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2B Daily News – Friday, May 24, 2013 NFL BASEBALL RGIII aims to play opener Jose Canseco denies sexual assault claim ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Robert Griffin III's rehab started with a ''cry festival.'' Then came a special new passcode for his cellphone and a chance to hash things out with coach Mike Shanahan. There's also been a Twitter rant about political correctness, some flak about all the wedding gifts he's received and, most recently, a suggestion from his father that the Washington Redskins should pass the ball more. On Thursday, the road back included running some drills at an offseason practice. Wearing a helmet but no jersey and sporting a large brace on his reconstructed right knee, Griffin did some handoffs and throws with other teammates recovering from injuries. It's the latest step toward his goal of playing in the season opener in September. ''As soon as I woke up out of the surgery, I put the date of the first game in my phone,'' Griffin said. ''It was the passcode of my phone for a month. ... That's always been the goal, but I'm not going to risk my career to play in one game. Yeah, I'm definitely all-in on for Week 1, but I'm also all-in for my career as well.'' It was Griffin's first Redskins Park news conference of the offseason, an occasion that attracted an extraordinary media hoard to a routine May workout and showed again just how important the health of Griffin's knee — and everything else about him, for that matter — has become in the nation's capital. Start with the tears. When Griffin went under the knife on Jan. 9 — three days after he was injured in the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks — he didn't know whether his ACL needed repair. When he awoke and realized that it had, he immediately went back to sleep because he couldn't deal with the news. ''It's one of the things I get emotional about because it was tough at that time,'' Griffin said. ''Yeah, I cried. Real men cry. It's doesn't matter. And I moved on. As soon as we finished our little cry festival, I put the date of the first week in my phone.'' In addition to the physical rehab, there also needed to be a meeting of the minds with Shanahan, who was widely criticized for leaving Griffin in the Seahawks game too long after it became clear the quarterback was injured. ''We hashed everything out. We talked, and we're moving forward from it,'' Griffin said. Griffin didn't go into specifics, instead stressing the need for everyone to be on the same page. Shanahan said the conversation was part of an overall review of the season. ''You talk about things that you could have done differently,'' the coach said. ''Things that went poorly during the season, things that went well.'' Griffin struck the same tone when asked about whether there should be changes to the offense, perhaps to take away some of his designed runs. He missed all or part of four games because of injuries last season, and his father told The Washington Post this week: ''I want him throwing that football, a lot.'' ''I told him 'thank you' because that's what he's supposed to say as my father,'' Griffin said. ''Yeah, he doesn't want to see me running out there; he wants to see me throwing the ball. He's the one that trained me. He knows what he can do. Coach knows what I can do.'' Griffin also said he could make better decisions on the field to stay healthy. ''The one thing everyone gets fired up about is that they say I need to change the way I play,'' he said. ''And my view on that is: I can't change my mindset, but I can be smarter about what I do out there. I've got a year of experience, which some might not think that's a lot, but a year of experience in the NFL is big for anyone. I know what I have to do and then what I don't have to do, so it's about limiting those hits, making sure that I'm staying out there for my teammates.'' While the rehab is tough, Griffin said it's easier to endure because he also had an ACL injury while playing in college at Baylor. There were times during Thursday's practice when he seemed to be favoring the knee, but he was able to run and plant as he ran drills with what he called the ''all-world uncleared team'' that included fellow rehabbers Pierre Garcon and Fred Davis. ''As long as you can get a little bit of work in, you still feel like you're part of the team — even though we're separated from the team,'' Griffin said. Griffin said the next two phases in his comeback are ''explosive sprinting'' and ''cutting,'' both of which he hopes to accomplish in the next month or so. The Redskins keep saying he's ''ahead of schedule,'' but it's too early to gauge how much he'll be able to practice when training camp begins in late July. ''I really don't know what 'ahead of schedule' means, except for the doctors, they keep saying he's ahead of schedule,'' Shanahan said. ''We want to be patient with it.'' Griffin's good-natured demeanor was a contrast to his sharp words in a pair of recent Twitter rants. Last month he tweeted that Americans ''are held hostage by the tyranny of political correctness'' and this week hit back at criticism he received for posting a photo of a pile of wedding presents sent to him by fans. ''It's really been crazy,'' Griffin said Thursday. ''You really can't do anything or say anything without it being blown out of proportion. When it comes to the political correctness tweet ... the only thing I will say about that is there's a difference between political correctness, common sense and being offensive.'' Griffin, who is getting married in July, then thanked the fans for the gifts that started pouring in after his wedding registry was made public. ''I didn't ask you guys to do that,'' he said, addressing the fans. ''The media made that public, and you guys decided to get me gifts out of the generosity of your heart. ... Anything else that came after that, criticism and stuff like that, you've just got to move on and not worry about it.'' LEAD Chicago had killed its first 30 penalties of the playoffs and matched the 2001 St. Louis Blues' feat of playing eight postseason games without giving up a power-play goal, the longest such streak since 1988. The Blackhawks had a power play with 4:45 left in the game when Kindl was called for hooking, but they couldn't tie the game. Crawford made 25 saves and allowed one goal, after giving up seven goals in the previous two games. Howard was just a little bit better, earning his first shutout of this postseason and the second of his career in the playoffs. He has helped the Red Wings win five of their last six games since trailing Anaheim 3-2 in the first round. ''He has kind of been in a groove for a while now,'' Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. ''And, we need that to be successful.'' Kindl scored his first goal of his first postseason, keeping up a trend that has helped the rapidly improving Red Wings pull within a win of their first trip to the Western Conference finals since 2009 when they got past Chicago and went on to lose Game 7 in a Stanley Cup finals rematch against Pittsburgh. Detroit's young players — six playing in their first playoff season — have been contributing to help out stars Pavel Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Red Wings rookie Brendan Smith scored the winner in Game 2 at Chicago to even the series. First-year player Damien Brunner and Gustav Nyquist, who was pointless in his first four postseason games last year, had goals in overtimes against the second-seeded Ducks. Chicago's 25-year-old center, Toews, should seemingly be in the prime of his career, but he is in a slump against a team that appears to be getting to him physical and mentally. Toews was called for three penalties in the first 11 minutes of the first time in his career, according to STATS. He has gone 10 postseason games without a goal — dating to last year's playoffs — in what is the longest scoring skid for a former Conn Smythe winner since Claude Lemieux went 20 games without a goal from 2000 through 2009, according to STATS. Toews, who has three goals in his last 30 playoff games, broke a tie for his second longest streak without a goal in the postseason and trails his 14-game skid that spanned 2010 and 2011. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville insisted Toews, who he put on a line with Patrick Kane, is doing a lot of things well. ''We don't measure just his contribution offensively,'' Quenneville said. Boston back into the conference finals for the second time in three years. The Bruins gave up a 3-1 lead to Toronto in the first round before rallying in Game 7 to advance. ''There is no panic here,'' Bruins coach Claude Julien said. ''We have to go back home and play a better game.'' Stepan got New York even at 2 just 1:15 into the third after a dump-in. Rask went behind the net to slow the puck down for defenseman Zdeno Chara, but Stepan forced a turnover when he surprised Chara from behind. Stepan gathered the puck, came around in front and tucked the puck inside the left post for his teamleading fourth of the playoffs. ''We made some mistakes tonight, mistakes we haven't been making, mistakes you can't have, and they capitalized on them,'' Chara said. ''They made us pay. ''These nights are going to happen. They played to win, and we didn't match their intensity at times.'' The Bruins made the most of another power play and took a 3-2 lead just 2 seconds after a goalie interference penalty against Ryan McDonagh expired. Seguin got to his own rebound in close and shoved a shot past Lundqvist at 8:06. However, the Rangers still wouldn't go away and they finally connected on the power play for the first time in the series and the third time in 41 manadvantages this postseason. Boyle took a pass from Stepan in the slot and snapped a drive that nestled into the middle of the net at 10:00 after the Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice. New York coach John Tortorella made desperate moves with his lineup, hoping to find some chemistry to spark his club. Tortorella benched star center Brad Richards, who had just one goal in the play- offs, and rugged forward Arron Asham in favor of seldom-used Kris Newbury and Micheal Haley. ''By no means is this a situation where I take him out and I'm blaming him,'' Tortorella said of Richards. ''I need to make decisions about what I feel is right for our team to win tonight's game, and that's why I made that decision.'' Veteran Roman Hamrlik also played for the first time in these playoffs in place of injured defenseman Anton Stralman, who left Game 3 in the second period. The Bruins used their power play to grab control in the second period, connecting twice in a span of 3:02 to take a 2-0 lead. After Newbury was sent off for goalie interference, when he knocked down Rask, Horton got the scoring going. He tried to feed a pass from the bottom of the left circle into the slot, but the puck hit Rangers defenseman Michael Del Zotto (Continued from page 1B) extended his goal drought in a composure-crumbling performance. Toews was called for three penalties in the second — two for high-sticking — and could've gone to the box a fourth time in the period for slashing Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg while an official stood between them. ''Emotions run high in some of these games, and my stick got a little loose there,'' he said. ''I was playing hard. Sometimes that happens.'' The Red Wings took advantage of the second power play Toews gave them when Kindl sent a low shot to the near corner from the top of the left circle. ''We'd like to keep him in the box,'' Ericsson said. ''He's not as good for them in the box.'' ALIVE (Continued from page 1B) period for the Rangers, who even found success on the power play. Carl Hagelin netted New York's first goal of the game in the second period. Lundqvist made 37 saves for New York, which managed only five goals total in the first three games against Boston. Boston got secondperiod goals from Nathan Horton and rising star Torey Krug to build an early lead. Tyler Seguin's first of the playoffs put the Bruins back on top 3-2 in the third. Only three teams have lost a series after leading 3-0, but the Bruins are the most recent to do it in 2010 against Philadelphia. ''It's a resilient group,'' Kreider said. ''The tone of the dressing room was the same as positive and upbeat. We're excited to play more hockey.'' One more win will put FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Former baseball slugger Jose Canseco denied a woman's claim that he sexually assaulted her, calling the allegations in Nevada ''laughable'' before playing in an independent league game in Texas on Thursday. The 48-year-old former rookie of the year with the Oakland A's said he was prepared to take a polygraph test. His comments before a United League game with the Fort Worth Cats came a day after Las Vegas police said they were investigating a complaint. Police said Wednesday there have been no arrests, and no charges have been filed. They didn't return a message Thursday. ''It's almost laughable for an individual to say I raped them and drugged them at the same time,'' Canseco said. ''My ex-wives, my ex-girlfriends will testify on my behalf that the way the media portrayed me and the way they're trying to portray me here, it's not even close to being the truth. Let's wait for the truth.'' Word about the investigation became public after Canseco posted information about it on the social media network Twitter. He said Las Vegas police had just left his house. The postings — including the name and workplace of a woman — generated an immediate outcry from others who posted comments deriding Canseco. The Associated Press does not normally identify possible victims of sexual assault. Canseco said he didn't regret the Twitter posts, some of which were removed. ''I think those fans are entitled to the truth,'' he said. ''I think the police are entitled to the truth. If you have nothing to hide, why hide it?'' Canseco hit 462 career home runs and was a sixtime All-Star in a 16-year career that included seven major league teams. Besides the A's, he played for Texas, Toronto, Tampa Bay, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox. His book, ''Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big,'' was published in 2005, four years after his major league career ended. He declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year in Las Vegas, reporting less than $21,000 in assets and almost $1.7 million in liabilities, including more than $500,000 owed to the Internal Revenue Service. He listed a post office box as his address. In recent years, Canseco played for various teams in California, Arizona, Mexico and Canada. He is scheduled to play the first eight games for the Fort Worth franchise, all at home. Unless he stays longer, Canseco will make less than $1,000, a prorated amount. The league's veteran minimum is $2,000 per month. His agent, Jose Melendez, says he isn't getting an appearance fee. ''Of course I'm an easy target,'' Canseco said. ''A lot of people think I'm rich. I'm not rich. I'm going through bankruptcy. I'm going through my financial issues.'' tance events, the 800- and 1600-meter runs, as will Corning's Rogelio Silva, (Continued from page 1B) who will join Diera in the 1600 and is scheduled to meter relay, where they're race in the 3200-meter seeded third. run. In 100-meter dash, Red Bluff's Jordan Corning's Ivan Alvarado McManus also is schedand Red Bluff's Hackstaff are seeded fourth and uled to run in the 3200 event. fifth, respectively. The two will meet The Spartans' Torres, a again in the 200-meters, junior, will round out his and Alvarado will round day in the field in the high out his day with a go in the jump event, which has long jump. him four inches off the The Cards' Jesus Diera top-seeded qualifying will run a couple of dis- mark of 6 feet, 6 inches. FINALS and bounced back to Horton. This time, Horton let a shot go that struck the inside of Lundqvist's left leg and caromed in at 4:39. Lundqvist blocked a hard shot by Chara, who rattled a drive off of the goalie's mask. At the next stoppage, there was a brief delay as Lundqvist had repairs made. Del Zotto took an interference penalty 1:25 after Boston took the lead, and Krug made the Rangers pay again. Krug, a rookie defenseman who made his NHL postseason debut in the series opener, fired a slap shot from the Stanley Cup logo in the Rangers' zone that sailed past Lundqvist and into the top right corner at 7:41. Krug has scored in three of the four games he has played in this series, and his goal gave Boston as many power-play tallies at Madison Square Garden in this playoff year as the host Rangers had mustered to that point. However, New York got a big break just 54 seconds later to cut the deficit in half. As the Rangers were moving the puck up ice, Rask stumbled in the crease and fell at around the same time that Hagelin was backhanding a shot on net. Sliding as slowly as possible, the puck eluded Rask as he tried to recover in time to stop it. ''We need to be more focused, I need to be more focused,'' Rask said. ''I just took a step to the side in what I think probably was a skate mark or something. I lost my balance and the rest is history. ''We gave them a couple of gifts and it cost us the game.'' It took nearly seven minutes before New York recorded its first shot on Rask — a drive by defenseman John Moore — and Boston controlled the period with a 12-4 edge in shots.