Nash, Blue Jackets edge Rangers

Hockey Betting Lines

02/25/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rick Nash scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets erased a two-goal deficit with a pair of short-handed tallies, defeating the New York Rangers, 3-2, at Madison Square Garden.

Anders Eriksson and Jason Chimera both tallied for the Blue Jackets, who won for just the third time in their last 11 games while snapping a three-game slide. Fredrik Norrena was strong between the pipes, finishing with 40 saves for Columbus.

Blair Betts and Jaromir Jagr both scored and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 22 saves for the Rangers, who were playing their second game in a season-high six-game homestand. The Blueshirts have struggled in their quest for a postseason berth, dropping a pair of heartbreaking losses to the New Jersey Devils in a home-and-home series this past week, and four of their last five games overall.

The Rangers grabbed the early lead, punching through with their fourth shot on goal to make it 1-0. On a delayed penalty call, Betts took a pass from Ryan Hollweg and moved behind the net from Norrena's right to left, before stuffing the puck past the netminder on a wrap-around attempt at 2:46.

A little more than two minutes later New York struck again to make it 2-0, this time on the power play. With Columbus' Aaron Johnson off for interference, Jagr rifled a slap shot from the top of the right circle past Norrena at 5:11 for his 22nd goal of the season.

Eriksson got Columbus on the board, deflecting the puck past Lundqvist to make it a 2-1 game. David Vyborny had almost nothing on the initial shot, which he wristed from above the right circle. The disc went through heavy traffic, however, deflecting off two players, the last being Eriksson, before it skipped past the netminder with 1:24 remaining in the first period.

A pair of short-handed tallies gave Columbus a 3-2 lead in the second period.

After a takeaway by Fredrik Modin, Chimera gathered the puck in his own zone, then went through neutral zone unimpeded while moving along the left boards. Just a few strides over the blue line, Chimera unleashed a wrist shot that beat Lundqvist at 11:02 to square the game at 2-2.

Nash then gave his team a 3-2 lead while Eriksson was off for hooking. The shot, which was nearly identical to Chimera's, came off the left side and beat Lundqvist with 4:06 remaining in the middle stanza.

The third period belonged to New York, except where the scoreboard was concerned. The Blueshirts dominated in shots on goal, 17-4, but could not solve Norrena down the stretch.

A hooking infraction against Michal Rozsival, which came with just 42 seconds remaining in the contest, let the Rangers short-handed and dampened any hopes of a game-tying tally.

Game Notes

It was Chimera's second unassisted short-handed goal of the season. The first one came December 18th against Detroit...The Blue Jackets have won five of their last six meetings with the Rangers overall, and are 1-1 with one tie all-time at Madison Square Garden, where they had not played since a 5-3 loss December 3, 2002...New York was 1-for-5 on the power play, while Columbus finished 0-for-2...The Rangers needed a win to move within four points of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

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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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