Bruins try to solve visiting Hurricanes

Hockey Betting Lines

02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Try as they may, the Boston Bruins haven't been able to solve the Carolina Hurricanes this season. They'll get one more chance tonight as the two teams clash in Boston.

The Bruins and Hurricanes sit at opposite ends of the Eastern Conference. Boston leads the Northeast Division by six points over Ottawa and trails the New York Rangers by three points for the top seed in the conference.

Carolina, meanwhile, sits last out of the 15 teams in the East with just 45 points, but it has had Boston's number all season long. The Hurricanes bested the Bruins twice during Boston's slow start in October, then came away with a 4-2 home win on Jan. 14 that was just the Bruins' third in its past nine trips to Carolina.

Jay Harrison and Eric Staal scored 28 seconds apart late in regulation during the Hurricanes' three-goal third versus the Bruins, while Cam Ward came up with 33 saves.

Carolina will hope to feed off that momentum this evening as it faces Boston for the final time this regular season looking to avoid a fourth straight road loss. The Hurricanes had a three-game winning streak at home end on Tuesday with a 5-2 setback to the Islanders.

Brandon Sutter and Tim Brent erased a two-goal deficit with goals in the third period, but New York's John Tavares scored the game-winner at 7:36 of the frame before the Islanders added a pair of empty-net goals. Ward ended with 21 saves and it was his giveaway on a dump-in that led to Tavares' goal.

"We didn't get off to the start we wanted, but we were still in the game," Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller said. "We had a tough second period, but came out hard in the third."

Carolina will play five of its next seven games on the road and is just 5-13-6 as the guest this season, including 0-1-2 in its past three.

Boston won 21 of its next 24 after a 3-7-0 mark in October, but has begun to cool down a bit. The Bruins are 8-5-1 in their past 14 games since and have alternated wins and losses in their last nine games. However, they are coming off Tuesday's 4-3 win over the visiting Senators.

Boston found itself down 3-1 late in the second before Milan Lucic scored with 44.6 seconds left in the frame. Brad Marchand then scored to tie the game early in the third and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg netted the game-winner near the midway point with his third goal of the season and first since Dec. 28.

"No doubt that goal from Lucic late in the second period certainly made our task a lot easier in the third period," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien.

Zdeno Chara, fresh off serving as a captain in Sunday's All-Star Game, scored his first goal in 17 games, while Tim Thomas made 30 saves in the opener of a three-game homestand.

"It's always nice to get back on a winning note," Thomas said. "Hopefully the good feeling from the win will carry over."

Boston, which is 7-1-1 in its past nine at home, is eligible to have Andrew Ference back in the lineup this evening after he wrapped up a three-game suspension on Tuesday. The defenseman was given the ban for a hit versus the Rangers on Jan. 21.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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