A.M. Briefing: NHL: Canucks beat Chicago, finally win road game

NHL

Samuelsson's late goal lifts Canucks: Michael Grabner scored the tying goal with 7:44 to play and Mikael Samuelsson followed with the winner 3:02 later Wednesday night as the Vancouver Canucks rallied for their first road victory of the season, 3-2 over the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Canucks hadn't won away from Vancouver since beating Chicago in Game 3 of the teams' second-round playoff series last May. The Blackhawks advanced by taking the final three games, and Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo wept after allowing seven goals in the decisive Game 6.

Luongo was much better Wednesday, making several acrobatic stops among his 18 saves, but he received a lot of help from his teammates as Vancouver was the first team to outshoot the Blackhawks this season.

Antti Niemi, starting in place of struggling Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet, was sensational most of the night and finished with 28 saves, but he couldn't survive some sloppy play in front of him.

Penguins' Gonchar breaks wrist: Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar will be out four to six weeks with a broken left wrist, his third significant injury in slightly more than a year.

Stars activate Ott from injured list: The Dallas Stars have activated center Steve Ott (ribs) from injured reserve.

Golf

Glover wins PGA Grand Slam: U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover briefly gave up the lead to British Open champion Stewart Cink until running off three straight birdies around the turn at Port Royal Golf Course and closing with a 5-under 66 for a five-shot victory at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Southampton, Bermuda.

Masters champion Angel Cabrera also had a 66 and finished second after Cink bogeyed the last hole for a 70. PGA champion Y.E. Yang, still struggling with jet lag after a flight full of delays from South Korea, shot 70 to finish last among the four major champions.

Glover won with his putter, especially the birdie putts on the ninth, 10th and 11th holes to pull away. Cink made bogeys on the 12th and 13th, eliminating any drama.

Glover finished at 11-under 131 and earned $600,000, pushing his total for the year over $4 million. Cabrera, who won the Grand Slam two years ago when it first moved to Bermuda, finished at 136 and made $300,000. Cink earned $250,000 and Yang took home $200,000.

Tennis

Davydenko, Radwanska lose at Kremlin Cup: Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland were upset in the first round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Davydenko lost to former top-ranked Marat Safin 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Radwanska was ousted by Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-3.

Soderling wins opener at Stockholm Open: Top-seeded Robin Soderling breezed past Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3, 6-0 in the first round at the Stockholm Open.

Flipkens reaches quarters in Luxembourg: Kirsten Flipkens defeated third-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-5, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Luxembourg Open.

Soccer

AC Milan wins at Real Madrid: Pato broke an 88th-minute tie with his second goal of the game, giving AC Milan a 3-2 victory at high-spending Real Madrid in a Champions League matchup between two of Europe's powers.

Manchester United and Chelsea each moved closer to the second round by improving to 3-0. The Red Devils won 1-0 at CSKA Moscow on Antonio Valencia's 86th-minute goal, and the Blues routed visiting Atletico Madrid 4-0 on two goals by Salomon Kalou and one by Frank Lampard. Chelsea also got an own goal from Luis Perea.

FIFA opens Maradona investigation: FIFA has opened an investigation into Argentina coach Diego Maradona's profanity-filled tirade on live television after a World Cup qualifying win over Uruguay last week.

UEFA suspects match-fixing in Russia: The European governing body (UEFA) has reportedly informed Russian officials that it suspects several domestic league games have been affected by match-fixing this season.

Boxing

Pavlik scraps title bout with Williams: Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik called off a title defense against Paul Williams set for Dec. 5 in Atlantic City, N.J., because of an infected left hand.

Horse racing

Santa Anita to cut purses by 10 percent: A downturn in wagering as a result of the sluggish economy is forcing Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., to slash its overnight purses by 10 percent at the Oak Tree meeting.

Speedskating

Fredricks cruises to men's 500 title: Tucker Fredricks won the men's 500 meters at the U.S. trials in Milwaukee. Brent Aussprung was second and Olympic champion Shani Davis took third.

Elli Ochowicz, the daughter of three-time Olympic medalist Sheila Young Ochowicz, won the women's 500. Heather Richardson was second and two-time Olympic medalist Jennifer Rodriguez was third.

Swimming

Chinese woman sets 200 butterfly record: Olympic champion Liu Zige trimmed 1.6 seconds off the world record in the women's 200-meter butterfly at China's National Games in Jinan. Liu was timed in 2 minutes, 1.81 seconds.

Seattle Times news services