Avs host Wild in Northwest Division battle

Hockey Betting Lines

02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A key battle in the Western Conference playoff race is on tap tonight in Denver, as the sliding Colorado Avalanche host the Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center.

Despite posting just four wins in their last 20 games (4-12-4), the Wild enter tonight holding onto the eighth and final postseason berth in the West with 55 points. Colorado, which has been dealt three straight regulation losses, is just one point behind the Wild in both the conference and Northwest Division standings. The Avs are also tied with Dallas for the conference's ninth seed.

The Avalanche have dropped each of their last three trips to the ice by identical 3-2 scores and the latest setback came Tuesday night in Edmonton. Taylor Hall notched the game-winner early in the third period for the Oilers, as Colorado lost its first game following the All-Star break.

Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog scored for the Avalanche, while Semyon Varlamov stopped 20-of-23 shots to drop his record to 14-16-1 on the season.

"It got better as the game went on; but I guess it was too little, too late," Landeskog said of the Avs, who trailed by a 2-0 score after the first period.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere is expected to get the start in net tonight and the veteran netminder has been far superior to Varlamov this season. Giguere is 12-8-1 with a 2.15 goals-against average and .921 save percentage this year compared to Varlamov's 3.00 GAA and .898 save percentage.

Giguere is 9-11-3 with two ties in his career against Minnesota and he dropped a 3-2 decision to the visiting Wild in Colorado's final game before the break on Jan. 24.

The Wild have taken two of three from Colorado this year and have won five of six overall in the series. Minnesota has also claimed three straight and six of its last seven in the Mile High City.

Tonight marks the start of a four-game homestand for the Avs, who are 14-12-0 as the host this year. Minnesota is beginning a three-game road trip this evening and is 11-12-4 as the guest.

Minnesota scored the first three goals Tuesday against visiting Nashville, but still wound up losing a 5-4 regulation decision. The Wild also held a 4-1 lead early in the third period, but the Predators scored four unanswered and Mike Fisher won it for Nashville with just 21 seconds left in regulation.

With 20.8 seconds left in regulation, Fisher grabbed an errant pass near the boards by the right circle and flicked a shot towards the net that slipped through Josh Harding's pads for the game-winner.

"It was an awful goal, probably one of the worst I've given up in my life," said Harding. "No excuses. That one's on me."

Harding stopped 25-of-30 shots in the loss, while Dany Heatley led the offense with two goals and an assist. Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Brodziak also netted goals for Minnesota.

On the injury front, star forward Matt Duchene (knee) is out indefinitely for Colorado. Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu is still sidelined with a separated shoulder, but is nearing a return, as is fellow forward Guillaume Latendresse, who has been out with a concussion since Dec. 14. Koivu has missed the last five games after injuring his left shoulder in St. Louis on Jan. 14.

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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets

With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship.  Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92.  After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points.  Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1.  Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years.  With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed.  UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern.  Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier.  OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak.  Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.  It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta.  But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.

Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props.  Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000.  Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.

MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:

EAST National Championship Region
Arkansas 300-1 50-1
Belmont 1000-1
Boston College 100-1 40-1
Eastern KY 1000-1
George Washington 75-1
Georgetown 10-1 3-2
Marquette 100-1 40-1
Michigan State 100-1 25-1
New Mexico St. 500-1 200-1
UNC 6-1 6-5
Oral Roberts  500-1
Texas 15-1 5-1
Texas Tech 200-1 5-1
USC 75-1 20-1
Vanderbilt 100-1 30-1
Washington State 40-1 15-1
WEST
Duke 50-1 10-1
Florida A&M 1000-1
Gonzaga 200-1  40-1
Holy Cross 300-1
Illinois 300-1 60-1
Indiana 75-1 40-1
Kansas 5-1 13-10
Kentucky 100-1 40-1
Niagara 1000-1
Pittsburgh 40-1 8-1
Southern Ill. 50-1 12-1
UCLA 10-1 3-2
VCU 500-1 100-1
Villanova 100-1 40-1
VA Tech 50-1 15-1
Weber St 1000-1
Wright St 1000-1 300-1
MIDWEST
Arizona 50-1 30-1
Butler 40-1 30-1
Davidson 300-1
Florida 4-1 4-5
Georgia Tech 75-1 25-1
Jackson State 1000-1
Maryland 30-1 6-1
Miami-OH 300-1
Notre Dame 100-1 20-1
ODU 500-1 100-1
Oregon 40-1 6-1
Purdue 300-1 60-1
Texas A&M CC 1000-1
UNLV 100-1 30-1
Winthrop 500-1 100-1
Wisconsin 15-1 7-2
SOUTH
Albany 200-1
BYU 200-1 40-1
Central CT St. 1000-1
Creighton 100-1 35-1
Long Beach St. 500-1 200-1
Louisville 40-1 10-1
Memphis 30-1 4-1
Nevada 75-1 35-1
North Texas 500-1
Ohio State 7-1 6-5
Penn 500-1
Stanford 200-1 50-1
Tennessee 100-1 20-1
Texas A&M 12-1 11-5
Virginia 75-1 18-1
Xavier 100-1 40-1

Field                                              100-1

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