12/02/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off yet another milestone, Mike Modano will try to lead the Dallas Stars to consecutive wins for the first time this season, as they visit the Calgary Flames tonight at Pengrowth Saddledome.
Dallas has yet to put together a winning streak this year, one of the main reasons it finds itself last in the Pacific Division with 20 points. The Stars had lost four of five before Sunday's 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Modano notched the game-winning goal late in regulation and coupled with his earlier assist, became the 31st player in NHL history to reach the 1,300-point plateau. He is already the highest-scoring American-born player in league history after passing Phil Housley on the list last season.
Brad Richards finished with two assists, including one on Modano's tally, to give him a goal and five assists over his last four games. Loui Eriksson also had a helper to stretch his points streak to five games (3 goals, 4 assists).
Sean Avery, Toby Petersen and Mike Ribeiro also scored for Dallas, which begins a two-game road trip tonight and is 5-7-1 as the visiting team this year. Marty Turco made 25 saves to get the win.
The Stars have earned a point in 17 of their last 21 games versus the Flames, going 12-4-2 with three ties in that span. Dallas and Calgary split the four- game season series a year ago, with both of the Stars' wins coming at the Saddledome.
Modano has 24 goals, 36 assists and 60 points in his career versus the Flames, while Turco is 12-6-1 with a pair of ties and a 1.84 goals against average against them.
The Flames are on a roll as of late though. They have won five of their last six and are coming off a home-and-home sweep of first-place Vancouver that has moved them to within a point of the Canucks in the Northwest Division.
After a 4-3 win in Vancouver on Thursday, Calgary posted a 3-1 home win against the Canucks to complete the set. David Moss and Matthew Lombardi both scored third-period goals in the win, also Calgary's third in a row.
Daymond Langkow netted the other goal, while Miikka Kiprusoff earned the win by stopping 17-of-18 shots. Dion Phaneuf notched an assist in his third straight game, and Jarome Iginla also had a helper to run his points streak to six games (2g, 6a).
After allowing four power-play goals in a loss to San Jose on November 13, Calgary hasn't allowed a marker while short-handed in six straight games, going 15-for-15 on the penalty kill over that timeframe.
Dallas, meanwhile, is just 2-for-26 on the power play over its last five games.
The Flames have won five of their last six at home and are 9-3-1 at Pengrowth Saddledome this year. They begin a four-game road trip on Friday in St. Louis.
Kiprusoff is 4-8-2 with a 2.49 GAA in his career versus Dallas.
<< Lightning recall Szczechura, Smolenak
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled center Paul
Szczechura and left wing Radek Smolenak from Norfolk of the American Hockey
League.
Szczechura, 23, leads Norfolk in scoring this season, racking up 11 goals
<< Mavs host Clippers in Dallas
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The streaking Dallas Mavericks kick off a seven-game
homestand Tuesday when they welcome the woeful Los Angeles Clippers to
American Airlines Center.
The Mavs won for the sixth time in seven games Satu
<< 76ers wrap up home-and-home set in Chicago
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The scuffling Philadelphia 76ers will try and right the
ship in the back end of a home-and-home set with the Chicago Bulls in the
Windy City on Tuesday.
Rookie star Derrick Rose scored 18 points, dished out a care
<< Nuggets welcome Raptors to Pepsi Center
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Northwest Division-leading Denver Nuggets continue a
three-game homestand Tuesday when they welcome the Toronto Raptors into the
Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets, who are tied with Portland atop the Northwest, won the
Lightning aim to turn the page versus Flyers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to put a tumultuous month
of November behind them when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at the
Wachovia Center in the first December outing for both clubs.
The Lightning went just
Wilson returns to San Jose as Leafs visit Sharks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto head coach Ron Wilson makes his return to San Jose
tonight, as the Maple Leafs visit the Sharks at HP Pavilion.
Wilson took over as head coach of San Jose during the 2002-03 season and then
helped engineer a quick
Ovechkin, Caps try to find offense versus Panthers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will try to
rebound from a rare shutout when they welcome the Florida Panthers for
tonight's Southeast Division matchup at Verizon Center.
The Capitals, who are averaging a solid 3
United's Ronaldo named Europe's best >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned European
Footballer of the Year on Tuesday after winning the 2008 Ballon d'Or.
The 23-year-old Portugal winger won the prestigious accolade after leading
Manchester
Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook
Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds. The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.
Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.
Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).
Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.
World Series odds
Adam Dunn 15-1
Albert Pujols 5-1
Alex Rodriguez 12-1
Alfonso Soriano 15-1
Andruw Jones 25-1
Barry Bonds 50-1
Carlos Delgado 40-1
David Ortiz 8-1
Jermaine Dye 40-1
Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1
Lance Berkman 40-1
Manny Ramirez 20-1
Richie Sexson 40-1
Ryan Howard 6-1
Travis Hafner 20-1
Vladimir Guerrero 40-1
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting