Canucks aim for division title against Wild

Hockey Betting Lines

04/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks can wrap up their second straight division title tonight when they host the Minnesota Wild at General Motors Place.

The Canucks enter Sunday with a nine-point lead over Colorado and Calgary atop the Northeast Division and can clinch first place with either a point tonight or any kind of loss by the Avalanche in their home game Sunday against San Jose. The Flames have already been eliminated from contention for the division crown.

Vancouver, which has won the division in two of the past three seasons, clinched a playoff spot with Friday's 5-4 win in Anaheim. Pavol Demitra scored the game-winner in the shootout to lift the Canucks into the postseason.

After each skater scored in the first round, Teemu Selanne beat Andrew Raycroft with a low forehand, but the goaltender recovered quickly and used a low glove to keep the puck out. Demitra then gave the Canucks a lead as he went to the backhand and roofed it past Curtis McElhinney. Raycroft preserved the win by using the pads to keep Bobby Ryan's shot out of the net.

Michael Grabner netted the first hat trick of his career while Jannik Hansen also scored for the Canucks, who became the fourth team in the Western Conference to clinch a playoff spot.

"We have a check mark by our name," said Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault. "That was our first objective and now we're trying to close in on first in our division."

Raycroft finished with 30 saves and earned the win while giving Roberto Luongo a rare rest. Luongo is expected to get his 65th start of the season tonight.

Tonight marks the first of two straight on home ice for the Canucks, who will finish the regular season with three out of four tests at GM Place. Vancouver has a superb 28-8-2 mark as the host this year and has won nine of its last 11 on home ice.

Just a few hours before the Canucks celebrated clinching a playoff berth on Friday night, the Wild were eliminated from postseason contention following a home loss to San Jose. Logan Couture scored the game-winner with 3:51 left in regulation, lifting the Sharks to the 3-2 victory at Xcel Energy Center.

Cal Clutterbuck and Antti Miettinen scored 1:49 apart in the second period to erase a two-goal deficit for Minnesota, but it wasn't enough to propel the Wild to victory. Niklas Backstrom stopped 25 shots in defeat.

The Wild are 13th in the Western Conference and will miss out on the playoffs for the second straight year.

"It's never fun playing these games down the stretch when you're mathematically eliminated," said Wild forward Andrew Brunette. "So we have to find a way to find a different kind of motivation."

Tonight, the Wild are opening a three-game road trip, the club's final swing of the season. Minnesota, which has an awful 12-23-3 road record this year, will close the regular season on home ice Saturday against Dallas.

Vancouver has won eight of its last 11 meetings with the Wild, but Minnesota has won the last two matchups after staking the Canucks to a 3-0 lead in the season series. Minnesota has lost three straight and four of its last five in British Columbia.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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