Bruins hope to get on track versus Capitals

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02/05/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins hope to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season this afternoon as they visit a Washington Capitals club that has its eyes set on first place in the Southeast Division.

The Bruins haven't been very impressive in February's early goings, getting blanked 3-0 by the Hurricanes on Thursday before suffering a 2-1 setback to the Penguins yesterday. It marks the first time since Dec. 6-8 that the Northeast Division leaders have lost consecutive games.

Joe Corvo scored and Tim Thomas made 26 saves for Boston, which has lost three of four and owns a five-point edge over Ottawa in the division. The Bruins are also three back of the New York Rangers for the most in the Eastern Conference, but will look to avoid dropping three in a row for the first time since Oct. 22-29.

"You got to start building on the positive and I thought tonight our effort was better and our focus was better," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. "There was a couple of areas, again, that we need to continue to improve on but if our guys go out [Sunday] and give that same effort we're going to turn this around."

Boston will play two straight and eight of its next 10 on the road and remains without Nathan Horton, who has sat out four straight due to a mild concussion.

The Capitals return home to begin a three-game residency after snapping a four-game skid on the road with Saturday's 3-0 triumph in Montreal. Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves for his third shutout of the season and 47th of his career.

Vokoun blanked the Canadiens for the first time in his career and played the majority of the game with just a one-goal lead before Matt Hendricks and Alexander Semin found the back of the net in the third to create some breathing room.

Defenseman Dennis Wideman, who scored in the first, praised his goaltender for preserving the slim edge.

"[The Canadiens] took the game in the second (period), but (Vokoun) made some great saves and kept it 1-0," the Washington defenseman said. Montreal outshot the Capitals 10-3 during the middle stanza.

Washington, which had dropped four of five overall coming in, welcomed Alex Ovechkin back to the lineup as it pulled to within one point of idle Florida for the top spot in the Southeast Division. Ovechkin had been suspended for three games for an illegal hit on Pittsburgh's Zbynek Michalek on Jan. 22 and logged a shot and three hits in just under 20 minutes of ice time.

The Caps moved to 9-14-3 on the road this year and now return home, where they are 18-6-1 on the season and have won eight of nine.

The Bruins took three of four from the Capitals a season ago, but Washington drew first blood in this year's four-game series with a 5-3 home win on Jan. 24 that featured the first hat trick of Mathieu Perreault's career.

Boston has lost two straight and seven of its past nine in Washington.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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