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02/27/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders play the sixth contest of their current seven-game homestand this evening, when they welcome the last-place Philadelphia Flyers to Nassau Coliseum.
The stand has been a successful one for the Islanders, who are 4-1 thus far on the residency to improve to 17-10-4 as the host this season. On Saturday, the club knocked off the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2.
Jason Blake scored the go-ahead goal and Frans Nielsen had a goal and an assist for his first NHL points to lead the Islanders in the win.
Richard Park added two assists and Rick DiPietro made 20 saves for New York, which has picked up 24 points in its last 16 games (10-2-4) to move into the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.
The Islanders' recent winning surge has them just one point back of Carolina for the eight playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
New York will conclude its homestand Thursday against St. Louis.
The Islanders made a move on Monday to boost their offense as they acquired Richard Zednik from Washington for a second-round pick in the 2007 draft. Zednik, though, has just six goals and 12 assists through 32 games this season.
The Flyers have lost their last four games, including a 5-2 setback to Toronto on Saturday. Sami Kapanen and Simon Gagne scored for the Flyers and Michael Leighton stopped 25 shots.
Philadelphia begins a three-game road swing tonight. The club has been better on the road this season, compiling an 11-19-2 mark as the visitor compared to 5-18-7 at home.
The Flyers established themselves early on as sellers at this year's deadline when they shipped center Peter Forsberg to Nashville and Philadelphia made another move on Monday of the three-team variety.
The club shipped under-performing winger Kyle Calder to Chicago for defenseman Lasse Kukkonen and a third-round pick in 2007. The Blackhawks then moved Calder to Detroit.
Calder had scored a career-high 26 goals for Chicago in the 2005-06 season, but did not score a goal in his first 28 games with Philadelphia and has totaled nine goals and 12 assists in 59 contests.
Kukkonen, 25, is appearing in his second season in the NHL and has five goals and 10 assists in 64 games for his career.
Philadelphia had already sent defenseman Alexei Zhitnik to Atlanta on Saturday in exchange for defenseman Braydon Coburn.
The Flyers and Islanders will meet for the sixth time this season and for the final time at Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders have taken three of the five games so far this season, although the Flyers are 8-5-1 (one tie) against New York over the last 14 meetings.
<< Sabres, Leafs clash in Toronto
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres will look to rebound from an emotional
weekend when they battle the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening at the Air
Canada Centre.
Buffalo wrapped up a high energy home-and-home series on Saturday with Otta
<< Devils and Pens battle in the Steel City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will get another opportunity to show
the Pittsburgh Penguins who is boss in the Atlantic Division when the two
clubs meet tonight at the Mellon Arena.
The Penguins endured a stretch where they won 12
<< Cavs, Hornets square off in Cleveland
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers try and stop a two-game losing
streak this evening when they host the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets at
Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavs have dropped two in a row after a two-game win
<< Streaking Canadiens begin road swing against Rangers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having re-discovered their winning ways, the Montreal
Canadiens begin an important road trip tonight at Madison Square Garden
against a New York Rangers team in desperate need of a victory.
The Canadiens have rebounded str
Pacers welcome Suns to Indy >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns shoot for their fifth straight win when
they visit the Indiana Pacers tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse.
The Pacific Division-leading Suns are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, and
notched a 115-106 win
Wizards close out trip in Jersey >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Southeast Division-leading Washington Wizards wrap up a
three-game road trip when they visit the New Jersey Nets tonight at
Continental Airlines Arena.
Washington is 0-2 on the swing. On Sunday, Kevin Garne
Golden State opens trek at Milwaukee >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors begin a five-game road trip when
they visit the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at the Bradley Center.
This is the second and final meeting of the campaign between the clubs. On
December 2nd, Mauric
Mavs shoot for win No. 13 at Minnesota >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA-best Dallas Mavericks try to extend their winning
streak to 13 games when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at the
Target Center.
All-Star Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds t
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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