Rangers corral win at Carolina

Hockey Betting Lines

02/16/2007 - Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Nylander and Karel Rachunek each had a goal and an assist, and the New York Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak in Carolina, posting a 4-1 victory over the Hurricanes.

The Rangers had not won on the Hurricanes' home ice since Dec. 31, 2002, with an 0-5-0 mark during the stretch.

Pascal Dupuis and Brendan Shanahan also scored for the Rangers, who were coming off four days' rest and have now won three straight to move within three points of Toronto, Montreal and the New York Islanders, who are tied the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves for New York, which scored on all three of its power play opportunities. . Andrew Ladd had the lone tally for Carolina, which had won three of its last four coming in. The Hurricanes also lost more than the contest, as right winger Justin Williams and defenseman Bret Hedican both left with injuries and did not return. Hedican suffered a concussion, while Williams has an upper body ailment, putting in jeopardy his streak of 147 consecutive games played.

Cam Ward surrendered all four goals on 27 shots faced for Carolina.

A power-play tally sparked the Rangers to a 1-0 lead in the first period. In 3-on-1 coverage, Jaromir Jagr came streaking through the left circle and managed to slide a cross-ice feed to Nylander, who was just off the netminder's left side and wristed the puck past Ward with 1:14 remaining in the period.

Carolina was quick to net the equalizer, as Scott Walker tore through the neutral zone and dished to Eric Staal. The crafty center then pushed through a couple of defensemen, sliding the disc to Ladd, who was ahead of the play and beat a sliding Lundqvist on the stick-side with 30 seconds left in the stanza.

Another man-advantage resulted in another tally, putting the Blueshirts back on top, 2-1, in the second. Rachunek picked up his fourth goal of the season, rifling a long slapshot from the point that tore through traffic in front of the crease and over the left shoulder of Ward at 5:40.

New York doubled its lead later on, as Dupuis notched his first goal as a Ranger, and 11th of the season, with 3:41 remaining in the period. Matt Cullen took the initial shot from along the left boards, and Dupuis managed to deflect the puck past Ward at 16:19.

The Rangers broke the game open in the third period, claiming a 4-1 lead on another power play score. From a sharp angle off Ward's right side, Shanahan was able to corral the puck off a slapshot by Rachunek and snap it past the netminder at 4:01.

Carolina managed just six shots on goal in the final period.

Game Notes

Carolina forward Erik Cole is day-to-day with a lower-body injury that has caused him to miss three straight games...In 63 career games against Carolina, Jagr has 30 goals and 37 assists...Williams was playing in his 400th career NHL game...Carolina's Ray Whitney and Rod Brind'Amour both had five-game point streaks end...With 25 games remaining, the Rangers have more wins at this point in the season than they have had in any non-playoff seasons since 1997...Nylander extended his point streak to six games (3G, 5A)...Shanahan has four goals and four assists in his last eight games.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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