New From Lundqvist Seed

Hockey Betting Lines

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.

 

The blueliner was cleared to return after missing 19 games in a row with a separated shoulder, though New York head coach John Tortorella said he isn't sure if Eminger will in fact play today.

 

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."

 

Sergei Bobrovsky got the start and gave up six goals on 23 shots. Ilya Bryzgalov halted all eight shots he faced in relief.

 

(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.

 

"Philadelphia is one of the highest-scoring teams in the league and you get into this building, momentum shifts and the crowd gets into it. You can see what can happen," New Jersey head coach Peter DeBoer said when asked if he was concerned going into the third. "We did enough to win. Like I said, this isn't an easy place to win in. We will take it."

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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