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03/14/2010 - St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikko Koivu netted a goal and two assists, and the Minnesota Wild notched a 4-2 win over the streaking St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center.
Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen both had a goal and an assist for the Wild, while Guillaume Latendresse tallied for the 25th time, extending a career-best.
Josh Harding, playing again in place of the injured Niklas Backstrom (groin), made 35 stops in Minnesota's second straight win following a four-game skid.
"We have to win the games coming up," Harding said. "We were ready to play, and we got a big win. (The Blues are) a great hockey club -- you got to give them all the credit in the world. Fortunately, we came out on top (Sunday)."
Paul Kariya and Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues, who had won seven of their last eight to move within striking distance of a playoff berth. St. Louis stands five points behind idle Detroit for the eighth and final spot in the West.
"We're not gaining ground, everyone around us is winning," said Blues forward Keith Tkachuk. "This really hurts, no question about it. Some of the teams won today too, so it's frustrating. We have to go on a serious run to get into the playoffs."
Chris Mason stopped only 4-of-7 shots in the first period before Ty Conklin finished the game with 12 saves.
The Wild got started quickly, getting on the board at the 1:54 mark of the first period. Koivu won a faceoff in the offensive zone, and the puck drifted back to Cam Barker. Barker fired a one-timer, which Brunette redirected past Mason for the goal.
St. Louis was unable to solve Harding in the early-going, and Koivu extended Minnesota's advantage with a power play tally at the 13:12 mark of the opening frame.
Then, with 1:10 left on the clock, Latendresse completed the dominating period with his 25th goal of the year for a 3-0 Wild lead after 20 minutes.
Koivu helped turn the game into a rout with a nifty behind-the-back pass to Miettinen, who was in position to easily flick the puck into the net with 5:12 remaining in the second.
Berglund's unassisted tally on a power play with 2:51 left in the second got the Blues to within three entering the third, and Kariya made it a two-goal game with his 15th at the 6:08 mark of the final period.
Harding, though, was able to stop the remaining 12 shots in the final 20 minutes, as the Wild skated off with the victory.
Game Notes
Backstrom has missed three consecutive games...Minnesota is six points behind Detroit for the eighth spot in the conference...The Wild improved to 22-9-3 at home, while St. Louis fell to 20-11-4 on the road...The season series is tied 2-2...Martin Havlat had a pair of assists for Minnesota...St. Louis finished up a six-game road trip at 4-2-0.
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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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