The Record, Bergen County, NJ

Lundqvist Saves the Day ; Stops Malkin On Penalty Shot to Spur Blueshirts

NEW YORK - While the leisurely pace of the Penguins' Evgeni Malkin's penalty-shot attempt may have taken the rest of Madison Square Garden by surprise, it didn't fool Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers' goalie used to see it all the time in practice. "We had Michael Nylander," Lundqvist said of his ex-teammate, now with the Washington Capitals. "I had two years to practice slow breakaways with Mikey. [Malkin] has fast hands and it was an important time in the game."

Dark Clouds Over N.Y. ; Injuries, Pitching Cause for Concern

NEW YORK - More and more, the Yankees' season is taking on the colorless hue of an 85-win finish, not good enough for October, not bad enough to be catastrophic. The players are either too young or too old, hardly anyone in their prime. Senior management won't dare use the taboo "R" word, not as it tries to keep 4 million fans pouring through the turnstiles, but the veterans will privately tell you otherwise: for all the hype of a monster year, the Bombers are already on a long, flat road to ...

Pens Can't Keep Jagr Down ; Two Goals, One Assist Give Rangers Life

NEW YORK Jaromir Jagr joked that the signs were brought by his "friends." One read, "JJ please stay."

Foolish Fling for This Filly? ; Eight Belles Ready to Battle the Boys

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Larry Jones likes his image. With his ever- present cowboy hats and boots plus his aw shucks mannerisms, he's the good old boy of thoroughbred racing trainers. He's nobody's fool, however. He hears the whispers, he sometimes gets a glimpse of the frowns.

Clock's Ticking On Mets ; Randolph Must Lift Club From Malaise

PHOENIX - The Mets ended April a half-game off the lead in the National League East with the Phillies and the Braves behind them. Sounds good, right? Well, maybe if you had dropped in without watching an inning of the 2008 season or didn't still have that painful heartburn left over from the final month of the 2007 season.

Red Bulls Earn Difficult Draw

The Red Bulls have to feel good about picking up a point in front of a boisterous road crowd. In the end, Dave van den Bergh's tying goal in the 39th minute was enough for the Red Bulls to leave Canada with a 1-1 draw against Toronto FC on Thursday in a physical, back-and-forth contest.

Jim Freda's Saltwater Report

Best bet Big striped bass and bluefish are present in the back bays. Stripers range from small up to mid-30 pounders. Bluefish are from 2- 12 pounds.

Wassel's Bunt Keys Pv in Thriller ; Offense Coming to Life As Team Notches Sixth Straight Victory

LITTLE FALLS Leadoff hitter Joe Wassel has been making things happen for Passaic Valley and the rest of the offense is following suit. The speedy Wassel laid down a stellar bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning and the ball was thrown away to allow Passaic Valley to defeat Garfield, 4-3, Thursday in non-league baseball for its sixth consecutive win.

Youmans' Impressive Arsenal ; Leonia Lefty Adds Knuckler, Baffles Palisades Park On Four-Hitter

LEONIA Ryan Youmans has added a knuckleball to his arsenal and that has made his fastball and his curve even more effective. Leonia's junior left-hander had all three pitches working and he needed them to survive for a 1-0 win Thursday over Palisades Park in BCSL Olympic Division baseball.

Heights Keeps Rolling ; Aviators Close in 13th Straight Crown

The number 13 has turned out to be a very lucky one for the Hasbrouck Heights girls track team and coach Rob Brady. With Tuesday's convincing victories over Wood-Ridge and Secaucus in a tri-meet, the Aviators notched their 13th consecutive undefeated dual meet season, and moved one step closer to their 13th straight league title, since 1998 in the BCSL National and in 1996 and 1997 in the BCSL Olympic.

One, Singular Sensation ; Weisberger Rallies Wayne Hills to Share of Title

WAYNE - Jeff Weisberger was one point away from losing Thursday. Then the Wayne Hills senior rose from the edge of defeat to stage an improbable comeback.

Finally Safe at Home ; Twins Flourish at Eastside After Stepfather Returns From Iraq

PATERSON - Each night before he went to bed, Edwin Padilla kissed the photo of his twin boys. And every morning when he woke up in his tent in Iraq, he feared anew for his life. "Every day," he said, "you never knew what was going to happen."

Crusaders Learning As They Go ; Bc's First-Year Volleyball Team Battles Through Growing Pains

ORADELL Success is expected at Bergen Catholic. The Crusaders have some of the best athletes in North Jersey roaming the hallways and perennially field some of the best teams in Bergen County, no matter what the sport. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the boys volleyball team came into the season with the confidence bred by experience in other sports. It didn't matter that it was the first season for volleyball at the school or that the team had about a week of practice before starti...

New Goals Ahead ; Gr Star's Focus On Academics

GLEN ROCK Ben Probert was somewhat miffed after not being recruited by any colleges last year. The Glen Rock lacrosse star did lead Bergen County in scoring as a junior 76 goals and 30 assists. He was also a second-team All- State selection, first-team All-County choice and player of the year in the Pooley Division.

Bergen Tech's Mitchell Finds His Pace

RAMSEY - Mike Mitchell prefers running on grass. But the senior from Bergen Tech didn't do too badly on the track Thursday. Mitchell ran the 5,000 meters in 15 minutes, 49.16 seconds to win the first-place trophy at the inaugural Ironman Invitational track meet at Don Bosco.

Rangers Notes

Avery update Although Rangers left wing Sean Avery remained in the intensive care unit at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan with a lacerated spleen, team spokesperson John Rosasco said doctors were finally able to stop the bleeding Thursday afternoon.

Rangers Notes

"A classless act" Things got nasty in the final minute of Thursday's game after Penguins star center Evgeni Malkin twice kicked Rangers defenseman Paul Mara's skates out from under him.

William Paterson Escapes

Anthony Perrone of Midland Park knocked in the go-ahead run with a groundout in the fourth as William Paterson beat Montclair State, 8-6, Thursday in the first round of the NJAC baseball tournament in Little Falls. Will Courter went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs, John Elia of Emerson had two hits and two RBI and Mike Guadango of Upper Saddle River collected three hits and an RBI for the Pioneers.

Spurned Holtz Headed to College Hall of Fame

NEW YORK Lou Holtz's first big break in his Hall of Fame career came when he got dumped by his girlfriend. With no good reason to stay in Ohio, he left a job coaching high school football and became a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa in 1960.

Expect Johnson to Scout N.Y.

Avery Johnson never said "Knicks" Thursday or as it might've sounded in his high-pitched Louisiana lilt, "Kneeks." Yet the deposed Dallas coach, in his first session with reporters since the Mavericks fired him Wednesday, said he intends to coach again and his agent, within hours of his dismissal, already had fielded "a few calls" at a time when only two other teams owned head- coach openings.