Hossa leads Rangers past Blackhawks

Hockey Betting Lines

02/18/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcel Hossa's late first-period goal was the difference, as the New York Rangers edged the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden.

Martin Straka also tallied for the Rangers, who have won four of their last five games. Jaromir Jagr, Petr Prucha, and Matt Cullen added assists, and Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves.

Martin Havlat scored for the Blackhawks, who have dropped four of five. Patrick Lalime stopped 27 shots in the loss.

The Rangers played without forward Brendan Shanahan, who is out indefinitely following a scary collision on Saturday with Flyers forward Mike Knuble. Shanahan was removed from the ice on a stretcher early in the third period of New York's 5-3 loss to Philly, and spent Saturday night in a local hospital for observation.

New York put the ugliness of that game behind them early, as Straka gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 1:42 while on the power play, slamming home Jagr's feed from the slot for his 27th goal of the year.

Hossa doubled the lead with 8:20 to play, taking Cullen's left circle dish and scoring on a low shot from the slot which found its way through Lalime. The eventual game-winning score was his seventh of the season, as well as his second in consecutive games.

Havlat finally got the Hawks on the board with 75 seconds remaining in the second, but they could not net an equalizer in the third period as Lundqvist stopped all eight shots that came his way.

Game Notes

Despite the loss, Chicago is 3-1-1 in the last five meetings, and 9-5-2 against New York since the 1995-96 season...New York's last win over Chicago at the Garden came on February 19, 2001, by a 4-2 score...The Rangers improved to 4-2-0 in afternoon games this season...New York travels across the Hudson River to face New Jersey on Tuesday, while Chicago is in Detroit on Wednesday.

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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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