ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy's decision to skip the Arnold Palmer Invitational surprised the tournament host, who expressed his disappointment on Wednesday that the world number one was not at Bay Hill this week.

The 83-year-old Palmer said he had jokingly suggested he might break McIlroy's arm if he did not show up but did not try to force the young Northern Irishman into making an appearance.

"Frankly, I thought he was going to play, and I was as surprised as a lot of people when he decided he was not going to play," said Palmer. "I was kind of kidding when somebody said is he playing? And I said, 'well, if he doesn't, I'm going to break his arm.' But it was meant in jest, and it was strictly a passing remark."

The 23-year-old Northern Irishman was roundly criticized earlier this month when he controversially walked off mid-round at the Honda Classic and was under scrutiny again on Wednesday for his decision to skip Bay Hill.

McIlroy, who switched equipment and has struggled to find his form this season, has decided to use next week's Houston Open as his final Masters tune-up.

Many golfers, including Tiger Woods, view the Arnold Palmer Invitational as a sort of golfing pilgrimage to honor "the King" and is tournament not to be missed.

However, Woods, who is a seven times winner at "Arnie's Place" and can reclaim the number one world ranking from McIlroy with an eighth victory on Sunday, defended the two-time major winner's decision.

"He played a limited schedule to begin with last year," offered Woods. "I think last year was his first year as a member of the (PGA) Tour and this is only his second year.

"There is a big difference this year. We have two weeks before the Masters.

"That has a little bit to do with it, I think.

"Some of the guys are taking this week off and playing two in a row in Texas to get ready. Some guys are playing one."

Palmer was a bit more confused about McIlroy's no show having talked to him about coming to Bay Hill.

"I've had conversations, brief conversations with him some time ago, not recently, about his playing," said Palmer. "For some reason I got it in my mind that he would be playing but that, obviously, is wrong.

"What his reason or reasoning is, I don't know, and I'm not going to worry about it."

(Editing by Gene Cherry)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Fresh off a guest-starring run as vampire Roman Zimojic in HBO's "True Blood," Christopher Meloni is ready to "Suck" again - this time for Fox.

"Law & Order: SVU" star Meloni has been cast in an adaptation of Justin Halpern's book "I Suck at Girls," which has received a pilot order from Fox.

The untitled project, which is being written and executive produced by Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, is about a boy becoming a man, and a man becoming a father, in a time before coming of age was something you could Google.

Meloni will play Jack Dunlevy, a straight-talking ex-military man and an oncologist who "talks to everyone like they're 75 years old and dying of cancer," the network said. Dunlevy's habit has been to go to work early, come home late, yell at his kids and go to bed, but he's forced to take a more active role in his kids' lived after his wife enrolls in law school.

Bill Lawrence and Jeff Ingold are also executive producing the half-hour, single-camera comedy, which comes from the Doozer production company in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Victor Nelli ("GCB," "Wilfred") is directing.

After a two-game break, the Chicago Blackhawks are back in business, and another point streak is under way.

Patrick Kane scored the shootout game-clincher with a dizzying display in the second round, pushing the Blackhawks to a 2-1 win over Columbus in Nationwide Arena.

Jonathan Toews and Kane scored in the shootout for Chicago, Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford stopped Columbus' Ryan Johansen and Derick Brassard in the second and third rounds to clinch the victory.

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Penguins 3, Maple Leafs 1

Pascal Dupuis scored twice in the third period as the Pittsburgh Penguins came back from a goal down to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at the Air Canada Centre.

Craig Adams scored in the empty net for Pittsburgh while Tyler Bozak scored for the Leafs.

Dupuis got the winner at 17:50 of the third when Chris Kunitz fed him a pass from the left boards. Dupuis had time to snap home winner past Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens' glove.

The win extended Toronto's losing streak to four games while Pittsburgh won its seventh game in a row.

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Bruins 4, Panthers 1

The Boston Bruins did what they were supposed to do against the NHL's worst team Thursday night. Win.

But it wasn't easy or very pretty.

The Bruins got first-period goals from Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron but then stumbled to a 4-1 win over the injury-ravaged Florida Panthers that was closer than the final score indicated.

The Bruins improved to 18-4-3 with their second win of the year over the Panthers (7-15-6).

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Capitals 3, Hurricanes 2

Mike Ribeiro scored a goal with 2:16 remaining to complete a comeback for the Washington Capitals in a 3-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.

The Capitals snapped their third three-game game losing streak of the season, avoiding their worst stretch of the season.

The Hurricanes, who had won six of their previous eight games, lost for the first time this season when leading after two periods.

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Islanders 2, Lightning 0

The New York Islanders remained within sight of the Eastern Conference playoffs while the Lightning just kept fading away.

With a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay, New York improved to 12-12-3 (27 points) and remained on the fringe of the eighth and final postseason spot as the Lightning (11-15-1, 23 points) lost for the eighth time in ten games.

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Jets 3, Rangers 1

The Winnipeg Jets seized sole possession of eighth place in the NHL's Eastern Conference with a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers at MTS Centre.

Both clubs came into the game with 28 points, but the Jets improved to 14-11-2 to vault in front. New York fell to 13-11-2.

Nik Antropov, Antti Miettinen and Andrew Ladd scored for Winnipeg, while blueliner Dustin Byfuglien had a pair of assists.

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Wild 5, Avalanche 3

Rookie defenseman Jonas Brodin scored his first NHL goal and Mikko Koivu scored twice as the Minnesota Wild continued their winning ways at home, holding off the Colorado Avalanche for a 5-3 victory.

Koivu capped a pretty passing play with a tap-in goal, then added an empty-netter to seal the win.

The Wild also got goals from Torrey Mitchell and Devin Setoguchi to gain two important points in the tight Northwest Division race while P.A. Parenteau scored twice for the Avalanche.

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Blues 3, Coyotes 0

St. Louis winger Alex Steen had a goal and two assists in his return to the lineup and rookie Jake Allen made 28 stops for his first career shutout as the Blues rolled to a 3-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.

St. Louis, which has won four of its last five, beat Phoenix for the second time in seven days, and have won five of the last six against their Western Conference rivals.

The Coyotes, who were looking to win three in a row for the first time this season, have lost three of the last five.

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Ducks 2, Stars 1 (SO)

Ryan Getzlaf's backhand into the left side of the net in the shootout gave the Anaheim Ducks (20-3-3, 43 points) a 2-1 shootout win over the Dallas Stars (12-11-3, 27 points).

After Bobby Ryan also beat Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen with a backhand on the Ducks' first shootout attempt, the Stars' Loui Eriksson saw his attempt saved by Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller.

The Ducks' Teemu Selanne then fired a seven-foot wrister over the Dallas net on Anaheim's second attempt before Ray Whitney 12-foot wrister sailed wide. Getzlaf then hit the ice, drove toward the Dallas net and put the puck almost in the same spot as Ryan for the game-winner.

(Editing by Julian Linden)

A pickup in U.S. home construction sent the stocks of home builders higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average gave up an early gain of 62 points and was down 18 points to 14,445 at midday Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell four to 1,547. The Nasdaq composite fell eight to 3,228 points.

Worries about the latest threat to Europe's currency union were still weighing on markets.

Banks in Cyprus are closed until Thursday while the country considers demands from lenders to seize money from depositors' savings accounts to pay for a bailout of the country's banks and government.