12/04/2008 - Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Maxim Lapierre, Steve Begin and Matt D'Agostini each had a goal and an assist, as the Montreal Canadiens stayed hot at home with a 6-2 win over the New York Rangers.
Alex Tanguay, Robert Lang and Andrei Kostitsyn each lit the lamp for the Canadiens, who have gotten off to a 3-0 start on their current seven-game homestand. Montreal is 8-2-2 so far this season at the Bell Centre.
Georges Laraque and Andrei Markov each had two assists for the Canadiens, while Carey Price faced just 20 shots, stopping 18 of them.
Nigel Dawes and Markus Naslund scored for the Rangers, who had won four of five coming into the contest. Henrik Lundqvist allowed all six goals on 39 shots in the loss.
Montreal scored the game's first four goals and never looked back. Approaching the midway point of the first period, Kostitsyn got the Canadiens on the scoreboard. He accepted an outlet pass on the rush, then handed the puck to D'Agostini in the Rangers zone before racing up the slot.
D'Agostini placed a pass in front of the crease, and Kostitsyn backhanded the puck into the net at 9:52.
Just 55 seconds later on another Montreal rush, Lapierre kept the puck as he skated through the right circle and fed the disc to the left post for Begin, who sent it into a wide-open portion of the net.
With 2:23 left in the frame, Roman Hamrlik gathered a loose puck along the left goal line and sent a pass behind the net for Tanguay on the right side, and he managed to beat Lundqvist at a narrow angle.
Montreal took the 3-0 lead into the second period, and quickly expanded its lead when Lapierre banged in a rebound at the 3:35 mark.
Naslund tipped in a power play goal for the Rangers at 13:02, and Dawes one- timed a nice pass from Nikolai Zherdev with 1:17 remaining in the second frame. The tallies got the Rangers within 4-2, but just 49 seconds into the third period Lang caromed in a pass from Markov at the right post to give the Canadiens a three-goal advantage.
Montreal held the lead down the stretch, and D'Agostini scored with 50 seconds left to seal the win.
Game Notes
Rangers defenseman Wade Redden suffered a lower body injury in the second period...Montreal went 0-for-3 on power play chances, while New York was 1- for-2...The Canadiens host New Jersey on Saturday, while New York hosts Calgary on Sunday...This was the first meeting between the clubs this season. The Rangers went 3-0-1 against Montreal in 2007-08.
<< Reynolds, Villanova cruise past Houston Baptist
Villanova, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scottie Reynolds scored a game-best 23 points
to go along with six assists, as No. 17 Villanova routed Houston Baptist,
93-57, at The Pavilion.
Backcourt mate Corey Stokes added 22 points, Dante Cun
<< Griffin, Sooners outlast Trojans in Norman
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blake Griffin scored 25 points, and Austin
Johnson netted 15 of his 17 in the first half, as sixth-ranked Oklahoma
outlasted Southern California, 73-72, in a Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series tilt.
Thur
<< 49ers CB Clements hurting
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers cornerback Nate
Clements missed his second day of practice with a thumb injury and is
questionable for Sunday's game against the Jets.
Injured in last week's win over
<< Penguins place D Boucher on IR
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Philippe Boucher
was placed on injured reserve Thursday with an undisclosed injury.
Boucher, who has missed the last two games, is listed as week-to-week.
Acquired by the Pengu
Raiders QB Russell leaves with ankle injury >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus
Russell was taken to the locker room late in the second quarter of Thursday's
game against the Chargers after suffering a right ankle injury.
Russell, the first
Elias' late goals send Devils over Flyers in OT >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patrik Elias scored with 90 seconds left
in regulation, then scored at the 2:46 mark of overtime to give the New Jersey
Devils a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center.
In the extr
Crosby, Penguins roll past Hurricanes >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sidney Crosby assisted on four of Pittsburgh's
five goals, and the Penguins defeated Carolina by a 5-2 margin to spoil Paul
Maurice's second debut with the Hurricanes.
Maurice, who was fired by the team d
Kessel strikes twice as Lightning fall to Bruins >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Kessel scored twice, and David Krejci had a
go-ahead shorthanded goal in the third period, as the Boston Bruins topped the
Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1, at St. Pete Times Forum.
Marc Savard ended with a pair o
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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