Surging Flyers host Bruins in Winter Classic rematch

Hockey Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers will try to continue their surge in the right direction when they host the Boston Bruins tonight at Wachovia Center.

The Flyers are 7-1-1 in their last nine games and have greatly improved their playoff chances since they last played the Bruins outdoors in the Winter Classic.

After losing the New Year's Day game at Fenway Park in overtime, Philadelphia has posted a 16-8-1 record and is now sixth in the Eastern Conference with 74 points.

Meanwhile, Boston has lost 17 out of 25 games since the Winter Classic, going 8-12-5 over that stretch. As a result, Boston comes into tonight as the eighth seed in the East and four points behind the Flyers.

Philadelphia beat the Bruins twice this year before the loss on Jan 1. and tonight's meeting caps the four-game season series. The Flyers have won four of six overall against Boston, but the Bruins have taken six of eight and seven of their last 10 games in Philly.

The Flyers have won two straight games and are coming off Tuesday's comeback win over the visiting New York Islanders. Philadelphia trailed 2-0 in the second period before scoring the games final three goals.

The 3-2 decision marked the 15th straight win over the Isles for the Flyers, giving Philadelphia the longest active stretch of victories by one team over any single opponent in the league.

Simon Gagne was credited with the game-winning power-play goal with 6:06 remaining in regulation to lift the Flyers to victory on Tuesday.

Claude Giroux and Jeff Carter also scored for the Flyers, while Michael Leighton turned aside 23 shots for Philadelphia.

"I thought halfway through the second period, once the guys came back to the bench, we got back into a rhythm," head coach Peter Laviolette told the Flyers official Web site.

Mike Richards added an assist in the win and the Flyers captain has registered a point in six straight games, posting three goals and six helpers over that span.

Philadelphia has won five straight and 11 of its last 13 home games. The Flyers, who are 20-11-2 at Wachovia this year, will cap a four-game homestand Saturday against Chicago.

The Bruins, who are 15-11-6 as the guest this year, are making the fourth stop on seven-game road trip and are 1-1-1 on the swing so far.

Boston was dealt an overtime loss Tuesday in Toronto as Nikolai Kulemin scored with 49.7 seconds left in OT to claim a 4-3 decision.

Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm and Mark Recchi got the goals for Boston, which has lost two straight. Tim Thomas made several big stops but wound up on the wrong end of a 26-save effort.

"We know we're in the (playoff) race right now, you can't give up those points," said Bergeron.

Tuesday's test was the first game for Boston since it lost star forward Marc Savard to a concussion. Savard, who has 33 points in 41 games this year, suffered a Grade Two concussion after taking a shoulder to the head from Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke on Sunday.

Savard, the Bruins' leading scorer in each of the previous three seasons, is sidelined indefinitely and could possibly miss the rest of the year. Cooke was not penalized on the play and it was announced Wednesday that he will not be suspended by the league.

In other injury news for Boston, top defenseman Zdeno Chara is questionable for tonight after missing the last game with a lower-body issue. Fellow blueliner Andrew Ference is also questionable after sitting out the last four tests with a groin injury.

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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.