Aves beat slumping Blackhawks

Hockey Betting Lines

02/08/2012 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Jones scored twice as the Colorado Avalanche took down the slumping Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2, at Pepsi Center.

Kyle Quincey, Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal for the Avalanche, who snapped a five-game slide. Jean-Sebastien Giguere gave up two goals on 31 shots.

"Honestly, when we play teams like Chicago and Vancouver, we seem to respect them more," said Colorado center Paul Stastny, who had two assists in the game. "We move the puck quicker, we may give up a few more transitions, but we also get more chances. And when Giguere plays like he did tonight, we are fine."

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are on a season-high six-game losing streak as the team managed goals from just Brent Seabrook and Patrick Kane. Ray Emery was tagged for four goals on 28 shots.

"Every mistake we make is being capitalized on," said Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith. "We have to get in a better position to turn things around. Everything we seem to do seems to be harder. We have to start outworking the other teams."

With the score tied in the third, Colorado grabbed the lead on Landeskog's 12th of the year. Stastny brought the puck in down the left side and from the boards he left a drop pass for Landeskog, who let fly with a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Emery to the glove side for a 3-2 lead just 38 seconds in.

Jones then gave Colorado some insurance with 8:18 to play in the game as his wrister from the right circle on the fly beat Emery cleanly.

Quincey scored into the empty net with 2:02 left to seal the win.

After a scoreless first period, Chicago took a 1-0 lead just 31 seconds into the second when Seabrook found a loose puck at the left circle and blasted it into the net.

Colorado tied it three minutes later on a 2-on-1 break as Ryan O'Reilly faked the shot from the left circle before sliding the puck down low where Mueller redirected it into the net.

Jones gave the Avs a 2-1 lead just 35 seconds later when he snapped the puck home on a wrister from the slot off a feed from Milan Hejduk.

Kane, though, tied the game at the 6:14 mark of the second when he got the puck from Patrick Sharp at the right circle and sent a heavy backhand on net that blew by Giguere.

Game Notes

Colorado won three of four from Chicago in the series this season...Colorado hosts Carolina on Friday...Chicago, which is on its longest losing skid since an 0-6-1 slide from Dec. 30-Jan. 11 during the 2007-08 season, continues its nine-game road trek in San Jose on Friday...Chicago didn't take a single penalty in the game, but did go 0-for-3 on the power play.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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