Brassard's OT winner lifts Columbus over Anaheim

Hockey Betting Lines

02/04/2012 - Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derick Brassard scored two goals, including the game-winner at 3:55 of the overtime period, leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.

Brassard poked the puck out to the neutral zone and raced up the left wing on a 2-on-1 with Rick Nash. Brassard looked off the defenders and wired a slap shot past Jonas Hiller from just inside the left circle to wrap up the victory for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a six-game losing streak.

"We found a way, I'm pretty excited right now," Brassard said. "In practice I try to go short side. I trusted my shot it, went high on the glove side and it worked."

Jeff Carter also scored for Columbus, which got 33 saves from Curtis Sanford in the victory.

Teemu Selanne scored both goals and Jonas Hiller stopped 18-of-21 shots in defeat for the Ducks, who have lost three of their last four games.

The Ducks opened the scoring just 1:46 into the game. Ducks defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky ripped a slap shot from the right point that Sanford knocked down with his blocker, but the rebound came right to Selanne, who put it home.

Columbus drew even at 14:47 of the second period when John Moore ripped a shot from the point that was stopped by Hiller, but he left a huge rebound and Brassard slammed it home.

Anaheim came right back to take the lead with a power-play tally at 16:52 of the second stanza when Corey Perry outworked his checker in the right corner, spun and found Selanne, who one-timed the puck past the stick side of Sanford for his second goal of the game.

But the Blue Jackets answered with a power-play goal of their own 2:05 into the third period when Vinny Prospal threw a shot on net from the left point that made its way to Antoine Vermette in front. Vermette shifted the puck to his backhand and slid it through the legs of Ducks' defenseman Francois Beauchemin to Carter, who chipped it into an open net to tie the game at two.

"We were ready but a couple of mistakes cost us," Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. "We didn't play to our capability tonight. A loss is a loss. We got one point but we needed two."

Game Notes

The Ducks are 2-9-2 against the Central Division this season, while the Blue Jackets are 5-8-0 against Pacific Division opposition...Blue Jackets defenseman Brett Lebda left the game in the first period with a hand injury...It was Brassard's first career multi-goal game...Selanne now has 655 career goals and is one behind Brendan Shanahan for 12th place on the NHL's all-time goals list...Columbus finished 1-for-4 with the power play, while Anaheim converted one of five power play chances.

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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.