Flames battle Stars in Big D

Hockey Betting Lines

02/16/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Flames have been racking up points so far in February and their latest convincing victory has them within a point of a playoff spot.

Calgary puts a six-game point streak on the line this evening against the Dallas Stars.

The Flames are 4-0-2 this month and now sit second in the Northwest Division with 62 points. That still has them 16 points out of first place but only one back of eighth place Phoenix in the Western Conference standings.

Calgary rode a 41-save effort by Miikka Kiprusoff to a 5-1 win over visiting Toronto on Tuesday. The Flames goaltender notched the 302nd win of his career and is 9-3-2 in his past 14 starts.

"When you're in a dogfight like this and you're scratching and clawing for every point, it's nice to have Kipper," Flames head coach Brent Sutter said of his goaltender.

Calgary's top line of Olli Jokinen, Alex Tanguay and captain Jarome Iginla combined for seven points, with Tanguay leading the way with a goal and two assists. Jokinen scored and assisted on another to give him 13 points in his last 10 games, while Paul Byron scored on a penalty shot.

The Stars would love to swap places with the Flames. Dallas has lost three straight and 10 of its past 14 and sits three points behind Calgary in the standings.

The Stars became the latest victim of the Red Wings' record-breaking home win streak as they dropped a 3-1 decision in Detroit on Tuesday. It marked the 21st win in a row at home by the Red Wings, breaking the mark set by the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and later matched by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975-76.

Dallas was nearly shut out on the milestone night before Adam Burish scored with 32.8 seconds left. Kari Lehtonen made 34 saves.

"Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other guys and tonight I'm tipping my cap to Detroit," said Burish, who ended a 10-game point drought. "They're pretty darn good, but I would have liked to be the team to snap it."

The Stars and Flames are meeting for the first time this season after Calgary swept the four-game set last year. The Flames won both of their trips to Dallas in a shootout.

These clubs will play each other three more times next month, including a home-and-home set on March 24 and 26.

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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.