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12/27/2008 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shane Doan's power-play marker in the late stages of the second period proved to be the game-winner and lifted the Phoenix Coyotes to a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings in the opener of a home-and-home set at the Staples Center.
Doan also set up Peter Mueller in the first period, while Ilya Bryzgalov was sensational between the pipes for Phoenix, stopping 24 shots as the Coyotes halted a brief two-game slide.
"Shane (Doan) has played very well - one of the best years I've seen him have," said Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky. "He's a tremendous captain and has been a good leader for our group. It's probably been the best hockey I've seen him play. It's great to see him score some big goals. It's definitely what a great leader does and he's done a great job of it."
Peter Harrold found the back of the net for Los Angeles, which has dropped five of its last six games. Jonathan Quick was solid for the Kings, making 24 saves.
Mueller hammered a feed from Doan behind Quick with 9:16 remaining in the opening frame, then the Coyotes stretched the margin to two on the man advantage.
A wrister from the right point by Olli Jokinen was redirected in the slot by the Phoenix captain between the legs of Quick with 2:17 to go in the middle stanza.
Los Angeles answered on the power play in the third period. With Dustin Brown perched in front of Bryzgalov, Harrold let fly a drive from the blue-line that beat the screened netminder on the blocker side at 8:49.
The Kings pulled Quick in the waning moments, but couldn't produce the tying goal.
"Well you can't play a game in the NHL and play only 20 minutes and expect to win, those days are done," said Kings head coach Terry Murray. "You have to come and play right from the beginning, you have to play 60 minutes hard, intense, and very heavy hockey, and in the first two periods we were not going, we didn't have it. The third period was what we needed for the 60 minutes."
Game Notes
The Coyotes are 5-1-3 over their last nine games...Phoenix will host Los Angeles on Saturday...The Coyotes hold a 2-0-0 edge in the season series and have won 10 of the last 13 meetings with the Kings.
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Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sheldon Souray's power-play goal late in the
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Koufos added 18 points and eight rebounds as the Utah Jazz upended the Dallas
Mavericks, 97-88.
Deron Williams logged 43 solid minutes and finished with 17 point
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Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Campbell and Dave Bolland both registered
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Souray, Oilers hold off late rally by Canucks >>
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the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, at GM Place.
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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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