Sharks outlast struggling Blackhawks

Hockey Betting Lines

02/11/2012 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Benn Ferriero's goal early in the third period proved to be the winner, as the San Jose Sharks kept the Chicago Blackhawks reeling with a 5-3 victory at HP Pavilion.

Justin Braun, Dan Boyle, Joe Thornton and Jamie McGinn also tallied goals for the Sharks, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Antti Niemi stopped 30-of-33 shots for the win.

Marcus Kruger scored twice, while Bryan Bickell also lit the lamp for Chicago, which had its season-long losing streak reach seven games.

Corey Crawford allowed all five goals on 27 shots to take the loss.

San Jose held a 3-2 lead entering the third period, but Dave Bolland slid a pass from the left corner to the right circle through the legs of a Sharks defender that was one-timed home by Bickell to knot the game at three 2:15 into the final stanza.

Ferriero then put San Jose back on top at the 5:40 mark when he finished off an offensive flurry with a quick shot from the crease that snuck by Crawford.

McGinn gave the Sharks a little insurance with 5:56 left in regulation while on the power play by grabbing a pass to the right of the net before moving the puck from his backhand to his forehand and lifting a shot over the goaltender's right shoulder.

A pair of power-play goals by Braun and Boyle in the first period sent the Sharks into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.

The Blackhawks, though, battled back to tie the game when Kruger was able to clean up a pair of rebounds early in the second period.

But San Jose took a 3-2 advantage into the end of the second thanks to a fortuitous deflection.

After the Sharks' Patrick Marleau failed to get the handle on a cross-ice pass in a 2-on-1 rush, Thornton attempted a centering pass from the right of the net that deflected off the stick of San Jose's Dylan Olsen and slid through the legs of Crawford.

Game Notes

San Jose improved to 18-9-2 at home this season, while Chicago fell to 10-13-3 on the road...The teams split the four-game season series 2-2...Brent Burns had three assists and Logan Couture had two helpers for the Sharks...Patrick Sharp recorded two assists for Chicago...San Jose went 3-for-6 on the power play...The Blackhawks failed to score on their three man advantages.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.