Kiprusoff, Flames blank Sens

Hockey Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miikka Kiprusoff stopped all 33 shots he faced for his 34th career shutout, as the Calgary Flames topped the Ottawa Senators, 2-0, at the Saddledome.

Jamal Mayers and Chris Higgins scored for the Flames, who won their fourth consecutive game and continued their fight to gain a playoff berth. The Flames have been hovering around the final spot in the West and currently sit one point above Detroit for the eighth position.

Brian Elliott allowed two goals on 25 shots for the Senators, who fell to 1-3-1 since the resumption of play following the Olympics and remained two points behind the Buffalo Sabres in the race for the Northeast Division crown.

The Senators failed on all five of their power-play chances.

The Flames opened the scoring at the 5:29 mark of the first period. Curtis Glencross' strong forechecking effort on a dump-in allowed him to gain control of the puck along the rear boards. Glencross sent a quick pass into the lower right circle, where Mayers corralled the disc and beat Elliott with a wrister.

Midway through the first period, the Senators thought they tied the game, but the celebration was short-lived as referee Rob Martell waived his arms signaling the goal was no-good. Replays showed that Milan Michalek's stick was above the crossbar when it deflected the puck into the back of the cage after a shot from the right point.

Both goaltenders saved all 12 shots they faced in the scoreless second period.

In the early stages of the third stanza, Ottawa gained a power play when Mark Giordano was whistled for cross-checking. However, solid penalty killing by the Flames and the inability of the Sens to gain quality scoring chances kept the visitors without a goal.

Ottawa's Peter Regin was all alone atop the crease for a rebound chance with 12 minutes to go, but he hit the crossbar.

Soon after, Calgary moved ahead by two on Higgins' eighth goal. Ian White intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, skated across the blue line down the left-wing side and, from near the half-wall, sent a pass through the slot for a successful one-timer by Higgins from inside the right circle at 9:05.

In the final minutes, Daniel Alfredsson had a good look from above the right circle, but Kiprusoff was quicker with the glove.

Game Notes.

The start of the game was delayed by 35 minutes due to a broken pane of glass which occurred during warmups...Despite the loss, the Sens have still won eight of their last 12 road games...Kiprusoff notched his fourth shutout of the season...The Flames were 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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