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02/07/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It certainly seems as though the Toronto Maple Leafs made a collective New Year's resolution of ending the franchise's longest playoff drought ever.
The Leafs look to continue their climb up the Eastern Conference standings this evening and match their longest win streak of the campaign as they battle the offensively-challenged Winnipeg Jets for the final time this regular season.
Toronto has yet to qualify for the playoffs since the 2004-05 lockout, with its six-year absence marking the longest ever for the Original Six franchise. However, the Maple Leafs' current three-game win streak and string of six consecutive contests with a point (5-0-1) has pushed the club into the seventh spot in the East with 62 points, one ahead of the Senators and one back of the sixth-place Devils, who visit the conference-leading Rangers tonight.
After getting consecutive shutouts from goaltender James Reimer to kick off this win streak, the Maple Leafs turned up the offense last night in a 6-3 win over the visiting Oilers. Reimer saw his shutout streak end just 21 seconds into the game, but settled down to make 27 saves and help Toronto improve to 10-4-1 since the start of the calendar year. That includes a season-high four- game win streak from Jan. 3-10.
Toronto has pulled within six points of first-place Boston in the Northeast Division as well, but isn't looking ahead of itself.
"There's not a whole lot of scoreboard watching on our part," said Leafs head coach Ron Wilson about his club, which vaulted over the idle Sens in the standings with the win. "We just try to take care of our own business and worry about ourselves."
Phil Kessel scored twice and added an assist for his second straight three- point game. The forward is tied for second in the NHL with 29 goals and third with 57 points. He reached the 300 career point mark in last night's win, as did captain Dion Phaneuf thanks to a pair of assists.
Clarke MacArthur scored a goal to give him five tallies and four assists over a five-game point streak, while Mikhail Grabovski had two assists and has logged 12 points in his past six contests.
Having relocated from Atlanta to Winnipeg this previous offseason, the Jets have enjoyed their time at home this year as evidenced with a 15-8-2 mark. However, the franchise is just 9-16-4 away from its new home and returns to Winnipeg this evening following a 2-4-0 road trip.
The Jets were shut out twice on the swing, including Sunday's 3-0 defeat in Montreal. Ondrej Pavelec gave up three goals on 23 shots for Winnipeg, which did not score more than two goals in any game on the trip. That left more than a few Jets discouraged, including leading-scorer Blake Wheeler, who picked up a career-high seven penalty minutes versus the Canadiens that included just his second ever fighting major.
"Just overall it's been frustrating. We can't score goals," said Wheeler. "Our goalie was phenomenal again tonight and when you lose 3-0, what can you say? It's not like it was 3-2 where we had a chance to win the game."
The Jets failed to score a power-play goal on the trip, going 0-for-15. Playing a seventh straight game without concussed forward Evander Kane, who leads the club with 18 goals, hasn't helped a Winnipeg team that sits 10th in the East and five points out of first place in the Southeast Division.
Tonight's matchup with the Leafs won't help the Jets break out of their season-high funk on the man advantage. Toronto has gone 15 straight games without allowing a power-play goal, the longest such streak in the league since the Chicago Blackhawks went 19 straight games without giving up a power- play goal in 1969-70.
Toronto is a perfect 22-for-22 over its current run, which is its longest for the franchise since 1940-41.
The Maple Leafs have sandwiched a pair of home wins around a 3-2 setback to the Jets in Winnipeg on Dec. 31. Toronto notched a 4-0 win in the previous meeting on Jan. 5 behind a 24-save effort by Jonas Gustavsson, one of seven shutouts suffered by Winnipeg this year.
Kessel has three goals and two assists in the three meetings.
<< Pacers try to rebound vs. Jazz
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers had their season-high four-game winning
streak cut short the last time out and tonight they'll try and start a new run
with the Utah Jazz in town.
Indiana dropped an 85-81 decision versus the Orla
<< Surging Bolts host low-scoring Kings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kings have struggled to score goals over the first two
games of their season-long road trip, failing to earn a point despite
excellent goaltending.
In fact, Lightning forward Martin St. Louis had more goals in his last
<< Elliott returns to Ottawa as Blues visit Sens
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators decided last season that they wanted to
upgrade their goaltending position. Now the man that they dealt away reappears
in town as an All-Star.
Brian Elliott makes his return to Scotiabank Place this eve
<< Pens close out road trip with test against Habs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have gone through a rough patch to
begin February, but they'll try to get back on track tonight when they visit
the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
The Penguins ended January on an eight-game
Sliding Blackhawks aim to get back on track in Denver >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks are trying to remain positive, but
that has been tough to do over their longest losing streak of the season. The
Colorado Avalanche are going through the same struggles, but at least the
'Hawks are stil
Zvonareva, Hantuchova advance; Cibulkova exits Pattaya Open >>
Pattaya City, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion Vera Zvonareva
and reigning titlist Daniela Hantuchova posted first-round wins, while second-
seeded Dominika Cibulkova came up a loser Tuesday at the $220,000 Pattaya Open
tennis tou
Flyers seek rebound effort against Islanders >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers will try to rebound after a dismal
weekend when they host the New York Islanders for tonight's Atlantic Division
battle at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers played divisional opponents on back-to-b
UC Davis switches date of 2012 opener >>
Davis, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The UC Davis football team's 2012 season opener
against Azusa Pacific has been changed to Thursday, Aug. 30 at Aggie Stadium.
The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, Sept. 1.
The Aggies are
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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