Sharks, Stars renew hostilities in San Jose

Hockey Betting Lines

02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks turned in an impressive performance in their first game following the All-Star break and the Pacific Division leaders will aim for a third straight win tonight when they host the rival Dallas Stars at HP Pavilion.

The Sharks, who hold a two-point edge over Los Angeles for the top spot in the Pacific, halted a three-game skid by posting a 1-0 win in Calgary on Jan. 24. San Jose posted another shutout in its first game after the break, slamming visiting Columbus by a 6-0 score on Tuesday.

Antti Niemi recorded both shutouts for the Sharks, giving him four blankings on the season. Niemi is expected to get the start tonight and the Finnish backstop enters the game with a shutout streak of 124 minutes, 17 seconds. No Sharks goaltender has ever posted three straight shutouts.

The Sharks had five players post multi-point games Tuesday against the Blue Jackets with captain Joe Thornton leading the way with two goals and an assist. Niemi made 30 saves for the 17th shutout of his career.

Joe Pavelski, Jamie McGinn and Michal Handzus all had a goal and an assist for the Sharks and Logan Couture added two helpers. Patrick Marleau also scored in the win, which improved San Jose's home record this season to 16-8-2.

"I'm glad we played an emotional game," said Sharks coach Todd McLellan after watching the teams combine for 19 penalties. "That's a big thing. I think we did a good job on sticking together."

Sharks forward Ryane Clowe (facial fracture) and defenseman Jason Demers (lower body) are questionable for tonight. Clowe has missed the last six games, while Demers has so far only missed Tuesday's game with a charley horse.

Dallas started its post-All-Star schedule off with a bang on Wednesday, as the Stars slammed the Ducks, 6-2, in Anaheim. It was the second straight win for the Stars after a five-game skid and they enter tonight trailing Minnesota by one point for the final playoff seed in the West. The Wild also play tonight in Colorado.

Michael Ryder and Jamie Benn each had a goal and two assists to lead Dallas to the rout in Anaheim. Stephane Robidas, Eric Nystrom, Vernon Fiddler and Sheldon Souray each scored for the Stars, who are trailing San Jose by eight points for the Pacific lead..

"I think we were thinking more about offense tonight," said Benn. "We got some timely goals there in the first period and things started rolling from there. It was nice to have an output like that."

Kari Lehtonen turned aside 33 shots in the win and is now 18-11-1 on the season. The Finnish backstop is expected to get a rest tonight in favor of rookie goaltender Richard Bachman.

Dallas is 12-12-0 as the visiting team this year and will complete a brief two-game trip tonight. The Stars will play next on Saturday, when they host the Wild in Big D.

San Jose is 2-0 against the Stars this year and has won four straight in the series. The Sharks have outscored Dallas by a combined 11-2 margin in winning the last two encounters in Silicon Valley.

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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.