Evan Lysacek of the United States performs during his free program in the men's figure skating competition Thursday. Lysacek skated away with the gold medal.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — On a day when Lindsey Vonn crashed and Canada's pride-and-joy hockey team nearly went down, Evan Lysacek stood up strong.

In the biggest event of his life, Lysacek, the reigning world champion in men's figure skating, didn't try the most daring routine, but he hit nearly every move he picked. He knew it, too, repeatedly screaming "Yes!" as his music faded.

"It was definitely my best, and that's what I came here to do," Lysacek said.

He earned the highest score of his career and it held up for the gold medal, topping defending champ Evgeni Plushenko and providing the United States with its first champion in this event since Brian Boitano in 1988. He also gave his coach, the widely respected Frank Carroll, his first gold medalist.

Lysacek's victory let the United States close Thursday still way ahead in the medals races. Through 34 events, Americans have claimed six golds and 17 overall. Germany is second in both categories, with four and 11.

Vonn wasn't able to add to the total.

Seeking her second gold medal in as many days, she led the super-combined after the downhill portion, then failed to slip a ski inside a gate during her slalom run and wound up tumbling down the snow.

A bruised right shin that was "killing me" wasn't to blame. She just made a common mistake trying to catch up to her best friend Maria Riesch of Germany and teammate Julia Mancuso.

"I was disappointed, but I went down fighting," Vonn said. "I had to give it everything I had."

Mancuso became the first American woman to win a medal in women's combined or super-combined since Gretchen Fraser got silver at the 1948 St. Moritz Games. She also became the first U.S. woman with three Olympic medals in Alpine skiing, matching Bode Miller for the most Alpine medals by an American.

Women's HockeyStunning news from the U.S. match: Jenny Potter didn't have a third straight hat trick. Heck, she didn't have a single point.The Americans still cruised by Finland 6-0, getting a goal and two assists from captain Natalie Darwitz to cap an undefeated run through the preliminary round."We've got one task in sight, and we think we are in pretty good position going forward," U.S. defenseman Caitlin Cahow said.

Hockey and the OlympicsThe head of the International Ice Hockey Federation is defending the lack of depth in the women's field and practically begging NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to let pros play in the 2014 Winter Olympics."For our game, our fans, Gary, we need you, 100 percent," IIHF president Rene Fasel said at a news conference Bettman attended.As for the imbalance in the women's field, Fasel called the teams from Canada and the United States "on another planet" and urged the rest of the world to catch up.

HalfpipeAfter all sorts of flying and falling, Bright showed that someone could tame this course, stringing together five technically superior jumps for just the fourth gold medal ever won by an Aussie at the Winter Olympics — enough to earn her a phone call from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.Of course, it all came after a wipeout during her first run.

CurlingAttention everyone watching curling and thinking, "I can do that."The U.S. teams might need you.Americans remained 0-for-Vancouver following losses by the men and women, both to Denmark by the score of 7-6.At 0-4, the men are on the brink of elimination; they must win their remaining five matches to get to the semifinals."Something magical would have to happen for us to make the medal round," U.S. lead John Benton said.The women are 0-3.

SpeedskatingCanada's Christine Nesbitt figures she's had better 1,000-meter skates. But never one more important.And few that were any closer. She won by two-hundredths of a second.Jennifer Rodriguez was the top American, finishing seventh.Meanwhile, five-time gold medalist Claudia Pechstein of Germany won't be competing here after the top court in international sports rejected her appeal of a suspension for showing abnormal blood levels.

TV RatingsA night after Fox's "American Idol" drew nearly 4 million more viewers than NBC's broadcast from Vancouver, the athletes outdrew the entertainers by a whopping 11.7 million in the hour the two overlapped Wednesday night. It was the first time in six years that "Idol" was topped by a program in its time slot.