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Mika Zibanejad scored the deciding goal in a shootout to carry the host Ottawa Senators past the Devils, 3-2, on Monday night.
Chris Phillips and Colin Greening also scored for the Senators, and Ben Bishop made 32 saves.
Andrei Loktionov and Marek Zidlicky scored for the Devils, who tied the score, 2-2, just over six minutes into the third period when Zidlicky beat Bishop with a wrist shot from the left circle.
In the shootout, Daniel Alfredsson scored on Ottawa's second attempt. The Devils' Travis Zajac tied it 1-1, and then Zibanejad's goal and Bishop's save on Loktionov ended the game.
The Senators also beat the Devils in a shootout Feb. 18.
Goalie Martin Brodeur was frustrated after the loss.
"We worked really hard and deserved a lot better," said Brodeur, who faced 14 shots. "They won the skill competition again, two games in a row against us."
KINGS 5, BLACKHAWKS 4 Dustin Brown converted his own rebound with 1 minute 27 seconds remaining, lifting Los Angeles over host Chicago.
BRUINS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2 Patrice Bergeron scored the tying goal with 9:24 left in regulation, then put host Boston ahead in a shootout win over Toronto.
WILD 7, STARS 4 Kyle Brodziak's short-handed goal broke a third-period tie as Minnesota won in Dallas. Zach Parise had two goals and an assist for the Wild, who extended their winning streak to six games.
PREDATORS 3, OILERS 2 Sergei Kostitsyn had a goal and an assist to lead host Nashville over Edmonton.
LIGHTNING HIRE COACH Jon Cooper, who was coaching Syracuse of the American Hockey League, Tampa Bay's top minor league affiliate, has been named to replace the fired Guy Boucher as coach of the Lightning.
Stay on top of all the news, on and off the court, on The Times's college sports blog.
Minnesota fired Tubby Smith one day after the Golden Gophers lost to Florida in the N.C.A.A. tournament. Athletic Director Norwood Teague said it was time for a "fresh set of eyes." Smith was 124-81 (.610) in six seasons at Minnesota. But he was just 46-62 in Big Ten play and never finished higher than sixth in the conference. The Gophers beat U.C.L.A. in the N.C.A.A. tournament this year before losing on Sunday. ¶ Vincent Council scored 7 of his 12 points in the closing six minutes, including a key 3-point play off his only basket of the game, to lift host Providence to a 77-68 win over Robert Morris in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.
Keep up with the latest news, on the court and off, with The Times's basketball blog.
Ryan Anderson scored 23 points, Brian Roberts doubled his career high with 18 assists and the New Orleans Hornets beat visiting Denver, 110-86, on Monday night, ending the Nuggets' 15-game winning streak. New Orleans, playing without its starting backcourt of Eric Gordon and Greivis Vasquez, was in control all the way. Danilo Gallinari had 24 points for Denver.
¶ John Wall scored a career-high 47 points and added 8 assists, Emeka Okafor had 21 points and 9 rebounds, and the undermanned Washington Wizards beat the visiting Memphis Grizzlies, 107-94.
¶ Gerald Green scored 19 points and Roy Hibbert finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds, leading the short-handed Indiana Pacers past the visiting Atlanta Hawks, 100-94.
Keep up with the latest news on The Times's baseball blog.
Kyle Lohse and Milwaukee completed a three-year contract worth $33 million, a big boost to the team's suspect rotation. Lohse had his best season in the majors last year, going 16-3 with a 2.86 earned run average and helping the St. Louis Cardinals earn an N.L. wild-card spot.
One week after defending national champion Kentucky made a swift exit from the National Invitation Tournament with an upset loss at Robert Morris, the Wildcats' basketball banner is flying high.
The women's program, which has gone from a footnote at the university to the 28-5 team ranked seventh in the nation, can set a record for victories by beating Dayton on Tuesday night in the N.C.A.A. tournament in Queens.
"The men's program has a great tradition over the years, with eight national championships and countless people playing in the N.B.A., but the women's team is starting a tradition of its own," the senior guard A'dia Mathies said before Monday's practice.
Mathies, chosen by The Associated Press as the Southeast Conference player of the year for the second consecutive season, is playing a huge part in that. The Wildcats, buoyed by a fierce defense they refer to as "40 minutes of dread," are competing in the N.C.A.A. tournament for a team-record fourth consecutive season. Kentucky has won at least 25 games in each of those seasons.
"We have the goal of becoming the best program in the country," the sixth-year coach Matthew Mitchell said. "We have a lot of work to do, but we are making a lot of progress."
Mathies and Brittany Henderson, a reserve forward, are the Wildcats' only seniors, but they represent the most successful class in the program's history, with 109 wins in four years. In pulling away in the second half to rout Navy, 61-41, in the opening round Sunday, the Wildcats earned their eighth tournament victory in the past four years. That matched the previous total since the program was established 39 years ago.
The performance against Navy was encouraging from several perspectives. Kentucky was able to find other answers offensively when Mathies, who had scored in double figures in 23 consecutive games, was limited to five foul shots and went without a field goal for the first time in her career. The 41 points allowed were the fewest surrendered by the Wildcats in an N.C.A.A. tournament game, and that enabled them to recover from a 26-25 halftime deficit.
Exhaustion inevitably showed in the bent-over body language of the Navy players, who pride themselves on their conditioning. "The speed of the game; we have never been pressured so hard for 40 minutes," said Jade Geif, a junior forward who was forced to bring the ball upcourt against a relentless full-court press.
Kentucky forced 800 or more turnovers each of the past three seasons, including an N.C.A.A.-best 939 last year. Samarie Walker, a junior forward who transferred to Kentucky after one semester at Connecticut, said of the defense taught by Mitchell: "It's a mentality we have and that he made a focus for us."
According to Mitchell, defensive success begins with a grueling summer training regimen and continues with equally demanding practices. Court boundaries are eliminated. A manager puts a new ball into play when one gets away. "If you came to one of our practices, especially early on, you would see there is not a lot of stopping," Mitchell said.
Players are driven almost to the breaking point. "It is tough, but once you see the results of how many turnovers we force, steals we get, and we're out there making plays, we know our fans love it and we love doing it, too," said Mathies, the Wildcats' all-time steals leader with 313.
Kentucky will look to again create havoc against Dayton (28-2) in a bid to advance to a Round of 16 game on Saturday in Bridgeport, Conn. The Flyers, seeded seventh, outlasted St. John's, 96-90, in double overtime Sunday in their first-round game.
For as far as Kentucky has come, Mitchell acknowledged that more would have to be done to close the gap on the perennial powers in the women's game. The Wildcats lost to top-ranked Baylor, 85-51, in a road game on Nov. 13.
At the least, Mathies said the groundwork was being laid for more success.
"We know our best is yet to come," she said.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have won 12 games in a row. The Miami Heat have won 26 in a row. The Baylor women's basketball team has won 31 in a row. But they have a ways to go to catch the University of Minnesota women's hockey team. The Gophers completed a 41-0 season Sunday by winning their second straight national championship with a 6-3 victory over Boston University.
It was the first undefeated college hockey season since the Cornell men went 29-0 in 1970. The Gophers have won 49 games in a row over all, an N.C.A.A. women's hockey record. Their last loss was on Feb. 17, 2012, against North Dakota.
"I still remember on day one talking to our players about the importance of the process and not the outcome and I made a comment such as 'we're going to lose a hockey game so it's not always about the wins and losses so let's focus on the process and those things,'" Coach Brad Frost said after the game.
"Here we are, 41 games later without a loss and it's just mind boggling, I can't even believe it."
Led by the junior forward Amanda Kessel, who had an N.C.A.A.-leading 46 goals and 55 assists, the Gophers outscored opponents by 216-36 this season. The senior goaltender Noora Raty, named most outstanding player of the N.C.A.A. tournament, had 17 shutouts, a 0.96 goals against-average and a .956 save percentage, best in Division I.
"It doesn't matter how you say it, no other team has done this," Raty said after the game. "So our record speaks to the fact that it is the best season in women's hockey history."
It may also be one of the best seasons in N.C.A.A. Division I history. Here are some of the longest winning streaks in Division I by sport:
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The Times's soccer blog has the world's game covered from all angles.
Costa Rica is asking soccer's governing body for a replay of Friday's World Cup qualifier against the United States, won, 1-0, by the Americans during a snowstorm in Commerce City, Colo.
The Costa Rican Football Federation treasurer, Rolando Villalobos, said in a statement Sunday that documentation had been sent to FIFA to back the claim, including photographs and videos.
The Costa Rican federation said the climatic conditions threatened the physical integrity of the players, left the sidelines and markings on the field largely not visible and led to the entry onto the field of snow-clearing personnel, which it said was not permitted.
The federation also argued that "ball movement became impossible given the quantity of snow on the field."
