Lehtonen, Stars welcome Coyotes to Big D

Hockey Betting Lines

02/07/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time that Kari Lehtonen faced the Coyotes, the Stars netminder suffered an injury that temporarily derailed his solid season.

The Finn has finally begun to find his form once again and carries a personal three-game win streak into Dallas' meeting tonight with Pacific Division-rival Phoenix in a matchup of two teams just on the outside of the playoff picture.

Now in his third season with the Stars, Lehtonen is 19-11-1 in 32 games this year while posting a 2.38 goals-against average and .922 save percentage. He helped backstop Dallas to a pair of shootout wins over Phoenix in October, but suffered a groin injury in a Nov. 26 meeting in Arizona that sidelined him for 12 games.

The Coyotes won that meeting 3-0 behind a 26-save shutout from former Stars netminder Mike Smith.

Lehtonen, meanwhile, lost seven of his first 10 decisions back from injury, losing four in a row from Jan. 14-21. He lasted just under 40 minutes in the final contest of that slide at Minnesota, giving up four goals on 19 shots.

The 28-year-old hasn't lost since, giving up only three goals in three games. He snapped his personal skid with a shutout win over Anaheim right before the All-Star break and came up with 33 saves and another two in the shootout of Saturday's 2-1 win over the Wild.

"They got a few chances and I was able to make some saves and get lucky a couple times. Our penalty killing was very good too so that helped also," Lehtonen said. "Overall, it was a fun game for me getting a lot of shots and then the two points at the end."

Mike Ribeiro scored in regulation and Loui Eriksson and Jamie Benn found the back of the net in the shootout for the Stars, who have won three of four since a five-game skid and pulled within two points of the Wild for the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

The Coyotes joined the Stars in the ninth spot with last night's 3-1 victory over the Red Wings, equaling Dallas' 56-point total on the season. Phoenix got a pair of goals from Martin Hanzal, his first multi-goal effort since Oct. 23.

Boyd Gordon also scored shorthanded, Ray Whitney had two assists to stretch his point streak to five straight games (2 goals, 6 assists) and Smith ended with 30 saves to win his career-high 20th game of the campaign. Phoenix was coming off a victory on Saturday over Pacific Division-leading San Jose and has won three of four, wrapping a season-long six-game homestand with a record of 3-2-1.

"We were gritty tonight. We found a way to get a win tonight on home ice when it was needed the most," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said. "We had a great effort from a lot of our guys tonight and that is going to be key down the stretch here."

Phoenix has won two straight for the first time since Dec. 20-21 and will look to win three in a row for the first time this season.

Six of the past seven games between these two clubs have been decided by one goal and that could give the edge to Dallas. The Stars are 14-6-2 in games decided by the minimum this year, while the Coyotes are 8-9-8.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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