Tim Bennett at the goal line, almost placing the

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The Vancouver Canucks try to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in Mondays interconference battle at Rogers Arena. . Vancouver earned its fourth consecutive win in Sundays home triumph against Colorado. Its the second four-game winning streak of the season for the Canucks, who also went 4-0 from Oct. 22-28. The Canucks last won five in a row during a six-game tear from March 19-28 of last season. Mike Santorelli led the way in Sundays 3-1 victory against the visiting Avalanche, recording two goals and an assist to help Vancouver improve to 2-0 on its current five-game homestand. The Canucks are 7-5-3 on home ice this season. Vancouver led 1-0 after the first period and expanded its cushion to 3-0 after scoring twice in the early stages of the third. Ryan Kesler posted his team-leading 15th goal of the season just 1:32 into the final period and Santorelli made it 3-0 at the 7:17 mark. Santorelli has eight goals in 32 games this season after posting a total of 11 markers over 94 contests during the previous two campaigns. "If you want to be successful in this league, youve got to be able to hold onto leads, and tonight we did it the right way," Santorelli said. "We wanted to come out strong and not look at the time, and thats what we did." Roberto Luongo stopped 28-of-29 shots to improve to 14-8-5 this season. Backup Eddie Lack could give Luongo a rest tonight with the Canucks playing on back- to-back days. While Vancouver takes aim at a fifth straight victory tonight, the Hurricanes will try to extend their season-best winning streak to four games. Carolina has notched three straight positive decisions against Washington, Nashville and Carolina, giving the Canes five victories over their past seven games. After earning a 5-2 road win Thursday against the Predators, the Hurricanes returned home to beat the San Jose Sharks by a 5-3 count on Friday. Rookie Elias Lindholm capped a three-point night by scoring the go-ahead goal with six minutes remaining in the third period to help Carolina down the Sharks. Lindholm, the fifth overall pick of last summers draft, had gone five straight games without a point before posting a goal and two assists on Friday. The outburst doubled his career point total, giving the 19-year-old Swede six points on three goals and three assists in 18 games. Jordan Staal, Riley Nash and Jay Harrison each had a goal and an assist, while Eric Staal scored the other goal for the Hurricanes. Cam Ward made 22 stops for Carolina in the win. "The nice thing the guys are learning if they just stay the course and play the game the right way, youre going to get certain results consistently," Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. Carolina will try to stay hot on the road, as the club is beginning a four- game swing on Monday. The Canes, who also are set to visit Edmonton, Calgary and Phoenix during this trip, are 6-6-1 on the road this season. The Hurricanes have not fared well in Vancouver in recent years, losing five straight at Rogers Arena. Carolina hasnt won in British Columbia since it recorded a 4-1 decision over the Canucks on Oct. 15, 1999. Vancouver has won two of three and three of the last five overall encounters in this series. . Speaking on TSN Radio 1050s TSN Drive with Dave Naylor on Monday, Colangelo said he had no intention of tanking the shortened 2011-12 season, but definitely wanted a high pick in the draft. "I wish that word wasnt used for headline reasons," said Colangelo, "but the story behind it was: how can we fix the system? How can we tweak the system to make it less likely that teams are rewarded for losing records? "I do believe that if youre as transparent as we were at the time - with our season seat holders, our fans, the market place and the media - everybody knew what the plan was and what we were going through. . The game had many controversial incidents that, upon closer inspection, were not as controversial as many believed. The Formations Toronto FC lined up in its usual 4-4-2 formation, with Nick Hagglund slotting in at right fullback and Bradley Orr at centreback in place of the injured Mark Bloom and Steven Caldwell, respectively. . - Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors will coach the Western Conference in the All-Star Game on Feb.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State had just stayed unbeaten with a record-setting victory that also clinched a spot in the Big Ten title game, and Urban Meyer was already thinking about next weeks grudge match at Michigan. "Its time to get ready for the rivalry game," Meyer said. Braxton Miller ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns and passed for two more Saturday to lead the fourth-ranked Buckeyes to a snowy 42-14 victory over Indiana, extending their school-record win streak to 23 in a row. The victory, played at times in swirling clouds of snow, put the Buckeyes (11-0, 7-0) in the conference championship game on Dec. 7 against Michigan State. Carlos Hyde became the first running back to go over 1,000 yards rushing in Meyers 12 years as a head coach. He ran for 117 yards and two scores. Ohio States defence throttled the Hoosiers (4-7, 2-5), who came in averaging 39 points a game. Flurries fell throughout with temperatures in the 20s. Half of the crowd of 104,990 had left by the time Ohio State built a 28-0 halftime lead. In the waning moments, the remaining fans loudly sang, "We dont give a damn for the whole state of Michigan." The Buckeyes close out the regular season at The Big House next Saturday against their archrivals. Miller completed 11 of 17 passes for 160 yards with one interception, hitting Dontre Wilson and Devin Smith on scoring passes of 24 and 39 yards, respectively, in the second half. Miller was still in the game early in the fourth quarter, and his long pass to Smith made it 42-0 as the Buckeyes tried to grab the attention of BCS poll voters with a landslide margin. It was one rough day for the Hoosiers. Kicker Mitch Ewald came in a perfect 8 for 8 on field goals, but his 42-yard attempt in the second quarter clanked off the right upright and a 36-yard try in the third quarter did the same thing off the left upright. The Hoosiers points came on Nate Sudfelds 4-yard pass to Shane Wynn and 25-yard pass to DAngelo Roberts in the final 6 minutes. Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier was credited with 20 tackles, including five for negative yardage. After scoring at least 28 points in 10 consecutive games, the Hoosiers have managed just 17 points in consecutive losses to Wisconsin (51-3) and the Buckeyes. Sudfeld completed 25 of 41 passes for 224 yards, and Tre Roberson was 7 for 12 for 96 yardds. . Roberson also ran for 79 yards on 12 carries. Ohio State has won the last 19 meetings with Indiana on the field (the 2010 victory was later vacated as part of NCAA sanctions), dating to a 27-27 tie in 1990. The Buckeyes snapped a tie for the school record with the 1967-69 Ohio State teams, which also won 22 in a row. That streak ended with a painful loss at Michigan -- a defeat that touched off the famous "Ten-Year War" between Woody Hayes and his former assistant and nemesis, Bo Schembechler. Meyer will undoubtedly remind his charges of that defeat in the coming days. The Buckeyes inflicted enough damage in the first half to take care of the Hoosiers. They took the opening kickoff and needed just five plays to cover 71 yards in just over 2 minutes. On the third snap from centre, Miller found a gaping hole on a quarterback draw and picked up 41 yards. Hyde then sidestepped a tackler at the line of scrimmage and thundered into the end zone on a 16-yard run. It was 14-0 soon after Indiana punted. Miller scampered through another huge hole and then vaulted into the end zone at the right post on a 37-yard score. Indiana drove into Ohio State territory three times in the first half but couldnt register a point. The Hoosiers had to punt on fourth and 9 just inside midfield, gave up the ball on four incompletions from the 25 and then drove inside the 30 but Sudfeld was sacked by Michael Bennett on fourth and 6. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes tacked on two more scores -- by the same two players who scored earlier. The third TD of the game was set up by Bradley Robys blocked punt that Ron Tanner recovered at the Hoosiers 8. Two plays later, Guiton took the snap and then flipped the ball to Miller on a reverse. He angled for the right corner and was upended by cornerback Tim Bennett at the goal line, almost placing the balls nose into the end zone as he came crashing down on his head. Late in the half, the Buckeyes utilized their hurry-up offence to cover 69 yards in four plays. Hyde rumbled for 13 yards, Miller faked a handoff and raced 17 yards and then Miller hit tight end Jeff Heuerman over the middle for 34 yards. Hyde was barely distracted when he carried the last 5 yards to make it 28-0. During pregame ceremonies, 19 Ohio State seniors were introduced before playing their final home game. ' ' '

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