FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell responded Thursday night to criticisms by NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, who contended a double standard exists when it comes to the league doling out punishments. In comments to ESPN earlier Thursday, Smith specifically addressed the delayed discipline of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who has yet to be punished by Goodell after being arrested in March for allegedly operating a vehicle while intoxicated and while in the possession of prescription drugs and $29,000 in cash. Irsay was formally charged Friday. "The personal conduct policy applies to commissioners, owners, players, coaches," Goodell told reporters at the New England Patriots team facility. "It applies to all of us. We all have a responsibility to do things the right way. There are several players that we havent taken any action on, either. "We like to get the facts, we like to be thorough and we like to understand them. Charges were just filed last week. I dont believe theres a credibility gap." Goodell was at Foxborough to speak at a football safety clinic for mothers, a program aimed at furthering safer play at all levels of the game. Smith pointed toward Goodells swift and sometimes harsh action when dealing with troubled players in the past. "The commissioner understands that there is a significant credibility gap that exists in the National Football League," Smith said. "What troubles our players is the speed and the deliberateness of the punishment that they have seen in the past when it comes to a player. "There isnt the same speed or deliberate action when it comes to an owner, and thats a problem." Goodell said the league has yet to collect all the facts on Irsays case. "You can judge us when we make our final determinations, which you undoubtedly will, and so will everybody else," he said. "Thats fair. But dont make judgments until weve had an opportunity to do whats in the best interest of everyone, which is getting the facts. Everybody wants process. DeMaurice Smith talks about process all the time. "The process is important." The safety program organized by the Patriots comes more than a week after a group of retired players filed another lawsuit against the league, accusing team doctors and trainers of supplying them with powerful painkillers and other drugs that allowed them to keep playing despite injuries, but led to serious complications later in life. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of more than 500 former players, charges the NFL with placing profits ahead of players health. Goodell addressed the leagues continued role in the education and pursuit of safer play. "We want you to learn the right techniques from the moment you play, regardless if you play one year, two years, or if you play flag football," he said. "I think our popularity, the platform we have, gives us an opportunity and its part of our responsibility to make the game safer, not only at the NFL level to protect our players, but also at every other level of football, and frankly, sports in general." Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the health and safety of his players have never been greater in his 20-plus years of owning the team. "I know Im a better human being from having played the game, and when I played, it wasnt as safe as it is now," he said. "So, Im a big believer in the lessons you learn in football." Kraft also was asked about the arraignment Wednesday of former New England tight end Aaron Hernandez, who pleaded not guilty to two more counts of first-degree murder stemming from a 2012 double homicide. Hernandez already is facing charges for the 2013 slaying of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. Hernandez was released by the team following his arrest last summer. "A year ago when he was arrested, we cut him from the team, I made a statement," said Kraft, who at the time said the organization was "duped" if the accusations were true. "I was very clear about it, and you can go back and read what I said then, and thats the way that I continuously feel." NFL Jerseys . Claude Noel will be the man behind the bench when the team hits the ice of the MTS Centre to begin its inaugural season. MLB Jerseys .com Tours Nova Scotia Open. The 27-year-old Sloan, a former Texas-El Paso player from Calgary matched first-round leader Rodriguez at 10-under 132 on Ashburn Golf Clubs New Course. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/. This time, it was Eric Chavezs turn. Stuck in a rut since coming off the disabled list, Chavez hit the first pitch he saw in the ninth inning for a run-scoring single, sending the Diamondbacks to another walk-off victory, 4-3 over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night. Wholesale Jerseys . Next years tournament is also within sight for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has never played in a World Cup, but Cristiano Ronaldo looks destined for the playoffs with Portugal after a night when the qualifying picture in the nine groups became much clearer. NBA Jerseys . Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse will reunite at this weekends season-opening World Cup at Canada Olympic Park as they begin their buildup to the Winter Games in Sochi.Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Marian Gaborik scored his sixth goal in the last four games to help the Los Angeles Kings top the Arizona Coyotes, 4-2, Saturday at Staples Center. His goal tied the game at 2-2 at the end of the second period, and the Kings received goals from Alec Martinez and Trevor Lewis in the third to win their second straight game. Jeff Carter scored the Kings first goal and Jonathan Quick made 15 saves in the win. Devan Dubnyk was under siege all game, facing 35 shots and allowing all four Los Angeles goals. Arizona, losers of six of its last seven, picked up goals from Martin Hanzal and Kyle Chipchura in the second period. Final Score: Colorado 5, Buffalo 1 Buffalo, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Rookie Calvin Pickard made 28 saves to backstop the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. Erik Johnson and Cody McLeod scored in the first period for the Avalanche, who have earned at least a point in four straight games (2-0-2). In the third period, Alex Tanguay scored twice and set up John Mitchell for a power-play goal. Jhonas Enroth stopped 18-of-22 shots for Buffalo, which has been outscored 10-2 while dropping its last two on the heels of a four-game winning streak. Final Score: Philadelphia 7, Toronto 4 Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Claude Giroux posted two goals and two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers in a 7-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Jakub Voracek had four assists while Michael Raffl and Sean Couturier each gave a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who snapped a two-game losing streak to open their eight-game road trip. Ray Emery allowed four goals on 25 shots in the victory. Joffrey Lupul posted a goal and an assist while James van Riemsdyk, Peter Holland and David Clarkson all scored for the Maple Leafs, who have dropped their past two. Jonathan Bernier allowed all seven goals on 41 shots, while James Reimer played the final 10 1/2 minutes and stopped the one shot he faced. Final Score: Montreal 4, Ottawa 1 Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - Carey Price settled in to make 24 saves after allowing a short-handed goal a few minutes into the game and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Saturday. Montreal scored four unanswered goals to win its fourth game in its last five. Brandon Prust and Brendan Gallagher scored in the first and second periods, respectively, and Tomas Plekanec and Alex Galchenyuk scored third-period markers to put the game away. Erik Condra potted Ottawas only goal as it had its brief two-game winning streak snapped. Robin Lehner made 25 saves on 29 shots in the Senators loss. Final Score: Washington 4, New Jersey 0 Newark, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) - Nicklas Backstrom scored a pair of goals and Alex Ovechkin notched a highlight-reel tally, leading the Washington Capitals to a 4-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday at the Prudential Center. Mike Green also scored and Backstrom added an assist for the Capitals, who have won two straight and are 6-0-2 in their last eight games. Braden Holtby needed to stop only 21 shots for his second shutout of the season. Cory Schneider was back in the net for the Devils, who were coming off a 3-2 shootout win over Tampa Bay behind rookie Keith Kinkaids first NHL win on Friday night. The veteran netminder finished with 17 saves. Final Score: NY Islanders 3, Tampa Bay 1 Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders scored a pair of goals in a 12-second span late in the third period to lift them to a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. John Tavares whistled a wrister from the slot past Andrei Vasilevskiy with 3:09 remaining to tie the game at 1-1. Travis Hamonic then put a wrister on net from the right point, which was re-directed by Anders Lee into the topleft corner to put the Islanders in front. Nikolay Kulemin added an empty-net goal for New York, which outshot Tampa Bay 48-21 and improved to 12-2-1 in its last 15 home matchups against the Lightning. Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves for the Islanders, who have won four straight games on the heels of a three-game losing streak. Vasilevskiy stopped 45 shots for Tampa Bay, which has dropped six of its last eight contests. Brett Connolly netted the lone goal for the Lightning in defeat. Final Score: Pittsburgh 3, Florida 1 Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Derrick Pouliot scored in his NHL debut, Marc-Andre Fleury made 45 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the Florida Panthers 3-1 on Saturday night in the first of a home-and-home set. Sidney Crosby and Nick Spaling also scored in the Penguins fifth consecutive home win. They are 5-0-2 in their last seven games overall. Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck provided the lone goal for Florida, which had played beyond regulation in its previous four games, winning three in shootouts and losing the other in overtime. Despite the loss, Panthers coach Gerard Gallant was pleased with his teams effort. Roberto Luongo stopped 31 shots in defeat. Final Score: NY Rangers 3, Carolina 2 (SO) Raleigh, NC (SportsNetwork.ddddddddddddcom) - Kevin Klein tied the score late in the third period and the New York Rangers went on to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night to open a home-and-home set. Mats Zuccarello scored the only goal in the shootout and Henrik Lundqvist made two stops, including a glove save on Chris Terrys backhand to end the game. A third Hurricanes skater shot wide. J.T. Miller had a power play goal in regulation for the Rangers, who extended their season-high winning streak to five games and finished off a 4-0 road trip. Lundqvist made 18 saves, including three in overtime. Terry and Jeff Skinner scored for the Hurricanes, who were coming off a 4-1 win over Toronto on Thursday night, their only victory in the last eight games. Cam Ward played well in defeat, making 32 saves, plus one in the shooting to give Carolina a chance. The Hurricanes havent won back-to-back games since a four-game winning streak Nov. 1-7. Final Score: Columbus 3, Chicago 2 (SO) Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Jack Johnson scored the deciding goal in the ninth round of the shootout and Sergei Bobrovsky was stellar as the Columbus Blue Jackets ended a 13-game losing streak to the Chicago Blackhawks with a 3-2 victory on Saturday. The Blue Jackets seem to prefer playing more than the required 60 minutes as they went to their sixth straight beyond regulation (5-0-1). Each goaltender was perfect through four rounds before former Blackhawk Jeremy Morin beat Corey Crawford with a quick wrister. Andrew Shaw kept Chicago alive, however, as he snapped a shot over Bobrovskys glove. Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks eighth shooter, had Bobrovsky beaten, but his shot rang off the left post. Johnson followed by dragging Crawford out of position with a slick backhand-forehand move and wristed the shot into an open net to put Columbus ahead. Bobrovsky stood tall and sealed the win by denying Bryan Bickells shot from the slot. The Blue Jackets defeated the Blackhawks for the first time since a 4-3 win on Feb. 18, 2011. Final Score: Nashville 6, Minnesota 5 (OT) St. Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Mattias Ekholm scored the game-winning goal 1:45 into overtime to lift the Nashville Predators to a 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. An extra session was needed after Minnesota pulled its netminder and Thomas Vanek tied the game with 47.8 seconds remaining. The Predators, however, did not let the two points slip away. Ekholm battled along the boards behind the Minnesota net, emerged with the puck and scored off a wrister from the right circle for the win. Craig Smith, Matt Cullen and Roman Josi each had a goal and an assist, while Calle Jarnkrok and Filip Forsberg also lit the lamp for the Predators, who have won four of their last five games. Pekka Rinne earned the win despite allowing a season-high five goals on 27 shots. Zach Parise finished with two goals and an assist in defeat. Vanek and Marco Scandella each tallied a goal and a helper and Jason Zucker also scored for the Wild, who dropped their third straight game. Niklas Backstrom gave up three goals on 30 shots in relief of Darcy Kuemper, who stopped 11-of-14 shots during the first period. Final Score: Vancouver 3, Calgary 2 (OT) Vancouver, BC (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Tanev celebrated his 25th birthday with the game-winning goal just 18 seconds into overtime, lifting the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday at Rogers Arena. The Flames, who battled back from a 2-0 deficit that included an own goal, had the first shot of the extra period. It went wide and the Canucks raced the other way. Henrik Sedin carried the puck into the Calgary zone along the left wing and sent a pass back to a trailing Tanev, who snapped a shot from the slot past Jonas Hiller for his second goal of the season. Radim Vrbata scored and Yannick Weber was credited with a goal for Vancouver when the Flames shot the puck into their own empty net on a delayed penalty. Ryan Miller made 26 saves for the Canucks, who snapped a five-game skid. Vancouver forward Jannik Hansen collapsed on the bench during the second period, but was apparently better in the locker room. He did not return for precautionary reasons. Final Score: San Jose 3, St. Louis 2 (OT) San Jose, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Brent Burns scored with 38 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting the San Jose Sharks to a dramatic 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. The Sharks tied the game on Marc- Edouard Vlasics goal with 20.6 seconds remaining in regulation and the goaltender pulled, then skated 4-on-3 thanks to Alexander Steens tripping infraction with 2:03 remaining in overtime. Joe Pavelski skated up to the right circle and dished the puck to Burns, who stepped into the pass and blasted it past the blocker of Jake Allen for the win. Andrew Desjardins also scored and Antti Niemi stopped 18-of-20 shots for the Sharks, who have won eight straight home games. Patrik Berglund and Steve Ott each lit the lamp for the Blues, who have dropped two in a row on the heels of a five- game winning streak. Allen made 27 saves in defeat. ' ' '