Demitra beats former team as Canucks edge Wild

Hockey Betting Lines

11/20/2008 - St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pavol Demitra had a goal and an assist to help his new team, Vancouver, defeat his old team, Minnesota, as the Canucks took a 3-2 win over the Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

Demitra had spent the previous two seasons with Minnesota, but signed as a free agent with the Canucks in the offseason. Daniel Sedin scored the game- winning goal with 8:19 left in the third period while Curtis Sanford made 28 saves for the Canucks, who are 6-0-2 in their last eight games.

"If we're gonna get first place these are the teams we have to beat," said Sanford. "I know I'm not playing a lot, but I come to the rink every night ready to play."

Mikko Koivu tallied both goals and Niklas Backstrom stopped 24 shots in the loss for the Wild, who had a three-game winning streak stopped.

"It was a tough loss," said Koivu. "Once they scored the winning goal we weren't able to answer and they got out of here with the win."

With the score tied in the third period, the Canucks took the lead with just over eight minutes to play. Sedin got an initial shot off on net that Backstrom stopped, but the rebound went to Demitra at the left side. From down low to the left of the net, Demitra centered the puck back to Sedin, who one- timed it home.

Minnesota got Backstrom out of the net in the final minute of the game and had a couple of scoring chances, but Sanford made the stops.

Neither side got on the board as Sanford made eight saves while Backstrom stopped seven shots in the opening period.

Minnesota drew first blood as Koivu blasted a slap shot from the left circle that hit off the arm of Sanford at the 7:16 mark of the second period.

Vancouver, though, answered just 44 seconds later as Steve Bernier banged in a loose puck in front of the net.

With under six minutes to play in the second, Koivu found himself on a clean shorthanded breakaway and he buried a wrister into the left corner of the net for a 2-1 lead.

However, the Canucks again answered as Demitra's shot from a sharp angle at the left side of the net hit off the stick of a Wild defender and snuck past Backstrom with 3:50 to play in the second for a power-play goal.

Game Notes

The Wild host St. Louis on Saturday...Vancouver wraps up its four-game road trip in Pittsburgh on Saturday...Vancouver has both games against Minnesota this season...Vancouver went 1-for-4 on the power play while Minnesota finished 0-for-3 with the man advantage.

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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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