briefs
Bengals hire Callahan as OC
Bengals coach Zac Taylor has made his first hires, bringing in longtime friend Brian Callahan as offensive coordinator.
The Bengals also hired Jim Turner as offensive line coach, James Casey as tight ends coach and Ben Martin as assistant offensive line coach on Thursday.
Taylor was hired from the Rams, where he was the quarterbacks coach. He’s known Callahan since their college days. Callahan was the quarterbacks coach for the Raiders last season. Taylor plans to call the plays.
Callahan will be the Bengals’ third offensive coordinator in the last three years. They finished last on offense in 2017 and were near the bottom again last season, when quarterback Andy Dalton and receiver A.J. Green were hurt.
Cardinals sign Alford
The Arizona Cardinals signed cornerback Robert Alford to a three-year contract Thursday, two days after he was released by the Atlanta Falcons.
The 30-year-old Alford spent six seasons with the Falcons, starting all 15 games he appeared in last season. He started the last 76 games he appeared in.
Alford has 10 regular-season interceptions, and returned an interception 82 yards for a touchdown two years ago in the Falcons’ Super Bowl loss to New England. The 5-foot-10 former Southeastern Louisiana player was drafted 60th overall by Atlanta in 2013.
In the NHL
Teuvo Teravainen scored his second goal of the game 3:25 into overtime and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-5 in a showdown of the Eastern Conference’s ninth-place teams.
Brock McGinn Greg McKegg and Justin Faulk also scored in a game during which the Hurricanes squandered 2-0 and 5-3 leads, but never trailed. The teams combined for five goals in the third period.
Curtis McElhinney stopped 34 shots in his second consecutive start.
The Hurricanes improved to 12-4-1 in their past 17 games in a turnaround that has had them jump from a tie for 15th in the East to gaining sole possession of ninth. Carolina (27-21-6) upped its total to 60 points and moving two ahead of Buffalo.
- Josh Bailey scored in the fourth round of the shootout, Thomas Greiss made 30 saves and the New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 to sweep the four-game season series.
Mathew Barzal scored in regulation to help New York win for the seventh time in 10 games (7-1-2).
Kevin Rooney scored for New Jersey, and Cory Schneider was outstanding in his first game in almost two months, making 27 saves.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the winning goal, backup Pheonix Copley made 34 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Avalanche 4-3 in overtime to hand struggling Colorado its fifth consecutive loss.
The Avalanche have lost 10 of their past 12 games and are the NHL’s worst team since Dec. 7. Colorado is 5-15-4 in that time, going from tied for the most points in the Western Conference to out of a playoff position.
Semyon Varlamov stopped 38 of the 42 shots he faced, but gave up rebounds and loose pucks all night. Varlamov couldn’t control power-play shots from former Capitals teammate and countryman Alex Ovechkin, allowing Kuznetsov to score his first goal on a tap-in and getting a break on an early whistle on what would have been a goal by Nicklas Backstrom.
Kuznetsov beat Varlamov on a breakaway with 48 seconds left in overtime to end it.
- Jonathan Drouin had two goals and two assists for his first four-point game and the Montreal Canadiens beat Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Thursday night for their third straight victory.
Captain Shea Weber, Phillip Danault and Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored to help the Canadiens improve to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. Carey Price made 32 saves for his seventh consecutive victory.
Danault also had three assists for a four-point game, and Kotkaniemi has scored in four consecutive games.
Montreal jumped ahead of Boston into third place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind Toronto.