Sharks score six times in third to beat Nashville

Hockey Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Pavelski registered two goals and two assists in the third period, as the San Jose Sharks scored six times over the final 20 minutes to rally past the Nashville Predators, 8-5, at HP Pavilion.

Dany Heatley added two goals and a helper, while Manny Malhotra finished with a goal and two assists for the Sharks, who have won three straight on their five-game homestand that ends Saturday against Florida.

San Jose's Patrick Marleau reached the 40-goal plateau for the first time in his career, and Joe Thornton also tallied as the Sharks moved two points ahead of Chicago in the race for the Western Conference's top seed.

Evgeni Nabokov made 40 saves to pick up the win, his 37th of the season, which matches Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick for the league lead.

Patric Hornqvist and J.P. Dumont each had two goals for Nashville, which has lost three of four but is still clinging to seventh place in the West standings.

Starting goaltender Dan Ellis was victimized for six goals on 23 shots before he was relieved by Pekka Rinne late in the third. Rinne faced only two shots and yielded the goal to Marleau.

Down 4-2 after two periods, San Jose pumped in three unanswered goals.

Heatley and Malhotra scored 1:36 apart to tie the game at 5:16, then Pavelski capitalized on a turnover deep in the Nashville zone six minutes later to put the Sharks on top. The U.S. Olympian walked out of the far corner and fired a shot past the glove of Ellis.

Dumont redirected Kevin Klein's one-timer from the point for a 5-5 stalemate at 13:26. However, Pavelski spun around and slid a backhander along the ice and through the pads of Ellis 1:14 later to restore the lead.

Marleau provided some breathing room with 2:26 remaining. Jay Leach's first NHL goal -- an empty-netter -- sealed the come-from-behind win for San Jose.

Hornqvist and Heatley traded goals in the first period before the former lit the lamp again at the 4:29 mark of the middle frame for a 2-1 Nashville lead.

Thornton swooped in and stashed a rebound on the power play less than two minutes later, but Dumont produced another goal on a deflection with the man advantage, altering the path of a Cody Franson offering through heavy traffic, to put the visitors back on top at 11:31.

A distinct kicking motion negated a tally for Nashville's Dustin Boyd with 5:56 to play, but rookie Colin Wilson made it 4-2 on a redirection moments after the officials' ruling.

Game Notes

San Jose won three of the four games in the season series...The Sharks improved to 22-6-7 at home...Dumont's second goal was the 500th point of his career...Nashville defenseman Shea Weber returned to the lineup after missing two games with an upper-body injury.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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