Devils hope to stay on a roll versus the Blues

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02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot New Jersey Devils will try to extend their longest winning streak of the season to six games tonight, when they host the St. Louis Blues at the Prudential Center.

The Devils, who are coming off Tuesday's controversial 1-0 regulation win over the New York Rangers, have won five straight and 10 of their last 14 games.

The surge has helped New Jersey forge a tie with Pittsburgh for third place in the Atlantic Division and the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Devils and Penguins are also just two points behind Philadelphia for second in the division and fourth in the East.

The Devils rode Martin Brodeur to a win in Tuesday's low-scoring affair in New York City. Brodeur extended his NHL record with the 117th shutout of his career, as New Jersey made a first-period goal stand up in a 1-0 win over the first-place Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

David Clarkson tallied the only goal for the Devils, who are in the midst of their longest winning streak since an eight-game run from Feb. 6-22 of last season. Zach Parise and Patrik Elias both notched assists on Clarkson's goal to extend their point streaks to six games.

The controversy came in the final minute when the Rangers appeared to tie the game with 3.5 seconds left, but Marian Gaborik crashed into Brodeur and was called for goalie interference, negating Artem Anisimov's potential equalizer.

"I thought it was the right call," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. "Marty gets pushed into the net. Give them credit for getting it right."

Brodeur stopped 30 shots, including 15 in the final period, to secure his first shutout since blanking the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 25 of last season. Brodeur skipped practice Wednesday due to a twisted ankle suffered in the third period against the Rangers and it's unclear if he will be able to start tonight or if Johan Hedberg will get the call.

In other injury news, Devils defenseman Adam Larsson -- the fourth overall pick of the 2011 draft -- has missed the last three games with an injured back and will likely miss tonight as well. Forward Ryan Carter (hand) is also not expected to play.

New Jersey is kicking off a two-game homestand tonight and will also host Florida on Saturday. The Devils have won their last three home games and are 15-9-2 in Newark this season.

The Blues have won two of their last three games and are also coming off a road win on Tuesday. St. Louis notched a 3-1 win in Ottawa, as goaltender Brian Elliott made a successful return to Scotiabank Place.

Almost a year after the Senators traded him to the Colorado Avalanche, Elliott stopped 28 shots to help lead the Blues to victory.

"Coming in here, especially for myself, kind of a little homecoming meant a lot to me and the guys played hard for me," Elliott said.

David Perron scored twice and Chris Porter also lit the lamp for the Blues, who had lost three of four coming into Tuesday's tilt. With the win over the Sens, St. Louis moved to 10-0-2 against the Eastern Conference this season.

The Blues are still just 9-11-3 as the guest this year and are completing a three-game road trip tonight.

Former Devils forward Jason Arnott is not expected to play tonight for the Blues after sitting out the last two games with a bruised left shoulder. Matt D'Agostini is also not expected to play this evening after sustaining a blow to the head in Tuesday's game.

Tonight's tilt marks the first meeting between the Devils and Blues since Nov. 20, 2010 in St. Louis. The Blues have won two straight and three of four against New Jersey overall and have taken the last two encounters in the Garden State.

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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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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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