'Canes try to make it three wins in a row in test with Bruins

Hockey Betting Lines

12/20/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes will try to match their longest winning streak of the season when they visit the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins for this afternoon's matchup at TD Banknorth Garden.

The Hurricanes have posted back-to-back victories and will aim for their second three-game winning streak of the season. Carolina also won three in a row from November 16-21.

Carolina's consecutive decisions both came on home ice, as the club downed Montreal, 3-2, in regulation on Tuesday before notching Thursday's 2-1 overtime win against Florida.

Joe Corvo scored on a sensational individual effort with 44 seconds remaining in the extra session to give the Hurricanes the win over the Panthers at RBC Center.

Corvo took a pass from Ray Whitney at the top of the slot and wound up for a shot, but fell to the ice after making contact with a Florida defender. He recovered, though, and skated the puck into the left circle, cutting between two defenders, before lifting a backhander past Tomas Vokoun.

Justin Williams netted his first goal since November 23 of last season while Whitney recorded two assists for Carolina. Cam Ward posted 19 saves in the winning effort.

Rod Brind'Amour assisted on Corvo's game-winner for his 700th NHL assist. He became the fourth active player to have at least 700 assists and 400 goals -- joining Dallas' Mike Modano, Tampa Bay's Mark Recchi and Colorado's Joe Sakic.

Brind'Amour comes into tonight's test with a five-game assist streak intact.

Four of Carolina's last six games have gone to overtime, allowing the 'Canes to pick up points in six straight despite splitting those contests.

Today's tilt marks the start of a four-game road trip for the Hurricanes, who are 6-4-4 as the visiting team. Carolina has lost two straight and five of its last six away from home.

Boston, meanwhile, leads the East and Northeast Division with 48 points and will aim for its fourth consecutive victory today.

The Bruins last played on Thursday against visiting Toronto and were able to earn their 12th straight home win. David Krejci netted his first career hat trick and Phil Kessel continued his amazing point streak with two goals and an assist, as Boston beat Toronto, 8-5.

Marc Savard added a goal and three assists for the Bruins, who won for the eighth time in nine games to move their record to 22-5-4. Their current home win streak is the longest since a 16-game run during the 1975-76 season.

The Bruins last lost on home ice with a 4-2 setback to Toronto on October 23 and are 12-1-1 as the host this year.

Kessel has a 16-game points streak, the longest by a Bruin since Adam Oates recorded points in 20 straight games from January 7-February 20, 1997.

Marco Sturm and Michael Ryder also scored for the Bruins. Tim Thomas was pulled after allowing five goals on 23 shots through two periods, but Manny Fernandez held down the fort by stopping all 13 shots he faced in the third.

The Bruins are wrapping a three-game homestand this afternoon and will begin a four-game road trip Sunday in St. Louis.

Tonight marks the first of four meetings between these two clubs this season. The Hurricanes won three of four over the Bruins a season ago and have taken six of eight and nine of the last 12 in the series overall. That includes wins in four straight at Boston.

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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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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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