WEATHER FORECAST FOR MONDAY, APRIL 2ND, 2018
TODAY – CLOUDY THIS MORNING WITH PEEKS OF
SUNSHINE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON.
HIGH – 48.
TONIGHT – PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES WILL GIVE WAY TO
OCCASIONAL SHOWERS OVERNIGHT. LOW
NEAR 40.
TUESDAY – RAIN IN THE MORNING. THEN REMAINING
CLOUDY WITH THUNDERTORMS DEVELOPING
IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH – 67.
Capitals top Penguins to clinch Metropolitan Division title
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — There was no dogpile in the dressing room. No champagne celebration. Not even a beer. Nothing.
The Washington Capitals have been here before. Many times, actually. It’s not that they don’t appreciate winning Metropolitan Division title after Metropolitan Division title like the one they wrapped up with a 3-1 victory over rival Pittsburgh on Sunday night.
It’s just that they’re tired of division banners being the only ones raised to the rafters.
Still, star Alex Ovechkin knows not all playoff runs are created equal. The group that skated off the ice at PPG Paints Arena after keeping the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions in check for three taut and occasionally chippy periods is not the juggernaut that rolled into postseason in 2016 and 2017 only to be sent home in the second round by Pittsburgh.
“We lost lots of players,” Ovechkin said after playing in his 1,000th career regular season game. “Guys in the locker room, experience guys. But different guys step up and they play different. … We play as a team.”
One that hopes following a familiar script will lead — at last — to an unfamiliar ending.
Philipp Grubauer made 36 saves to continue his push to supplant Braden Holtby as Washington’s top goaltender as the Capitals won for the 10th time in 12 games to assure themselves of home-ice advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“We had a challenge there from the beginning (of the season) on,” Grubauer said. “We lost a couple experienced guys. We learned from our mistakes and we’re still learning. It’s nice to wrap that up, for sure.”
T.J. Oshie, Dmitry Orlov and Tom Wilson scored for Washington and Grubauer did the rest, including a spectacular glove save on Penguins star Sidney Crosby in the third period that served as an exclamation point on the kind of performance that would fit right in over the next two months.
“Last couple games we played in here weren’t too good, so it’s a momentum builder for us,” Grubauer said. “We have to make sure we play the right way next couple games. It’s going to be huge.”
The Penguins have the top power play in the league but went 0 for 5 with the man advantage. Patric Hornqvist picked up his 27th of the season late in the third period to avoid a shutout. Matt Murray stopped 31 shots but couldn’t quite match Grubauer.
“I thought that’s probably as good as our power play has looked the last month, we just didn’t score,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said.
A night after earning a playoff berth for a franchise-record 12th straight year, the Penguins lost at home in regulation for just the second time since Jan. 4 to end a late push for a division crown. Not that it matters much to Pittsburgh. The Penguins have ended each of the last two regular seasons as the division runner-up to Washington. And each time the Penguins have used a second-round playoff series victory over the Capitals as a springboard to the Stanley Cup.
“We never win division,” Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin said. “It’s not first time. It’s not surprise. We’re fine.”
Ovechkin called becoming just the 57th player in NHL history to play at least 1,000 games for one team “a milestone” but didn’t exactly get caught up in the moment. The 32-year-old knows his career has been equally defined by his 603 goals and his team’s inability to make a deep playoff run.
Despite seven division titles and nine playoff appearances since he made his debut in 2005, Ovechkin has never played on a team that reached the Eastern Conference finals. Postseason success is the only thing that’s eluded him, but Washington appears to be peaking behind Grubauer.
Washington coach Barry Trotz opted to give Grubauer his first career start against Pittsburgh and Grubauer responded brilliantly. He was at his best in the second period, when the Penguins’ lethal power play had four chances to draw even and came up empty each time, including an extended two-man advantage in which Grubauer received a little help from the crossbar when a shot from Malkin clanged off the crossbar.
The lucky bounce preserved a 1-0 lead. Orlov pumped in his career-high 10th just after a Pittsburgh power-play expired later in the period, firing a shot from the slot that went between the legs of Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta and over Murray’s right arm.
When Tom Wilson redirected Matt Niskanen’s shot from the point by Murray 23 seconds into the third period the Capitals had another division title wrapped up but not bragging rights. That will have to come later.
NOTES: Washington went 0 for 4 on the power play. … Malkin was given a 10-minute misconduct with 1:01 left in regulation after mixing it up with Oshie. … Penguins C Derick Brassard missed his third consecutive game with a lower-body injury. … Pittsburgh is 9-7-2 on the second night of back-to-backs this season.
UP NEXT
Capitals: Visit St. Louis on Monday. Washington beat the Blues 4-3 on Jan. 7.
Penguins: Get three days off before finishing regular season with a back-to-back starting on Thursday in Columbus.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
Pirates beat Tigers 8-6 to sweep doubleheader, series
By NOAH TRISTER, AP Baseball Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Josh Harrison, Starling Marte and David Freese homered for Pittsburgh, and the Pirates completed a doubleheader sweep of the Detroit Tigers with an 8-6 victory Sunday night.
Pittsburgh won the opener 1-0 behind six no-hit innings from Trevor Williams, then took control of the second game with five runs in the fifth.
Pittsburgh swept the three-game, season-opening series against the rebuilding Tigers. The highlight of the day for Detroit was Miguel Cabrera’s first home run of the season, a solo shot in the sixth inning of the second game.
Chad Kuhl (1-0) allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings in the nightcap. Detroit starter Ryan Carpenter lasted three innings in his major league debut, yielding three runs and five hits.
Felipe Rivero saved both games for Pittsburgh, striking out the side in the ninth to end the opener and getting the final three outs of the nightcap after coming in with a man on second and an 8-5 lead. Rivero allowed four runs in the ninth inning in the first game of this series, a 13-inning victory by the Pirates on Friday.
Harrison hit a two-run homer in the third — it looked initially like he’d have to settle for a double when the ball bounced back into play, but the call was changed to a home run after a review on his flyball to the left-field corner. Marte added a solo shot one out later to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead.
It was 3-all before Pittsburgh’s big fifth inning. Buck Farmer (0-1) allowed a sacrifice fly by Jordy Mercer, then another run came home on a wild pitch. Francisco Cervelli added an RBI single, then Freese connected for a two-run shot to left.
In the opener, Williams (1-0) was pulled with a no-hitter in progress after six innings. He threw 84 pitches, his count boosted by five walks, and was replaced by Michael Feliz to start the seventh.
“I was playing Russian roulette all day with the walks, so I totally understood the move,” Williams said. “It was 1-0 when I came out and it ended up 1-0, so it worked perfectly.”
Nicholas Castellanos quickly ended the no-hit bid with a one-out double off Feliz. George Kontos pitched the eighth and Rivero finished the combined two-hitter.
Michael Fulmer (0-1) gave up one run, four hits and two walks in eight innings, striking out three.
Gregory Polanco’s RBI double gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first, and that held up as the game’s only run.
The doubleheader was scheduled after a rainout Saturday. Attendance was 14,858 for the opener and 18,438 for the nightcap.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove threw 92 pitches in a Gulf Coast League game Saturday and is expected to join the Pirates’ rotation later this week.
Tigers: LF Victor Reyes left the second game with a right forearm laceration after he went diving after a shallow fly and accidentally took SS Jose Iglesias’ legs out from under him. Iglesias held on for the third out of the fifth inning but appeared frustrated, flinging the ball all the way over the fence in left. The game marked Reyes’ major league debut. … RHP Mike Fiers (back) is scheduled to throw a simulated game Monday at Detroit’s extended spring training facility and could come off the disabled list later in the week.
RIVERO VERSUS CABRERA
Rivero went to a 2-0 count on Cabrera to start the ninth inning of the first game, but got three straight swinging strikes on fastballs.
“I was behind in the count, so he knew I was going to be throwing fastballs,” Rivero said. “He just couldn’t catch up with them.”
Cabrera hit an RBI double off Rivero in the second game.
UP NEXT
Pittsburgh has a quick turnaround for its home opener Monday against Minnesota. Jameson Taillon (8-7, 4.44 ERA last season) starts for the Pirates against Lance Lynn (11-8, 3.43).
Francisco Liriano (6-7, 5.66) makes his Tigers debut Monday against Kansas City’s Jason Hammel (8-13, 5.29).
___
More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
___
Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister
2 shootings in Pittsburgh neighborhood kill 1, wound 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Police are investigating two shootings in the same Pittsburgh neighborhood on Easter Sunday that killed one man and critically wounded another.
Public safety department spokeswoman Alicia George says a 20-year-old man was shot in the side in the East Hills neighborhood shortly after noon on Sunday. The victim was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
Also in East Hills, officers responded to an alert from a gunfire detection system at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday and found a man on the sidewalk. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office identified him as 22-year-old Meliek Rashad Hemingway.
No arrests have been reported in either case. Police are asking anyone with information to call investigators.
Penguins 3 vs Canadiens 2
END 2ND Period
Two drivers were killed Friday morning in a multi-vehicle crash that closed southbound Interstate 79 in Franklin Park for hours.
The crash involving five vehicles, including a water truck, was reported about 3 a.m. and was caused by a woman driving the wrong way, investigators said. She crashed head-on into another vehicle.
The woman and the man driving the vehicle she hit head-on both died. Officials identified the woman as 31-year-old Brandy Lamison and the man as 20-year-old Justin Bowser.
Drue Heinz, philanthropist, widow of Heinz CEO, dead at 103
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Drue Heinz, the widow of the former head of the H.J. Heinz Co. and a longtime patron of the literary arts has died. She was 103.
The Heinz family and The Heinz Endowments said she died Friday in Lasswade, Scotland.
Heinz was known for her philanthropy and support of the literary arts. She endowed a literature prize at the University of Pittsburgh, a national prize which every year since 1980 has provided for publication of a collection of short stories. She also was closely involved in the Endowments’ initiative to develop Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall in 1971 and its efforts to create a downtown cultural district.
Heinz also served on the boards of many cultural organizations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Academy in Rome, and also served on the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1971, Heinz co-founded Ecco Press, which published Antaeus magazine and republished many out-of-print books of outstanding literary merit. She also served as publisher of The Paris Review from 1993 until her retirement in 2008.
She was the widow of H.J. Heinz II, who served as CEO of the family company founded by his grandfather. She also was the stepmother of John Heinz, a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who was killed in a 1991 plane crash. His widow, Teresa Heinz Kerry, serves as chair emeritus of The Heinz Endowments.
“Drue was a very private person but she came to know an amazing group of people in her life. She was smart and passionate and deeply interested in art, literature, and especially poetry,” Heinz Kerry said. “That passion and support made her interesting and helped her make a substantive contribution in ways she cared about, especially on issues like art and beauty.”
Bishop David Zubik held a Holy Thursday mass at the Allegheny County Jail as he has in years past. In a ritual initiated by Jesus Christ shortly before his arrest as told in The Holy Bible, Bishop Zubik washed the inmates feet. The Bishop dried the inmates feet. The Bishop kissed the inmates feet.
“It was awesome, it will be a mass I ain’t ever going to forget,” said inmate Vernon Belinsky, 53. “Just the feeling of love in the air, togetherness. This don’t happen. This don’t happen in jail.”
“It really meant a lot to me, I couldn’t help but crying,” said inmate Phillip Grayson, 49.
Holy Thursday is the night of the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted Communion.
“It was life changing,” said inmate Al Majkowski, 59.
“I’ve been to a million masses in my life and it’s amazing to have the most memorable one in jail.”
During the last five years, Pittsburgh’s police roster has shifted toward less experienced officers. In 2012, about half the force had more than 17 years of experience. By 2017, that median dropped to 12 years.
About 30 percent of officers in 2017 were in their first five years on the job, according to the rosters.
“There is definitely a lack of experience there for the younger officers,” said retired officer Ryan Carr, who left in May during his 24th year. “When I came on, the first guys I partnered with were 20 to 25-year veterans. The average age at some of these stations now, average time on the job is five or six years.”