The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • C2

2C MONDAY, MAY 3, 2010 SPORTS THE TENNESSEAN ON THE AIR PREDATORS INSIDER Predators aren't pleased by Legwand's lack of goals Event BASEBALL L.A. Angels at Boston NY. Mets at Cincinnati Tim Corbin Show Time Station 6 p.m. ESPN 6 p.m. Fox TN 6:30 p.m.

104.5-FM NBA PLAYOFFS Boston at Cleveland San Antonio at Phoenix NHL PLAYOFFS Philadelphia at Boston Vancouver at Chicago Event BASEBALL NY. Mets at Cincinnati Atlanta at Washington Chi. Cubs at Pittsburgh NBA PLAYOFFS Atlanta at Orlando Utah at L.A. Lakers NHL PLAYOFFS Pittsburgh at Montreal and a minus-2 rating in 35 games. Preds Coach Barry Trotz says he's tentatively planning on using Wilson again on the wing next season, but believes that Wilson will return to center eventually.

"He doesn't really mind if he's at center or wing," Trotz said. "He just knows he can play at a high level and contribute. He says he can still make plays off the wall. "I think eventually he's going to end up at center and maybe eventually a year or so down the road maybe it's him and (Legwand) and another young centerman. Right now I think he'd probably stay (on the wing in 2010-11), but it's April.

That might change in September." Prospect peek: Defense-man Ryan Ellis, the Preds' first-round pick last summer, has the Windsor Spitfires on track for a second straight trip to the Memorial Cup. Through three games of the Ontario Hockey League's championship series, Ellis has one goal, three assists and a plus-2 rating. With Sunday's 5-2 win, the Spitfires led the series 3-0 over Barrie. Reach John Glennon at 615-259-8262 or jglennontennessean.com. Anyone who might have believed the Predators were satisfied with center David Legwand simply being a good defensive-minded center can rest assured that's not the case.

Predators General Manager David Poile made that quite clear last week when he took a look back at the 2009-10 season. Legwand scored just 11 goals in 82 games, his lowest total since he scored seven in 44 games during the 2005-06 season. The Preds' first-ever draft pick posted just one goal in the last 40 regular-season games. "That's totally unacceptable," Poile said. "He's got to get more that We were successful despite his lack of overall production." The 29-year-old Legwand was much better in the playoffs, when he led the Predators with seven points (two goals, five assists) and a plus-5 rating in six games against Chicago.

"He would make our team a lot better, and enhance our chances of making the playoffs, if he played like he did in the playoffs," Poile said. "We now know that he's capable of being one of our best forwards, not only defensively, grows to at least 19. So with only a few roster spots open and the team likely to spend most of its money resigning its own players how do the Predators expect to be better next season? "Younger guys get better all the time 22, 23, and 24 year olds still have so much upside to their hockey game," forward Steve Sullivan said. "That's how you get better, holding on to those guys and expecting them to be better. I think we saw that last year to this year with Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Patric Hornqvist and Pekka Rinne.

Those guys are going to continue to be better. "You have to surround those players with help and with the right people. By doing that, that's how you make your hockey club better. The good thing about this hockey club is they draft so well that there will always be some young guys that come in and make a difference. I think that's how we expect to be better." Where will Wilson go? Colin Wilson made a pretty smooth transition from center to wing for much of his rookie NHL season, posting a respectable 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) Fox TN (Fox Sports Tennessee) is formerly Fox Sports Net (FSN) and can be seen on Comcast Channel 28.

Listings provided by stations; subject to change. THREE-GAME CALENDAR Mon. at Round Rock, 7:05 p.m. g22Tues- at Round Rock, 12:05 p.m. Wed.

at Round Rock, 7:05 p.m. Tickets: 615-690-HITS (4487) Radio: 104.5-FM AROUND NASHVILLE Softball: MTSU at Lipscomb (DH), 5 p.m. Baseball: So. Illinois at MTSU, 6 p.m. which he's gotten a fair bit of credit for, but offensively he can do it." Poile said he hoped not to be saying the same thing a year from now.

'Tm telling you that if David Legwand doesn't score more than 20 goals next season," Poile said, "I'm not going to be very happy." Legwand has hit the 20-goal mark twice in 10 full NHL seasons. He scored 27 goals in 2006-07 and 20 in 2008-09. Improvement from within: Assuming the Predators re-sign restricted free agents like forward Patric Hornqvist and defenseman Cody Franson, they'll be returning at least 17 of the players that finished this season on the roster. If they're able to re-sign potential unrestricted free agents like Francis Bouillon and Dan Hamhuis, that total win away from being fourth or fifth in the conference. And we're one win away from putting (the Chicago) series to a Game 7, and who knows after that? "So I don't think we're going to look at our personal totals and look at the season that way.

I think it will be the overall big picture." Said Trotz: "He may not have had the totals, but he was a dangerous and effective guy in the playoffs for us. I thought he competed really well down the stretch." Dumont saw the biggest drop of the three in both ice Predators expect trio to produce James is easy pick for league MVP PREDS FROM PAGE1C Said Poile: "Jason Arnott is capable of scoring 30 goals next season. (But) he's got to be healthy to do that." Sullivan carried an average of about a point per game during his Predators career into the season. He played his first 82-game campaign 2002-03 and tied for the team lead with 51 points, but he averaged just .62 points per game. "You always want to put good numbers up, good totals, but the main thing is you want to win," Sullivan said.

"In the end, we're one 7 p.m. 9:30 p.m. TNT TNT 6 p.m. 8 p.m. Versus Versus Time 6 p.m.

6 p.m. 6 p.m. Station FoxTN SportSouth WGN 7 p.m. 9:30 p.m. TNT TNT 6 p.m.

Versus 2010 MVP VOTING (Voting is on a 10-7-5-3-1 basis) Player, Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total LeBron James 116 5 2 1205 Kevin Durant 4 46 31 29 5 609 Kobe Bryant 43 44 23 9 599 Dwight Howard 3 27 30 29 22 478 DwyaneWade 1 6 19 25 119 Carmelo Anthony 1 3 8 19 65 Dirk Nowitzki 3 7 19 55 Steve Nash 3 6 16 49 Deron Williams 1 2 7 AmareStoudemire 1 2 5 ManuGinobili 1 3 Chris Bosh 1 1 Joe Johnson 1 1 Stephen Jackson 1 1 Chauncey Billups 1 1 Lakers 104, Jazz 99: Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 31 points in the final four minutes, and host Los Angeles blew a fourth-quarter lead before rallying past Utah in its second-round series opener. Pau Gasol had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, while Deron Williams scored 24 points for Utah, which led 93-89 with 4:10 to play. Hawks 95, Bucks 74: Jamal Crawford scored 22 points, Al Horford put up a double-double and host Atlanta pulled away to beat Milwaukee in Game 7 of its first-round series. The Hawks will face Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals starting Tuesday. 76ers interview Collins: Former NBA coach Doug Collins has interviewed with the Philadelphia 76ers for their head coaching position.

The team is set to interview former Dallas coach Avery Johnson today. Hawks 95, Bucks 74 MILWAUKEE (74) Delfino 1-8 0-0 3, Mbah a Moute 5-9 3-4 13, Thomas 3-7 0-0 6, Jennings 6-18 2-4 15, Salmons 5-18 0-0 11, Stackhouse 0-3 0-0 0, llyasova 4-11 5-5 13, Ridnour 1-5 3-4 6, Gadzuric 0-0 0-0 0, Brezec 2-4 1-2 5, Ivey 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 28-86 14-19 74. ATLANTA (95) Williams 2-7 4-4 8, Jos.Smith 5-7 4-5 15, Horford 6-8 4-6 16, Bibby 6-12 0-0 15, Johnson 4-140-0 8, Pachulia 3-6 1-2 7, Crawford 8-16 4-4 22, West 1-1 0-0 2, Evans 0-1 0-0 0, Teague 0-2 0-0 0, Collins 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 36-76 17-21 95.

Milwaukee 13 27 20 14 74 Atlanta 20 33 20 22 95 3-Point Goals-Milwaukee 4-19 (Ridnour 1-2, Delfino 1-4, Jennings 1-4, Salmons 1-5, Stack-house 0-1, Ivey 0-1, llyasova 0-2), Atlanta 6-16 (Bibby 3-5, Crawford 2-7, Jos.Smith 1-1, Evans 0- 1, Johnson 0-2). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Milwaukee 44 (llyasova 11), Atlanta 63 (Horford 15). Assists-Milwaukee 15 (Jennings 5), Atlanta 21 (Crawford 6). Total Fouls-Milwaukee 20, Atlanta 21.

Lakers 104, Jazz 99 UTAH (99) Miles 4-12 7-8 16, Boozer 9-17 0-0 18, Fesenko 1-2 0-0 2, Williams 7-15 8-10 24, Matthews 5-12 2-2 14, Millsap 8-18 0-0 16, Korver 3-5 1-1 7, Koufos 0-1 0-0 0, Price 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 38-85 18-21 99. LA. LAKERS (104) Artest 4-9 0-0 8, Gasol 9-15 7-7 25, Bynum 4-8 0-0 8, Fisher 4-7 2-4 10, Bryant 12-19 7-7 31, Odom 4-10 0-1 9, Brown 1-5 2-4 4, Walton 2-2 2-4 7, Farmar 1-2 0-0 2, Powell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 41-77 20-27 104.

Utah 23 22 28 26 99 LA. Lakers 30 23 28 23 104 3-Point Goals-Utah 5-18 (Matthews 2-4, Williams 2-5, Miles 1-5, Korver 0-1, Millsap 0-1, Price 0-2), L.A. Lakers 2-12 (Walton 1-1, Odom 1- 4, Farmar 0-1, Fisher 0-1, Bryant 0-2, Artest 0-3). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Utah 47 (Boozer 12), L.A.

Lakers 46 (Odom, Gasol 12). Assists-Utah 24 (Williams 8), L.A. Lakers 18 (Gasol, Bryant 4). Total Fouls-Utah 26, L.A. Lakers 20.

Technicals-Boozer, L.A. Lakers defensive three second. Canadiens shock Pens time and average points per game from a season ago, sliding from 17:29 to 14:46 in ice time and from .79 to .61 in points per game. Only once in the last 15 regular-season games did Dumont see as much as 15 minutes ice time. Despite that, and despite playing in eight fewer games than 2008-09 because of injury, Dumont did improve his goal total from 16 to 17.

Trotz has said Dumont's ice time and role are likely to be similar to this season, so it will be up to the Montreal native to maximize his effectiveness if he's going to i Bruins' Sturm out for season: Marco Sturm will miss the rest of the Boston Bruins season with a right knee injury that likely will sideline him at the start of next season. Sturm tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee Saturday against Philadelphia and will have surgery within four to six weeks. Recovery is estimated to take six months. Sturm led Boston with 22 goals in the regular season. produce at or near the levels of the past.

"LP. has trained harder and done all the things diet-wise better than he's ever done in his career and I expect him to still produce," Trotz said. "A lot of times people will look at minutes and ice time as a barrier where they are. "I look at it as I'd rather see quality than quantity. Sometimes it's hard for players to see past that.

I'd rather see everybody get less ice time and higher quality time." Reach John Glennon at 615-259-8262 or jglennontennessean.com. NHL SCOREBOARD EASTERN CONFERENCE CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS PITTSBURGH VS. MONTREAL Series tied 1-1; x-if necessary Game 1: Pittsburgh 6-3 Game 2: Montreal 3-1 Tuesday: at Montreal, 6 p.m. Thursday: at Montreal, 6 p.m. Saturday: at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

x-May 10: at Montreal, 6 p.m. x-May 12: at Pittsburgh, TBD BOSTON VS. PHILADELPHIA Bruins iedd series 1-0 Game 1: Boston 5-4 (0T) Today: at Boston, 6 p.m. Wednesday: at Philadelphia, 6 p.m. Friday: at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

x-May 10: at Boston, 6 p.m. x-May 12: at Philadelphia, TBD x-May 14: at Boston, 6 p.m. WESTERN CONFERENCE CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS CHICAGO VS. VANCOUVER Canucks lead series 1-0 Game 1: Vancouver 5-1 Today: at Chicago, 8 p.m. Wednesday: at Vancouver, 8:30 p.m.

Friday: at Vancouver, 8:30 p.m. x-Sunday: at Chicago, 7 p.m. x-May 11: at Vancouver, 8:30 p.m. x-May 13: at Chicago, 7 p.m. SAN JOSE VS.

DETROIT Sharks lead series 1-0 Game 1: San Jose 4-3 Game 2: at San Jose, late Tuesday: at Detroit, 6:30 p.m. Thursday: at Detroit, 6:30 p.m. x-Saturday: at San Jose, 9 p.m. x-May 10: at Detroit, 6:30 p.m. x-May 12: at San Jose, TBD Canadiens 3r Penguins 1 Montreal 111-3 Pittsburgh 10 0-1 First Period-1, Pittsburgh, Cooke 4 (Talbot, Dupuis), 4:38.

2, Montreal, Gionta 4 (Gomez, Pouliot), 15:48. Second Period-3, Montreal, Cammalleri 7 (Subban, Gomez), 7:29 (pp). Third Period-4, Montreal, Cammalleri 8 (Plekanec), 17:06. Shots on goal-Montreal 12-3-6-21. Pittsburgh 9-18-12-39.

Goalies-Montreal, Halak. Pittsburgh, Fleury. ASSOCIATED PRESS LeBron James won his second straight NBA MVP award on Sunday, dominating the voting just as he dominated on court all season. The Cleveland Cavaliers star received 116 of a possi ble 123 first-place votes to win in a landslide over Oklahoma City forward NE3A Kevin ROUNDUP Durant, who was picked first on four ballots. Orlando center Dwight Howard, who finished fourth, received the other three first-place votes.

Lakers star Kobe Bryant had no first-place votes and finished third. James is the 10th player to win the award in consecutive seasons, joining Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash. James led the Cavaliers to 61 regular-season wins. He averaged 29.7 points, 8.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds. "I never imagined I would be on a list with names like that," James said.

"Those are players I always looked up to." Montreal's Mike Cammalleri (13) celebrates his third-period goal Sunday. The Canadiens won 3-1 to even the series with Pittsburgh at 1-1. genej. puskar ap ASSOCIATED PRESS Mike Cammalleri scored two goals, Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves in a performance much like his series-stealing play during Montreal's first-round upset of Washington and the visiting Canadiens surprised the Pittsburgh Penguins by winning 3-1 on Sunday. Brian Gionta also scored as Montreal, playing without injured defenseman NHL ROUNDUP Andrei Markov, bounced back from a 6-3 loss in Game 1 and an early 1-0 Pittsburgh lead to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game each.

"That's what we wanted to do, a series like this, we wanted to get one (in Pittsburgh)," Scott Gomez said. "It's far from over. But we came for one." Halak, pulled after allowing five goals on 20 shots in Game 1, made big save after big save as the Canadiens 0 won despite being outshot 39-21. Sidney Crosby didn't score for the second successive game, and neither did Evgeni Malkin. Cammalleri put Montreal ahead 2-1 by scoring on a power play in the second period, then sealed it by stealing the puck from Crosby at mid-ice and beating Marc-Andre Fleury on a breakaway with 2:54 remaining.

Game 3 is Tuesday in Montreal. NBA SCOREBOARD EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTA vs. MILWAUKEE Hawks win series 4-3 Gams 1: Atlanta 102-92 Gams 2: Atlanta 96-86 Game 3: Milwaukee 107-89 Game 4: Milwaukee 111-104 Game 5: Milwaukee 91-87 Game 6: Atlanta 83-69 Game 7: Atlanta 95-74 CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS CLEVELAND VS. BOSTON Cavs lead series 1-0 (x-if necessary) Game 1: Cleveland 101-93 Today: at Cleveland, 7 p.m. Friday: at Boston, 6 p.m.

Sunday: at Boston, 2:30 p.m. x-May 11: at Cleveland, TBD x-May 13: at Boston, TBD x-May 16: at Cleveland, 2:30 p.m. ATLANTA VS. ORLANDO Tuesday: at Orlando, 7 p.m. Thursday: at Orlando, 7 p.m.

Saturday: at Atlanta, 4 p.m. May 10: at Atlanta, 7 p.m. x-May 12: at Orlando, TBD x-May 14: at Atlanta, TBD x-May 16: at Orlando, TBD WESTERN CONFERENCE CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS PHOENIX VS. SAN ANTONIO Today: at Phoenix, 9:30 p.m. Wednesday: at Phoenix, 8 p.m.

Friday: at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m. Sunday: at San Antonio, 7 p.m. x-May 11: at Phoenix, TBD x-May 13: at San Antonio, TBD x-May 16: at Phoenix, TBD UTAH AT LA. LAKERS Lakers lead series 1-0 Game 1: L.A. Lakers 104-99 Tuesday: at L.A.

Lakers, 9:30 p.m. Saturday: at Utah, 7 p.m. May 10: at Utah, 9:30 p.m. x-May 12: at L.A. Lakers, TBD x-May 14: at Utah, TBD x-May 17: at L.A.

Lakers, 8 p.m. game of the series, 17-5 on Friday. The teams played three innings of the second game Saturday night before rain suspended play. Tickets for either of the cancelled games can be exchanged for any of four regular-season home games by calling the Vanderbilt ticket office (322-GOLD). Matt Ramsey's RBI groundout in the sixth inning drove in the eventual winning run as host Tennessee (24-21, 8-13 SEC) defeated Kentucky (24-20, 7-14) 3-1 to win the weekend series with the Wildcats.

FOOTBALL The high school coaching clinic scheduled for today at Ensworth has been cancelled because of the rain, according to Coach Rickey Bowers. HIGH SCHOOLS The Rutherford County track and field championship scheduled for today has been postponed because of the weather. The meet will now be held on just Tuesday (girls) and Thursday (boys) at Riverdale, according to Riverdale track Coach Rickey Field. NFL Federal authorities are looking into allegations made in a lawsuit filed by the former Saints security director, accusing the team of trying to cover up a senior staff member's theft of prescription pills from the club's training headquarters. SOCCER The Nashville Metros will divide their seven home games this season between Ezell Park in Nashville and Siegel Park in Murfreesboro, according to the 2010 schedule released Sunday.

The season opener will be next Sunday at 2 p.m. in Murfreesboro against Atlanta. TENNIS Rafael Nadal won his fifth Rome Masters title in six years, withstanding two rain delays to beat David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 on Sunday. SPORTS DIGEST BASEBALL The Nashville Sounds' game against Memphis at Greer Stadium was rained out Sunday for the second consecutive day. The game will be made up as part of a double-header on June 17.

The Sounds, who have the best record in the Pacific Coast League, start an eight-game road trip tonight at Round Rock. Right-hander Marco Estrada (1-0, 2.74 ERA) is scheduled to start for Nashville. Saturday's postponed game will be played as part of a dou-bleheader on June 15. Tickets for either of the postponed games may be exchanged for tickets to any 2010 regular-season home game at the Greer Stadium box office. The final two games of the Van-derbilt-Georgia series at Hawkins field were cancelled by rain Sunday.

The Commodores won the first.