New Adds Devils Into Penguins

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New York comes into this rematch well-rested -- having been off since Wednesday -- and atop the Eastern Conference standings with 69 points, three up on both Northeast Division-leading Boston and fourth-seeded Philadelphia.

 

Lundqvist was again the star in the Rangers' most recent trip to the ice, backstopping his club to a 1-0 shootout win at Buffalo. Lundqvist made 34 saves through overtime and stopped four of the five skaters he faced in the tiebreaker. Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan had shootout tallies on the Sabres' Ryan Miller.

 

New York bounced back from a shootout loss to New Jersey the previous day and has points in four straight (3-0-1). The Blueshirts open a three-game homestand with this divisional clash and could have defenseman Steve Eminger back in action.

 

Skating on the power play, Claude Giroux appeared to be tripped by New Jersey's Dainius Zubrus at the point. No call was made and Zubrus started an odd-man rush that ended in a short-handed goal by the Devils' Ilya Kovalchuk with 57 seconds left in the opening frame.

 

"I'm pretty sure it was a penalty," Giroux said about the play that led to Kovalchuk's tally. "I actually like those two refs, so I don't want to rip them."

 

The Flyers, who will try to avoid losing two straight for the first time since Dec. 23-27, fell to 12-8-4 at home compared to a road mark of 18-7-2.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of streaking Atlantic Division rivals square off this afternoon as the New Jersey Devils try to match their longest winning streak of the season against the rolling Pittsburgh Penguins. After dropping their final three games before the All-Star break, the Devils have responded with three straight victories to pull within three points of the Penguins for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

 

The Devils stretched their winning streak on Saturday with a 6-4 win over the hosting Flyers, scoring the game's first six goals before getting outshot 24-1 in a third period that also featured all four of Philadelphia's goals. Still, two power-play goals from Kurtis Foster and a goal and two assists by Ilya Kovalchuk was enough to help the Devils sneak out a win.

 

New Jersey now looks to match its season-high four-game win streak from Dec. 12-17 despite still having a number of injured players out of action. That list includes Travis Zajac, Henrik Tallinder, Adam Henrique, Adam Larsson and Ryan Carter.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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