Canucks could be without Sedin against Wild

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02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks keep finding ways to win close games, but tonight they may have to find a way to do so without former Hart Trophy winner Henrik Sedin.

The Minnesota Wild are hoping the possible return of their captain can keep them in the postseason hunt.

The Wild may have Mikko Koivu back in the lineup this evening against a Canucks squad that could be minus one half of its high-scoring twin duo after Sedin was forced to miss practice on Wednesday.

Sedin, the league leader with 46 assists to go along with a 57-point total that ranks among the best in the NHL, suffered a right ankle injury blocking a shot in Tuesday's 4-3 shootout win over Nashville. Though Sedin returned to the game and had a pair of assists, his team-record string of 552 consecutive games played is in doubt for tonight.

"We're still waiting on results from a CT scan" said Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault on Wednesday. "They did an x-ray and couldn't tell from the x- ray. He was obviously in a lot of pain."

A potential loss of Sedin could be big for the Northwest Division-leading Canucks. Though they have a comfortable 13-point lead over the second-place Wild in the division, they trail the Red Wings by three points for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Vancouver is 5-0-2 in its past seven games and has just two regulation losses in its past 14 trips to the ice (9-2-3). Still, those spans have come with anxious moments as the Canucks have gone to a shootout in three straight games, including the first two of a four-game road trip, and all told each of their past five games and eight of 10 have gone beyond regulation.

Tuesday was the latest instance as goals by Ryan Kesler, Byron Bitz and Daniel Sedin staked the Canucks to a 3-1 lead after the first period versus the Predators, but Nashville scored twice in the second off Roberto Luongo to even things up. Alexander Edler then won it for Vancouver in the sixth round of the shootout.

"It's a tight league. Not a lot of separation, and we're going to be involved in a lot of tight games," Luongo said after making 37 saves.

The Wild open a four-game homestand following Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Blue Jackets. Minnesota was hoping that Koivu could return for that tilt, but he missed his eighth straight game due to a shoulder injury. However, he had a good practice on Wednesday according to head coach Mike Yeo and said the team would see how he is today before making a decision on his return.

"I had a good skate and felt better again. I guess each and everyday it's getting better, so that's a good sign," Koivu said after practice, adding it's up to Yeo if he plays tonight.

The Wild could certainly use Koivu as they have lost three of four and 18 of their last 23 (5-13-5) since a seven-game win streak from Nov. 28-Dec. 10. Nate Prosser scored his first career goal in Tuesday's loss to the Blue Jackets, while Niklas Backstrom allowed three goals on 37 shots.

"It was back-and-forth. We had a couple chances, but I don't think we deserved to win the game," Yeo said.

Minnesota enters play tonight tied for eighth in the West with Phoenix, one more than both Colorado and Calgary.

The Canucks have won six of seven and eight of their past 11 encounters with the Wild, but have lost five of their past six in Minnesota.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

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The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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