Panthers try to keep rolling in visit to Avalanche

Hockey Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers will try to win four straight games for the first time this season when they visit the Colorado Avalanche tonight at the Pepsi Center.

The Panthers come into this game six points back of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but appear to be peaking at the right time. They are coming off of a victory over Minnesota on Tuesday in which they held the Wild to a Florida franchise record-low 11 shots while picking up their first victory versus the team since 2001.

It didn't look that way early, as the Wild scored a pair of first-period goals. However, Michael Frolik and Cory Stillman scored in the third period, with Frolik lighting the lamp for the fourth time in three games and Stillman forcing overtime with 9:20 left in the frame. Stillman then scored the lone tally of the shootout session in a 3-2 victory, the 500th in franchise history for Florida.

"It's though to come back, but they didn't get a lot of shots -- going into the third period we had only given up five shots," said Stillman. "We continued to put pucks on the net and knew good things were going to happen."

Tomas Vokoun needed to make just nine saves while stopping all four skaters in the shootout for the Panthers, who haven't won four straight since a seven- game run from March 2-16, 2008. Florida also halted a six-game skid on the road by winning the opener of a three-game trip, picking up its first victory as the guest since January 14.

While the Panthers are fighting to remain in the playoff race, the Avalanche are losing the chase for home ice in the first round. Colorado dropped a 6-4 test to Northwest Division-leading Vancouver on Tuesday -- blowing a pair of three-goal leads -- to fall five points back of the Canucks in the division. The Avs also trail Los Angeles by three points for fifth overall in the West.

"It was a bad game," said Paul Stastny, who matched his career high of 50 assists first set as a rookie in 2006-07 in the loss . "It was a good first period, but after that mental lapses hurt us."

Colorado, which has lost four of its last six, got a pair of goals from rookie Matt Duchene on Tuesday, and he leads all first-year skaters with 23 goals and 47 points.

Chris Stewart also extended his recent hot play with a goal, giving him eight goals and eight assists over his last nine games, while Peter Mueller scored to give him a pair of tallies and four helpers in four games since being acquired in a trade from Phoenix.

Craig Anderson racked up 26 saves in the losing effort, just Colorado's second in its last eight home games.

The Avalanche are hosting the Panthers for the first time since 2007, with the last three meetings between the teams all taking place in Florida. That includes a 6-5 shootout win by the Panthers at home on December 2, their second straight win in the series.

Stephen Weiss had a hat trick for Florida in that game and scored the lone goal in the shootout, while Scott Clemmensen made 29 saves. Stastny had a goal and three assists for the Avs, Duchene had a pair of goals and an assist and Stewart notched a goal and two helpers.

Anderson made 39 saves before exiting in overtime with a neck injury suffered when Florida's Keith Ballard crashed into him. Anderson, who spent the previous three seasons as a backup with the Panthers, missed the next four games but will make his 22nd straight start tonight.

Florida has lost three of its last four in Colorado, where it hasn't won since January 2, 2003.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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