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03/09/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nikolai Kulemin scored with 49.7 seconds left in overtime, as Toronto tripped up Boston in a 4-3 final from Air Canada Centre.
Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski broke out on a 2-on-1 following an end-to-end sequence that featured several scoring chances for both sides. Grabovski carried down the left wing and slid a pass into the slot for Kulemin. A back- checking Michael Ryder went down to take away the pass and disrupted the play, but also took out his own goalie Tim Thomas, and Kulemin fired into a wide open net.
Wayne Primeau, Carl Gunnarsson and Luca Caputi scored for the Maple Leafs in regulation for only their second win in the last seven games. Jonas Gustavsson stopped 26-of-29 shots to get the win.
Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm and Mark Recchi got the goals for Boston, which has lost two straight. Tim Thomas made several big stops but wound up on the wrong end of a 26-save effort.
Boston lit the scoreboard 2:47 into the game as Recchi swarmed the low slot and deflected a loose puck past Gustavsson.
Toronto got on the board midway through the second when Primeau finished off a 2-on-1 with a wrister between Thomas' legs.
The B's reclaimed the lead with a power-play goal with 6:11 to play in the period. Sturm was stationed at the right side of the net and poked in the rebound of a Dennis Wideman point shot.
The Leafs got the equalizer off Gunnarsson's blast through traffic with 1:22 to go.
Bergeron continued the back-and-forth scoring by putting in the rebound off a Recchi slapper 3:07 into the third, and Caputi's backhander near the left post tied it again at 7:13.
Thomas denied Phil Kessel on a pair of partial breakaways down the stretch to force extra time, then turned back Grabovski and Luke Schenn from in close during overtime.
Game Notes
The Bruins fell to 1-0-1 on a seven-game road trip and to 15-11-6 as the visiting club this season...Toronto opened a three-game homestand Tuesday and moved to 12-14-5 as the host this year...Boston leads the season series with Toronto, 3-2...Schenn and Recchi both had two assists.
<< Howard, Magic crush lowly Clippers
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwight Howard was a force on the interior with
22 points and 15 rebounds, as the Clippers had no answer for the big man or
the rest of the Magic in Orlando's 113-87 rout.
Jameer Nelson totaled 17 points w
<< Felton helps Bobcats rally past Heat
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raymond Felton poured in 15 points and dished
out a season-high 11 assists, as the Charlotte Bobcats rallied late to down
the Miami Heat, 83-78, at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Stephen Jackson added 17 points
<< Predators hold off Thrashers
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Suter and Colin Wilson scored to
propel the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers at
Philips Arena.
Suter's tally came on a power play early in the first period, whil
<< Bourque highlights Calgary's win in Motown
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rene Bourque assisted on the tying goal early
in the third period and scored the game-winner less than two minutes later, as
the Calgary Flames edged the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2, at Joe Louis Arena.
Jarome Ig
Flyers rally to down Isles on Gagne's late score >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Simon Gagne was credited with the game-
winning power-play goal with 6:06 remaining in regulation, as the Philadelphia
Flyers rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the New York Islanders, 3-2,
at Wach
Darche, Canadiens down Lightning >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mathieu Darche scored a pair of goals to help
the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3, at the Bell
Centre.
Scott Gomez had a goal and two assists for the Canadiens, who have won th
Bogut, Bucks down Celtics in Milwaukee >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andrew Bogut totaled 25 points, 17 rebounds
and four blocks, and the Bucks used a run in the fourth quarter to take the
lead and then held off the Boston Celtics, 86-84, at the Bradley Center.
Carlos De
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Recaps >>
Winstom-Salem, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - C.J. Reed scored a game-high 23 points as
he led the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats to a 64-53 win over the Florida A&M
Rattlers in the opening round of the 39th annual Mid-Eastern Athletic
Con
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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Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
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