Hat Trick

David Beckham is now playing for a club team in France and Landon Donovan is in the midst of a self-imposed sabbatical from soccer. So the Galaxy's star power was muted going into its Major League Soccer opener. But veteran Mike Magee filled the void Sunday, scoring three goals in the Galaxy's 4-0 victory over the Chicago Fire at the Home Depot Center. It was the first hat trick of his career for Magee, in his 11th MLS season, and put an exclamation point on a day when the two-time defending champion Galaxy received its rings in a pregame ceremony that featured parachutists and fireworks.

CHICAGO -- The champions weren't about to skate off quietly into the night. And the Stanley Cup champion Kings did all they could to prolong it as long as possible, on guts and fumes, as they lost, 4-3, in double overtime in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Saturday night at United Center. It was the longest game in Kings history and it took the completion of Patrick Kane's hat trick to end it at 11:40 into the second overtime. The last hat trick to clinch a berth in the finals was in 1993 - the Kings' Wayne Gretzky against Toronto.

Dustin Brown has endured a difficult week. The Kings' captain battled a case of flu, heard Coach Darryl Sutter say he had become stale offensively, and found himself the subject of persistent trade rumors. He responded Saturday night with a commanding performance that should make him and Sutter feel a lot better and quiet some of the rampant speculation. Brown scored the Kings' first three goals against Chicago for a natural hat trick, the third hat trick of his career, and assisted on their final goal in a 4-0 rout of the surprisingly listless Chicago Blackhawks at Staples Center.

J.R. Smith won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award on Monday after turning a role he didn't want into one of the strengths of the New York Knicks' first division championship team in nearly two decades. Smith received 484 points, including 72 first-place votes, from a panel of 121 writers and broadcasters. The Clippers' Jamal Crawford finished second with 352 points, getting 31 first-place votes. Smith averaged 18.1 points in 80 games, all off the bench. He had 29 games in which he scored 20 points as a reserve, tying Crawford for the NBA lead.

WASHINGTON ? Alexander Semin scored three goals and Tomas Fleischmann got the game-winner 1 minute 37 seconds into overtime, giving the Washington Capitals a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night. Atlanta tied it on a goal by Evander Kane with 32.9 seconds left in regulation shortly after pulling goalie Chris Mason for an extra skater. In overtime, however, Fleischmann banged in a backhander to provide the Capitals with their eighth consecutive home win over the Thrashers.

PHOENIX - By squeezing a 48-game schedule into 98 days, the NHL effectively erased the idea of a day off this season. Which is just fine with Ducks center Andrew Cogliano, who hasn't taken a day off since making his NHL debut seven years and 430 games ago. But that doesn't mean Cogliano and his teammates don't get tired. And they were exhausted Saturday when, playing their second game in 22 hours and fifth in a week, the Ducks wasted Cogliano's second career hat trick, twice giving up third-period leads before losing to the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-4, in a shootout.

Yanic Perreault scored three goals and goaltender Byron Dafoe registered 24 saves as the Kings scored a 6-3 exhibition victory over Calgary Friday night. Perreault had two goals in the second period as the Kings scored three times to extend their lead to 5-1. Dafoe played a strong game in the nets as he stopped all but one of the 25 shots he faced. The Kings (2-4), who scored four power-play goals, took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Tony Granato and Denis Tsygurov.

Mike Cammalleri scored his third goal of the game in overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday night. Cammalleri put a wrist shot past Henrik Lundqvist 2:42 in the extra period for his sixth goal of the season to give Montreal its third straight win. Cammalleri scored his second goal of the game late in the second period as Montreal tallied three times in the middle period to tie it at 4-4. Cammalleri, who opened the scoring at 4:16 of the first, scored 18:58 into the second to draw the Canadiens even after Matt D'Agostini and Marc-Andre Bergeron scored earlier in the period.

It's amazing what a few days in Scotland can do for a soccer player. Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan spent the last week in Glasgow on a tryout with Scottish champion Celtic, returning to California only Thursday afternoon. On Saturday, he scored three goals -- achieving a feat not accomplished since 1934 -- as the U.S. defeated Sweden, 3-2, in a lively, entertaining and now historic friendly at the Home Depot Center.

Nas who? That's a question you won't hear too much anymore. The New York rapper, who has a very strong following in the hip-hop underground, has finally made himself a force to be reckoned with on the mainstream pop charts. "It Was Written," his second Columbia album, scores hat tricks on The Times' Southern California chart and on the national sales chart--a No. 1 position on the album, R&B and rap charts.

All that has defined the Ducks' season wasn't happening Friday night. The home dominance. The knack for comebacks. The impenetrable goaltending. The Detroit Red Wings, riding a hat trick by left wing Justin Abdelkader that matched his previous season goal total, ended the Ducks' franchise-record 13-game winning streak at Honda Center with a 5-1 victory. Caught in a flat-footed performance that was ripe with the feeling they let down after beating Western Conference leader Chicago only two nights earlier, the Ducks (22-4-4)

Forget the Gordie Howe hat trick of last season. In many ways, what forward Kyle Clifford did against the San Jose Sharks in Saturday's 5-2 win by the Kings was more impressive than his homage to Howe nearly 14 months ago against Ottawa. Then? Goal, assist and fight, a clear Howe hat trick. Now? Two goals, an exhausting scrap against behemoth defenseman Douglas Murray and a superb defensive play against Joe Pavleski at Staples Center. That play to help shut down Pavelski came shortly before Clifford's second goal of the game to make it 4-1 at 13 minutes 45 seconds of the second period.

His wife was eight months pregnant and goalie Kelly Hrudey, a New York Islander through and through, was hoping to stay with the franchise for his entire playing career, a la Steve Yzerman in Detroit. Then came one stunning and uprooting phone call in late February 1989. Hrudey would be moving across the country, from the Islanders to the Kings in exchange for goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, defenseman Wayne McBean and future considerations. He wasn't thinking about joining Wayne Gretzky and the Kings.

David Beckham is now playing for a club team in France and Landon Donovan is in the midst of a self-imposed sabbatical from soccer. So the Galaxy's star power was muted going into its Major League Soccer opener. But veteran Mike Magee filled the void Sunday, scoring three goals in the Galaxy's 4-0 victory over the Chicago Fire at the Home Depot Center. It was the first hat trick of his career for Magee, in his 11th MLS season, and put an exclamation point on a day when the two-time defending champion Galaxy received its rings in a pregame ceremony that featured parachutists and fireworks.

Jeff Carter turned a dreary, low-scoring game into a cap-tossing celebration for the Kings on Monday night at Staples Center. Carter, the team's most consistent forward throughout this lockout-shortened season, poked through the Nashville Predators' defensive curtain to score during a power play in the second period and added two goals in a span of 19 seconds in the third period, propelling the Kings to an emphatic 5-1 victory over a team that has...

PHOENIX - By squeezing a 48-game schedule into 98 days, the NHL effectively erased the idea of a day off this season. Which is just fine with Ducks center Andrew Cogliano, who hasn't taken a day off since making his NHL debut seven years and 430 games ago. But that doesn't mean Cogliano and his teammates don't get tired. And they were exhausted Saturday when, playing their second game in 22 hours and fifth in a week, the Ducks wasted Cogliano's second career hat trick, twice giving up third-period leads before losing to the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-4, in a shootout.

The game seemed about to slip out of the Kings' grasp. Their penalty killing had been dented a second time midway through the third period Saturday after Wayne Simmonds got a five-minute major and game misconduct for butt-ending Colorado's T.J. Galiardi. And still they had time to chip off the clock. But because Brad Richardson and Jarret Stoll created an opportunity and seized it, the Kings left the Pepsi Center with a 6-4 victory over the Avalanche in a strange but exciting game that turned on special-teams play and alert thinking.

Nathan Horton scored three times for his second career hat trick and the Florida Panthers routed the New York Islanders, 7-1, on Monday night. Michal Repik, Stephen Weiss, Kamil Kreps and Radek Dvorak added goals as the Panthers won for only the third time in 13 games. Jesse Joensuu scored his first goal of the season for the Islanders, who lost for the fourth in the last five games. Thomas Vokoun extended his mastery over the Islanders, improving to 11-4-0 in 15 starts after making 30 saves.

What appeared to be a stroke of genius was downplayed by Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau . Boudreau started the season with 22-year-old Kyle Palmieri on the Ducks' first line with high-scoring stars Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf , but Palmieri's quiet start (one goal through five games) and the emergence of Daniel Winnik persuaded the coach to tinker. He'd adjust even more, trying Andrew Cogliano and Matt Beleskey in the Perry-Getzlaf line. Wednesday, Boudreau reinserted Palmieri on the top line, and Palmieri responded with the sixth natural hat trick in team history — three consecutive goals — in the Ducks' 5-1 rout of Nashville.

Kyle Palmieri withheld some glee for the sake of professionalism, but a look of joy and amazement crossed the Ducks winger's face Wednesday. Just 1 minute 7 seconds into the second period, Palmieri, 22, already had a natural hat trick in the bank - the sixth time in club history that a player had scored three consecutive goals in a game. "I couldn't believe it at first I wasn't sure it went in, but it was an awesome feeling," Palmieri said. All three goals came on direct assists from teammate Corey Perry, who flashed a wide smile at Palmieri, nodding back his too-good-to-be-true glance.