Thrashers, Canes to face off in clash of surging Southeast squads

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03/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing at home has been good as of late for the Atlanta Thrashers, who head back to Philips Arena tonight to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in a Southeast Division showdown.

Atlanta has won its last three tests as the host team and returned from the NHL's break for the Winter Olympics to post consecutive home victories over Florida and the New York Islanders. With a win this evening, the Thrashers will have recorded their longest winning streak at Philips Arena since a seven-game tear from March 2-18, 2007.

The Thrashers' home success bodes well for a possible postseason berth, as they will play seven of their next eight games in Atlanta. The club is currently tied for ninth in the Eastern Conference with 66 points, but just two behind Montreal for the eighth and final playoff seed.

Atlanta had gone 4-0-2 over its last six overall outings before stumbling at Tampa Bay last night, with the Lightning coming away with a 6-2 win behind a three-goal first period. Thrashers goaltender Johan Hedberg was victimized for all six goals on 30 shots and had a personal three-start winning streak halted.

"Everybody knows the situation (about the playoffs) and we have to be more aware when we're out there," forward Nik Antropov remarked afterward.

On a positive note, Niclas Bergfors scored one of Atlanta's two goals and continued his strong play since coming over from New Jersey as part of the February 4 trade that sent All-Star wing Ilya Kovalchuk to the Devils. The young Swede has now netted six goals in seven games since the swap.

Although the Hurricanes are a longshot to reach the postseason after dealing away a number of veteran players at Wednesday's trade deadline, they've still been a handful for opposing teams recently. Carolina had ripped off a season- best seven straight wins before Saturday's 4-1 loss to Florida, and dealt the Thrashers a 5-2 defeat in their most recent trip to Philips Arena back on January 21.

Hurricanes captain Eric Staal had a hat trick in that game and has amassed 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) over his last 18 contests. Forward Jussi Jokinen, who accounted for Carolina's lone score in last night's setback, has racked up 14 goals and nine assists over that same stretch.

Goaltender Manny Legace has also been on a strong run since taking over for the injured Cam Ward as the Hurricanes' main backstop. The veteran has won his last four starts and surrendered just eight goals during that span.

Rookie Justin Peters was between the pipes for Saturday's game and received his first NHL loss after allowing three goals on 29 shots. The 23-year-old had gone 3-0-0 with an outstanding 1.34 goals against average over his first three starts.

Atlanta had won the first two season meetings between these divisional foes before that January 21 home loss, but Carolina has prevailed in six of its last eight matchups as the visitor in this 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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