NHL

Just over a week since the last set of failed negotiations, the NHL and the locked-out Players Association are returning to the bargaining table Monday in New York. Conversations that restarted Friday between NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr produced enough positive feeling Saturday for the sides to set up another face-to-face meeting that the sides hope will lead to an agreement to save the season. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman suggested to union executive director Donald Fehr on Thursday that the sides take two weeks off from negotiations. The union maintained its desire to keep talking, and now bargaining is back on . . . Senators defenseman Jared Cowen will be out 6-8 months following surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip. Cowen, 21, played in all 82 games for Ottawa last season as a rookie.