He held Al Jefferson to a fewer amount of points. It doesnt

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Pittsburgh Penguins are ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Ottawa Senators arent headed to the post-season, but captain Jason Spezza wanted to make sure his team finished the season strong. Spezza scored in the shootout to help the Senators beat the Penguins 3-2 on Sunday night and stretch their season-ending winning streak to five games. "We wanted to play for each other," said Spezza, who finished his first season as captain. "We talked about it a lot down the stretch, how it would be easy to let up, and I thought the group showed good character by finishing hard and winning these games." The teams were tied 2-2 after two periods and didnt score in the third or overtime. Spezza, who scored the lone goal in Ottawas win Saturday against Toronto, stopped at the circle during his shootout attempt, stickhandled around goalie Jeff Zatkoff, and scored. Kyle Turris added a goal in the shootout for the Senators. Ottawa goalie Robin Lehner stopped Beau Bennett and Jussi Jokinen to seal the win. Turris scored his 26th goal in regulation, and Mark Stone had his fourth for Ottawa, which will miss the playoffs for the second time in six years and first since 2011. "We believe in this group, that its a good group and very close to being a good team," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "We have work to do and we have to come to training camp in September prepared to do the work and make changes to our game thats going to make us successful." Jokinen scored on the power play in regulation, his 21st of the season, and Lee Stempniak added his 12th for the Penguins, who rested captain Sidney Crosby and several others for their final game before the playoffs. No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury also sat out along with Brandon Sutter, Matt Niskanen, Robert Bortuzzo and Deryk Engelland. "I think weve gone through quite a bit with this group in terms of different lineups, different injury situations," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said of his team, which led the NHL with 521 man-games lost. "I think weve done a better job of being able to shut teams down and limit opportunities, but now we have to do that in the playoffs." The Penguins will face Columbus in the first round of the playoffs. The series begins Wednesday in Pittsburgh. It will be the first post-season meeting between the teams, separated by a four-hour drive. The perennial-contending Penguins have lots of star power and three Stanley Cup titles. Columbus, during its first season in the Eastern Conference, secured its second playoff berth and first since the 2009 season. "Theyre skilled, they have great goaltending and they played fast," Penguins forward James Neal said. "We had a good year against them. Theyre going to come hard. Its the playoffs and everyone has a chance now." Despite missing the finale, Crosby won his second scoring title — topping Anaheims Ryan Getzlaf. Crosby, who finished with 36 goals and 104 points, outscored Getzlaf by 17 points to win the Art Ross Trophy for the first time since the 2006-07 season, his second in the NHL. The seven-year gap is the second-longest span between scoring titles. "Sid, I think, to get over 100 points ... to have the lead as he does over Getzlaf by that many points is pretty amazing to see," Bylsma said. Pittsburgh hopes to have former NHL MVP and two-time scoring champion Evgeni Malkin back for the playoffs after he missed the final 11 games of the regular season because of a foot injury. Malkin skated with teammates Chris Conner (foot) and Joe Vitale (upper body) on Sunday, but Bylsma didnt say whether they would be ready for Wednesdays playoff opener. "I like the way were getting healthy and I like the way were playing," Neal said. "This year is a little different than others. Were playing good hockey at the right time and thats big for us." Jokinen opened the scoring Sunday with a power-play goal with 5:14 left in the first period. His centring pass deflected off Eric Grybas skate and trickled between Lehners pads. Turris tied it later in the period, scoring in the final seconds of a power play when he sent a shot past Zatkoff from the left faceoff dot. Stempniak put the Penguins ahead 2-1 when he tipped Bennetts shot behind Lehner at 5:16 of the second. Stone tied it with Ottawas second power-play goal at 17:14 from the top of the crease, whacking in a rebound of Patrick Wierciochs point shot. NOTES: The Penguins played their fourth straight overtime game. ... Pittsburgh finished the season with 109 points, the second-highest total in team history. A Penguins player has won the scoring title in 15 of the last 26 seasons. ... Crosby and Malkin are the fourth set of teammates to win multiple scoring titles while playing together and the first since Bostons Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr between 1969-75. ... Ottawa scratched Jared Cowen, Matt Kassian and Mika Zibanejad. Custom Seattle Mariners Jerseys .28 mph. Logano will start on the front row next to Penske Ford teammate Brad Keselowski, who came in second Friday at 193.099. The Penske drivers swept the top two spots for the second straight race, reversing their qualifying finish in Phoenix a week ago. Custom Minnesota Twins Jerseys . Two weeks after suffering a concussion, Foles will start in place of Michael Vick, who is out for the second time this season with a hamstring injury. http://www.customjerseysbaseball.com/ . -- Albert Pujols is thrilled to have a reason to forget about his first two disappointing seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. Custom Toronto Blue Jays Jerseys . The former world No. 1 Djokovic, who is the top seed here despite being ranked No. 2, snuck past 35-year-old Czech showman Radek Stepanek in four high- quality sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), on Centre Court. Djokovic appeared relieved when he converted on his first match point by swatting a cross-court forehand winner that just caught the line to end an affair that featured only two service breaks. Custom Houston Astros Jerseys . Zdeno Chara scored with 13 seconds left in regulation after David Krejci tied it late, lifting the Bruins to a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday night in a game that saw Orpik taken from the ice on a stretcher.CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Houston Rockets hadnt been very good lately with Dwight Howard on the court, and downright lethal with him on the sidelines. But that all changed Monday night. James Harden stayed hot, Howard provided a boost on defence and the Rockets won their fourth straight game 100-89 to cool off the surging Charlotte Bobcats. Harden scored 31 points and Howard battled through foul trouble and a head cold he picked up over the weekend to chip in with 10 points and 10 rebounds, handing the Bobcats only their second loss in the last 11 games at home. Houston had lost three straight before Howard decided to sit out and rest a nagging ankle injury. The Rockets quickly started rolling without him, winning the next three games by an average of 23 points. "Dwight is a great talent and you figure a way to get him in," Harden said. "He didnt score the ball well tonight, but he had 10 rebounds and did so many other things, He held Al Jefferson to a fewer amount of points. It doesnt always show up in the stat sheet, but we know how important he is to our team." Jefferson still finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds for Charlotte, but many of those came when Howard was sitting out after picking up a pair of offensive fouls — his third and fourth of the game — in the third quarter. "I was trying to play through (being sick) and the conditioning, but the important part is we got the win," Howard said. Terrence Jones added 18 points and seven rebounds in the victory and Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverly had backbreaking 3-pointers on consecutive possessions in the final two minutes to seal the victory. The Rockets (48-22) entered 1 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers in the race for third place in the Western Conference and riding a wave of confidence having shot 54.7 per cent during the recent three-game win streak. The turning point came late in the third quarter with the Bobcats leading 66-65. Harden took over, helping Houston close the quarter with a 13-2 run to build a double-digit lead. Harden scored 10 points during that crucial stretch, including a breakaway left-handed dunkk and a fall away 3-pointer.dddddddddddd He was fouled another 3-point attempt and sank all three shots. The Bobcats got to within five on a jumper by Jefferson in the lane, but Parsons and Beverly each hit 3s to push the lead to 98-87 with one minute left in the game. "Chandler made a really big transition 3 and Pat made a big 3 in the corner that kind of sealed the game," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. Kemba Walker had 22 points to lead Charlotte. The Bobcats (34-37) came in having won seven of their last 10 — including a 30-point victory over Portland on Saturday night — and looking to gain ground on Washington in the race for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But they shot just 37 per cent from the field. "The ball movement just wasnt the same tonight. We didnt have a James Harden," Jefferson said. Few teams do. At times, Harden was hitting step-back jump shots that not even the leagues best defenders could stop. Jefferson called Harden the best 1-on-1 player in the game. "He didnt do anything that surprised me tonight," Jefferson said. "Hes an amazing player." It was Hardens 18th 30-point game this season. "He just took over," McHale said. "Hes been fantastic and playing the right way. He had 31 (points) on 19 shots. And hes making the right play. Hes making great passes and he led us in assists" with five. NOTES: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver attended the game. Silver said he would like to see Charlotte host the NBA All-Star game in the near future. "The process is for them to apply. Weve had our events department down here to survey the building and there are some upgrades to the building that are needed. Part of the understanding is to assure the building remains state-of-the-art... but Id love to bring the All-Star game back here. Its a hotbed of basketball and the only thing they have to do is apply." ... Team owner Michael Jordan took in the game from the end of the Bobcats bench. ... Houston has won seven straight against Charlotte. ... Bobcats coach Steve Clifford picked up his seventh technical of the season. 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