Canucks, Coyotes to face off in marquee matchup

Hockey Betting Lines

03/30/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lee Stempniak has been a force since the Phoenix Coyotes acquired him at this year's trade deadline. Henrik Sedin, meanwhile, has been pacing the Vancouver Canucks' offense all season long.

Stempniak will try to continue his torrid scoring for Phoenix tonight versus Vancouver and Sedin, the NHL's leader in points, at GM Place.

The Coyotes were very active at the trade deadline in the beginning of March, and those moves have helped to guide Phoenix to its first playoff berth since 2002. Though they had already clinched their spot earlier in the day on Saturday, the Coyotes still went out and roughed up the Colorado Avalanche, 6-2, to surpass the 100-point mark for the first time since joining the NHL as the Winnipeg Jets in 1979-80.

Phoenix, which has already set a single season-high with 47 wins this year, has 100 points, the most the franchise has recorded since a 102-point season in 1977-78 as a member of the World Hockey Association.

Three players acquired before the trade deadline factored into the scoring versus Colorado. Stempniak scored twice in the third period to blow open a one-goal game, while former Colorado skater Wojtek Wolski and Derek Morris, acquired from Boston, also lit the lamp.

Taylor Pyatt had a goal and an assist in his 600th NHL game and Vernon Fiddler capped the game with an empty-net goal. Ilya Bryzgalov made 27 saves for his 40th win of the season, improving Phoenix to 10-1-1 over its last 12 games.

"It's special for us as a team," said forward Shane Doan, who has been with the club since its days in Winnipeg. "Obviously there was a lot of doubts coming into this season by a lot of people. It's nice to answer those doubts."

The Coyotes will now focus their energy on catching the Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division. Phoenix trails San Jose by four points with six games to play.

It can thank Stempniak for that. The forward has 12 goals in 12 games since being acquired from Toronto after posting just 14 goals in 62 games before the trade. Saturday marked his fourth two-goal contest since the trade, with one of those coming in a 4-3 shootout win versus Vancouver on March 10.

The Coyotes have won two of three versus the Canucks this season, with both victories coming at home and in a shootout. They lost their lone trip to Vancouver, 4-0, on Jan. 7.

Alexandre Burrows notched his second hat trick in as many games in that victory, while Roberto Luongo posted a 31-save shutout. Luongo is 1-0-1 with a 0.96 goals-against average and .964 save percentage in two games versus the Coyotes this season.

Bryzgalov has also faced the Canucks twice this year, splitting the games while posting a 3.36 GAA and .889 save percentage.

Vancouver has won nine of its last 11 at home and is among the league leaders in home wins with 27. The club has won three of its last four at home versus Phoenix and is 13-2-0 with a tie in the last 16 home meetings in the series.

The Canucks have dropped four of their last six overall, including Saturday's 4-2 loss at San Jose. Vancouver, though, still owns a five-point edge over second-place Colorado in the Northwest Division with seven games to go.

"I don't think we've clinched anything yet," Luongo told his team's Web site. "Colorado's right there, and we're five points back of Chicago [for the second seed]. There's still seven games left, you never know what could happen"

Luongo made 26 saves against the Sharks, while Burrows had a goal and an assist, Daniel Sedin lit the lamp and Henrik Sedin assisted on both goals to up his NHL-leading points total to 101. He is the first Vancouver skater to reach 100 points since Markus Naslund had 104 in 2002-03.

Sedin has seven assists in his last four games as well as three goals and 18 helpers in his last 13 contests. He has a goal and five assists in three games versus Phoenix this season.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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MySportsbook.com: NBA Championship Odds

With the playoffs about two months away, the top two teams in the Western Conference are the clear cut leaders to win the NBA Championship. The Dallas Mavericks have the best record in the NBA (44-9) and have been absolutely scorching since the second week of the season.  What makes the Mavs’ record more impressive is the fact that they dropped their first four games of the season.  Currently they have won 17 out of their last 18 and are MySportsbook.com’s favorite (2-1) to win it all.  Right behind the Mavs are the Pacific leading Phoenix Suns (39-13).  Last season, the Suns lost in the Conference Finals to non-other then the Mavericks four games to two.  Of course the Suns were without center Amare Stoudemire who has is averaging 19.9 PPG and 9.5 RPG since coming back from his knee injury.  Unlike the Mavs, the Suns have struggled a bit lately having lost their last three and four out of their last seven.  Of course the main reason for their three straight loses is due to the absence of two time MVP Steve Nash, who is out with a shoulder injury.  Heads-up, the Mavs have beaten the Suns in both of their meetings this season.

In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons (32-19) are the favorites to win it all at 6-1. The addition of Chris Webber seems to have been a good move for the Pistons.  Since coming over from the 76ers, Webber has averaged 13.1 PPG and 7.3 RPG and the Pistons are 11-4.  Even though the defending champion Heat are currently on the playoff making cusp, they are the Eastern Conference team that is getting the most action to win it all (9-1).  The fact that Shaquille O’Neal is back in the starting lineup after missing 39 games probably has something to do with this.  No doubt, Shaq makes a difference when in the lineup as their winning six out of their last seven would indicate.

Just because it is the All-Star break doesn’t mean that you can’t bet on NBA hoops this weekend.  Be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com to bet on who you think will cut down the nets this July. Also, be sure to check out all of the lines and props for All-Star weekend.  With the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry, there are plenty of ways to cash in on the NBA this weekend.

MySportsbook.com’s NBA Championship odds:

Atlanta Hawks 1000-1

Boston Celtics 5000-1

Charlotte Bobcats 5000-1

Chicago Bulls 20-1

Cleveland Cavaliers 20-1

Dallas Mavericks 2-1

Denver Nuggets 25-1

Detroit Pistons 6-1

Golden State Warriors 250-1

Houston Rockets 12-1

Indiana Pacers 60-1

Los Angeles Clippers 45-1

Memphis Grizzlies 5000-1

Miami Heat 9-1

Milwaukee Bucks 1000-1

Minnesota T-Wolves 200-1

New Jersey Nets 50-1

New Orleans Hornets 150-1

New York Knicks 150-1

Orlando Magic 75-1

Philadelphia 76ers 1000-1

Phoenix Suns 5-2

Portland TrailBlazers 1000-1

Sacramento Kings 250-1

San Antonio Spurs 9-1

Seattle Sonics 5000-1

Toronto Raptors 35-1

Utah Jazz 20-1

Washington Wizards 25-1

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