03/20/2008 - Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Spezza's second period goal gave Ottawa a lead it would never relinquish as the Senators edged the struggling St. Louis Blues, 3-2, at Scotiabank Place.
Antoine Vermette and Christoph Schubert also scored for the Senators, who have won four of five. Dany Heatley added his 40th assist of the season, while Martin Gerber stopped 24 shots to earn the win.
The victory allowed Ottawa to remain three points behind the Northeast Division-leading Canadiens, who won in Boston on Thursday. Ottawa also pulled two points ahead of the idle Rangers for sole possession of the fifth slot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Jamal Mayers and Jeff Woywitka each tallied for the Blues, who fell to 1-6-1 on their franchise-record nine-game road trip that ends Sunday in Chicago. Hannu Toivonen allowed three goals on 24 shots to absorb the loss.
Tied after the first period, Ottawa gained a 3-2 edge 7:39 into the second, when Heatley fired a rising shot from the left circle that Spezza deflected over Toivonen's outstretched glove.
Gerber stopped all 10 shots he faced in the second period to preserve the one goal advantage heading into the final 20 minutes.
Ottawa held on in the third period, as Gerber turned aside all six St. Louis shots and held the Blues scoreless over the game's final 47-plus minutes.
Vermette gave Ottawa the lead just 2:06 into the first period with his 18th tally of the season. He beat Paul Kariya on a 2-on-1 rush, took a cross- ice feed from Chris Kelly and stuffed a shot past Toivonen.
The Blues tied the game just before the halfway point of the first. Mayers forced a turnover at center ice and fired a shot wide of the net that caromed to Barret Jackman at the point for a shot that was deflected by Mayers into the back of the net.
Woywitka put St. Louis up, 2-1, with 7:47 left in the first, charging to the left side of the net and slamming home a pass from Keith Tkachuk.
Schubert tied the game four minutes later, as he found himself wide open in the slot and one-timed a pass from Shean Donovan past Toivonen.
Game Notes
Spezza has recorded a point in five straight games...Ottawa finished 0-for-4 on the power play, while St. Louis was 0-for-3...The Senators return to action Saturday for a home tilt against the Toronto Maple Leafs...St. Louis has lost 11 of its last 12 road games...Ottawa has won five of the last seven meetings.
<< Canadiens continue domination of Beantown to take top spot in East
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Kovalev scored twice and added an assist,
as the Montreal Canadiens moved to the top of the Eastern Conference standings
with a 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
Andrei Kastsitsyn finished with a goal a
<< Carter, Kirk carry Aggies past BYU and into round two
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Carter tied a career high with 26 points,
including six three-pointers, but it was Dominique Kirk's three that put the
West Region first-round contest on ice, as Texas A&M escaped BYU, 67-62.
Carter
<< Cougars dominate second half to send Winthrop home
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aron Baynes scored 19 points and grabbed eight
rebounds as fourth-seeded Washington State, behind a second-half surge,
crushed Winthrop, 71-40, in East Region action of the first round of the
NCAA To
<< Devil of a time: Henderson saves Duke from another first-round exit
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gerald Henderson drove the length of the
court for a layup with 11.9 seconds remaining to give Duke a thrilling 71-70
win over Belmont, as the second-seeded Blue Devils avoided a huge upset in the
first r
Staal, Samsonov team up to push Hurricanes over Panthers >>
Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Staal squirted the shootout winner
through the pads of Florida goaltender Tomas Vokoun, giving the Carolina
Hurricanes a 2-1 victory over the previously streaking Panthers at
BankAtl
Franzen lifts Red Wings over Predators >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Johan Franzen's third-period goal proved to
the game-winner, as the Detroit Red Wings downed the Nashville Predators, 6-3,
at the Sommet Center.
Pavel Datsyuk scored twice for the Red Wings, who lead the W
Spurs get back on track against Bulls >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -Tony Parker scored 23 points and dished out six
assists to lead the slumping San Antonio Spurs in a much-needed 102-80 victory
over the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.
Tim Duncan poured in 22 points and
Luongo, Canucks top Oilers to keep pace in crowded Northwest race >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roberto Luongo made 33 saves, as the Vancouver
Canucks defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-1, at Rexall Place.
Trevor Linden, Daniel Sedin, Matt Pettinger and Taylor Pyatt all scored for
the Canucks, who have
The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.
They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.
"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."
Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.
New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.
Not so sound on the ground
If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.
Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com
“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.
Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.
Brees says bring it on
Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.
Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.
Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.
"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."
SportsBooks ready for a shootout
Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.
“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”
New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.
The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.
“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts US credit cards
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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