Digest: Capitals ousted

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Hunched over, head bowed, his stick resting across his knees, Alex Ovechkin skated alone down the ice, stung by yet another Game 7 loss by his Washington Capitals.

At the other end of the rink stood Montreal Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak, his arms raised in triumph, his teammates pounding him on the helmet, on the back, everywhere.

With Halak making 41 saves in his latest spectacular, acrobatic performance and his teammates combining to block a whopping 41 shots, eighth-seeded Montreal held on to beat Washington 2-1 on Wednesday night, stunning the Presidents' Trophy winners by reeling off three consecutive victories to take the first-round series.

"I'm in shock right now. I don't know what to say," Ovechkin said, his voice low, his eyes staring at the floor of the locker room. "It was great going up 3-1 in the series. But it's only one step. We didn't do it."

The NHL's two-time MVP has played in four career playoff series, and each went to a Game 7. Ovechkin and the Capitals are 1-3 in those deciding contests.

The Canadiens are the ninth No. 8 team to knock off a No. 1 in 32 matchups since the NHL went to its current playoff format in 1994 — and the first to come back from a 3-1 series deficit.

"Before the series started, no one gave us a chance to win, not even one game," said Halak, who stopped 131 of Washington's 134 shots in Games 5-7. "We proved (to) them they were wrong."

Montreal defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron scored a 4-on-3 goal in the last 30 seconds of the opening period after Norris Trophy finalist Mike Green was sent off for cross-checking. Dominic Moore made it 2-0 with 31/2 minutes left, stealing the puck from Green before beating goalie Semyon Varlamov.

Brooks Laich cut Washington's deficit with 2:16 to go, and the Capitals then got one last power play a half-minute later, but couldn't connect.

NFL

MIAMI — Dolphins owner Stephen Ross will "take appropriate actions if necessary" against general manager Jeff Ireland for asking former Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant whether his mother was ever a prostitute.

Ireland apologized for the question, and the NFL players union raised concerns about discrimination and degradation.

* ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos left tackle Ryan Clady has undergone surgery to repair a torn left patellar tendon and will be out for several months, according to a published report.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

PHILADELPHIA — The mother of a Penn football player found dead earlier this week says he committed suicide. Katherine Brearley says her son Owen Thomas was very self-directed but that his intensity "spiraled out of control."

COLLEGE HOOPS

LAS VEGAS — UNLV says Matt Shaw is off the Runnin' Rebels men's team after failing a post-game drug test in the team's NCAA tournament loss.

* AMES, Iowa — Iowa State and new coach Fred Hoiberg have agreed on a five-year deal with a base salary of $800,000.

Hoiberg was announced as the Cyclones new coach on Tuesday night, just one day after former coach Greg McDermott took the same job at Creighton.

* CHARLESTON, S.C. — Chuck Driesell, the son of former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell, has been named coach at The Citadel. Driesell comes to the Charleston military college after four seasons as an assistant to Gary Williams.

RACING

CHARLOTTE — NASCAR docked Brad Keselowski 50 points in the Nationwide Series because his car failed inspection following his win at Talladega Superspeedway.

Keselowski's lead in the Nationwide standings dropped from 60 points to 10 after Wednesday's penalty.