TheSpread.com

Wednesday's NHL betting news and notes
Wed, Mar 7, 2007
By Associated Press


Phoenix at Anaheim (10 p.m. EST). Dustin Penner has scored in four straight games, the longest streak by a rookie in Ducks history.

STARS

-Sidney Crosby, Penguins, scored his third shootout goal in four games and Pittsburgh overcame a three-goal deficit for a 5-4 win against Ottawa.

-Keith Tkachuk, Thrashers, scored his first two goals with Atlanta to help the Thrashers beat Florida 4-2.

-Simon Gagne, Flyers, scored 1:47 into overtime, leading Philadelphia to a 5-4 victory over New Jersey.

-Jeff Cowan, Canucks, scored twice in Vancouver's 5-1 win over Tampa Bay.

SHUTOUT STARS

Evgeni Nabokov posted his second straight shutout in San Jose's 3-0 over Minnesota on Tuesday night. Nabokov stopped 26 shots to earn his 33rd career shutout and third in 10 games. ... Peter Budaj stopped 21 shots in Colorado's 2-0 win over Boston, his third shutout of the season. ... Andrew Raycroft made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season, helping Toronto to a 3-0 victory over Washington. ... Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 26 shots to earn his first shutout with Chicago, a 3-0 victory over Los Angeles. Khabibulin posted his first regular-season shutout since March 1, 2004, while with Tampa Bay.

KID GAMES

Jordan Staal scored his 27th, and NHL-leading seventh short-handed goal, in Pittsburgh's 5-4 shootout win over Ottawa on Tuesday night. Staal, who was chosen second in last June's draft, had 28 goals last season in junior hockey with Peterborough. ... Rookie Paul Stastny tied a Colorado/Quebec franchise record, earning a point in 16 consecutive games including Tuesday night's 2-0 win over Boston. Stastny's dad, Peter, also had points in 16 straight games during the 1980-81 season. Stastny, whose point streak is an NHL best this season, is one game away from tying Teemu Selanne's NHL rookie record, set in 1992-93.

VAN-TASTIC

Vancouver is 9-1-1 in its last 11 after Tuesday night's 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay. Roberto Luongo earned his 38th win of the season, matching Kirk McLean's franchise record set in 1991-92, as Vancouver completed a five-game sweep of the Southeast Division this season. The Canucks also improved to 8-1-1 against the Eastern Conference this year - and 17-2-1 over the last two.

CAT CATCHERS

Atlanta is 6-0 against Florida this season after Tuesday's 4-2 win, and have won 10 straight over the Panthers at home. In 13 career games against Florida, Thrashers' goalie Kari Lehtonen is 11-1.

WINGING IT

Detroit is 6-0-3 in its last nine games and hasn't lost at home in regulation in 17 games after Tuesday night's 4-3 shootout win over Nashville. The Red Wings improved to an NHL-best 24-3-5 at home and a league-high 29-4-1 when they score first.

MILESTONE

Mathieu Schneider scored his 200th NHL goal in Detroit's 4-3 shootout win over Nashville on Tuesday night.

SNAPPED

Philadelphia beat New Jersey for the first time in six tries this season, 5-4 in overtime Tuesday night.

STRONG IN DEFEAT

Vincent Lecavalier scored his NHL-leading 43rd goal of the season but Tampa Bay lost to Vancouver 5-1 on Tuesday night.

SPEAKING

''To be honest with you, I don't think we deserved to win. We got what we deserved.'' - St. Louis coach Andy Murray after the Blues' 4-2 loss to Calgary on Tuesday night.

Rangers' Hossa out 3-to-4 weeks with knee injury
Tue, Mar 6, 2007
By Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Rangers forward Marcel Hossa could miss a month with a knee injury sustained in Monday night's 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders.

The 25-year-old left wing sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee with about 5 minutes left in the second period. He limped to the bench but came back on the ice with about 1 minute remaining in the frame. That was his final shift of the game.

An MRI taken Tuesday revealed the sprain that will sideline him for 3-to-4 weeks.

It was the latest blow to the Rangers, who have been hit by several recent injuries as they try to climb back into playoff position.

New York is already without Brendan Shanahan, who hasn't played since Feb. 17 when he collided with Philadelphia forward Mike Knuble and sustained a concussion. Shanahan is recovering but is still having bouts of vertigo as a result of the injury. He is still at least a week or two away from returning.

Defenseman Fedor Tyutin is also out for the next three or four weeks because of the same injury as Hossa. He was hurt Thursday against Pittsburgh.

Left wing Martin Straka returned against the Islanders after missing three games with a shoulder injury.

The Rangers recalled forward Brandon Dubinsky and defenseman David Liffiton from Hartford of the AHL on Tuesday.

Hossa was playing his best hockey of his five-season NHL career. He has 10 goals and eight assists in 64 games, but 13 of his points - including eight goals - have been scored in his last 15 contests. Since the All-Star break, Hossa has a team-high eight goals.