Higgins, Ryder lead Habs over Caps

Hockey Betting Lines

02/21/2007 - Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Higgins and Michael Ryder netted two goals each to guide the Montreal Canadiens past the Washington Capitals, 5-3, at the Bell Centre.

Garth Murray added an empty-net goal in the closing seconds and Jaroslav Halak picked up his second win in as many career starts in net by turning away 15 shots for the Canadiens, who have now won two in a row since losing six straight. This is the first time in a month that the Canadiens have posted back-to-back wins.

Jamie Heward finished with a goal and two assists while Brent Johnson came up with 27 saves for Washington, which has dropped four straight.

Montreal stormed out of the gates to assume a 3-0 advantage after 20 minutes of play.

All three were power-play markers, including Higgins' goal from the right side of the net 7:33 into the contest to open the scoring. Ryder made it a two- goal game with 5:12 left in the first, as his one-timer navigated through traffic in front before beating Johnson.

Less than a minute later, Higgins redirected a Saku Koivu feed in front to finish the surge.

Washington, though, opened the second frame with a pair of goals to cut the deficit to one. The first came at the 2:06 mark on a hard slap shot from Heward that deflected off Brian Sutherby and in. Heward then made it 3-2 with another slapper 30 ticks later, this one caroming off a Montreal player before slipping into the back of the net.

The Capitals were in good position to tie the game after Montreal was whistled for a double-minor with 4:27 left in the second period. Ryder, though, broke out on a short-handed charge, split a pair of defenders and then fired a snap shot past Johnson to build a 4-2 edge.

Alexander Semin again made it a one-goal game with only 34 seconds left in the second with a pretty flip shot over the shoulder of Halak.

Halak and company, however, pitched a shutout from there and Murray punched in an empty-net tally in the final minute to seal the win.

Game Notes

Murray hadn't scored in his last 43 games...Halak made 31 saves in his NHL debut Sunday to guide Montreal to a 3-2 win in Columbus. He was called into action after Cristobal Huet suffered a hamstring tear in Montreal's 5-2 loss at New Jersey on Wednesday. Huet had surgery to repair the tear on Sunday and will be out indefinitely...This marked the end of a three-game road trip for Washington, which is just 9-16-5 away from D.C. this year and has lost seven straight and 13 of its last 14 as the visitor.

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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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