Bruins keep rolling by flattening Blues in St. Louis

Hockey Betting Lines

12/21/2008 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Blake Wheeler scored twice as the Boston Bruins doubled up the St. Louis Blues, 6-3, at the Scottrade Center.

Michael Ryder posted a goal and an assist and David Krejci collected three helpers for the Bruins, who have won five in a row and improved to 19-2-1 in their last 22 games.

Phil Kessel recorded two assists to extend his points streak to an NHL-best 18 games. The fifth overall pick in the 2006 draft, Kessel has 14 goals and 14 assists during his amazing run, which is the longest such streak by a Bruin since Adam Oates recorded points in 20 straight games from January 7 through February 20, 1997.

Manny Fernandez made 29 saves to earn his 11th win of the season.

Before the game, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli provided an update on the condition of center Patrice Bergeron, who was injured in Saturday's 4-2 win over Carolina.

"After first being treated at the TD Banknorth Garden yesterday, Patrice was diagnosed as having sustained a concussion and was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital under the care of Dr. Peter Asnis. Since being admitted to MGH, Patrice has undergone extensive testing, and all of his results have come back normal. When examined this morning, his condition had improved greatly over last night, and he was released from the hospital. There is no timetable for his return to the ice."

Bergeron missed all but 10 games last season while recovering from a severe concussion suffered in a game versus Philadelphia on October 27, 2007.

Jay McClement, Brad Winchester and Yan Stastny scored for the Blues, who have dropped six of their last seven games. Manny Legace was victimized in defeat for five goals on 23 shots and subsequently pulled in the third period. Chris Mason made five saves over the final 20 minutes.

Wheeler opened the scoring at the 2:27 mark of the first period, one-timing a feed from Krejci, and scored a short-handed tally on a fantastic individual effort at 4:59, going through three players and stuffing his own rebound.

Winchester's power-play marker put St. Louis on the board at 6:18, then McClement netted a short-handed goal, tying the score with 3:09 remaining in the first.

Hnidy lit the lamp while up a man 53 seconds later to restore the lead for Boston.

Stastny evened the score 2:46 into the middle stanza, but Ryder's power-play goal put the Bruins up for good at 9:34. P.J. Axelsson held the puck along the left boards, found a seam and slipped a cross-ice pass to Ryder, who ripped a shot past Legace.

Boston grabbed a two-goal advantage with 3:03 remaining in the second period. Milan Lucic played the puck along the wall to Kessel and he carried down the right wing. The young sniper then sent a pass to the slot for Marc Savard, who snapped a wrister over the glove of Legace.

Vladimir Sobotka added a tally in the third period for Boston.

Game Notes

The Bruins snapped a seven-game winless streak in St. Louis, registering their first win since a 7-4 victory on October 17, 1995. Boston had also dropped seven straight overall to the Blues dating back to 2001...Boston finished 2- for-4 on the power play, while the Blues went 1-for-3...Bruins captain Zdeno Chara had two assists...Boston continues its five-game road swing at New Jersey on Tuesday.

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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.


Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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