Canucks could be without Sedin against Wild

Hockey Betting Lines

02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks keep finding ways to win close games, but tonight they may have to find a way to do so without former Hart Trophy winner Henrik Sedin.

The Minnesota Wild are hoping the possible return of their captain can keep them in the postseason hunt.

The Wild may have Mikko Koivu back in the lineup this evening against a Canucks squad that could be minus one half of its high-scoring twin duo after Sedin was forced to miss practice on Wednesday.

Sedin, the league leader with 46 assists to go along with a 57-point total that ranks among the best in the NHL, suffered a right ankle injury blocking a shot in Tuesday's 4-3 shootout win over Nashville. Though Sedin returned to the game and had a pair of assists, his team-record string of 552 consecutive games played is in doubt for tonight.

"We're still waiting on results from a CT scan" said Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault on Wednesday. "They did an x-ray and couldn't tell from the x- ray. He was obviously in a lot of pain."

A potential loss of Sedin could be big for the Northwest Division-leading Canucks. Though they have a comfortable 13-point lead over the second-place Wild in the division, they trail the Red Wings by three points for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Vancouver is 5-0-2 in its past seven games and has just two regulation losses in its past 14 trips to the ice (9-2-3). Still, those spans have come with anxious moments as the Canucks have gone to a shootout in three straight games, including the first two of a four-game road trip, and all told each of their past five games and eight of 10 have gone beyond regulation.

Tuesday was the latest instance as goals by Ryan Kesler, Byron Bitz and Daniel Sedin staked the Canucks to a 3-1 lead after the first period versus the Predators, but Nashville scored twice in the second off Roberto Luongo to even things up. Alexander Edler then won it for Vancouver in the sixth round of the shootout.

"It's a tight league. Not a lot of separation, and we're going to be involved in a lot of tight games," Luongo said after making 37 saves.

The Wild open a four-game homestand following Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Blue Jackets. Minnesota was hoping that Koivu could return for that tilt, but he missed his eighth straight game due to a shoulder injury. However, he had a good practice on Wednesday according to head coach Mike Yeo and said the team would see how he is today before making a decision on his return.

"I had a good skate and felt better again. I guess each and everyday it's getting better, so that's a good sign," Koivu said after practice, adding it's up to Yeo if he plays tonight.

The Wild could certainly use Koivu as they have lost three of four and 18 of their last 23 (5-13-5) since a seven-game win streak from Nov. 28-Dec. 10. Nate Prosser scored his first career goal in Tuesday's loss to the Blue Jackets, while Niklas Backstrom allowed three goals on 37 shots.

"It was back-and-forth. We had a couple chances, but I don't think we deserved to win the game," Yeo said.

Minnesota enters play tonight tied for eighth in the West with Phoenix, one more than both Colorado and Calgary.

The Canucks have won six of seven and eight of their past 11 encounters with the Wild, but have lost five of their past six in Minnesota.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.