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03/13/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets will try to set a franchise record for the most wins in a single season tonight, as they visit the Chicago Blackhawks in a battle of playoff contenders at the United Center.
The Blue Jackets halted Pittsburgh's seven-game winning streak with a 4-3 shootout win on Thursday night. Kristian Huselius, who scored in regulation, beat Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury with a wrister, while Evgeni Malkin fired wide left on his subsequent chance to give Columbus the win.
The triumph matched the franchise-record 35 victories Columbus posted in 2005-06 and the club is now just four points shy of the single-season record 80 it notched last season. The Blue Jackets, sixth in the Western Conference and one point back of fifth-seeded Vancouver, have never made the playoffs since entering the league prior to 2000-01.
Jason Williams and Antoine Vermette tallied a goal and an assist apiece for the Blue Jackets, who have won three consecutive contests. Steve Mason made 38 saves to pick up his 28th win on the year, breaking the franchise's single- season record set by Marc Denis in 2002-03.
Columbus, 13-17-4 on the road this year, returns home to host Detroit on Sunday before getting a visit from Chicago on Wednesday.
The Blackhawks, who sit fourth overall in the West with 83 points, won for just the third time in eight games on Wednesday with a 3-2 shootout win over Carolina. Kris Versteeg had the deciding shootout tally, converting a wrister just below the crossbar in the fourth round.
Sergei Samsonov represented the last hope for Carolina, but Cristobal Huet made the save to secure the win for Chicago, its first over the Hurricanes since 1999.
Troy Brouwer and Versteeg scored in regulation for Chicago, while Huet made 29 saves for his 19th win of the season.
Chicago activated goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin off injured reserve on Wednesday. He has been out since February 11 due to a groin injury and could return to the ice tonight.
However, Martin Havlat is questionable with a lower-body injury that forced him to miss Wednesday's game. Havlat is tied with Jonathan Toews for second on the club with 57 points off 21 goals and 36 assists.
Chicago has split the first two games of a four-game homestand and is 18-6-6 at the United Center this year. The Blackhawks end the residency on Sunday versus the New York Islanders.
The 'Hawks have won both of their meetings with the Blue Jackets this year, claiming one victory by way of the shootout. Chicago has won three straight and five of the last six meetings in the series, as well as three of the last four as the host.
<< Gove, Norris soar into New Zealand Open lead
Queenstown, New Zealand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Gove fired a nine-under 63
Friday to jump into a share of the lead after two rounds of the New Zealand
Open.
Gove was joined at 10-under-par 134 by Australian Jason Norris, who fired
<< Collison propels UCLA past Washington State
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darren Collison had 15 points, as 15th-
ranked UCLA topped Washington State, 64-53, in a quarterfinal matchup of the
Pac-10 Tournament.
Nikola Dragovic added 12 points and six rebounds for UCLA
<< LeBron's third straight triple-double lifts Cavs over Suns
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James notched a triple-double with 34
points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, while Mo Williams exploded for 30 points
in Cleveland's 119-111 victory over Phoenix.
James recorded a triple-double for
<< Syracuse tops UConn in 6-OT epic
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Devendorf's buzzer-beater in regulation
left his hands too late to count, but after five overtimes of hanging on,
18th-ranked Syracuse dominated the sixth extra session to beat No.3
Connect
Bobcats hope to improve playoff standing vs. Rockets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will hit the road Friday night for a
showdown with the Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena.
Houston had its three-game winning streak stopped with a 102-96 loss versus
the Los Angeles Lakers on
Playoff-bound Magic aim for season sweep of Wizards >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Southeast Division-leading Orlando Magic will take on
the Washington Wizards tonight from the Verizon Center.
Orlando, which is third in the East, has won five of its last six games and is
coming off Wednesday's 107-79
Celtics play host to Grizzlies in Beantown >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics haven't been up to their usual high
standards as of late, but the Memphis Grizzlies figure to provide a good
opportunity for the reigning world champions to get back on track.
The Celtics and Grizzlies s
Hawks resume long homestand vs. Pacers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks will try to remain perfect on their
current homestand when the Indiana Pacers pay a visit to Philips Arena this
evening.
Atlanta has posted victories in each the first three tests of the seven-game
resid
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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