In Brief

HOCKEY

Las Vegan Zucker helps
U.S. junior team to win

Nick Bjugstad scored with 1:52 left in overtime, and Las Vegan Jason Zucker also had a goal as Team USA opened defense of its world junior title with a 3-2 win over Finland on Sunday night in Buffalo, N.Y.

Bjugstad snapped a wrist shot that got by goalie Joni Ortio, who stopped 27 of 30 shots.

Team USA took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal, with Justin Faulk's slap shot from the point sailing over Ortio's shoulder at 18:54 of the first period.

Finland tied it at 13:50 of the second after U.S. goalie Jack Campbell misplayed the puck behind his net. Toni Rajala chipped the puck from Campbell and passed to Joonas Nattinen for the score.

Just 78 seconds later, Zucker gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead. Chris Brown's forecheck caused a turnover deep in the Finland zone, and Zucker -- who plays for Denver University -- pounced on the loose puck and beat Ortio on the short side.

Finland's Iiro Pakarinen tied the game with 7:01 left in the third period.

Also: Penguins star Sidney Crosby scored with 3:22 remaining to extend his points streak to 24 games, but Erik Karlsson had two goals and an assist to lead the host Ottawa Senators to a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh.

Jason Spezza also had three points for Ottawa before leaving in the second with an upper-body injury.

The Wranglers came up just short in a high-scoring contest with the Ontario Reign, losing 6-5 in overtime in an ECHL contest in Ontario, Calif.

Trailing 4-3 entering the third period, Las Vegas (15-7-2) quickly tied it on a Ryan Huddy power-play goal, then took the lead midway through the period on Jamie Bates' power-play score.

But Ontario's Dusty Collins tied it at 5 with seven minutes remaining, and Lane Caffaro notched the game-winning goal on the power play 2:41 into overtime.

Vince Bellissimo had the Wranglers' first two goals, and Geoff Paukovich also scored.

New Mexico State Police said the 18-year-old daughter of former NHL center Pierre Turgeon was killed when the pickup she was driving crashed into the trailer of a semi-truck at an intersection.

Police said Elizabeth Turgeon of Cherry Hills Village, Colo., died at the scene about 100 miles east of Albuquerque early Thursday. Police said dense fog was a contributing factor in the crash, as well as Turgeon's failure to stop at the intersection.

MISCELLANEOUS

Twirling Candy takes
opener at Santa Anita

Twirling Candy defeated Smiling Tiger by a nose to win the $250,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds on opening day of Santa Anita's winter meet in Arcadia, Calif.

Ridden by Joel Rosario, Twirling Candy ran seven furlongs on Santa Anita's new dirt surface in 1 minute, 19.70 seconds and paid $9, $5.40 and $4.

Smiling Tiger returned $6 and $4, while Caracortado was another 3½ lengths back in third and paid $5.60 to show.

The track was hit with 14¼ inches of rain during the previous nine days, but there were no problems with the new dirt surface. It replaced two previous synthetic surfaces that had drainage problems.

Also: Host Manchester United padded its lead in the English Premier League by beating visiting Sunderland 2-0 on two goals by Dimitar Berbatov.

Carlos Tevez scored twice to help Manchester City move into second place ahead of Arsenal with a 3-1 win at Newcastle.

Koki Kameda of Japan beat Alexander Munoz of Venezuela by unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBA bantamweight title in Saitama, Japan.

Kameda (24-1) knocked Munoz to the canvas in the final round of the bout. Munoz dropped to 35-4.

Daiki Kameda, Koki's younger brother, retained his WBA flyweight belt with a split decision over Romania's Silvio Olteanu.