Avs, Blues collide in St. Louis

Hockey Betting Lines

02/11/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche will try to boost their playoff chances against a tough opponent, as they visit the St. Louis Blues for tonight's clash at Scottrade Center.

The Avalanche enter today tied with Dallas for the ninth seed in the West and the clubs are just one point behind Phoenix for the conference's eighth and final postseason berth. Minnesota and Calgary are also just one point behind the Avs and Stars in the crowded Western Conference playoff picture.

Colorado had lost five straight (0-4-1) before closing a four-game homestand with consecutive wins over Chicago and Carolina. Friday's win over the Hurricanes was a dramatic one, as Ryan O'Reilly scored the game-winner with 1.2 seconds left in overtime to give the Avalanche a 4-3 win at the Pepsi Center.

With time winding down, O'Reilly picked the pocket of Justin Faulk in the neutral zone and skated the other way. From the left wing, O'Reilly cranked a shot that beat Cam Ward to the left side for the win.

"I looked up and saw four seconds on the clock," said O'Reilly. "I managed to get the shot off on time and got lucky with it."

Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, while Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 39 shots in the win.

Colorado will now play four straight and six of its next seven games on the road, where it is 12-12-2 this season.

The Blues, meanwhile, have won three of their last four games and enter tonight five points behind Detroit for the top spot in the Central Division and Western Conference. St. Louis is also just two points ahead of Nashville for the West's fourth seed and second place in the Central.

St. Louis won its second straight game Thursday in New Jersey, as T.J. Oshie scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Blues a 4-3 victory over the Devils at Prudential Center.

The Blues found themselves down by a 3-2 score midway through the second period, when Brian Elliot relieved an ineffective Jaroslav Halak in net. Elliott stopped all 15 shots he faced in regulation and overtime before denying three Devils skaters in the shootout.

Patrik Berglund scored with 5:50 remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime, while Chris Stewart and David Perron also scored for St. Louis, which ended its three-game road trip with two straight victories.

"Whenever you're down one goal going into the third on the road it's a good position to be in, so we were pretty comfortable," said Elliot.

Elliott, who played in 12 games with Colorado last year after getting traded from Ottawa, is expected to get the start tonight. He is 1-1-1 in three career tests against the Avalanche.

St. Louis has a 22-3-4 record at home this year compared to a 10-11-3 mark on the road. Beginning with tonight's test, the Blues will play four of their next five games at Scottrade Center.

Jason Arnott is not expected to play tonight for the Blues after sitting out the last three games with a bruised left shoulder. Arnott was placed on injured reserve Friday and will also sit out Sunday's game against San Jose. Matt D'Agostini will also miss a second game since sustaining a blow to the head on Tuesday against Ottawa.

The Blues are expected to get forward Andy McDonald back Sunday when they faced the Sharks. McDonald, who had 50 points in 58 games for the Blues last year, has been out since suffering a concussion on Oct. 13 in Dallas.

Tonight's tilt marks the fourth and final scheduled meeting between the Blues and Avs this season. Colorado has taken two of three encounters so far, but the Blues posted a 4-0 triumph on home ice when the clubs last met on Jan. 7. The Avs have still won nine of 11 overall in this series, but St. Louis has claimed the last two matchups in the Gateway City.

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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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