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02/10/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Forgive the Red Wings if they are looking past the Ducks and towards this weekend when they could have a chance at matching the longest home winning streak in NHL history.
After all, wins over Anaheim at Joe Louis Arena are almost a given for Detroit.
The Red Wings aim to make it 19 straight victories as the host this evening with an eighth consecutive defeat of the surging Ducks in Motown.
Detroit's current string of home victories is a franchise high and the longest in the NHL since the Philadelphia Flyers tied the league record by winning 20 in a row during the 1975-76 season. The mark was first set by the 1929-1930 Boston Bruins.
The Red Wings have not suffered a loss at home since Nov. 3 and returned off a 2-2-1 road trip that ended with two straight defeats to knock off the Oilers 4-2 on Wednesday in the first of six in a row at home. The game also began a span of 11 of their next 14 at Joe Louis Arena for the NHL-leading Red Wings.
Following a two-goal setback in Phoenix on Monday, Detroit got third-period goals from Drew Miller and Henrik Zetterberg to put away the Oilers. Cory Emmerton and Johan Franzen also scored to improve Detroit to 21-2-1 as the hosting club this season. Still, the Red Wings are just 15-15-1 on the road but lead the NHL with 74 points, one more than both the Canucks and Rangers.
Detroit was able to avoid a letdown at the start of its lengthy homestand and with a victory tonight, it will have a chance to even the NHL record on Sunday versus Philadelphia.
"People that don't travel with us and just watch home games have no idea how hard it is to come back and what a grind it is," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "This game is always a tough one to win. We knew that coming in."
Adding to the potential trip up was the fact that starting goaltender Jimmy Howard remains out with a broken right index finger. Joey MacDonald again got the start for the league's wins leader and made 15 saves.
It will be either MacDonald or Ty Conklin in net for the Red Wings tonight as they try to avoid their first loss at home to the Ducks since Feb. 10, 2008. Detroit has won seven in a row and 16 of the last 17 as the host in this series and holds an all-time home record versus Anaheim of 29-3-0 with three ties.
Detroit shut out visiting Anaheim 5-0 in the first of four meetings this year on Nov. 5 and added a 4-2 road victory over the Ducks later in the month to give it a win in five of six and 10 of the last 13 encounters overall.
Franzen, Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and Brad Stuart all have a pair of goals versus the Ducks this year, while Franzen and Pavel Datsyuk have added three assists in the two meetings as well.
Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne have the goals for the Ducks, who are 11-2-2 since Jan. 6, when they were 20 points out of a playoff spot. They have halved that deficit since and sit 10 points behind the eighth-place Coyotes.
Anaheim picked up its second straight victory on Wednesday, logging a 3-2 overtime win over Carolina. Corey Perry netted the game-winner at the 2:14 mark chasing down a loose puck after perhaps getting away with a tripping call on the Hurricanes' Jussi Jokinen.
Perry sent a quick pass to Sheldon Brookbank before receiving a return feed and firing it home for his first goal in seven games. Koivu added his first goal since a hat trick on Jan. 10 -- a span of 11 straight games without a goal -- and Nick Bonino scored.
"All these games that we win are going to be nail-bitters as we get closer to the playoffs," Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau said. "So every win we get is going to be huge."
Jonas Hiller came up with 31 saves and is 9-2-2 over his last 14 appearances with a 1.93 goals-against average. Hiller has allowed two goals or fewer in 11 of those outings.
While the Ducks could probably think of a better location to start their eight-game road trip, which equals the longest uninterrupted swing in club history, Perry thinks Wednesday's win could give the club some momentum heading into Detroit.
"We needed it before the road trip. We didn't want to go on the road trip on a losing note. Eight games is a long way and it could make-or-break our season," said Perry, whose club has won four of its past six on the road and won't play at home again until Feb. 26.
While Detroit's Danny Cleary is questionable due to a lower-body injury suffered in the Red Wings' most recent game, forward Tomas Holmstrom is expected to suit up for the 1,000th game of his career this evening. He is set to become the 272nd player in league history to reach that figure and the sixth to skate in 1,000 games with the Red Wings.
Lidstrom, meanwhile, will match Alex Delvecchio (1,549) for second place on the Red Wings' all-time games played list this evening.
<< Cavs and Bucks clash at the 'Q'
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving probably won't play
again tonight after suffering a concussion earlier this week, but Ramon
Sessions will be there to pick up the slack.
Sessions filled in nicely for Irving the prev
<< Heat visit nation's capital to take on Wizards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After getting their six-game road trip off to a poor start,
the Miami Heat will dust themselves off for tonight's showdown against the
lowly Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center.
The Heat had won three straight and 11
<< Clippers resume road trip vs. 76ers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers will close out a seven-game stretch
that head coach Doug Collins dubbed as "Death Row" when they entertain the
upstart Los Angeles Clippers tonight from Wells Fargo Center.
The Sixers are 4-2 on the
<< Thunder conclude road trip in Utah
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oklahoma City will attempt to wrap up a five-game road trip
on a winning note tonight when Kevin Durant and Company visit Salt Lake City
to take on the Utah Jazz.
The Western Conference-leading Thunder dropped to 2-2 o
Mavs visit Love, Timberwolves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Timberwolves will have Kevin Love back in the
lineup tonight versus the Dallas Mavericks at Target Center after serving a
two-game suspension for stomping on Houston's Luis Scola during the third
quarter of Satu
Magic welcome Hawks to central Florida >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic try to stay hot tonight when they welcome
the Atlanta Hawks to the Amway Center.
This, of course, is the first meeting between these Southeast Division rivals
since Atlanta knocked the Magic out of last
Giggs to play another year at United >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United manager Sir Alex
Ferguson has revealed that midfielder Ryan Giggs will return to the club for
another season after signing a one-year contract extension.
The 38-year-old Giggs m
Blazers, Hornets tangle in the Big Easy >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portland hopes a Western Conference-worst New Orleans team
proves to be a bit of a tonic after the Blazers dropped consecutive games in
Rip City.
A controversial goaltending call on All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge al
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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