WASHINGTON - Alex Ovechkin played the last two games of the Washington Capitals' season with what the team said Thursday is a hairline fracture in his left foot.

Ovechkin was hurt during Game 6 of Washington's first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers, a 1-0 loss on Sunday. The Capitals didn't explain specifically how their captain got injured, but Ovechkin did get up a bit gingerly after dropping to the ice to block a shot in the first period.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Raffi Torres spent the past year in Phoenix and San Jose trying to shake his reputation as a dangerous player.

His hit on Los Angeles centre Jarret Stoll might have erased much of that work and put both players' post-season futures in doubt.

ARLINGTON, Va. - As the Washington Capitals gathered at their practice facility Wednesday for exit meetings and the annual explanations about what went wrong in the playoffs, there were references to bad luck and bad bounces in their first-round elimination against the New York Rangers.

"If you're asking me if there's one specific thing, I don't know," defenceman Mike Green said, two days after Washington's 5-0 home loss in Game 7. "Does anybody know? Do you know?"

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Dan Bylsma has been hearing it seemingly from the moment he took over at Pittsburgh Penguins head coach four years ago.

Every time the Penguins hit a rough patch, the murmurs about finding a polished winger to play alongside superstar Sidney Crosby pop up. Bylsma understands the sentiment. It's just that it's a little misplaced.

WASHINGTON - D.C. United defender Robbie Russell has retired after a 13-year career in Major League Soccer and in Europe, and will study medicine at Georgetown University.

The 33-year-old Russell scored one goal in 20 appearances with United, which announced his plans Wednesday.

He played in 98 games over six seasons in MLS and was a member of the 2009 league champions, Real Salt Lake.

Russell also played in Iceland, Norway and Denmark.

LONDON - Wigan is going to be relegated to the League Championship, while Arsenal seemingly is heading back to the Champions League.

Drained after winning the FA Cup for the first time on Saturday, Wigan crashed back to earth with a 4-1 loss at Arsenal on Tuesday to be relegated after eight seasons in the Premier League.

MADRID - Lionel Messi could be done for the season after he was ruled out for up to three weeks because of his nagging hamstring injury, meaning he's set to fall short of breaking his own Spanish league scoring record.

CHICAGO - LeBron James and the Miami Heat didn't even give the Chicago Bulls room to breathe, practically squeezing the playoff life out of them to take a commanding lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Another effort like this will seal it.

James scored 27 points and the Heat nearly matched a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a playoff game, pounding the listless and short-handed Bulls 88-65 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

MINNEAPOLIS - Joanne Boogaard watched her son Derek duke it out on the ice with other NHL tough guys for six seasons as one of the most feared enforcers in the game, a six-foot-seven brawler who was not there to skate or score, but to defend his teammates when it was called for.

"He was there protecting his teammates at all costs," she said in a statement released by her lawyers on Monday, "but who was there to protect him?"

BOSTON - Jose Bautista looks comfortable in the No. 2 slot in the Toronto Blue Jays' batting order.

Bautista hit two of Toronto's five home runs, and the Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 12-4 Sunday to take two of three in the weekend series.

"You get three or four runs ahead," Bautista said, "that's when some guys come out and are able to take some big hacks and we get the types of results we got today."