Devils visit surging Maple Leafs

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03/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Although it's highly unlikely to result in a playoff spot, the Toronto Maple Leafs have put together one of their best stretches of the season over the past week. They'll try to sustain that newfound momentum into a three-game homestand that begins with tonight's battle against the New Jersey Devils from the Air Canada Centre.

Toronto has gone 4-1-0 over its last five outings and won all three of its matchups on home ice during that period. The club just came back from consecutive road games and concluded the short trip with a 4-1 victory over the reeling Ottawa Senators Tuesday at Scotiabank Place.

Jonas Gustavsson made 30 saves for the Maple Leafs in a strong performance between the pipes, with Phil Kessel, John Mitchell, Mikhail Grabovski and Rickard Wallin all scoring goals to provide the offense.

"We played a great road game," said Toronto head coach Ron Wilson. "We had a bad end to the second period, we got a little sloppy and lost our poise with the puck a few times. We rebounded in the third period and did a great job drawing penalties and forcing the issue and not sitting back."

Despite their recent charge, the Maple Leafs still reside at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with 60 points.

Grabovski's tally extended his scoring streak to five games, with the German center having recorded two goals and three assists over that span. Nikolai Kulemin assisted on Kessel's goal and now has eight points (4 goals, 4 assists) during a personal six-game run.

New Jersey heads to the Air Canada Centre off last night's big home win over rival Pittsburgh, with the 5-2 triumph giving the Devils a share of the Atlantic Division lead with the Penguins.

Zach Parise and Patrik Elias each had a goal and an assist for New Jersey, which took advantage of a shaky Marc-Andre Fleury and jumped out to a 4-1 advantage just past the midway point of the second period. Martin Brodeur made the lead stand by stopping 24-of-26 shots and help the Devils to a sixth consecutive win over Pittsburgh.

"With the respect that we have for them, we know that if we don't play hard we're going to have a tough time," Brodeur said of the defending Cup champion Penguins. "That respect makes us more accountable to the way we play."

Fleury was pulled 10:17 into the second period after letting up four goals on only 13 shots.

The victory was the fourth in five games for the Devils, who own a game in hand on the Penguins in the division race, but each of those wins have taken place at home. New Jersey has dropped its last three road tilts and is a dismal 1-8-1 as the visitor since January 26.

One of those losses occurred at the Air Canada Centre, a 3-0 setback on February 2 in which Leafs netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere delivered 30 saves. The Devils did win both 2009-10 meetings between the teams held in the Garden State.

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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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