10/11/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two clubs that feature some of the best young talent in the game square off tonight, as the Washington Capitals host the Chicago Blackhawks at the Verizon Center.
Both clubs made their season debuts on Friday night, and both skated away with losses. Washington fell to Atlanta, 7-4, while Chicago was defeated by the New York Rangers, 4-2.
Though Washington's Alexander Ovechkin was held without a point on six shots in last night's loss, 22-year-old defenseman Mike Green continued his torrid scoring. Green led all defenseman with 18 goals a year ago and he lit the lamp twice to go along with an assist in Friday's setback.
Alexander Semin, 24, added a goal and two helpers, while Jose Theodore allowed four goals on 17 shots in his Washington debut. He was replaced by Brent Johnson, who gave up three tallies on 14 shots faced.
Theodore, signed as a free agent this offseason, will try for a quick turnaround tonight, as he is likely to make his home debut for Washington. In 11 career starts versus the Blackhawks, Theodore is 4-6-1 with a 2.63 goals against average.
Chicago, meanwhile, got a goal out of 19-year-old Patrick Kane, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, in last night's defeat. Duncan Keith also scored, while 20-year-old Jonathan Toews was held without a point.
Defenseman Brian Campbell and netminder Cristobal Huet both made their Chicago debuts. Campbell, who signed an eight-year, $57 million deal in the offseason, had an assist, while Huet made 25 saves in the loss.
Huet began last year with Montreal before being acquired by Washington late last season. He went 11-2-0 with a 1.63 GAA in 13 games with the Capitals before inking a four-year deal with Chicago over the summer.
Huet is 6-2-1 with a 2.45 GAA in nine career starts against his former club.
Chicago has won its last three games against Washington, including a 5-0 home victory on March 19 in the last meeting between the clubs.
<< Blues hope for another offensive outburst versus Islanders
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Any concerns about the Blues' ability to score goals this
season may have already been put to rest. Coming off a five-goal outburst, St.
Louis travels to New York to battle the Islanders tonight at Nassau Coliseum.
St. Lou
<< Sens return home for test against Red Wings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After beginning the regular season in Europe, the Ottawa
Senators will have their official home opener tonight as they welcome the
defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings to Scotiabank Place.
The Senators met the
<< Maple Leafs play host to rival Canadiens
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs were able to spoil one team's home
opener a couple days ago. Now, the club will try to claim a victory in front
of its own fans tonight, as it hosts the Montreal Canadiens at the Air Canada
Centre.
<< Nalbandian to take on Soderling in Stockholm final
Stockholm, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Nalbandian of Argentina advanced to
the final of the Stockholm Open on Saturday and will have to face crowd
favorite Robin Soderling for the title.
The top-seeded Nalbandian blitzed through
Penguins take on Devils in Steel City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After opening their season in Sweden, the Pittsburgh
Penguins finally return to the Steel City to play the New Jersey Devils
tonight at Mellon Arena.
Pittsburgh, the defending Eastern Conference champions, split their two-
Lightning try again for first win of season vs. Hurricanes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After getting swept in their two-game European swing, the
Tampa Bay Lightning begin a five-game homestand tonight at St. Pete Times
Forum against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Lightning dropped back-to-back 2-1 games to the
Stars travel to Nashville to take on Preds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams still in search of their first wins of the season
collide tonight, as the Dallas Stars visit the Nashville Predators and the
Sommet Center.
Dallas began its season at home on Friday, and after erasing a two-goal
Flames, Canucks wrap home-and-home set in Calgary >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames will try to exact revenge on the
Vancouver Canucks tonight, as the teams play the back end of a season-opening
home-and-home series at the Saddledome.
The clubs opened their season against each other Thu
NFL Football Office Pool Printable Schedules
MySportsbook.com , leading online sportsbook, offers free NFL football office pool printable sheets! Run your own NFL Football Office Pool. Create your own pool, invite your friends to join. Compete with your with co-workers, friends or family for bragging rights every week. Exchange some hard hits without risk of injury -- Trash Talk with your fellow co-workers.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football sportsbook needs.
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.
Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting