5. Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin taps his toes on the sideline vs. the Tampa Bay Bucs. 4. Washington Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon, snubbed last week, hauls one in around Chargers defensive back with one hand. 3. Houston Texans rookie DeAndre Hopkins reaches over a Colt defender for this catch. 2. New Orleans Saints receiver Robert Meachem keeps his focus after multiple deflections for an incredible catch. 1. Houston Texans receiver Andre Johnson pulls in one of his three touchdowns in an incredible game against the Colts....

Tom Brady’s return to Foxborough, Mass., on Sunday night certainly conjured mixed emotions; the Buccaneers quarterback took the field to a cascading chorus of cheers prior to kickoff before hearing a hearty helping of boos before he took his first snap of the game. MORE: Pats-Bucs live updates, highlights But not every Pats fan was welcoming of Brady before he took the field at Gillette Stadium. NBC highlighted a few New England diehards and their reactions and emotions surrounding Brady’s first trip back as a visitor....

Smith did a question-and-answer session with ESPN’s Jim Trotter and said the NFL has a double standard when applying sanctions to owners and players as it pertains to the NFL’s personal conduct policy. The double standard is something Smith finds “philosophically and intellectually repugnant.” “When it comes to owner misconduct, the record is clear about the incidents that have caused players and fans to question the fairness of the system – in terms of how the (Vikings owner) Zygi Wilf and (Browns owner) Jimmy Haslam and (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones and (Colts owner) Jim Irsay situations were handled,” Smith told Trotter....

According to Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the league has made two requests to the NHL Players’ Association to tweak the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that extended the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) back in July. And the players aren’t too happy about it. “We just signed a new CBA four months ago,” a player who has been on NHLPA calls told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski. “And in that agreement we accounted for this season being not a typical season....

Crosby won the NHL’s most valuable player award for the second time Tuesday night at the league’s postseason awards ceremony in Las Vegas. MORE: Gentille’s awards diary | SN’s official awards ballot | Who drives the bus in the East? After his first full season without major injuries since 2010, the Penguins’ 26-year-old center cleaned up at the NHL’s awards show to cap a fruitful year that included a second gold medal as Canada’s captain at the Sochi Olympics....

Among the changes, the committee suggested that the league adopt a coach’s challenge as part of expanded video review and proposed alterations to the faceoff rule. The committee also discussed changing the NHL’s overtime format from its current 4-on-4 to a form of 3-on-3, but failed to reach a consensus. A decision regarding overtime is expected by the end of the month. MORE: Bettman talks state of the NHL | Stanley Cup Final schedule...

NHL general managers recommended both of the changes at Tuesday’s GM meetings in Boca Raton. Commissioner Gary Bettman believes the new rules could be implemented for the start of the 2015-16 season, but overtime rules must first be approved by the competition committee, per Katie Strang of ESPN.com. MORE: Vegas making push for franchise | Coyotes report big losses | Flames don’t need your fancy stats “The consensus in the room, overwhelmingly, is we’re not getting rid of the shootout....

The “Mini Light The Lamp” may fill easily based on increased demand. That has an $8 entry with $30,000 prize pool. Note there is also several “Light The Lamp” tournaments with some intriguing payouts. With scoring down, Vegas has a couple over/unders at six. On a semi-related note, with teams coming off bye weeks tonight, do watch out for rust. Usually, there will be more mistakes than usual which offers the chance for a greater amount of goals scored....

The hockey world has convened in Dallas waiting with a bated breath on the future of impending free agent John Tavares, but the latest trade rumor involving under-contract stars like Erik Karlsson, Phil Kessel and Artemi Panarin will be the talk Friday night in between each teams’ first-round picks. NHL DRAFT 2018: First-round results | Trade rumors | Top 100 big board There was still plenty to talk about when it comes to the actual selections with a number of high-profile prospects up and down the draft board, from Rasmus Dahlin, widely considered the NHL’s best defense prospect in a generation, to the polarizing Brady Tkachuk, whose draft stock is anything but consensus....

Entering one of the most wide-open drafts in recent history, NHL fans were able to finally see how teams valued certain prospects. The speculation that has been ongoing for nine months since the NHL Draft in October finally had its answers. The first answer came with the first-overall pick, with the Sabres selecting Owen Power with the top selection. The Kraken followed behind, starting off their prospect pool with Power’s University of Michigan teammate, Matty Beniers....

That seems to have been the case. MORE: Free agency winners and losers | Penguins coach preaches puck possession Pittsburgh on Wednesday signed winger Steve Downie, who split last season between Colorado and Philadelphia, to a one-year, one-million contract. Part of the reason Downie came on the cheap was out of his control — he dealt with a concussion last season (4G, 20A in 62 games) and tore his ACL in the second game of 2013....

Defenseman Ron Hainsey, who was inexplicably on the scrap heap for most of the 2013 offseason, signed a three-year contract worth $2.83 million annually on Tuesday. That’s an exceedingly reasonable deal. Hainsey is 33 years old and hasn’t totaled more than 19 points since 2009-10 with the Atlanta Thrashers, but he’s been a reliable, play-driving second-pairing defenseman throughout. That certainly was the case last season; Hainsey averaged 21:26 per game, including more than 2 minutes on the penalty kill, and played well....

The Lightning announced Saturday, they have signed Maroon to a one-year, $900,000 deal. “We’re very pleased to add Pat to our organization today,” Tampa Bay vice president and general manager Julien BriseBois said in a statement. “He brings size and physicality to our group as well as significant playoff experience. We expect Pat’s to be a great addition to the roster.” Maroon, 31, scored 10 goals and added 18 assists for the Blues last season....

NHL scoreboard | Video highlights | Linemakers: Betting odds Vancouver at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. Pittsburgh has scored first in five of its seven games this season and all four at home. Not coincidentally, they’re 5-0-0 in those games. Ryan Kesler will be the third man on the Sedins’ line for Vancouver. Edmonton at Ottawa, 2 p.m. The Sens’ Clarke MacArthur-Kyle Turris-Bobby Ryan line is a blast to watch right now....

GMs will propose that teams switch sides in overtime and, potentially, an ice scrape before the extra period, according to multiple reports out of the meetings. Formal recommendations would need the approval of the league's competition committee and board of governors, which next meet in June. The thought process behind those is simple enough; switching sides means that defensemen will have to make "the long change" from the bench, which seems to lead to more goals in the second period; and better ice will lead to faster players....

As we’ve gotten closer and closer to the draft, things have gotten spicy. There have been questions about Shane Wright’s season, but for the most part, he was still considered the consensus No. 1 pick. However, TSN’s Bob McKenzie dropped a bomb on the hockey world by ranking Slovakia’s Juraj Slafkovsky ahead of Wright in his final draft rankings. There have been rumors that the Canadiens could elect to pass on the top Canadien prospect and opt to select Slafkovsky or American Logan Cooley....

Three first-round series come down to a deciding Game 7, complete with rivals going at it in one game, an upset possibility in another and an historic comeback on the line in the third. Flyers at Rangers – 7 p.m. ET – NBC Sports Network The Flyers staved off elimination last night with a 5-2 victory at home, meaning the teams will play the second game of a back-to-back tonight....

From the Globe and Mail: SportsVU, specifically, just finished its first season as the official tracking system of the NBA. Six cameras installed above every court record player movements and, among many other things, the location of their shot attempts. The end result: valuable data for teams, who use it to make scouting reports, and analysts and fans, who use it to better explain and understand the game. The data is available on the league’s website, and writers like Grantland’s Kirk Goldsberry have done some truly cool stuff with it....

New York’s second-round series vs. the Capitals shifts to Washington for Game 3 tied at a game apiece, with Monday night’s contest being called a coin-flip by multiple Las Vegas bookmakers. Here’s a bettor’s preview. Lines are current as of Sunday evening. Check out our live odds page for updated numbers from Las Vegas. New York Rangers at Washington Capitals, 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN Best New York line: +100 (Westgate)Best Washington line: -105 (CG Technology)Total: 5 (under -140)...

Penguins goaltender Matt Murray was injured in warmups prior to Game 1 of the team’s Eastern Conference playoff series vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. Murray was scratched from his scheduled start and replaced by veteran backup Marc-Andre Fleury. FOLLOW LIVE: NHL scores and highlights from first-round games Upon video review, Murray appeared to suffer a lower-body injury while stopping shots in warmups. Tristan Jarry will back up Fleury....