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02/25/2007 - Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Gratton scored twice and added an assist, to lead the Florida Panthers to a 7-2 pounding of the Boston Bruins at BankAtlantic Center.
Stephen Weiss had a goal and two assists for the Panthers, who ended a two- game slide. Ed Belfour turned aside 25 shots in the victory while Juraj Kolnik finished with three helpers.
Marc Savard and Brad Boyes each tallied a goal and an assist for the Bruins, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Tim Thomas started between the pipes for Boston and was pulled after the first period, allowing three goals on 19 shots. His replacement, Hannu Toivonen did no better and allowed four goals on 33 shots.
Florida took control early, scoring three goals in the opening 20 minutes.
The Panthers drew first blood and grabbed a 1-0 lead after Ville Peltonen tallied his 11th goal of the season 4:33 into the contest. From the top of the left circle, Peltonen unleashed a quick wrister that slipped past Thomas on his glove side.
Florida capitalized off a two-man advantage to up its lead to 2-0 at 7:19 of the first after Weiss slammed home a rebound in front off a Martin Gelinas shot.
With just 49 ticks left in the opening period, Nathan Horton extended the Panthers' lead to 3-0 after scoring his 22nd goal of the season. On the penalty kill, Weiss broke up a pass in the neutral zone and dashed into the Boston zone up the right wing. From down low, Weiss then slid a pass across to Horton, who one-timed the feed past a diving Thomas.
With 8:32 left in the middle session, Gratton made it a four-goal game with his 10th goal of the campaign.
Less than 1 1/2 minutes later, Olli Jokinen cranked a slap shot from the left circle that beat a screened Toivonen to make it 5-0.
Two goals by Savard and Boyes separated by 48 seconds in the second pulled the Bruins to within three goals at 5-2. Both goals came on the power play with Savard's coming off a two-man advantage.
Gelinas scored a power-play goal 5:35 into the final frame to make it 6-2 and Gratton gave Florida a five-goal cushion, netting his second goal of the contest at the 7:12 mark of the period.
Game Notes
Florida is 4-0 against the Bruins this year and has taken six straight in the series...The Panthers outshot the Bruins, 52-27...Savard extended his point streak to eight games while Boyes has recorded at least a point in four straight...The Bruins announced earlier on Saturday that they have agreed on a contract extension with left wing Marco Sturm. Boston also placed Glen Murray on injured reserve with a lower body injury and claimed goaltender Joey MacDonald off waivers from Detroit.
<< Nash, Blue Jackets edge Rangers
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rick Nash scored the go-ahead goal in the
second period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets erased a two-goal deficit with a
pair of short-handed tallies, defeating the New York Rangers, 3-2, at Madison
Square
<< No. 10 Arizona State gets by Arizona
Tucson, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Emily Westerberg and Aubree Johnson each scored
16 points, as 10th-ranked Arizona State survived Arizona, 59-54.
Westerberg also had five rebounds and Jill Noe added nine points for the Sun
Devils (26-3, 16-2
<< Williams leads 'Canes past Thrashers
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Williams scored two goals and John
Grahame made 28 save to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 4-1 win over the
Atlanta Thrashers in a Southeast Division battle at Philips Arena.
Ray Whitney had
<< Venus Williams downs Peer in Memphis final
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In her comeback week on the WTA Tour, American
Venus Williams easily defeated top-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer to win the title
at the $175,000 Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and Cellular South Cup.
In the
Kenseth wins another one for Roush >>
Fontana, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kenseth outlasted Casey Mears to capture
Saturday's Stater Bros. 300 Busch Series race at the California Speedway. The
No.17 Jack Roush Ford crossed the finish line 0.896 seconds ahead of Mears for
Roush R
Parker, Spurs blitz SuperSonics >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tony Parker scored 21 points as San Antonio
blitzed Seattle, 102-71, at the AT&T Center.
Robert Horry added 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench for the
streaking Spurs, who won their fift
Thrashers get Zhitnik from Philly >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers acquired defenseman
Alexei Zhitnik from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman Braydon
Coburn on Saturday.
Zhitnik, a two-time All-Star, has notched 23 points (five goa
Hopson, Cougars edge Beavers >>
Corvallis, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mac Hopson scored on a jump shot with 35.5
seconds left, as the ninth- ranked Washington State Cougars, fresh off a
disappointing loss, bounced back to top the Oregon State Beavers, 58-54, in a
Pac-10
Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value
If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture. Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).
For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot. The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.
TV Guide advises Oscar watchers should be cautioned not to discount the drama "Babel" with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.
"While 'Babel' lost several guild awards to 'Sunshine' and 'Departed,' it still enjoys loyal support, and historically Oscar voters favor dramas with social messages over comedies like 'Sunshine' and violent crime movies like 'Departed'."
"It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, "But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention." Babel had 7 to 2 odds at press time.
Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash. Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win.
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NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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