said. "Two hours ago, I didnt think I had a shot. Im p

WASHINGTON -- Every point matters more than ever to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, who are part of a logjam in the Eastern Conference -- and on the outside of the playoff race, looking in, at the moment. So blowing two-goal leads, as the Capitals tend to do, and losing key players such as centre Nicklas Backstrom to injury are not exactly what they want. All of those bad things happened to the Capitals in a 5-4 shootout loss Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Kings, who came back after Ovechkin scored two early power-play goals. "Obviously, you miss Backy, but every team has guys that go out," said Capitals coach Adam Oates, who would only say that Backstrom has an upper-body injury. "Youve got 19 other guys that have got to do the job. Weve got plenty of guys that can do the job." Also "being evaluated," as Oates put it, after the game was defenceman Jack Hillen, who was involved in a scary moment halfway through overtime, colliding with Ovechkin at centre ice. Hillens helmet slammed into Ovechkins chest, and the game was put on hold for a bit. Ovechkin got the wind knocked out of him and took a knee, but returned to the game. Hillen got the worst of the impact and remained face-down on the ice while a trainer checked on him. Washington is ninth in the East, one spot out of the playoffs based on tiebreakers, even though it is one of four teams with 80 points, alongside No. 7 Columbus, No. 8 Detroit and No. 10 Toronto. The Capitals have nine games left, starting Saturday at home against Boston. So among the Capitals, there was a mix of relief at the idea of picking up one point against Los Angeles -- and disappointment at failing to get two after leading 2-0 thanks to Ovechkin before the game was 7 1/2 minutes old, and then being ahead 3-1 entering the third period. "Theres no excuse. We have to find a way to win when we are up two goals," Washington forward Marcus Johansson said. "It hurts a lot. You never know when it comes down to it -- in or out (of the playoffs) by one point." Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter scored in the shootout for the Kings, and goalie Jonathan Quick caught Eric Fehrs attempt after rookie forward Evgeny Kuznetsov whiffed on Washingtons opening shot. Kuznetsov had tied the wild, back-and-forth game with 41.5 seconds left in regulation on his first NHL goal, a short-hander that came when he reached in to knock home a loose puck after it trickled through Quicks pads on Ovechkins shot. Plenty of fans thought Ovechkin was responsible for his third goal of the night, and they tossed their hats onto the ice. But his total stayed at a league-leading 48. While Kuznetsovs goal got the crowd excited, in the end, the Kings wound up winning their seventh consecutive road game and their fourth game in a row overall. They began Tuesday sixth in the West, and their playoff status is looking a lot more secure than Washingtons. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter wasnt pleased with the way his team started Tuesday. But he liked the way his players turned things around. "We just kind of hung in there," Sutter said. Mike Richards, Dwight King, Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown scored for the Kings in regulation. The most important goal might have been Kings, which came 45 seconds into the third period and pulled Los Angeles within 3-2. "The boys stuck together, stuck with it," Kings defenceman Drew Doughty said. "We knew the whole time we were going to get back in that game." NOTES: LW Dustin Penner netted his first goal for the Capitals since arriving from Anaheim at the trade deadline. ... The Kings have seven victories in a row over Washington. ... Midway through the second period, Capitals F Troy Brouwer and Kings D Willie Mitchell were both called for penalties after a skirmish in front of Quicks net. Brouwer stayed down on the ice for a bit, then was helped up and led to the locker room. It wasnt immediately clear what was wrong. ... The Kings record is eight straight road wins, in the 1974-75 season. Anthony Munoz Youth Jersey . Notes on Bergeron, Marchand, Gorges, Vanek, Gaborik, Doughty, Hiller and more. BRUINS STORM BACK TO TAKE GAME TWO The Boston Bruins rallied from a 3-1 deficit, scoring four unanswered goals, to win Game Two, 5-3 over the Montreal Canadiens. Joe Mixon Jersey . -- Oakland Athletics third baseman Scott Sizemore has undergone surgery on his left knee to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. http://www.bengalsrookiestore.com/Bengals-Ryan-Finley-Jersey/ . The hard-serving 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., became the first Canadian to be ranked in the Top 10 on the ATP World Tour thanks to his runner-up performance at Rogers Cup in Montreal. Drew Sample Youth Jersey . The Maple Leafs may not have had a pick until the third round, but they have made the biggest move of the second day of the Draft, dealing defenceman Carl Gunnarsson and a fourth-round pick in the draft to the St. A.J. Green Jersey . - UFC 178, previously announced for Sept. PINEHURST, N.C. -- In the midst of throwing away a four-shot lead, Michelle Wie never lost sight of the big picture at Pinehurst No. 2. The U.S. Womens Open rarely goes according to plan, and Saturday was no exception. Wie knows that from experience long ago, and she settled down with four important pars to wind up with a 54-hole share of the lead for the third time in her career. Wie was a teenager the other two times. Now at 24, she was one round away from capturing her first major. "Im just grateful for another opportunity," Wie said after salvaging a 2-over 72 to tie Amy Yang. "Tomorrow Im going to play as hard as I can and hope for the best." Yang, who earned a spot in the final group for the second time in three years, didnt make a par until the eighth hole in a wild round so typical of this day. Only a sloppy bogey on the final hole cost her the outright lead, though she was more than happy with a 68. They were at 2-under 208, the only players still under par. A pivotal moment for Wie came on the 12th hole. She reached 6 under for the tournament with back-to-back birdies at the turn. She made her first double bogey of the tournament with a tee shot she hooked into the pine trees on the 11th. Her next drive sailed well to the right and settled on a sandy path. Instead of punching under the trees and over the bunker to the green -- anything long is a tough up-and-down -- she pitched out to the fairway and made bogey. "U.S. Opens are tough," she said. "I feel like maybe on a different golf course, I would have taken that chance. You just dont want to be too greedy out here. Even though you make bogey, sometimes you just dont want to make a double out here. I felt like I made the right decision there." The USGA set the course up relative to what the men faced last Saturday in the U.S. Open when wire-to-wire winner Martin Kaymer had his only over-par round with a 72. It was short (6,270 yards) but tough because of the pin positions. That didnt stop Juli Inkster. The 53-year-old Hall of Famer, who has said her 35th appearance in the Womens Open will be her last, had a tournament-best 66 to get into contention. She will be in the penultimate group, four shots out of the lead, still dreaming of a third Open title that would make her by 10 years the oldest Womens Open winner. "You can think and you can dream all you want," Inkster said. "But the bottom line is youve got to come out and make the shots. And if Im tied for the lead coming up 18, then maybe Ill think about it. Ive got a long way to go. Im just going to enjoy the moment and hit a few balls and see wwhat happens.dddddddddddd" Also remaining in the hunt was Lexi Thompson, who won the first LPGA major this year in a final-round duel with Wie, and pulled within one shot of Wie with a pair of birdies early in the round. It fell apart on two holes. Thompson missed the green to the left on No. 8 -- the worst spot at Pinehurst -- and her first chip fell down the slope, leading to double bogey. On the next hole, she went long over the green and chose to take relief she really didnt need from a white line marking the TV tower. Thompson went to the drop zone, and her ball rolled back into a divot. Worst yet, she still used her putter, and it hopped high out of the divot and had no chance to reach the green. She made another double bogey, then made three straight bogeys on the back nine. She birdied the final hole for a 74 that left over 3 over. Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., finished the third round in a tie for 18th place, while Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., tumbled to 56th. Na Yeon Choi had a 71 and was in the group with Inkster at 2-over 212 along with Stephanie Meadow (69) and 18-year-old amateur Minjee Lee of Australia (72). Another shot back were So Yeon Ryu, who played her final 10 holes in 3 under for a 70, and Karrie Webb, who went the final 12 holes without a bogey for a 70. "Michelle Wie has put a few of us back into the tournament," Webb said. "Two hours ago, I didnt think I had a shot. Im pretty happy about that." Wie hit 8-iron to 8 feet for birdie on the par-3 ninth, and then hit a beautiful lag from about 80 feet for at two-putt birdie on the par-5 10th to reach 6 under. One swing changed everything. The back tee on No. 11 was used for the first time all week, playing at 444 yards. Lucy Li, the 11-year-old who missed the cut as the Womens Opens youngest qualifier in history, walked the final 12 holes with the last group. "Man, that hole is like 10 times harder from there," she said. "Well, maybe not for them." Definitely for them based on their shots. Wie hit a snap-hook that rambled through the trees and left her no shot but to go sideways and slightly back. She hit her third in a greenside bunker, blasted out about 25 feet long and nearly off the green and made double bogey. "You cant be in the tree here," Wie said. "But I felt like I grinded out there." Thats what it usually takes in the U.S. Womens Open. Wie shot 82 in final round at Cherry Hills when she was 15. She missed a playoff at Newport by two shots a year later. She is back again, a 24-year-old former teen prodigy, 18 holes away and still a long way to go. ' ' '