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02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot New Jersey Devils will try to extend their longest winning streak of the season to six games tonight, when they host the St. Louis Blues at the Prudential Center.
The Devils, who are coming off Tuesday's controversial 1-0 regulation win over the New York Rangers, have won five straight and 10 of their last 14 games.
The surge has helped New Jersey forge a tie with Pittsburgh for third place in the Atlantic Division and the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Devils and Penguins are also just two points behind Philadelphia for second in the division and fourth in the East.
The Devils rode Martin Brodeur to a win in Tuesday's low-scoring affair in New York City. Brodeur extended his NHL record with the 117th shutout of his career, as New Jersey made a first-period goal stand up in a 1-0 win over the first-place Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
David Clarkson tallied the only goal for the Devils, who are in the midst of their longest winning streak since an eight-game run from Feb. 6-22 of last season. Zach Parise and Patrik Elias both notched assists on Clarkson's goal to extend their point streaks to six games.
The controversy came in the final minute when the Rangers appeared to tie the game with 3.5 seconds left, but Marian Gaborik crashed into Brodeur and was called for goalie interference, negating Artem Anisimov's potential equalizer.
"I thought it was the right call," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. "Marty gets pushed into the net. Give them credit for getting it right."
Brodeur stopped 30 shots, including 15 in the final period, to secure his first shutout since blanking the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 25 of last season. Brodeur skipped practice Wednesday due to a twisted ankle suffered in the third period against the Rangers and it's unclear if he will be able to start tonight or if Johan Hedberg will get the call.
In other injury news, Devils defenseman Adam Larsson -- the fourth overall pick of the 2011 draft -- has missed the last three games with an injured back and will likely miss tonight as well. Forward Ryan Carter (hand) is also not expected to play.
New Jersey is kicking off a two-game homestand tonight and will also host Florida on Saturday. The Devils have won their last three home games and are 15-9-2 in Newark this season.
The Blues have won two of their last three games and are also coming off a road win on Tuesday. St. Louis notched a 3-1 win in Ottawa, as goaltender Brian Elliott made a successful return to Scotiabank Place.
Almost a year after the Senators traded him to the Colorado Avalanche, Elliott stopped 28 shots to help lead the Blues to victory.
"Coming in here, especially for myself, kind of a little homecoming meant a lot to me and the guys played hard for me," Elliott said.
David Perron scored twice and Chris Porter also lit the lamp for the Blues, who had lost three of four coming into Tuesday's tilt. With the win over the Sens, St. Louis moved to 10-0-2 against the Eastern Conference this season.
The Blues are still just 9-11-3 as the guest this year and are completing a three-game road trip tonight.
Former Devils forward Jason Arnott is not expected to play tonight for the Blues after sitting out the last two games with a bruised left shoulder. Matt D'Agostini is also not expected to play this evening after sustaining a blow to the head in Tuesday's game.
Tonight's tilt marks the first meeting between the Devils and Blues since Nov. 20, 2010 in St. Louis. The Blues have won two straight and three of four against New Jersey overall and have taken the last two encounters in the Garden State.
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Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Bills have released safety Jon
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Flames hope to stay hot in Phoenix >>
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Flames turned to pair of Finns to get the job done. The Flames aim to jump
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winning streak
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Flyers seek to halt skid vs. Maple Leafs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers will try to halt their longest
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NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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NFL betting action is back! At MySportsbook, all of the pro football odds are posted for the NFC North. Check out how we see the four teams in this cloudy division stacking up this year in the chase for the playoffs! Green Bay Packers (+125) - With QB Aaron Rodgers leading the offense and DC Dom Capers working his magic on defense, the Packers are a real force to be reckoned with.
Virtually nothing changed on this offense for Green Bay from last year to this year, save for the addition of rookie OT Brian Bulaga to the bunch. Expect more huge numbers from the Pack, and a relatively favorable schedule should get them over the hump and into the playoffs once again this season. My NFL Betting Predictions: 11-5, 1st place in NFC North Minnesota Vikings (+130) - There are still too many unknowns about the Vikes this year. There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not.
There is a huge difference between QB Brett Favre and either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center. Plus, is Favre comes back, is he really going to be able to keep his pick total under double digits again? Depth at running back looked like it might have been an issue with RB Chester Taylor fleeing in free agency, but drafting RB Toby Gerhart should pick up the difference. This defense is still suitable, but with a first place schedule, making the playoffs is going to be very tough regardless of whether #4 comes back or not. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.
Chicago Bears (+350) - The Bears are probably a bit of an overhyped team once again this year.No, we don't think it is plausible for QB Jay Cutler to have as bad of a season as he did last year, and we do think the additions of RB Chester Taylor and DE Julius Peppers are going to help immensely, but there's still something in the water in the Windy City that we aren't so sure about. Maybe Chicago finds its way to .500... but then again, maybe it doesn't. If Favre comes back, Cutler might be the worst quarterback in this division this year.
Detroit Lions (+1500) - The Lions are probably once again going to be the whipping boys for the rest of the teams in the NFC North, but they aren't just going to roll over and die once again. There is some real talent amassing on this team offensively, as the combination of QB Matt Stafford, RB Jahvid Best, WR Calvin Johnson, and TE Brandon Pettigrew should put a bunch of points on the board if the offensive line can even remotely hold up. The questions really lie on defense, where it feels like DT Ndamukong Suh is going to be trying to stop opposing teams all by himself. This year should show some marked improvement in the Motor City.
The Patriots will make NFL betting fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.
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