Frustrated Kings visit Islanders
Hockey Betting Lines
02/11/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It has been an offensively-frustrating road trip for the Los Angeles Kings, one they will continue this afternoon against a New York Islanders club that failed to post a point for the first time in six games last time out.
The Kings rank dead-last in the NHL with 115 goals and it is safe to say that they would be contenders in the Western Conference if they could just score some goals. Los Angeles is 15-0-1 on the year when scoring three or more goals, but failed to hit that mark on Thursday in Florida.
Drew Doughty managed just a third-period tally for the Kings in a 3-1 loss to the Panthers, two nights after Los Angeles beat hosting Tampa Bay by the same score. Still, the Kings have been held to a mere two goals in the three losses so far on their 1-3-0 six-game road trip that ends in Dallas on Sunday.
"We started the game in the first really well and just couldn't find the back of the net," Kings forward Dustin Brown said. "It was more of the same for us. We have got to find ways to score more goals."
Los Angeles got a rare rough outing from Jonathan Quick, who allowed two goals on 11 shots before getting replaced by Jonathan Bernier. The backup stopped all 11 Panther shots fired his way, though head coach Darryl Sutter was cautious after the game about reading into his goaltending switch.
"Just something different. It's no big deal. I'm not a guy who (usually) pulls my goalies. It's not my style," said Sutter.
While the Kings sit four points back of the first-place Sharks in the Pacific Division, the Islanders are 10 points out of a postseason berth in the East despite a recent season-high five-game point streak (3-0-2) that was halted on Thursday. New York was handed a 4-2 loss by visiting Montreal, getting goals from Matt Moulson and Mark Streit.
Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves in the loss for an Islanders club that was coming off a 1-0 shootout win over the Flyers on Tuesday. John Tavares notched his 100th career assist in defeat.
"We had some chances on the power play," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "We got pucks to the net late, but it was a little too late."
The Islanders had won six in a row over the Kings before notching a 3-0 shutout at home over them last season. Moulson scored twice and current backup Al Montoya notched 35 saves.
The Kings also lost for the first time in seven trips to Long Island. They had gone 5-0-0 with a tie over the unbeaten streak.
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING
NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW 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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