said Oilers coach Tom Renney

[ldh2013]

New York, NY (SportsNetwork. .com) - Alabama and Oregon remained the top teams in the latest Associated Press college football poll and Florida State gained on both after its resounding victory over Miami on Saturday, a decision that sent the Hurricanes out of the top 10. Alabama and Oregon were both idle this Saturday and lost first-place votes to the Seminoles, who pulled away from Miami with a 41-14 win in Tallahassee. The Crimson Tide received 52 first-place votes -- three fewer than last week -- and a total of 1,491 points from a nationwide media panel, while Oregon picked up two No. 1 votes -- down from three a week ago -- and 1,418 total points. Florida State earned six first-place votes, four more than last week, and sits just nine points behind Oregon. The Seminoles were 42 points back last week. Ohio State, which ran its winning streak to 21 straight with a 56-0 throttling of Purdue on Saturday, remained fourth, followed by Baylor, which was also idle this week. Stanford, Auburn, Clemson, Missouri and LSU comprise the remainder of the top 10. The last four in the group each moved up one spot after Miami tumbled all the way from seventh to 14th. The second 10 consists of Texas A&M, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Miami, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Fresno State, Michigan State, UCF and Louisville. Michigan State vaulted six spots from 24th after a 29-6 win over Michigan, while Oklahoma State moved up three spots from 18th after a 52-34 victory over Texas Tech. Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Arizona State, Notre Dame and Texas Tech are the last five teams ranked this week. Texas Tech dropped 10 spots from 15th after its second straight loss. Notre Dame is the lone newcomer, replacing Michigan, which was 23rd last week. The Fighting Irish are back in the poll after a four-week absence, having won four in a row since a Sept. 28 loss to Oklahoma. Three ranked matchups are on next weeks schedule, highlighted by a pair of huge Thursday night conference showdowns. Oklahoma and Baylor will square off in the Big 12 on Thursday, while Oregon visits Stanford in the Pac-12. Saturdays lone meeting of ranked teams pits LSU at Alabama. . The top-seeded Anaheim Ducks can clearly see they are in quite a fight now. Eakin scored on Dallas first shot of the third period, Alex Goligoski scored on the next one 1:22 later and the Stars beat the Ducks 4-2 in Game 4 on Wednesday night to even the best-of-seven series. .com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to continue their terrific start to the 2013-14 campaign when they welcome the streaking Minnesota Wild for Tuesdays clash at Air Canada Centre. .No terms were released but a raise was expected. The 27-year-old right back was a bargain at US$48,825 in 2014 and $46,500 in 2013.(Sports Network) - The Edmonton Oilers are in the midst of playing 10 of 12 games on the road and will close out a three-game swing tonight against the San Jose Sharks. It dropped the opener of the trek by a 3-0 score at Calgary, then was doubled up by Phoenix in a 4-2 setback on Thursday. Taylor Hall returned from injury to score a pair of goals and Devan Dubnyk made 38 saves for the Oilers, who have lost three in a row on the road and fell to 5-9-1 as the guest this season. "We were not near as engaged as 18 skaters as we needed to be," said Oilers coach Tom Renney. Renneys club has just five wins in the last 17 games (5-11-1) and will return home for two games after their tilt with the Sharks. Edmonton will then hit the road again for a seven-game trek from Dec. 26-Jan. 7. Edmonton and San Jose are playing the first of four meetings this season. The Sharks won three of four matchups with the Oilers a year ago and have prevailed in nine of the previous 11 encounters with Edmonton. The Oilers ended a four-game road losing streak in this series with aa 5-2 victory on Jan. . 13, 2010. The Sharks got their six-game homestand off to a promising start and will try for back-to-back wins for the first time in almost a month when they entertain Edmonton tonight at HP Pavilion. The Sharks ended a three-game slide with a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday in the back end of a home-and-home set. Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture scored in a 4:29 span of the third period, while Ryane Clowe and Michal Handzus also scored for San Jose, which won for the third time in 10 tries (3-5-2) and improved to 9-6-1 at home this season. "I think we decided it was our turn to come back. It is a big win for us," Couture said. Antti Niemi made 23 saves in a winning effort. The Sharks havent recorded two straight wins since a four-game run from Nov. 17-23 and are tied with Phoenix for second place in the Pacific Division. Dallas currently leads the division. San Jose will also welcome the Lightning, Kings, Ducks and Canucks to town on this current residency. ' ' '