NHL

Rangers hold off Maple Leafs

NEW YORK -- Steve Valiquette outdueled Toronto's Vesa Toskala in a goalie showdown, and Fredrik Sjostrom scored the deciding goal in a shootout to lift the New York Rangers to a 1-0 victory over the Maple Leafs on Friday night.

Valiquette allowed a goal in the tiebreaker to Nikolai Kulemin, but earned his third NHL shutout when Jason Blake hit the post on the final shot of the shootout.

Nikolai Zherdev opened the shootout with a goal for the Rangers, who bounced back from a 3-1 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday night to improve to 6-1. Toronto is 0-1-2 since opening with a victory over the Stanley Cup champion Detroit.

• Blue Jackets 5, Predators 3: At Columbus, Ohio, Rick Nash had two goals and rookies Nikita Filatov and Jake Voracek added goals in a Columbus-record span of 8 seconds.

• Sabres 5, Canucks 2: At Buffalo, N.Y., Thomas Vanek scored his NHL-leading sixth goal and added two assists, and Ales Kotalik scored twice to help Buffalo improve to 4-0.

• Ducks 4, Sharks 0: At Anaheim, Calif., Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 38 saves for his 30th career shutout and Anaheim's first victory of the season.

• Oilers 4, Flames 3: At Calgary, Alberta, Erik Cole, Lubomir Visnovsky and Robert Nilsson scored power-play goals in the second period for Edmonton.

• Senators 6, Coyotes 3: At Ottawa, Jason Spezza had two goals and two assists, Jarko Ruutu also scored twice, and Martin Gerber made 34 saves for Ottawa.

MLB

Brewers extend GM Melvin; Sveum won't be manager

MILWAUKEE -- Doug Melvin will get a 3-year contract extension as the general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, but the team also said Friday that Dale Sveum is no longer under consideration to become manager.

Sveum was promoted from his coaching position and served as interim manager after Ned Yost was fired with 12 games left in the regular season.

The Brewers reached the postseason for the first time since 1982, but lost to Philadelphia in four games in the opening round of the playoffs.

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said the team reached a "significant milestone" by reaching the postseason for the first time in almost three decades, "and this could not have been accomplished without the efforts of Doug Melvin and his staff."

NASCAR

Burton wary of dangers at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- They got through Talladega, the biggest trouble spot in the 10-race playoff, virtually unscathed. But as the leaders in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup prepare to do battle at Martinsville, Jeff Burton fears something is bound to happen.

Of all the drivers in the Chase, he should know.

Two years ago, Burton reached the midpoint with the lead, then came to the track about 60 miles from where he grew up and saw his luck run out. Engine trouble found him in the garage less than halfway through the race, and Jimmie Johnson assumed the points lead and won the title.

Burton, then, arrives this weekend wary of NASCAR's smallest, trickiest track, and he can reel off the litany of potential trouble spots as though he's lived them over and over again.

"It's so easy to drive into Turn One and two guys get together in front of you and then there's nowhere to go and the guys behind you have nowhere to go," Burton said Friday before qualifying was washed out for Sunday's Tums Quikpak 500, the sixth of 10 Chase races.

"It's easy to drive in the corner underneath a guy and get free and have to chase the car up and hit him. It's easy for you to be the guy on the outside getting run into," he said.

"So this is just really, really difficult racing."

Burton, a notoriously poor qualifier, got a break when rain washed out all on-track activities, giving him the second spot on the starting grid and, more importantly, the second selection of pit stalls. On the narrow pit road, only a few offer simple, clear departures.

"I'll be honest, I came here today not looking forward to the questions, 'How are you going to run any good from qualifying back there?"' he said, laughing.

But the danger of Martinsville is hardly minimized by a good pit stall. The 0.526-mile oval is the diciest short track in the series, and one mistake can cost a team dearly.