Consol Energy

The Flyers will have a favorable early-season schedule - nine of their first 13 games are at home - when they open defense of their Eastern Conference championship in 2010-11. It will be the Flyers' first full season under coach Peter Laviolette, who took over Dec. 4 and directed the team to within two wins of their first Stanley Cup since 1975. The team released its schedule Tuesday for its 44th season, and it includes one matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks, who defeated the Flyers, four games to two, in the Stanley Cup Finals.

PENGUINS CENTER Mike Rupp made a friend for life before a recent game at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. While warming up, Rupp crashed into the boards, causing fan John Kraynak to spill his beer. Seeing the carnage, Rupp asked the trainer to get $10 out of his wallet in the locker room. Rupp then wrote an apology on a puck, signed it, taped the $10 bill to it, and tossed it to Kraynak.   Are Halladey, Hamils and Leigh next?   The Phillies bobbled a listing for a Roy Oswalt bobblehead giveaway.

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. - Even while standing outside a morose locker room amid the disappointment of having just lost a state championship hockey game, West Chester Rustin coach Nick Russo found a way to let out a slight chuckle. Russo was asked whether scoring 30 seconds into the Class A Pennsylvania Cup game was the type of start the Knights were looking for. "It was exactly what we wanted to do," Russo said through a laugh, before turning serious. "We just would have liked to have kept it up for 44 more minutes.

ALEX OVECHKIN is skipping the NHL All-Star game in Ottawa, a decision he announced a day after getting a three-game suspension from the league for a hit on an opponent. "I feel I'm not deserving to be there right now," the Washington Capitals' captain said yesterday. "If I'm suspended, I have to be suspended. " Ovechkin was punished by the NHL on Monday for launching himself to hit Pittsburgh defenseman Zbynek Michalek during a loss to the Penguins Sunday. Last night, Mathieu Perreault got his first career hat trick to lead the Capitals to a 5-3 victory over the visiting Boston Bruins.

  Sidney Crosby's head is clear. The superstar's return, however, remains murky. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain participated in his first full practice since concussion-like symptoms resurfaced in December, and there is growing optimism he'll be back before the playoffs begin next month. The ever-cautious Crosby insists he still has no timetable on when he'll be cleared to play in a game, but he looked crisp while spending more than an hour on the Consol Energy Center ice. "It's a good step," Crosby said.

PITTSBURGH - One team's misfortune is another team's good fortune. Think Kansas, Missouri or Duke would give up their bracket to change to the East now that Syracuse big man Fab Melo has been declared ineligible for the NCAA Tournament? Ohio State is the No. 2 seed to Syracuse's No. 1. The Buckeyes were always live. Now, they are more live. They start play tonight at Consol Energy Center against Loyola (Md.). President Obama noticed. Or maybe he knows Ohio is much more in play than New York come November so he took Ohio State in his Final Four.

SIDNEY CROSBY scored in his second straight game and added an assist to help the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the visiting New Jersey Devils on Sunday night, 5-2. Crosby, who snapped out of a career-long 12-game goal drought Saturday, gave the Penguins some breathing room with a wrist shot that beat goalie Martin Brodeur early in the third period. Evgeni Malkin also had a goal and an assist for the Penguins to push his points total to 97, tops in the NHL. Pittsburgh has won 10 straight at Consol Energy Center and moved back within a point of the New York Rangers for the top stop in the Eastern Conference, and moved four points ahead of the Flyers.

The headaches and dizziness that made it difficult for him to even get out of bed now gone, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang returned to practice Tuesday for the first time in nearly two months after a concussion suffered against Montreal in late November. Letang was greeted by a chorus of sticks clacking on the ice when he joined his teammates on the Consol Energy Center surface in Pittsburgh. The 24-year-old Letang hasn't played since taking an elbow to the head on Nov. 26. "It's been a rough time, honestly, sitting at home," Letang said.

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. - Even while standing outside a morose locker room amid the disappointment of having just lost a state championship hockey game, West Chester Rustin coach Nick Russo found a way to let out a slight chuckle. Russo was asked whether scoring 30 seconds into the Class A Pennsylvania Cup game was the type of start the Knights were looking for. "It was exactly what we wanted to do," Russo said through a laugh, before turning serious. "We just would have liked to have kept it up for 44 more minutes.