Isles try to end road woes in tough test with Canucks

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03/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks will try to extend their seven-game home winning streak when they take on a New York Islanders club that will be looking to avoid a ninth straight setback on the road tonight at GM Place.

Vancouver has been on fire since the Olympic break, going 6-1-1 over its last eight games. The Canucks have won the first two contests of a five-game homestand to extend a home winning streak that is sandwiched around an NHL- record 14-game road trip.

The Canucks improved to 25-7-1 at home this year with a 3-1 triumph over Calgary on Sunday that pushed Vancouver's lead over Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division to five points.

Daniel and Henrik Sedin both had a goal and an assist, Ryan Kesler scored and Mikael Samuelsson had an assist as all four Vancouver skaters extended their respective point streaks. Kesler owns the NHL's longest active run at 13 games, a span in which he has amassed six goals and nine assists. Daniel Sedin, meanwhile, has three tallies and 13 helpers over a 10-game run.

Samuelsson, named the NHL's First Star of the Week on Monday, has nine goals and four assists on a seven-game streak and Henrik Sedin has three goals and 10 points over his five-game run.

Roberto Luongo stopped 32 shots for Vancouver, which got all three of its goals in the first period.

"Obviously we came out strong and were playing really well as a team. I don't know what happened after that," Luongo said. "Fortunately we were able to hold on,"

Though they dropped a 2-1 shootout test at New York a season ago, the Canucks are 3-0-2 in their last five games versus the Islanders. Vancouver hasn't lost at home to New York since March 19. 1999, winning three in a row over the Isles as the host.

New York hits the road for four straight having not won as the guest since Jan. 9. The Islanders did just go 2-0-1 on a recent homestand, winning the last two contests to record back-to-back victories for the first time since a four-game win streak from Jan. 9-18.

The Islanders concluded the stand with a 4-1 victory over Toronto, holding the Maple Leafs scoreless on seven power-play attempts while getting a pair of special-teams goals themselves. Matt Moulson notched a power-play tally and Richard Park scored short-handed to go along with an assist.

"We're feeling like we owe each other some kind of results and consistency," said Isles goaltender Martin Biron, who made 26 saves. "That's what we're trying to go. Sometimes you just have that sense that you're loose and you're going to play well. We have that right now."

Tim Jackman and Frans Nielsen also scored for the Islanders, who are seven points behind in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW 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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