Sports News Roundup: Twitter says Olympics, IOC accounts hacked; Big Apple final and more

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

NHL roundup: Surging Rangers win 4th straight

Chris Kreider scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:11 remaining in the third period and the New York Rangers beat the host Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Friday night. The Rangers won their season-high fourth straight game and won for the fifth time in six games thanks to Kreider, who scored his seventh goal in the last nine games.

MLB notebook: Astros' Baker concerned as criticism continues

New Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker is concerned opposing pitchers will retaliate against his players by hitting them with pitches in the wake of the team's sign-stealing scandal. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling said Friday there will be a time and a place for retaliation from the mound. Cleveland Indians pitcher Mike Clevinger previously declared Astros hitters won't have comfortable at-bats in the early part of the season.

NASCAR notebook: New Camaro is source of optimism for Chevrolet teams

After a less-than-stellar rollout of last year's NASCAR Cup Series Camaros, Chevrolet teams are optimistic that changes to the car will result in improved performance in 2020. So far, the results seem to bear that out. Chevrolet driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of JTG Daugherty Racing won the pole for Sunday's Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports grabbed the other locked-in position on the outside of the front row.

Man City's appeal may focus heavily on process of UEFA probe

Facing a costly and damaging two-season ban from European football, English champions Manchester City will now turn to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an appeal that is likely to focus heavily on procedure. The Premier League club's key players on the pitch may be the likes of Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne, but off it their line-up of British and Swiss lawyers will also be in focus as they fight to get the ban overturned.

McIlroy, Scott, Kuchar tied atop impressive Riviera leaderboard

Rory McIlroy made a deft par save at the final hole to earn a three-way tie for the lead with Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar on Saturday as the Genesis Open headed toward a Hollywood finish in Tinseltown. Despite missing several excellent birdie opportunities, Northern Irishman McIlroy carded three-under-par 68 in the magnificent winter sunshine at Riviera in Los Angeles.

Holder Monfils to face Auger-Aliassime in Rotterdam final

Defending champion Gael Monfils overcame Serb Filip Krajinovic 6-4 7-6(5) in the Rotterdam Open semi-finals on Saturday to set up a title clash with Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime. The third-seeded Frenchman, looking to make it two trophies in as many weeks following his triumph in Montpellier, fired 14 aces and 35 winners to overcome Krajinovic.

Two Russian athletes stripped of biathlon medals for doping: IBU

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) said on Saturday it was stripping two Russian athletes of medals received between 2013 and 2014 for doping violations. The decision to strip the two retired Olympic champions, Svetlana Sleptsova and Evgeny Ustyugov, of their titles follows an analysis of data from Russia's anti-doping agency laboratory in Moscow, the union said.

Edmund and Seppi to reprise Kiwi clash in Big Apple final

Briton Kyle Edmund and Italian Andreas Seppi will face off for the second time in a month when they contest the final of the New York Open on Sunday. Edmund advanced by beating 54th-ranked Serb Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4 6-1 in a Saturday afternoon semi-final at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.

All-Star MVP Award named in honor of Kobe Bryant

The National Basketball Association All-Star Game MVP Award has been permanently named for the late Kobe Bryant, league Commissioner Adam Silver said on Saturday. Bryant, an 18-time All-Star who won a record-tying four All-Star Game MVP awards, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles on Jan. 26. He was 41.

Twitter says Olympics, IOC accounts hacked

Twitter said on Saturday that an official Twitter account of the Olympics and the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) media Twitter account had been hacked and temporarily locked. The accounts were hacked through a third-party platform, a spokesperson for the social media platform said in an emailed statement, without giving further details.