Montreal rallies late, downs Ducks in SO

Hockey Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tomas Plekanec fired the game-winning wrister in the shootout, and the Montreal Canadiens used a late surge in regulation and a controversial goal in the shootout to edge the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3, at Honda Center.

The Habs trailed, 1-0, in the shootout heading into the final shooter, and Brian Gionta fired a wrist shot in between the blocker pad and stick of Anaheim netminder Jonas Hiller. Hiller drifted backward toward the net and looked to find the puck, inadvertently knocking it into the net for a goal.

The officials reviewed the tally, as the whistle had not been blown, and confirmed the call on the ice. After James Wisniewski could not score for the Ducks in the fourth round, Plekanec fired a wrister past Hiller's glove for the game-winner.

Plekanec added a breakaway goal in the second period for the Habs, who responded from a 3-0 deficit and scored twice in the final 1:50 of regulation. Gionta and Andrei Markov also scored in the team's third win in four games.

Jaroslav Halak stopped all 21 shots he faced after replacing Carey Price, who gave up three goals on 11 shots in the first period.

Corey Perry, Lubomir Visnovsky and Scott Niedermayer tallied for the Ducks, who have lost all three of their games since the Olympic break. Hiller stopped 40 shots in a hard-luck defeat.

Montreal trailed, 3-1, in the final two minutes but managed to tie the score. First was Gionta, who grabbed an errant Anaheim pass in the offensive zone, skated to the slot and ripped a snap shot past Hiller with 1:50 to play.

The Canadiens then pulled Halak for an extra attacker, and the strategy paid off. Benoit Pouliot grabbed the puck near the right side board and gave it to Scott Gomez, who sent it back to Pouliot. Pouliot quickly dished it to Markov out in front, and Markov snuck it underneath the crossbar with 10.7 ticks left to tie it.

Perry staked the Ducks to a 1-0 lead 8:54 into the game, and Visnovsky made it 2-0 when he took a puck at center ice, skated all the way deep into the slot and fired the puck between Price's legs exactly four minutes later.

With 53 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Niedermayer gave Anaheim what seemed to be a comfortable lead at 3-0.

Plekanec notched the only goal of the middle stanza on a breakaway 7:48 in, firing a forehand shot into the top left corner.

Game Notes

Montreal, earning two points with the win, moved ahead of Boston into sole possession of seventh place in the East...Anaheim sits six points out of the final playoff spot in the West...Habs forward Maxim Lapierre sat out the second of his four-game suspension...The Ducks have lost two straight at home after winning 11 consecutive games at Honda Center...Ryan Getzlaf scored for the Ducks in the shootout.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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