Source: USA TODAY

Like his players, Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski believes he needs to practice his craft to continue to perform at a high level.

For Krzyzewski, that means he’d never want to coach the U.S. men’s national team in the Olympics if he weren’t currently coaching. So before he made the decision to sign on for the 2016 Olympics, he had that conversation with his wife. Micki Krzyzewski suggested it might be easier to just coach the Olympic team, not Duke, too.

“Really, it’s just the opposite,” Krzyzewski said at a news conference Thursday. “I don’t think anybody should coach the (Olympic) team unless they’re coaching. In other words, you’ve got to stay sharp. I’m coaching in the best league against the best competition and the best players that I can. Doing that, it becomes easier. … You have to do both, I think.”

He admitted that before the London Games, he wasn’t sure how much longer he wanted to be in the profession. At 66, he’s done it all — four national championships at Duke, 11 Final Four appearances, and, with USA Basketball, a 62-1 record that includes gold medals from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.

Until Thursday, Krzyzewski hadn’t said he’d be coming back for Rio in 2016.

“The main thing is, will you still have the drive and the energy and can you give the time that’s going to be necessary to do it?” Krzyzewski said. “The final decision was yes, I can do that.”

In general, Krzyzewski said he plans on continuing to coach.

“Pretty much, I don’t see an end. Obviously I’m not going to end before the Olympics,” he said, solidifying his place at Duke through at least the 2015-16 season.

This upcoming season will be the first with Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A year later, Maryland will leave the ACC, and Louisville will join.

Krzyzewski looks forward to the future of an already highly competitive, deep conference. And now, he’s guaranteed he’ll be around to participate in it.

“We’re going to be a 10-bid conference,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re going to be the best conference in the history of the game.”

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Game 7s aren’t supposed to go like this.

They’re not supposed to end in a rout, not when each of the five previous games was decided by one goal. They’re not supposed to be all-but-over midway through the second period, not when two games in this arena weren’t finished until overtime.

But Game 7s don’t always live up to the hype – and the winning team never cares how it gets the victory, as long as it does. Game 7s are about survival, and the New York Rangers did just that.

The Rangers cruised to a 5-0 win against the Washington Capitals Monday night at the Verizon Center, and they’ll advance to face the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

New York opened its scoring with 6:41 left in the first period, when Arron Asham beat Braden Holtby over his left shoulder after a missed opportunity on a Caps breakaway. The Rangers added two more in a span of 2:10 early in the second period. Taylor Pyatt scored on a rebound at 3:24, and Michael Del Zotto fired a shot that deflected off a defenseman’s skate and beat Holtby five-hole at 5:34.

And in case there was any doubt about whether the game was turning into a blowout, Ryan Callahan added a fourth goal – unassisted – 13 seconds into third period, and Mats Zuccarello added a fifth six minutes later.

Holtby picked a poor time to have one of his worst outings of the season; he hadn’t given up more than four goals in regulation since Feb. 2.

In the other net, Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves Monday in his second consecutive shutout, another strong performance from one of the league’s top netminders. Lundqvist’s .926 regular-season save percentage was fifth-best in the NHL.

Perhaps the Capitals’ loss shouldn’t have come as the surprise it seemed; history said even Washington’s 2-0 series lead wasn’t safe. In their 38-year franchise history, the Capitals have lost nine playoff series when holding a two-game lead at one point. Six of those losses came after the team jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Capitals’ record in Game 7s has now dropped to an even more disheartening 3-9.

There were many reasons for the Capitals’ collapse, but here is a key one: Alex Ovechkin, Washington’s star forward, scored a goal in Game 1 and not again after that.

New York will travel to Boston to visit the Bruins, who came back from a three-goal, third-period deficit to advance in its Game 7 Monday night.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Athletes and professional sports franchises make the good kind of history all the time. The Washington Capitals like to flirt with the bad kind, apparently.

Or, at the very least, they have a flair for the dramatics.

They had entered Friday’s Game 5 on shaky footing to start with, after blowing a 2-0 series lead and allowing the Rangers to tie it up on home ice this week. Eight times in their 38-year history, the Capitals have blown a two-game series lead in the postseason. When leading 2-0, they’ve lost more series than they’ve won.

Still, flirting with another collapse is different from actually suffering one, and now this Washington team is 60 minutes away from avoiding that inauspicious fate.

Friday, the Capitals came back to beat New York 2-1 in overtime at the Verizon Center, when Mike Ribeiro grabbed a loose puck in front of Henrik Lundqvist (33 saves) and flicked it past the Rangers veteran goaltender at 9:24.

It marks the second game of the series won in overtime at home for the Caps; they remain undefeated this postseason at the Verizon Center.

Washington began its comeback midway through the second half, 11 seconds into their first power play of the night, Washington forward Joel Ward received the puck from Marcus Johansson and pushed it past Lundqvist to knot the score at 1-1. It was Ward’s first goal of these playoffs.

The Capitals, finding themselves in a one-goal hole since the game’s opening minute thanks to a quick strike by New York center Brian Boyle, had struggled to gain any momentum to that point. After playing aggressively and outshooting the Rangers for most of the second period, Washington entered survival mode during the period’s final five minutes, killing back-to-back penalties to preserve the tie. The Capitals’ penalty kill wiped away all four of the Rangers’ power plays.

Alex Ovechkin, the face of the Capitals and the one who bears the brunt of criticism after losses, has not recorded a point since Game 2 and doesn’t have a goal since Game 1. Ovechkin’s 31 career playoff goals are a franchise record, a mark set a week ago on this same ice. He had plenty of good looks – taking nine shots on goal Friday – but was stymied every time by Lundqvist. At one point during a third-period power play, Lundqvist saved two Ovechkin shots while scrambling without a stick.

In the opposite net, Capitals goalie Braden Holtby made 24 saves, including a flurry of five during overtime.

The series returns to Madison Square Garden for Game 6 on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Copyright © 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.