Norrena, Blue Jackets blank Sharks

Hockey Betting Lines

02/17/2007 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Fredrik Norrena blocked all 29 shots faced for his third shutout, as the Columbus Blue Jackets blanked the San Jose Sharks, 3-0, at Nationwide Arena.

Fredrik Modin, Gilbert Brule and Sergei Fedorov each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who improved to 2-3-0 on their current six-game homestand, their longest in franchise history. It ends Sunday night versus Montreal.

Nikolai Zherdev and David Vyborny both notched an assist.

Evgeni Nabokov stopped 16 shots for San Jose, which has been blanked in its last two contests. The Sharks won the first two games of a season-long eight- game road trip -- including a big victory in Anaheim on February 7 -- but was also blanked by Nashville, 5-0, on Wednesday.

"We've taken a lot of steps, but the biggest step is the one we haven't taken yet and that is the step of consistency," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "It comes from inside the locker room, individually and then collectively is greater than anything."

San Jose, which is 18-10-0 on the road this year, will continue its swing on Sunday with a divisional clash in Dallas and will also visit Washington, Chicago and Calgary.

"We tried," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "We had opportunities. Their goalie, he made saves."

After a scoreless first period, Columbus drew first blood with 15:04 left in the second.

Modin took a feed from Brule in the right circle and skated around the goal. He backhanded a shot from just in front of the left post that deflected off Nabokov's arm, and tipped in the rebound over the netminder's right shoulder.

The Blue Jackets padded their lead when, on a 2-on-1 break, Fedorov dropped a pass to Brule, who fired a snap shot top shelf 6:02 into the third.

Columbus then blew the game open on its third unanswered goal, as Fedorov bounced the puck off the netminder's pads and then wristed it home on the second effort 12:05 into the third.

Columbus finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while San Jose was 0-for-4 on the man-advantage.

Game Notes

The Sharks posted victories in the two previous meetings this season between the clubs, and outscored Columbus 8-2 in those two games...Despite this loss, San Jose has won six of the last nine overall in the series and has split the last six in Columbus.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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