Penguins on brink of NHL finals

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: Marian Hossa scored two goals to lead Pittsburgh past Philadelphia 4-1 here Tuesday, pushing the Penguins to the brink of advancing to the National Hockey League finals.

Datsyuk's hat trick lifts Red Wings

DALLAS: Pavel Datsyuk scored his first career hat trick to power the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday, moving the Western Conference top seeds to the brink of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Judge orders March '09 Cup race

NEW YORK: The America's Cup match race between holder Alinghi and challenger BMW Oracle is to be held in mid-March of 2009, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled on Monday.

Canada, Russia cruise into quarters with unbeaten records

HALIFAX, Canada: Russia and Canada closed out the qualification round on Monday with unbeaten records as they clinched the top spots in their groups at the World Ice Hockey Championships.

Sports

LeBron helps Cavaliers slam Celtics

CLEVELAND, Ohio: LeBron James scored 21 points while adding six rebounds and a playoff career-high 13 assists to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers past Boston 88-77 on Monday to level their second-round series.

IN BRIEF (Page 24)

Sports

Jazz holds off Lakers, Spurs crush Hornets

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah: The Utah Jazz needed overtime to down the Lakers while the San Antonio Spurs rolled to a rout of New Orleans on Sunday to square both Western Conference series in the National Basketball Association playoffs.

Garcia gets major lift with Sawgrass triumph

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florid: Sergio Garcia, arguably the best current player yet to win a major, enhanced his status with a playoff victory at the prestigious Players Championship on Sunday.

Phantom goal helps Finland overcome US

HALIFAX, Canada: Finland rallied to a 3-2 win over the US with the help of a phantom goal at the World Championships on Sunday to set up a showdown with Canada.

Penguins top Flyers to take 2-0 series lead

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania: Maxime Talbot, back after missing three games because of injury, snapped a tie in the third period Sunday as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in the National Hockey League playoffs.