Caps lose Ovechkin but beat Blackhawks with furious four-goal rally

Hockey Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicklas Backstrom scored twice, including the winning goal at 3:10 of overtime, as the Washington Capitals rallied to beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-3, at United Center.

Backstrom, Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr scored 2:16 apart in the third period to erase a 3-0 deficit. Jose Theodore made 20 saves for the Capitals, who have already secured their third consecutive Southeast Division title and lead the NHL with 101 points.

Washington mustered the comeback without captain Alex Ovechkin. He missed the majority of the contest after receiving a major and a game misconduct for shoving Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell, who crashed violently into the end boards from behind at the 12:16 mark of the first period. Campbell's right shoulder appeared to absorb most of the collision. He did not return to the game.

Jonathan Toews had a pair of goals for Chicago, which was coming off a tough 3-2 loss in Philadelphia on Saturday. The Blackhawks surrendered two goals in the final 2:04 against the Flyers, including Chris Pronger's game-winner with 2.1 seconds left.

Antti Niemi stopped 26 shots to take the loss.

Washington got on the board when Laich converted a Mike Green rebound for a power-play goal at 5:29 of the final period.

David Steckel won a race to negate an icing and quickly centered the puck to Fehr, who tied the game at 7:45, just 13 seconds after Backstrom cashed in a friendly carom off the lively end boards.

The Swede struck again in overtime, pushing the puck down the left side on an odd-man rush and slipping a shot through the pads of Niemi after dangling the puck around a defenseman.

Chicago took advantage of a breakdown in coverage to open the scoring at the seven-minute mark of the first period.

Following a faceoff win by Toews in the Washington zone, Patrick Kane, who saw a nine-game point streak end in the loss to Philadelphia, moved the puck over to defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson at the left point. Hjalmarsson then fed an uncovered Toews for a successful one-timer below the right circle.

Ovechkin's day ended prematurely several minutes later.

The chief scoring chance during the extended power play belonged to Alexander Semin. The Washington sniper had a breakaway in the final minute, but Niemi made a left pad save.

Unfortunately, for Semin, his momentum carried him into the rookie Finn, which resulted in a goaltender interference penalty and a brief two-man advantage for the Blackhawks.

Toews' 5-on-3 tally gave Chicago a two-goal lead with 3:06 to play in the opening frame. A redirection from the high slot by John Madden made it 3-0 at 6:54 of the second period.

Game Notes

Theodore improved to 14-0-2 in his last 16 decisions...Washington had lost three of four on the road...Capitals forward Boyd Gordon appeared in his 300th career game...Right winger Marian Hossa and defenseman Kim Johnsson were out of the lineup with upper-body injuries for Chicago...The Capitals reached the 100-point plateau in Game 69, setting a new franchise record first established in 1985-86 when the Caps reached the mark in Game 74 that season.

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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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