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05/05/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-seeded Chicago Blackhawks will try to build off the momentum from a comeback victory when they visit the Vancouver Canucks tonight for Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at General Motors Place.
After losing Game 1 on home ice by a 5-1 count, the Blackhawks trailed 2-0 in the first period against the visiting Canucks on Monday. However, Chicago cut the deficit to 2-1 before the close of the first and scored three times in the third period to skate away with the 4-2 victory in Game 2 at United Center.
This series is a rematch of last year's conference semifinals, which Chicago won in six games before losing to Detroit in the West finals. Last year's matchup was also tied at one game apiece after the clubs split Games 1 and 2 in Vancouver.
The third-seeded Canucks were 2-1 on home ice en route to their six-game series victory over Los Angeles in Round 1. Vancouver, which will also host Game 4 on Friday, had the best home record in the Western Conference during the regular season, going 30-8-3 at GM Place.
Chicago posted a 2-1 record in Nashville while ousting the Predators in six games during the first round. The Blackhawks had a solid 23-14-4 road mark in the regular season.
Kris Versteeg scored with 1:30 to play on Monday, helping Chicago even the semifinal series with a 4-2 win. Patrick Sharp had tied the game on a short- handed goal early in the third, and the Hawks took their first lead of the series late in the frame.
On a crisp passing play, Brent Seabrook sent the puck from the right boards to the high slot for Duncan Keith, who sent it over to the left side, and Versteeg wristed it home. Patrick Kane added the empty-net goal moments later to seal the victory.
Seabrook had a goal and two assists and Versteeg added a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks. Antti Niemi made 24 saves in the win.
"It was a pretty competitive game," said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville. "We were a little scrambly in the beginning but we settled down and found a way to come back with a big win and put ourselves back where we want to be."
Mikael Samuelsson and Mason Raymond each had a goal for the Canucks, while Roberto Luongo made 30 stops in the loss.
"I thought Roberto played a real strong game, but they came really hard at the net all night and it worked," said Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault. "We knew it was going to be a tough game tonight cause they were going to come at us hard. We just have to bounce back and win at home."
Vancouver scored once on six opportunities with the man advantage in the Game 2 loss. Samuelsson notched the power-play tally and now has eight goals and 12 points in the playoffs to lead Vancouver in both categories.
This marks the fourth time the Canucks and Blackhawks have battled in the postseason. Vancouver's only series victory over Chicago was in the 1982 conference finals, when the Canucks ousted the Blackhawks in five games before getting swept by the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals.
<< Rangers shoot for series win over A's
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In his last start, the Rangers' Colby Lewis went toe-to-toe
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Lewis will hope for better luck this afternoon when he tries to pitc
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rockies starter Aaron Cook hasn't pitched well on the road
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yet either.
Cook will try to get his road game on track this evening in Colorado's
<< Mariners go with Lee in second test vs. Rays
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Lee was involved in a pitcher's duel when he made his
Seattle debut last week. He could be in for another one this evening the way
Tampa Bay's Matt Garza has pitched this season.
Lee is slated to make his second s
<< Tigers try to salvage finale at Twins with Harwell still in mind
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing with heavy hearts last night, the Tigers were
unable to pull off a comeback versus the rival Twins. Hoping to once again
honor legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell, Detroit will try to avoid a three-
game s
Hornets push back ownership change announcement >>
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -The New Orleans Hornets say a formal announcement of a change of ownership will not happen until next week at the earliest.Team spokesman Harold Kaufman says the schedules of top team officials has been complicated by an ongoing se
Raptors' Bosh looking for answers >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - How much of a stir can 140 characters or
less create?
Well, in the case of Chris Bosh's Twittergate controversy over the weekend, the
answer is a ton. If you didn't read the tweets that rocked Raptors N
136th Kentucky Derby and Oaks figures show increase >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The numbers are in, and they show that
attendance and betting figures for this year's Kentucky Derby and Kentucky
Oaks were up significantly from 2009.
Despite heavy rain and torando warnings Sa
Cattermole suffers shoulder injury in training >>
Sunderland, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole
looks set to miss Sunday's Premier League finale against Wolverhampton after
dislocating his shoulder.
The 22-year-old midfielder has been sent for scans after
Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back
With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.
"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."
Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .
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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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