Mueller continues hot streak for Avs in win over Blues

Hockey Betting Lines

03/16/2010 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peter Mueller continued his hot play for his new team, tallying two goals and an assist to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Mueller has tallied at least a point in each of his seven games with the Avs after being acquired from Phoenix and eight straight overall as Colorado swept the four-game season series with St. Louis. Paul Stastny also has an eight-game point streak after he had a goal and two assists, and Chris Stewart added a goal and an assist in the win.

Milan Hejduk contributed with a goal, while Peter Budaj made 36 saves in Colorado's third straight win.

Alexander Steen, Patrik Berglund and David Perron scored for the Blues, who have lost two straight and were coming off a 4-2-0 road trip. Erik Johnson registered two assists, and Chris Mason stopped only 21-of-26 shots in defeat.

Steen scored just eight seconds into the game, tying a St. Louis franchise record. Barret Jackson raced down the left side of the ice and flicked the puck toward the net. Steen was there to slam home the rebound.

Mueller was able to equalize the game with a power play goal at the 14:19 mark, and Hejduk gave Colorado its first lead with his 19th goal of the season three minutes later.

The Blues struck quickly in the second period, as well, as Berglund took a feed out in front and sent it into an open net for a power play tally 34 seconds into the frame.

Like St. Louis' first goal, the Avs responded with two. Stastny put the visitors ahead with a wrister at the 7:14 mark, and Mueller scored again 89 seconds later for a 4-2 advantage.

Perron brought the Blues to within 4-3 with 8:54 remaining in the middle frame, but scoring cooled down from there. Budaj made a total of 14 saves in the second period, then stopped all 14 in the third to preserve the victory.

Stewart's snap shot after a nifty backhand-to-forehand move with 2:46 left in the third extended the Colorado lead to two and essentially sealed the win.

Game Notes

The Blues, who are 20-11-4 on the road, are just 12-17-5 at home...Colorado is 18-13-4 on the road...The Avs were without Cody McLeod and Stephane Yelle, both of whom sat out with leg injuries...The Blues sit seven points behind Detroit for the final playoff spot in the West...Mason has given up 18 goals in four games against Colorado this season.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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