Sabres visit Rangers seeking to stop road slide

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03/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres hope to put their road woes to an end when the Northeast Division co-leaders pay a visit to historic Madison Square Garden tonight for a matchup with the New York Rangers.

Buffalo heads to the Big Apple having dropped eight straight games as the visitor, with six of those defeats coming in regulation. That matches the longest road losing streak in the franchise's 39 seasons of existence, an 0-5-3 stretch during the 2007-08 campaign.

The Sabres, who are still a respectable 14-12-3 away from home for the season, had also lost eight times in a stretch of nine overall games before downing Philadelphia in overtime on Friday. Tim Connolly scored 2:31 into the extra session to give Buffalo a much-needed 3-2 victory.

Buffalo trailed 2-1 in the third period before Adam Mair scored with 5:58 remaining in regulation. Connolly later put the Sabres ahead to stay when he banked home a rebound of Toni Lydman's shot from the point midway through the extra session.

Both Connolly and Adam Mair finished with a goal and an assist for Buffalo, with Thomas Vanek also lighting the lamp for his 300th career point. Goaltender and United States Olympic hero Ryan Miller did his part as well, stopping 27-of-29 Philadelphia shots on the evening.

"We made improvements in some areas," said Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff. "We missed a couple great opportunities you wished you put in the back of the net."

The win briefly gave Buffalo a one-point edge on Ottawa for first place in the Northeast, but the Senators pulled even following last night's overtime loss to Toronto.

The Rangers come back home after being shut out by NHL-leading Washington on Saturday, when Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore turned aside all 30 shots he faced to lead his club to a 2-0 verdict.

Alex Auld, claimed by New York off waivers from Dallas earlier this week, made his first start in goal for his new team and ended with 26 saves.

"Coming into a game against this team you're expecting a lot of shots," said Auld. "But I thought we did a good job tonight and it's just unfortunate that we came out on the wrong end."

The Rangers did have leading scorer Marian Gaborik back in the lineup last night, although the star sniper wasn't a factor in his return from a two-game absence due to a groin injury he sustained while competing for Slovakia in the Olympics. Regular netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who racked up a career-high 50 saves in New York's 5-4 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday, is expected to be back between the pipes after getting Saturday's game off.

The Blueshirts have dropped two in a row following a three-game win streak and sit in a ninth-place tie in the Eastern Conference standings with 66 points, two behind Montreal for the eighth and final playoff seed.

These teams have split two previous meetings this season, with the Sabres earning a 3-2 decision at Madison Square Garden on December 12 behind a 36- save performance from Miller. Buffalo has prevailed in four of the last six overall bouts in the series.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

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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