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04/06/2007 - Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Blake scored the go-ahead goal 3:46 into the third period and the New York Islanders kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Nassau Coliseum.
Aaron Asham and Mike Sillinger added a goal and an assist each and Tom Poti had three assists for the Islanders, which moved within two points of the eighth-place Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Montreal has 90 points after a 3-1 loss to the Rangers on Thursday night. The Canadiens' setback also helped the Maple Leafs, who remain one point behind Montreal for the final playoff spot. Toronto and Montreal square off on Saturday night in the regular-season finale for both clubs.
The Islanders, meanwhile, have two games remaining. New York plays at Philadelphia on Saturday and at New Jersey on Sunday.
Ryan Smyth also scored and Wade Dubielewicz ended with 28 saves for New York, which has won two straight.
John Pohl scored and Carlo Colaiacovo had a goal and an assist for Toronto, losers in three of its last five contests. Darcy Tucker had two assists and Andrew Raycroft had 22 saves for the Maple Leafs, who faltered down the stretch.
Just 1:34 after the Maple Leafs tied the game at 2-2, Blake put the Islanders ahead with a great effort. After taking the puck along the right-side boards, he skated over to the top of the left circle and wristed a shot over the stick of Raycroft.
Asham, who had the primary assist on Blake's go-ahead goal, gave the Islanders a two-goal advantage just over eight minutes later. He skated into the zone along the left boards and from the top of the circle slapped a shot that went into the upper stick-side corner.
Miroslav Satan added an empty-net goal with just under two minutes to play to ice the win.
The Isles broke the boards first, using the hard work of Smyth to tally the game's first goal. Smyth brought the puck behind the net and swung a pass out front to Sillinger. Raycroft stopped the initial shot from Sillinger, but Smyth pounced on the rebound to give New York the lead with 3:03 left in the opening period.
Toronto tied the game in the second period. With both teams skating four aside, Tucker skated through the crease and backhanded the puck to the front of the net, where Pohl tapped it home for the equalizer with 6:24 left until the second break.
The Islanders caught a break late in the second and took advantage. With Hal Gill in the penalty box for tripping, New York worked the puck around the perimeter. After Sillinger sent a short pass to Poti from the left point to the left-side boards, Poti gave the puck to Trent Hunter, who was located left of the net along the goal line extended. From there, Hunter found Sillinger streaking through the crease and hit him with the puck, which he wristed past Raycroft for a 2-1 edge.
Gill, though, helped make amends early in the third, recording an assist along with Tucker on Colaiacovo's goal that tied the game just 2:12 into the period.
Game Notes
New York won three of four from Toronto this season, taking two games in a shootout...New York ended 1-for-1 on the power play, while the Leafs went 0- for-3...The home team has won 10 of 12 in this series.
<< Sabres rally to top Bruins
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thomas Vanek scored twice and also notched an
assist as the Sabres doubled up the Boston Bruins, 4-2, in Buffalo's home
finale at HSBC Arena.
Derek Roy had a goal and one assist and Ales Kotalik als
<< Blueshirts lock up playoff spot
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist and
Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves as the New York Rangers clinched a playoff
berth with a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.
Petr Pr
<< Arenas out 2-3 months following surgery
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas
underwent surgery Thursday to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee
and will be sidelined the next 2-to-3 months.
Arenas was hurt in the first quart
<< Michigan State moves into final
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Mueller had a goal and an assist to
help the Michigan State Spartans advance to their first championship game
since 1987 with a 4-2 win over the Maine Black Bears in the Frozen Four.
Nick Such
Backstrom and Wild shutout Edmonton >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Niklas Backstrom made 22 saves, recording his
second consecutive shutout and fifth of the season as the Minnesota Wild
blanked the Edmonton Oilers, 3-0, at XCel Energy Center.
Mark Parrish, Keith Carne
Talbot lifts Penguins to crucial win over Senators >>
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Maxime Talbot's goal with only 10 seconds
remaining in regulation lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to a dramatic and
critical 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place.
Michel Ouellet and
Legwand lifts Predators over Blues >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Legwand scored a pair of goals as the
Nashville Predators downed the St. Louis Blues, 4-1, at Nashville Arena.
Alexander Radulov and Peter Forsberg each had a goal for the Predators, who
snapped a
Boston College, Michigan State to meet in final >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nathan Gerbe had two goals and two assists
as the Boston College Eagles reached the championship game by defeating the
North Dakota Fighting Sioux, 6-4, in the Frozen Four.
Boston College will next due bat
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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