Boston hosts Philly in matinee affair

Hockey Betting Lines

10/27/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tonight, most of the eyes in Boston will be glued to the World Series. But if the locals need to kill time until then, they can check out the Bruins hosting the Philadelphia Flyers this afternoon at TD Banknorth Garden.

With the beloved Red Sox out west battling the Colorado Rockies in Game 3 of the Fall Classic and the 7-0 Patriots prepping for the Redskins, the Bruins have the town to themselves for the early portion of the day. While few may have noticed, the Bruins are 3-0 at home so far this season.

Boston continues a brief three-game homestand versus the Flyers, and began the residency with a 3-1 over Chicago on Thursday. Phil Kessel scored a pair of goals in the second period to guide the Bruins, who wrap up the stand Thursday against Buffalo.

Kessel's initial goal was the first of the game, and after the Blackhawks tied it, his wrister past Nikolai Khabibulin later in the second period put Boston up for good and gave him a team-high five goals on the season.

Tim Thomas made 26 saves while Glen Metropolit also scored for the Bruins, who have five wins in their last six games.

Boston also got a lift from defenseman Zdeno Chara, who posted a decisive win over David Koci in a first-period fight that left the Chicago forward with a broken nose.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, is still in search of its first victory on a current season-long eight-game road trip. The club lost the opener against Florida on Wednesday, and then fell to Tampa Bay the following night.

Brad Richards notched two goals and an assist to lead the Lightning past the Flyers, 5-2. Jeff Carter and Mike Knuble scored for the Flyers, who are 2-3 as the visitor this season.

For Carter, the goal was his team leading sixth of the season.

Antero Niittymaki started his first game of the season between the pipes for Philadelphia and surrendered four goals on 25 shots. It is most likely that netminder Martin Biron, who is 6-2 with a 1.88 goals-against average in eight starts this season, will be in net tonight.

The Flyers played without forward Simon Gagne (dizziness) and defenseman Derian Hatcher (knee) against Tampa Bay. Hatcher is probable for tonight, while Gage is questionable.

With Hatcher out, defender Rory Fitzpatrick made his season debut with Philadelphia.

The Flyers and Bruins split four matchups last season, with Philadelphia winning the final two meetings of the series. The Black and Orange have also won three of their last four trips to Boston.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.