Devils clinch Atlantic in shootout win over Senators

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04/09/2009 - Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brendan Shanahan scored the shootout winner, and the New Jersey Devils wrapped up the Atlantic Division title in a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place.

The Devils needed just a point to win the division for the third time in four seasons and did so even before Shanahan lit the lamp by way of Philadelphia's loss to the Rangers earlier in the evening. However, the triumph did give New Jersey its franchise-best 50th win of the season.

New Jersey is now firmly locked into the Eastern Conference's third seed as Washington clinched the No. 2 slot with a win against Tampa Bay earlier Thursday.

Brian Gionta and Brian Rolston scored in regulation while Martin Brodeur made 28 saves for the Devils, who have now won three of four following an untimely six-game slide.

Dany Heatley scored to force overtime with exactly one minute remaining in regulation and Jarkko Ruutu found the back of the net in the first period for the Senators, who were riding a franchise-record nine-game winning streak at home and three-game win streak overall. Alex Auld had 30 saves in defeat.

The Sens' recent stretch earned new head coach Cory Clouston a two-year contract through the 2010-11 season on Wednesday. Clouston took over the for the fired Craig Hartsburg on February 2 with the Senators mired in last place in the Northeast Division at 17-24-7. While Ottawa will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, the team has responded to the coaching change by producing a mark of 19-10-4 under Clouston.

Shanahan's wrister escaped the grasp of Auld and found twine in the top right corner to begin the second round. Brodeur came back to stone Mike Fisher and Jamie Langenbrunner had a chance to win it, but Auld kept the pads together on a low shot.

Brodeur then sprawled to his right and deflected a Jason Spezza backhander up high for the win.

Ruutu was camped to Brodeur's left and was in position to put back the rebound off a Brian Lee slap shot from the right point for the early lead 4:13 into the game.

Gionta and Rolston swung the momentum New Jersey's way with goals 46 seconds apart in the second, but Heatley was able to capitalize on a mad scramble by Ottawa near the end of regulation.

Fisher got behind the defense and even a flailing Brodeur, but chipped a bouncing puck off the right post. The Senators retained possession, though, and Heatley was able to rip one from the slot to tie the game.

Game Notes

The Devils got forward Patrik Elias back after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury. Elias is second on the team in goals (31) and points (78) this season...New Jersey played in its final road game of the regular season and will close the campaign with Saturday's test against Carolina...The Devils are 23-15-3 as the guest this year and had lost six in a row on the road before winning in Buffalo this past Saturday...The Senators are 22-12-7 as the host this year and played their final home game of the season...Ottawa will complete its 2008-09 schedule with Saturday's test in Toronto...New Jersey completed the four-game season series sweep...The Devils have taken six in a row and nine of 11 from Ottawa and have won three straight and four of five in Canada's capital city.

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2007 online football betting Preview

My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."

The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.

To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.

However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.

Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.

Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.

Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.

2007 College Football Betting Preview

There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.

The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.

So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.

USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.

USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.

Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.

That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.

The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"

The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.

Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.

Las Vegas Sports Lines

The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.

It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."

The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.

The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.

Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.

After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.

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