Rangers, Blues tangle at MSG

Hockey Betting Lines

03/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams trying to break into the playoff picture in their respective conferences will meet tonight in the Big Apple as the New York Rangers host the St. Louis Blues at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers have 71 points and are three behind Boston for the eighth and final postseason berth in the East. Meanwhile, St. Louis is seven points back of Detroit for the Western Conference's last playoff berth.

Neither New York nor St. Louis helped their postseason chances on Tuesday, as they both dropped home contests in regulation.

New York was handed a 3-1 setback by Montreal despite heading into the third period tied with the Canadiens at 1-1. Sergei Kostitsyn's goal in the third gave Montreal the lead for good and Tomas Plekanec added an empty-netter.

Sean Avery scored the lone goal for the Rangers, giving him three goals in New York's last two games. Henrik Lundqvist was strong between the pipes with 32 saves in the losing effort.

"We just have to approach every game like it is the last," said Lundqvist of his team's playoff push.

Lundqvist, who is expected to get his 61st start of the season tonight, has held opponents to two goals or fewer in nine of his last 11 games. He has a 6-3-2 record with a 2.36 goals against average and a .940 save percentage over the span. The Swedish backstop was saddled with a loss in his only career appearance against St. Louis.

Meanwhile, the Blues were dealt a loss by visiting Colorado on Tuesday as Peter Mueller recorded two goals and an assist to lead the Avalanche to the 5-3 win at Scottrade Center.

Alexander Steen, Patrik Berglund and David Perron scored for the Blues, who have lost two straight. Erik Johnson registered two assists, and Chris Mason stopped only 21-of-26 shots in defeat.

Tonight marks the finale of a three-game homestand for the Rangers, who are just 15-16-6 as the host this year. However, St. Louis has a solid 20-11-4 record as the guest.

The Rangers lost a 4-1 decision in St. Louis on January 16, giving the Blues their sixth win in the last nine meetings in this series.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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