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03/02/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sidney Crosby had no points in the game, but scored the game-winner in the shootout to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Petr Prucha was the third shooter for New York, but his wrist shot went over the net. Crosby then skated in and snapped a wrist shot between the pads of Henrik Lundqvist for the win.
Colby Armstrong had a goal and an assist and Jordan Staal and Sergei Gonchar each lit the lamp for the Penguins, who had lost three of four coming into the contest.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots for Pittsburgh, which has 77 points and sits in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind Ottawa.
Both Gary Roberts and Georges Laraque, who the Penguins got on Tuesday, made their debut in a Pittsburgh uniform.
Jaromir Jagr, Michael Nylander and Blair Betts each had a goal for the Rangers, who have dropped four of their last five contests.
Lundqvist stopped 30 shots for New York, which has 67 points and is five points behind Montreal for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers had a 2-0 lead going into the third period, but that quickly evaporated as the Penguins scored a pair of shorthanded goals to tie the game.
Just 1:16 in, Staal split the New York defense and lifted a soft wrister into the left corner of the net for his league-leading sixth shorthanded goal of the season.
A little over two minutes later, Lundqvist attempted to chase down a clearing attempt in the left corner, but Armstrong beat him to it and from the left side flicked a shot on net that went between the pads of Lundqvist, who was way out of position, to tie the game at the 3:45 mark.
New York, though, remained on the power play and scored just 58 seconds later to take the lead. Sean Avery fired a shot from the top of the right circle that hit off a Penguin and sat in the slot where Betts fired a turnaround shot into the net for a 3-2 lead.
Pittsburgh, though, tied the game with six minutes left in regulation when Gonchar's one-timer went into the left corner of the net for a power-play goal.
Each team has seven shots on goal in the first period, but none of them got through the goaltenders.
It appeared the game was going to head into the third period scoreless as both goaltenders made several good saves in the second, but the Rangers scored a pair of goals separated by 69 seconds to take a 2-0 lead.
On the rush, Avery slid a pass from the slot to Jagr at the right circle. Jagr flicked a shot on net that Fleury saved, but the rebound went off of Robert Scuderi and into the net with 2:24 left in the second.
A bit later, Nylander flew into the Pittsburgh zone and from the left circle snapped a wrister over the right pad of Fleury for his 20th goal of the season.
Lundqvist made a total of 11 saves in the middle frame to keep the Pens off the board.
Game Notes
Rangers defenseman Fedor Tyutin left the game in the second period with a sprained ankle and did not return...New York hosts the Blues on Saturday...Pittsburgh plays in Carolina on Friday...Defenseman Paul Mara played his first game in a New York uniform. The Rangers ended up with Mara in a trade on Tuesday that sent disgruntled defenseman Aaron Ward to Boston...Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play.
<< Virginia pulls away to beat Hokies
Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sean Singletary scored 17 points,
pulled down five rebounds and dished out six assists as Virginia downed No.
21 Virginia Tech, 69-56.
Mamadi Diane added 13 points for the Cavaliers (20-8, 11-4 ACC), wh
<< 49ers release WR Bryant
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers released wide
receiver Antonio Bryant on Thursday.
Bryant caught 40 passes for 733 yards and three touchdowns for the 49ers last
season after being signed as an unrestricte
<< Dolphins release OL McKinney and Anderson
Davie, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Dolphins offensive linemen Seth McKinney
and Bennie Anderson were released by the team on Thursday, in advance of
Friday's free-agent signing period.
McKinney started each of the first 13 games
<< Los Angeles Lakers
Fined forward Vladimir Radmanovic.
Blues ruin Smyth's Islanders debut with OT win >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lee Stempniak's power-play goal 25 seconds
into overtime sent the St. Louis Blues past the New York Islanders, 3-2, at
Nassau Coliseum.
Jay McClement and Petr Cajanek also scored for the Blues, who have
Lightning top Caps in marathon shootout >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Tarnasky scored in the 10th round of
a shootout, lifting the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Washington Capitals,
5-4, at the Verizon Center.
After 19 players on both sides failed to score befo
Jokinen nets game-winner as Panthers rally past Stars in OT >>
Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Captain Olli Jokinen scored 2:11 into overtime
to lift the Florida Panthers over the Dallas Stars, 2-1, at BankAtlantic
Center.
Jozef Stumpel scored in regulation while Ed Belfour turned away 33 shots
Streak at 14 as Mavs hold off Cavs >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dirk Nowitzki continued his push for the
league's MVP and the Mavericks equaled a franchise-record with their 14th
straight win, escaping a pair of missed three-pointers from LeBron James in
the fin
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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