Sharks aim to maintain home mastery of Jackets

Hockey Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks have gotten off to a bit of a slow start since the Olympic break. A visit from the Columbus Blue Jackets could provide the spark they need.

San Jose continues a five-game residency tonight seeking an 11th straight victory at home over Columbus.

The Sharks began their post-Olympic schedule -- and current homestand at HP Pavilion -- on Tuesday versus the New Jersey Devils, who scored the game's first four goals. San Jose responded with a trio of third-period markers but couldn't complete the comeback in a 4-3 setback.

San Jose then hosted Montreal on Thursday and trailed by one goal entering the third period before Dany Heatley and Manny Malhotra scored in a 2:33 span to lift the Sharks to a 3-2 victory.

Patrick Marleau scored earlier for San Jose while short-handed to break a six- game goal drought, his career-high 39th tally of the season to surpass the 38 he netted in 2008-09. Evgeni Nabokov totaled 28 saves and stopped all 11 he saw in the final period as the Sharks snapped a brief two-game slide and won for the sixth time in their last nine home games.

The contest with the Canadiens was a chippy one and it took a scary turn in the third, when San Jose's Scott Nichol was drilled into the boards from behind after hitting the post on a breakaway attempt.

"It was a really dirty hit," San Jose's Dan Boyle said of the incident. "You can paralyze a guy like that. There's no place for that in hockey."

San Jose remains tied with Chicago for the most points in the Western Conference and are also three back of Washington for tops in the NHL.

Tonight the Sharks will try to avoid dropping their first home game to the Blue Jackets since January 8, 2004, as Columbus is 0-9-1 in 10 trips to San Jose since.

The Sharks have won seven of their last nine overall versus the Blue Jackets, but did drop a 3-0 decision in Columbus when the clubs last met on February 10.

Steve Mason made 40 saves and Rick Nash, Jakub Voracek and Antoine Vermette all scored in that win, which was Columbus' third straight under Claude Noel since he replaced former head coach Ken Hitchcock on February 3 on an interim basis.

Columbus is 0-1-2 since and dropped its first game after the Olympics on Tuesday versus Vancouver, a 4-3 setback in overtime despite goals from Vermette, Derek Dorsett and Andrew Murray, who broke a 41-game goal drought. Mason made 27 saves in defeat.

"The game was what I thought it would be," Noel said. "You're playing a good team. When you look at the game, our power play wasn't very good."

Columbus, which plays its next three games on the road and is 11 points back of a playoff spot, will have a different look tonight following Wednesday's trade deadline. The Blue Jackets made a host of trades, shipping out forwards Fredrik Modin (Los Angeles), Raffi Torres (Buffalo) and Alexandre Picard (Carolina) as well as defenseman Milan Jurcina (Washington) and Mathieu Roy (Florida).

The Blue Jackets totaled three draft picks in return as well as forwards Matt Rust (Florida) and Chad Kolarik (Phoenix) and defenseman Nathan Paetsch (Buffalo). Paetsch may play tonight for Columbus, while blueliner Mike Commodore should return from a lower-body injury that had sidelined him since January 30.

Center Derick Brassard, though, will miss his second game in a row thanks to a hand ailment.

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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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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.