AFC GAMES-HOUST over Cleve, N.Eng over NYJ, OAK iver LA Chargers, KC over Pitt
NFC GAMES-WASH over S.Fran, T.Bay over ARIZ
INTER CONF GAMES-ATL over Mia, JAX overLA Rams
THURS NIGHT-CAR over Phil
SUN NIGHT-DENV over NY Giants
MON NIGHT-TENN over Ind
NFC NORTH GAMES- G.Bay over MINN, N.ORL over Det, BALT over Bears
HOME teams in ALL CAPITALS

MONTREAL—It was only a matter of time before Alex DeBrincat scored his first NHL goal.The 5-foot-7 right winger, who was a scoring machine for the Erie Otters in junior hockey, got his first as a Blackhawk and set up one for Artem Anisimov as the Hawks spoiled the Montreal Canadiens’ home opener with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night.And tallying his first against a Vezina Trophy winner like Carey Price made it that much better.

”It’s pretty cool,” said DeBrincat. ”He’s a great goalie. I was lucky enough to get one past him.”

The 19-year-old DeBrincat was drafted 39th overall by the Hawks in 2016, on a pick obtained in a trade from Montreal, in the midst of a junior career that saw him score 167 goals in 193 games over three seasons for Erie.Last season, he was voted top player in the Ontario Hockey League after a 65-goal season.So it was no surprise for him to find the net at the next level of hockey.

”You want to score your first goal but you know it’s not going to be easy,” the Michigan native said. ”I tried to keep it out of my mind. It was bound to come sooner or later.”

Brandon Saad also scored for thge Hawks (3-0-1), which was coming off an overtime loss Monday night in Toronto.Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal (1-3-0) when he picked off a Ryan Hartman pass in the Blackhawks zone, wheeled and scored on a wrist shot inside the near post 1:15 into the game.Patrick Sharp intercepted a Jordie Benn clearing attempt and fed DeBrincat for a one-timer goal at 17:53. Only 19 seconds later, Saad got this fifth goal of the season on a tap-in while finishing a three-man rush with Jonathan Toews and Richard Panik.DeBrincat made the decisive pass in a tic-tac-toe play with Cody Franson that Anisimov finished with a tap-in on a power play 10:44 into the second frame.The Canadiens, who outshot the Blackhawks 42-25, have lost three in a row and scored only four goals in as many games. They went 0 for 5 on the power play and are now 0 for 14 for the season.Coach Claude Julien juggled his lines halfway through the game, which produced several good chances but no goals against Corey Crawford, who shut Montreal down after the early Plekanec goal.

”Confidence is low now,” said Julien. ”We have to fight our way through this. ”We don’t want to make excuses, we want to find solutions. That’s how you become a mentally hard team. We could use some puck luck, but there are lots of things we can do about it. I see the potential on this team that we are going to turn this around. We don’t lack confidence, we’re just squeezing the stick a little.”

The Blackhawks host Minnesota on Thursday.

Case Keenum gave the Vikings the lift they needed, and that was just enough to spoil Mitchell Trubisky’s highly anticipated debut.Keenum led three second-half scoring drives after Sam Bradford’s troublesome left knee flared up again, and the Minnesota Vikings beat Trubisky and the Bears 20-17 on Monday night.Kai Forbath kicked a 26-yard field goal in the closing seconds after Harrison Smith intercepted Trubisky, and the Vikings (3-2) came away with the win after dropping two of three.

”I didn’t know (if I would play),” Keenum said. ”That’s something I’ve tried not to think about. I tried to approach the week like I was starting. I did the same thing I did the previous four weeks. I did the same thing I’ve done every week I’ve been in the NFL. I’ve tried to prepare like I’ve been the starter.”

Called on after Mike Glennon struggled in the first four games, Trubisky played like he belonged. The No. 2 overall pick was 12 of 25 for 128 yards with a touchdown.The interception came after the Bears (1-4) took over on their 10 with 2:32 left in the game. Smith picked off a pass intended for Zach Miller on the right sideline at the 22.The Vikings got the ball at the 28, and Forbath booted the winner with 16 seconds left.Sidelined the previous three games because of swelling and soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, Bradford aggravated the joint when he was tackled in the first half.With limited mobility, he completed just 5 of 11 passes for 36 yards and was sacked four times – including a safety by Leonard Floyd. Bradford was listed as limited in practice during the week, though coach Mike Zimmer said there was ”no doubt” he would play.He wasn’t sure how much more time Bradford will miss.

”We wouldn’t put him on the field if he wasn’t healthy enough to play,” Zimmer said. ”He was very confident about it. He felt good about it. The medical people felt good about it. Everybody. We practiced on turf for two days this week, too, so that’s even a little bit harder on the legs. But I don’t think there was any doubt whatsoever he was ready to go.”

Keenum replaced him with 25 seconds left in the first half and went 17 of 21 for 140 yards and a touchdown.Jerick McKinnon had a 58-yard touchdown run. Everson Griffen contributed a strip-sack against Trubisky that led to a field goal, and the Vikings beat the Bears on the road for just the third time in 17 games.The Bears simplified their offense for Trubisky, with fewer receivers and extra blockers at times. But he still showed the mobility and arm strength that convinced general manager Ryan Pace to trade up a spot with San Francisco to grab him on draft night.

”I was trying to just (elevate teammates) with my presence, how much I love this game and how much I love this team,” he said. ”I think they have faith in me. They believe in me when I’m in that huddle and when I’m making plays.”

Jordan Howard ran for 76 yards. Pat O’Donnell threw a 38-yard touchdown to Benny Cunningham on a fake punt. Floyd had two sacks.Minnesota was leading 3-2 when Keenum hit Kyle Rudolph for a 13-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter. The Vikings celebrated by playing duck-duck-goose in the end zone – a play Rudolph called in the huddle before the TD.The Bears lined up to punt on a fourth down at the Minnesota 38 on the next possession. But O’Donnell passed to a wide-open Cunningham, who spun around Marcus Sherels on the way to the end zone, cutting it to 17-9.The Bears used another trick play to tie it.The Vikings’ Andrew Sendejo tipped a pass right to Zach Miller in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown. The trickery came on the two-point conversion.Trubisky handed the ball to Howard, who gave it to Miller. Miller then pitched it to Trubisky, who ran it in on the right side to tie it at 17-all with 12:24 left in the game.LB John Timu left with a knee injury early in the third. He was hurt trying to tackle Latavius Murray and had to be helped off the field. … LB Willie Young (triceps) and cornerback Marcus Cooper (back) were inactive…..The Bears visit Baltimore Sunday.

IOWA CITY—Nate Stanley threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns and Iowa rolled past Illinois 45-16 on Saturday, snapping a two-game losing streak.Safety Brandon Snyder added an 89-yard interception return for a score in his first game back from a knee injury for the Hawkeyes (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten), who outscored Illinois (2-3, 0-2) 35-3 in the final 30:08 after a start reminiscent of the sluggish one they had before blowing past North Texas last month.

“I was just trying to take in the moment,” said Snyder, who tore his ACL just six months ago. “I’m just thankful to be healthy.”

A successful fake punt helped Iowa take a 17-13 lead into halftime, and Snyder’s pick-six came with 6:40 left in the third quarter and put Iowa ahead 24-13.

“It really kind of ignited us a bit,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He just continues to earn everybody’s respect within our program.”

Stanley found Matt VandeBerg for a 39-yard TD reception to push the lead to 15 early in the fourth quarter, and Akrum Wadley put the game away on an 18-yard touchdown run with 8:49 left.Wadley finished with 115 yards, surpassing the 100-yard mark for the third time this season, and he added a 2-yard TD reception.Jeff George Jr. threw for 246 yards in his first start of the season — but he also threw three interceptions without finding the end zone.

“That’s never a good thing,”” said Illinois coach Lovie Smith about George’s turnovers. “He made a lot of good plays as much as anything.”

The move from Chayce Crouch to George gave the Fighting Illini some life in the first half. But big mistakes led to big plays for the Hawkeyes, who scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to turn a tight affair into a blowout. Iowa also scored 17 points off of four Illini turnovers.Illinois entered play with the Big Ten’s worst rushing attack, but the Fighting Illini carved up Iowa’s front for 200 yards on the ground. Iowa’s defense once again stiffened after some halftime adjustments though, and its offense finally found life in the second half. The Hawkeyes also looked like they could really use the upcoming bye week. “We can kind of take a step back and reflect on the first half of the season,” said wide receiver Nick Easley.

Brandon Saad, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews each had a goal and assist to lead the Blackhawks over the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 on Saturday night.Richard Panik also scored and Jan Rutta got his first NHL goal as the Hawks followed up on a season-opening 10-1 rout of Pittsburgh with another solid performance.Sonny Milano scored for the Blue Jackets, who blanked the New York Islanders 5-0 in their opener Friday in Columbus.Corey Crawford made 32 saves, while Joonas Korpisalo blocked 24 shots.Nick Schmaltz was hit hard by two defensemen as Kane scored the opening goal 1:33 in. He later left the game with with an undisclosed injury. Schmaltz tried to return with a short shift midway through the first period.Saad, one of four players to open the season with a hat trick this week, has four goals and an assist in his first two games. Kane boosted his totals to two goals and four assists.Columbus forward Artemi Panarin, a centerpiece in an offseason trade that sent Saad back to Chicago, got a loud ovation during a first-period video tribute.The Blackhawks jumped ahead 2-0 with a dominant first period.Kane scored on the Blackhawks’ first shot when he was left open at the low edge of the right circle. He beat Korpisalo with a quick shot into the upper-right corner.Jack Johnson and Gabriel Carlsson leveled Schmaltz on the left side of the crease during the play. Schmaltz took a minute to get up, then skated slowly to the bench with help from trainer Mike Gapski.Saad made it 2-0 at 6:04 with a power-play goal when he converted a rebound from a goalmouth scrum.The Hawks extended their lead to 4-1 after 40 minutes.Set up by Saad, Toews one-timed in his first goal this season from the left circle at 10:14 of the second. The play was set up when Panik knocked Seth Jones off the puck behind the Columbus net.Milano cut it to 3-1 31 seconds later when he poked in Nick Foligno’s feed that slid along the goal line behind Crawford.Rutta pinched in to the right circle and scored on a shot that deflected in off Korpisalo’s glove at 12:51 of the second to make it 4-1.Saad narrowly missed connecting again during a power-play midway through the third. His close-in shot trickled through Korpisalo, but Johnson swept the puck from the goal line.Panik completed the scoring with 5:55 left when he whipped in a loose puck after a faceoff.

NOTES—NBC and Blackhawks TV analyst Eddie Olczyk visited the United Center press box after having surgery for colon cancer 11 weeks ago. Some in the crowd of 21,264, chanted ”Eddie, Eddie,” when a live shot of Olczyk, who played 16 seasons in the NHL, was shown on the scoreboard. … Schmaltz had hobbled off the ice in the third period of Thursday’s game, but was back on a line with Kane and Ryan Hartman for his first shift Saturday before being injured again. … RW Tommy Wingels made his Blackhawks debut as C Tanner Kero sat out. Wingels, who signed a one-year free agent deal, is from Chicago’s north suburbs. … The Blackhawks had a pregame video tribute and moment of silence for Pierre Pilote, their captain from 1961 to 1968, who died last month at age 85.The Blackhawks Play at Toronto on Monday.

CHAPEL HILL—Notre Dame didn’t have its starting quarterback, and its best runner was limited by dehydration. The Fighting Irish also had to operate in rainy conditions on the road.And they did just fine.Josh Adams ran for 118 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown, and No. 21 Notre Dame stuck with its strong ground game to beat North Carolina 33-10 on Saturday.Adams, ranked among the national rushing leaders, carried the ball just 13 times before leaving the game. But Deon McIntosh added 124 yards rushing and two scores for the Fighting Irish (5-1), who won a third straight road game against a power-conference opponent despite not having starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush due to a right foot injury.McIntosh, a sophomore, capitalized on his extra work by scoring from 24 and 35 yards out – his third straight game with at least one rushing score.Notre Dame finally came up empty in the red zone.The Irish entered the game 22 for 22 on red-zone scoring chances, with 20 of those being touchdowns, and scored on their first two red-zone drives Saturday. But that streak ended with Book’s interception in the third after Notre Dame had reached the UNC 18.The Fighting Irish have a bye week before hosting Southern California on Oct. 21.

The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t too far removed from getting Stanley Cup championship rings for the second time in as many years, and they entered the 2017-18 season as the consensus favorites atop the Eastern Conference.But if the defending champs’ first two games of the new year are any indication (and, to a large extent, they shouldn’t be), there is at least a little reason for concern in Steel City.First, there was a 5-4 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on the NHL’s opening night, a rough debut for Matt Murray in the goalie’s first start as the full-time net-minder post-Marc-Andre Fleury. And then? Then there was Thursday.By night’s end, Murray had been summoned from the bench in relief of ex-Dallas Star Antti Niemi, which in and of itself is probably never a good sign for the Pens, and Pittsburgh fell at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of — wait for it — 10-1.In other words, things couldn’t have been worse for the defending champs at United Center, just a day after they raised the title banner at PPG Paints Arena. And things couldn’t have been better for the Hawks in the home debut of its nostalgic reunion tour, what with Brandon Saad notching a hat trick to help his new (old) buddies throttle the Penguins.The Blackhawks didn’t waste time chasing Niemi from the net, dropping four goals on Pittsburgh’s new No. 2 in the first 9:16 of action and, at one point, lighting the lamp three straight times in a span of less than three minutes. And despite an 0-for-6 finish on power plays over the course of the night, the Blackhawks got contributions up and down their lineup, scoring more in the first period alone than they did in all of the 2016-17 postseason — Ryan Hartman had four assists, Patrick Kane totaled four points and a goal of his own, Nick Schmaltz had a pair of goals and Patrick Sharp, another acquisition back at home in Chicago, also put one into the Pens net to make it 5-0 at the end of the first period.Murray didn’t fare any better once Niemi was yanked, surrendering six (!) goals that sealed the decision — by a mile.The Blackhawks’ 10 goals was the most scored by the team in nearly 30 years, and it was the most surrendered by Pittsburgh since 1996. And it marks quite the start to the season for both sides, albeit in starkly contrasting fashion.In other words, things couldn’t have been worse for the defending champs at United Center, just a day after they raised the title banner at PPG Paints Arena. And things couldn’t have been better for the Hawks in the home debut of its nostalgic reunion tour, what with Brandon Saad notching a hat trick to help his new (old) buddies throttle the Penguins.The Hawks didn’t waste time chasing Niemi from the net, dropping four goals on Pittsburgh’s new No. 2 in the first 9:16 of action and, at one point, lighting the lamp three straight times in a span of less than three minutes. And despite an 0-for-6 finish on power plays over the course of the night, the Blackhawks got contributions up and down their lineup, scoring more in the first period alone than they did in all of the 2016-17 postseason — Ryan Hartman had four assists, Patrick Kane totaled four points and a goal of his own, Nick Schmaltz had a pair of goals and Patrick Sharp, another acquisition back at home in Chicago, also put one into the Pens net to make it 5-0 at the end of the first period.Murray didn’t fare any better once Niemi was yanked, surrendering six (!) goals that sealed the decision — by a mile.The Blackhawks’ 10 goals was the most scored by the team in nearly 30 years, and it was the most surrendered by Pittsburgh since 1996. And it marks quite the start to the season for both sides, albeit in starkly contrasting fashion.

SAN DIEGO—The No. 19 San Diego State Aztecs didn’t take too kindly to seeing star running back Rashaad Penny coming off the field in pain after having his right eye gouged by a Northern Illinois player in the second quarter Saturday night.

”It got us fired up,” cornerback Kameron Kelly said after the Aztecs got some big plays early and then held off NIU 34-28 to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1975. Juwan Washington brought back the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and freshman Tariq Thompson had two interceptions – including an 83-yard TD return.

Kelly said there was smack talk from NIU before the game. And then TV cameras picked up Antonio Jones-Davis sticking his hand into Penny’s facemask while the star running back was at the bottom of a pile after returning a kickoff.

”If that’s their attitude, we’ve got to have the same attitude, between the whistles, start making them feel it between the whistles,” Kelly said.

Penny went into the locker room for eye drops. When he returned to the game, there was a visor installed in his facemask.

”I just think that stuff shouldn’t happen,” said Penny, the nation’s second-leading rusher coming in who was held to 107 yards on 25 carries for his lowest output of the season. ”I thought we were all more mature than that. I bounced back. I can’t thank my teammates enough. They picked me up when I was down. It was all them. It was a great win.”

NIU coach Rod Perry said he talked to Jones-Davis ”and he admitted it to me. I’m going to get home and let the emotions die down and see what the next steps are. He’s a great kid but it was the emotions of a 22-year-old. But we are going to deal with it, for sure.”

While he wasn’t pleased to see it happen, SDSU coach Rocky Long said, ”A lot of times things like that happen when you’re in a pile. They just happened to get it on TV or no one would have known but us because he came to the sideline with his eyes hurting. But since they got it on TV, it’s a big deal.Penny caught a 33-yard scoring pass from Christian Chapman in the first quarter. It didn’t help the rushing game that guard Antonio Rosales, the only senior on the line, was out with an ankle injury.SDSU (5-0) is off to its best start since going 8-0 to open the 1975 season. It finished 8-3 that year.

SOUTH BEND—Brandon Wimbush threw for three touchdowns and ran for another and No. 22 Notre Dame beat Miami (Ohio) 52-17 on Saturday night for the 900th victory in school history.Josh Adams added touchdown runs of 72 and 59 yards in the first half before leaving the game with an injury to his left leg. Adams, who entered the game as the No. 9 rusher in the country, still led the Irish (4-1) with 159 yards on the ground despite the short night.

”Josh could have played; his ankle was not a serious situation,” said Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.

Wimbush, who had his eighth rushing touchdown of the season in the first quarter, finished with 119 passing yards in three quarters and had 36 yards on 11 carries.The Irish led the RedHawks 45-14 at the half, the most first-half points scored by an Irish team under Kelly.It was only the second meeting between the Irish and the RedHawks (2-3), two teams that were coached by Hall of Famer Ara Parseghian.With its top three running backs – Adams, Tony Jones Jr. and Dexter Williams – questionable going forward, Notre Dame will need to find some healthy bodies soon. They face North Carolina next and then USC.Notre Dame forced two turnovers in the game, giving the Irish 11 (five interceptions, six fumble recoveries) for the season. The Irish have turned the 11 turnovers into 70 points while the opposition has scored just three points off five Notre Dame turnovers (two interceptions, three fumbles). The Irish take to the road for the third time in four weeks when they visit North Carolina next Saturday.
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