK.”

Corey Crawford finished with 22 saves for the Blackhawks, who had a season high in shots and dominated the pace as the game progressed. However, the Hawks were blanked for the third time this season.The Blackhawks have given up the first goal in five straight games, and they admit poor starts have become an issue.

”Just a slow start, a couple of chances against and its in the back of the net,” Patrick Sharp said. ”It’s been a couple of games we’ve done that and we need to fix it quickly.”

After defenseman Johnny Oduya fell down, John Mitchell sent MacKinnon in alone and he opened the scoring on a rising shot.

”The first shot goes in a lot lately,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. ”We’ve got to make sure than can’t happen.”

Colorado made it 2-0 just 24 seconds later as MacKinnon got past Niklas Hjalmarsson and broke in alone on Crawford again. He skated to edge of the crease and slipped a short pass to Talbot, who buried a shot from only a few feet out.The Blackhawks picked up their pace midway through the period and outshot the Avalanche 17-11 for the period.The Blackhawks dictated the play for most of the scoreless second, outshooting Colorado 20-5, but the Blackhawks had limited close-in, screened and rebound attempts.The Hawks best chance came 5:40 into the period during a power play when Varlamov stopped Bryan Bickell on a rebound of Brad Richards’ shot from the blue line.Brandon Saad hit the post with a shot 10 seconds into the third. The Blackhawks had the puck for most of the period, but Varlamov continued to stop initial shots and Avalanche cleared loose pucks.

”The third period, we put everything at the net, including bodies, which we didn’t do a good job of the first 40 minutes,” Quenneville said. ”But he made a couple of big saves in the third period with traffic.”

Saad poked a rebound under Varlamov with 2:17 left in the third, but the goal was disallowed because the whistle had blown.

NOTES—Kris Versteeg missed his second game with a left hand injury that’s expected to keep him out a month. According to a statement from team physician, Dr. Michael Terry, ”Versteeg underwent a procedure today to further stabilize a metacarpal fracture in his left hand. We do not anticipate any significant changes in his return to play timetable and we continue to anticipate a full recovery.” …..Daniel Carcillo was a healthy scratch for the second straight game after not recording a point in his previous eight. ”His pace hasn’t been the same as it was most of the year,” Quenneville said.

Whether he is emerging as an MVP candidate or not, Jimmy Butler isn’t sure. The only thing that matters to him is the Bulls keep winning.Pau Gasol had 27 points and 14 rebounds, Butler scored 22 points and the Bulls won for the 13th time in 15 games, rallying to beat the Houston Rockets 114-105 on Monday night.Derrick Rose added 19 points and nine assists. Nikola Mirotic finished with 17 points.Butler contained NBA scoring leader James Harden in the second half while making some big shots, and the Bulls outscored the Rockets 19-5 over the final 3:19.

”I don’t know,” Butler said. ”We just got a really good team. Everybody showed up tonight.”

Josh Smith led Houston with 21 points. Harden scored only three of his 20 in the second half, missing all nine shots, and the Rockets lost for the fourth time in six games.A leading candidate for Most Improved Player, Butler is starting to enter the MVP discussion because of performances like this. He was particularly good in the closing minutes, scoring five points and taking a charge against Harden during the game-ending rally. That helped the Bulls wipe out a five-point deficit.Mirotic also hit a 3 and scored five points during that stretch.It was 100-95 before Gasol converted a three-point play off a putback with 3:19 left to start the winning rally.Butler tied it at 100-all with 2:56 remaining and drew a charge on the perimeter by Harden, who then fouled Gasol as he attempted a jumper. Gasol made both free throws to give the Bulls a 102-100 lead with 2:06 left.Smith, who signed with Houston on Dec. 26 after being released by Detroit, answered with a 3 to give the Rockets a one-point lead. But Butler responded with one of his own to put the Bulls back on top.A driving Rose then got fouled by Patrick Beverley and hit both free throws to make it 107-103 with 1:07 left.After Harden missed a 3, Mirotic made his attempt to make it 110-103 with 39.6 seconds remaining. That sealed the Bulls sixth straight win against the Western Conference.The Bulls got 12 blocks – six from Noah – and hit 27 of 30 free throws. The Rockets attempted just five foul shots, one more than the franchise low.

”We just didn’t execute down the stretch,” Smith said. ”We played our butts off for about 40, 44 minutes of that game and then down the stretch we just couldn’t find a way to execute. Even though the free throw discrepancy was massive, we still had an opportunity to win that game.”

Gasol, who scored a season-high 29 in Saturday’s overtime win against Boston, got off to a strong start in this one.His 18 points in the first quarter were two shy of a career high. He scored 20 in the half, but the game was tied 62-all at the break.

”We’re doing great. We’re showing great quality on the floor,” Gasol said.

NOTES—There was a moment of silence before the game for Stuart Scott, the ESPN sportscaster who died Sunday following a lengthy fight against cancer…..Harden was selected the Western Conference Player of the Month for December after averaging 30.6 points while leading the Rockets to a 9-5 record. He is the first Houston player to win the award since Yao Ming in January 2008. Harden entered Monday’s game averaging a league-leading 27.2 points, two more than Cleveland’s LeBron James. … Houston attempted a franchise-low four free throws at Denver on January 27, 1978…..Mirotic was selected Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for December. He scored 27 in a win over Memphis and averaged 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds for the month. … F Mike Dunleavy Jr. missed his second consecutive game because of a sprained right ankle. He was injured in Thursday’s victory over Denver…..The Bulls host Utah on Wednesday.

The Blackhawks seemed a step behind the streaking Dallas Stars much of Sunday night before finding a way to come out ahead.Patrick Sharp scored 1:17 into overtime to give the Hawks a 5-4 win that snapped the Stars’ four-game winning streak.

”Probably not our best team game in a while,” Sharp said, ”but to come back and win against a division rival, it definitely feels good.”

Sharp drove past Jason Spezza down the slot, took Duncan Keith’s feed from the left point and beat Kari Lehtonen with a shot that slipped between the goalie’s body and his blocker.That was the only time the Blackhawks led in the contest as they overcame four-one goal deficits and some uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns.

”We can point the finger at ourselves for allowing those deficits in the first place,” Sharp said. ”A couple mistakes by us.”

Following a 3-2 defeat in Washington to the Capitals in the Winter Classic on Thursday, the Blackhawks appeared on their way to losing a second straight game for only the third time this season.But Brad Richards fooled Lehtonen with an improbable sharp-angle shot with 3:57 left in the third period to tie it at 4 and set up overtime. Richards whipped the puck from the goal line at the left boards and it slipped between Lehtonen’s elbow and the goalpost.

”I was hoping for a rebound or something crazy to happen,” Richards said. ”And that went in.”

The Blackhawks, 14-3-1 in their last 18, ultimately got the bounces they needed, even if they weren’t firing on all cylinders.

”We just didn’t quite have a great feeling,” Richards said. ”Something was just a little off. We stayed with it. You always know you’re going to get a big play out of someone on this team.”

Brandon Saad, Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Blackhawks.Erik Cole had two goals and an assist for the Stars. Jamie Benn and his brother, Jordie, also scored for Dallas.

”I thought we deserved better, and 5-on-5 I thought we had the edge in the game,” Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. ”I thought the last 40 minutes, our pace was better than theirs.”Against their speed, I thought we did a good job.”

Even with the loss, the Stars are 8-1-1 in their last 10.”We’re playing pretty solid right now,” said Dallas’ Alex Goligoski, who had two assists. ”Just have to find better ways to lock those down.”

Lehtonen made 33 saves, while Corey Crawford blocked 30 shots.Blackhawks top prospect, forward Teuvo Teravainen, played his first game of the season.The 20-year-old was recalled from Rockford of the AHL after forward Kris Versteeg suffered a left hand injury when he was hit by a shot in Thursday’s Winter Classic in Washington. Versteeg is expected to be out for ”about a month,” according to coach Joel Quenneville.Jamie Benn opened the scoring 3:59 in when he buried a rebound from the edge of left circle into an open net. Crawford had to react quickly to make a pad save on Tyler Seguin’s initial deflected shot from 20 feet out in slot, and wasn’t able to recover.Saad muscled to the net, fought off Stars defenseman Trevor Daly and directed in Jonathan Toews’ centering pass 1:15 later to tie it at 1.Defensive breakdowns lead to a scoring flurry early in the second.Jordie Benn, a defenseman, trailed into the slot and scored his first goal of the season 2:15 into the period to complete a slick three-way passing play with Cole and Ales Hemsky to put Dallas ahead 2-1. No Blackhawks forwards backchecked on the Stars’ rush.Kane tied it at 2 at 3:58 to finish a 2-on-1 with Sharp, who created the odd-man break when he blew around Jordie Benn at the Dallas blue line.Cole restored the Stars’ lead at 3-2 just 45 seconds later when he was left wide open at the side of the net and lifted in a high shot.Bickell’s power-play tip-in with 1:55 left in the second tied it 3-all. Cole’s second goal of the game, on a mid-air deflection of Goligoski’s floating feed from the left point 4:05 into the third period, put Dallas back ahead, 4-3.

NOTES—Versteeg has nine goals and 18 assists in 34 games after fully recovering from knee surgery in March 2013. He missed the first four games of this season with an unrelated lower-body injury.

EVANSTON—It was Sam Dekker on the outside, and Frank Kaminsky all over the court. Duje Dukan provided a lift when he checked into the game, and Nigel Hayes had his share of positive moments.No. 4 Wisconsin just overwhelmed Northwestern with its wide array of offensive options.Kaminsky and Dekker scored 16 points apiece, leading the Badgers to an 81-58 victory Sunday night.

”We’ve had a few nights like that this year, where we have a multitude of guys putting shots in the bucket,” Dekker said, ”and I think that’s what’s cool about our team this year. We have a lot of guys that are confident to take those shots.”

Wisconsin (14-1, 2-0 Big Ten) made 12 3-pointers and shot 53 percent from the field overall. Dukan had 14 points in Wisconsin’s seventh consecutive victory, and Hayes finished with 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting.Kaminsky also had 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals in his final game at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The senior forward from nearby Lisle played on the same high school team as Northwestern point guard Dave Sobolewski. His mother, Mary, played volleyball for the Wildcats and his uncle, Jim Stack, is the fifth-leading scorer in Northwestern history with 1,583 points.

”It’s always nice to come back home and play in front of so many family and friends,” Kaminsky said. ”Just the support I have in this area is great, and it’s nice to be able to play in front of them.”

Dukan also has strong ties to the area. He was a prep star in Deerfield, and his father, Ivica, works in the Bulls’ scouting department.Tre Demps scored 17 points for Northwestern (10-5, 1-1), which had won four in a row. Freshman Bryant McIntosh finished with 13 points.

”Our guys are fighting and they’re getting better,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. ”And the way you get better is playing in games like this. And you know what, sometimes you get knocked to the canvas.”

This one got out of hand in a hurry, with Wisconsin picking apart Northwestern’s defense with smart passing and crisp long-range shooting. The Wildcats played man-to-man defense at the start, and then tried a zone, but the experienced Badgers had an answer for everything they tried to do.

”There’s universal reads that I deal with because I’m old school that still work,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said.”You can get shots if you stay true to your spacing, if you stay true to the game and how it really works,” Ryan continued. ”So people changing defenses has not been that big of an issue.”

Dekker made his first four 3-point attempts, including one with Northwestern’s Scottie Lindsey right in his face with 10:28 left. The Wildcats and Badgers then traded layups before Traevon Jackson drove into the lane and kicked it out to Dukan for a 3 that made it 30-13 with 8:20 to go.Josh Gasser’s 3 in the final minute sent Wisconsin to the locker room with a 43-21 lead. The Badgers shot 53.6 percent (15 for 28) in the first half, including an 8-for-15 start from 3-point range. The Wildcats missed their first seven 3-point attempts and shot 28.6 percent (8 for 28) in the first 20 minutes.

Derrick Rose made up for all those misses with a bunch of big shots down the stretch.There was a quite a struggle. Then there was quite a transformation.Rose scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls beat the Denver Nuggets 106-101 on Thursday night.Jimmy Butler scored 26, and Pau Gasol added 17 points, nine rebounds and a career-high nine blocks. The Bulls rejected a franchise-record 18 shots in all on the way to their 11th win in 13 games, but the difference in the end was their superstar point guard.Rose found his rhythm just in time after struggling the previous two games and for most of this one.

“My mentality is not going to change,” he said. ”I’m going to shoot the ball. I’m a scoring guard.”

The 2011 MVP hit 7 of 25 shots after going 7 for 35 over the previous two games. But he came up with one big basket after another at the very end, hitting 5 of 11 in the fourth quarter. It was a strong finish after he missed his first eight shots overall – including all seven in a scoreless first half.Wilson Chandler led Denver with 22 points. Ty Lawson scored 20, while Arron Afflalo had 19 points. Kenneth Faried added 18 points and 19 rebounds, but the Nuggets fell to 4-12 on the road.

”I don’t think we’ve got that killer instinct yet as a team,” Faried said. ”We show glimpses of it, but then it fades away.”

The Bulls, which trailed by 13 early in the third, was clinging to a 100-97 lead after Denver’s Jusuf Nurkic scored on a put-back layup with 46 seconds left.Rose then nailed a 21-foot jumper, and the Bulls hung on after Faried dunked with 22 seconds remaining to get the Nuggets within three again. Aaron Brooks hit two free throws to make it a five-point game before Nurkic hit two of his own after he got fouled trying to dunk on Taj Gibson with 11 seconds left. Rose then hit two more foul shots to make it 106-101, and the Bulls came away with a tight victory.

”It was important that he kind of broke off that slump,” Gasol said. ”He was effective and got himself going and scored big in the fourth quarter, helped us win the game. I think it’s really important to have that kind of ending, carry that momentum into the next game.”

WASHINGTON—A bit too much sunshine filled the sky at the opening faceoff of the Winter Classic, and seat cushions rained down when the winning goal was scored just before the final whistle.The replica of the U.S. Capitol in center field was a nice touch, given that the real thing is obscured by scaffolding because of ongoing repairs.Alex Ovechkin, the player most responsible for making the nation’s capital worthy of hosting the NHL’s annual outdoor game, scored a goal, and he was also among the first to mob teammate and former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer when Brouwer’s power-play goal decided the game with 12.9 seconds to play Thursday.The NHL showcase was every bit the thrill for the host Washington Capitals, who beat the Hawks 3-2 on New Year’s Day.

”We start talking about Winter Classic since we started the season, and this is it,” Ovechkin said. ”I remember Brouwie said it’s a good time to show up and make a show. And he did.”

Brouwer scored against his former team to cap a chaotic sequence. Ovechkin had his stick broken on a slash by Brandon Saad. While Ovechkin was raising his hands to make sure the officials would the call the penalty, Brouwer gathered the loose puck in the left circle.

”Somebody had to try and keep it alive, so I just kind of turned around, threw it to the net,” Brouwer said. ”I’m not even sure where it went in, but I heard the noise of the crowd, heard the noise of the guys on the ice.”

What a noise it was, a playoff-level celebration by players on the ice and fans in the stands, many of whom flung their commemorative Winter Classic seat cushions high into the air.It was even more special for Brouwer because his father, who suffered a stroke in 2010, made the rare trip to see his son play in person.

”Knowing how my dad is, right now he’s probably got a couple of tears,” Brouwer said.

The seventh Winter Classic drew 42,832 to Nationals Park, an exclamation point to an event that helped validate D.C. as an established hockey town. Players stood on a sheet of blue ice meant to represent the Reflecting Pool during the national anthem, then faced off under a gorgeous blue sky – too gorgeous, if truth be told.The sun’s glare on the white ice of the main rink made it difficult to see the puck, and Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner made good on his plan to play the game wearing sunglasses.The teams switched sides at the 10-minute mark of the first period to even things out as the shadows from the stands began to cover the rink. It seemed totally unfair when Patrick Sharp launched a sun-to-shade slap shot that beat goalie Braden Holtby on a power play for the Hawks first goal.

”I didn’t see it,” Holtby said. ”First period was definitely a challenge. It was tough to pick up pucks.”

The NHL considered delaying the start, concerned that the sunny skies would compromise player safety and make the ice too soft, but the team captains and goalies mutually decided the game should go on as scheduled after testing the conditions during the pregame skate.There was more incentive than usual this year to start on time: A lengthy postponement would have put the Classic head-to-head with the first semifinal of the new College Football Playoff.The first goal was scored by Eric Fehr, making him the unlikely career leader in outdoor NHL hockey. Fehr’s goals can be few and far between when he is covered by a roof, but he netted twice during Washington’s 2011 Winter Classic win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field, and his breakaway in the first period on Thursday added to the disproportionate Jan. 1 output for someone who averages about eight goals per season.Ovechkin made it 2-0 with his first outdoor goal, knocking in a rebound and prompting chants of ”O-vee!” from seats that usually echo with cheers for Nationals stars Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.Sharp cut the deficit to one, and Saad tied it in the second period. The Blackhawks failed to do much of anything during 1:31 of 5-on-3 advantage in the second period, and the game was eventually decided by a whistle that had all the makings of a makeup call.After Washington’s Matt Niskanen was sent off for a marginal boarding penalty with 3:11 to play, Toews was cited for an even more dicey hooking infraction with 1:13 remaining – setting the stage for Brouwer’s power-play winner.

”I don’t know how much that play deserved a call there, how much it had to do with maybe us getting a few more opportunities on the power play previously in the game,” Toews said. ”It is what it is. They got their bounce they were looking for with 12 seconds or so left, and we walk away with nothing.It’s not a good feeling especially with the excitement, the hype and the energy that surrounded this whole thing leading up to this game.”

NOTES—The NHL is meticulous when it comes to reporting the weather for outdoor games. The league announced the opening faceoff temperature down to a tenth of a degree: 43.3 degrees. … Billy Idol, Gavin DeGraw and Lee Greenwood were among the musical guests who performed during pregame and intermissions. … The Capitals have won five of seven.