Rangers, Devils open home-and-home series in New Jersey

Hockey Betting Lines

02/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils begin an important home-and-home series this evening, with the first of the consecutive meetings to take place at Continental Airlines Arena.

These two games carry importance for both teams but are especially crucial for the Rangers, who come into tonight's showdown three points out of a playoff spot. Montreal, the New York Islanders and Toronto are currently tied for the Eastern Conference's final seed with 66 points, with New York having amassed 63 thus far.

Although New Jersey remains in first place in the Atlantic Division, the Devils' lead has been trimmed to five points by Pittsburgh, a team which has posted victories in 12 of its last 14 games.

New York enters the matchup having won four of its five most recent contests, including Sunday's 2-1 decision over Chicago at Madison Square Garden. Martin Straka and Marcel Hossa each scored first-period goals and Henrik Lundqvist made the early lead stand up by stopping 21-of-22 shots.

The Rangers rebounded from Saturday's disappointing 5-3 home defeat to Philadelphia, in which All-Star Brendan Shanahan was briefly hospitalized after colliding with the Flyers' Mike Knuble in the third period. Shanahan suffered a concussion and is sidelined indefinitely.

Defenseman Marek Malik also sat out Sunday's win because of a nagging shoulder injury and is questionable to return tonight.

Jaromir Jagr assisted on Straka's goal to extend his individual scoring streak to six games. The superstar right wing has amassed nine points (2 goals, 7 assists) during the run and has notched an assist in five straight outings.

Straka has now recorded a point in five consecutive games (3 goals, 4 assists).

New Jersey improved to 6-2-0 in February with Saturday's 2-0 triumph over the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. Martin Brodeur stopped all 26 chances he faced to post his league-leading 11th shutout, while John Madden and Sergei Brylin each lit the lamp in the win.

Brodeur responded from a subpar performance his previous time out, when the future Hall of Famer surrendered five goals on 24 shots in a 5-4 home loss to Pittsburgh on Friday.

Jamie Langenbrunner earned an assist on Brylin's marker and lengthened his point streak to nine straight games, which is tied with Minnesota' Pavol Demitra for the longest current tear in the NHL. The 31-year-old has three goals and 11 assists over the course of the streak.

Brian Gionta, who leads the Devils with 24 goals, missed his second straight game with a groin pull and remains day-to-day.

The area rivals have split six meetings so far this season, although the Devils have won the last two matchups. The Rangers have also struggled in their recent visits across the river, having dropped four of their last five and six of their eight most recent regular-season games at the Meadowlands.

This series will conclude Thursday at New York's Madison Square Garden.

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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets

With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship.  Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92.  After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points.  Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1.  Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years.  With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed.  UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern.  Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier.  OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak.  Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.  It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta.  But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.

Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props.  Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000.  Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.

MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:

EAST National Championship Region
Arkansas 300-1 50-1
Belmont 1000-1
Boston College 100-1 40-1
Eastern KY 1000-1
George Washington 75-1
Georgetown 10-1 3-2
Marquette 100-1 40-1
Michigan State 100-1 25-1
New Mexico St. 500-1 200-1
UNC 6-1 6-5
Oral Roberts  500-1
Texas 15-1 5-1
Texas Tech 200-1 5-1
USC 75-1 20-1
Vanderbilt 100-1 30-1
Washington State 40-1 15-1
WEST
Duke 50-1 10-1
Florida A&M 1000-1
Gonzaga 200-1  40-1
Holy Cross 300-1
Illinois 300-1 60-1
Indiana 75-1 40-1
Kansas 5-1 13-10
Kentucky 100-1 40-1
Niagara 1000-1
Pittsburgh 40-1 8-1
Southern Ill. 50-1 12-1
UCLA 10-1 3-2
VCU 500-1 100-1
Villanova 100-1 40-1
VA Tech 50-1 15-1
Weber St 1000-1
Wright St 1000-1 300-1
MIDWEST
Arizona 50-1 30-1
Butler 40-1 30-1
Davidson 300-1
Florida 4-1 4-5
Georgia Tech 75-1 25-1
Jackson State 1000-1
Maryland 30-1 6-1
Miami-OH 300-1
Notre Dame 100-1 20-1
ODU 500-1 100-1
Oregon 40-1 6-1
Purdue 300-1 60-1
Texas A&M CC 1000-1
UNLV 100-1 30-1
Winthrop 500-1 100-1
Wisconsin 15-1 7-2
SOUTH
Albany 200-1
BYU 200-1 40-1
Central CT St. 1000-1
Creighton 100-1 35-1
Long Beach St. 500-1 200-1
Louisville 40-1 10-1
Memphis 30-1 4-1
Nevada 75-1 35-1
North Texas 500-1
Ohio State 7-1 6-5
Penn 500-1
Stanford 200-1 50-1
Tennessee 100-1 20-1
Texas A&M 12-1 11-5
Virginia 75-1 18-1
Xavier 100-1 40-1

Field                                              100-1

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