Tavares, Greiss help Isles beat Stars
John Tavares narrowly missed out on his second hat trick in a week, Thomas Greiss got his second straight shutout and the New York Islanders beat the Dallas Stars 3-0 on Thursday night in their first game since firing longtime coach Jack Capuano.
New York canned Capuano in the middle of his seventh season Tuesday, replacing him on an interim basis with Doug Weight.
Tavares has seven goals in four games after scoring twice and then having an emptynet shot just deflected wide late in the third period. He had three goals last Friday at Florida.
Greiss stopped 23 shots after making 32 saves in a 4-0 win over Boston on Monday.
Calvin de Haan added an empty-net goal on a coast-to-coast shot with four seconds left.
Kari Lehtonen made 33 saves for Dallas, including breakaway denials on Tavares and Shane Prince.
Andre Burakovsky, T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov each had a goal and an assist to lead the Washington Capitals to a victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Nino Niederreiter had two power-play goals and an assist, including the go-ahead score for the Minnesota Wild with 7:06 remaining in a victory over Arizona after the Coyotes came back from a two-goal deficit. Michael Grabner scored two goals against his former team, helping the New York Rangers snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Raiders made it official Thursday by filing for relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas, the culmination of a whirlwind romance to bring an NFL team to a city that the league had previously gone out of its way to shun because of sports betting fears.
League owners are expected to vote on the move in March.
"I don't know how you can put a price on this," said Steve Sisolak, a county commissioner who has been involved in the efforts to land the team. "There are only 32 cities that can say they have an NFL team, and we will be one of them."
But there is a price on it. Tourists will pay increased room taxes to fund $750 million of the cost of a new $1.9 billion stadium as part of a deal rammed through a special session of the Nevada Legislature by powerful casino owner Sheldon Adelson's family.
The stadium will be just off the Las Vegas Strip, where the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL will begin play this fall in a new arena.
"(Raiders owner) Mark Davis is a man of his word and the filing of the Raiders' application for relocation of the franchise with the NFL is a significant step in bringing the team to Las Vegas," Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said.
Las Vegas, which has about 2.5 million people in the metropolitan area, would be a smaller market than the Bay Area. But fans from other cities are expected to fill a third of
Former Pro Bowler Clyde Simmons has been hired by the Cleveland Browns to coach their defensive line.
Simmons, who played 15 seasons in the NFL, spent the past five years as an assistant with the Rams. He's coming to Cleveland to work under new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who has been brought in by coach Hue Jackson to fix one of the league's worst defenses.
Williams also added his son, Blake, to Cleveland's staff to coach the linebackers. The younger Williams spent last season working in the league office. The Browns also added Jerod Kruse (assistant defensive backs), DeWayne Walker (defensive backs), and Bob Wylie (offensive line) to Jackson's reconfigured staff.
Jets owner appears to be ambassador pick
President-elect Donald Trump appears to have decided that billionaire New York Jets owner Woody Johnson will become the next ambassador to Britain.
The appointment has not been formally announced, but Johnson is considered a favorite for the job. The billionaire businessman and philanthropist from the Johnson & Johnson family has known Trump for years.