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04/09/2009 - Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brendan Shanahan scored the shootout winner, and the New Jersey Devils wrapped up the Atlantic Division title in a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place.
The Devils needed just a point to win the division for the third time in four seasons and did so even before Shanahan lit the lamp by way of Philadelphia's loss to the Rangers earlier in the evening. However, the triumph did give New Jersey its franchise-best 50th win of the season.
New Jersey is now firmly locked into the Eastern Conference's third seed as Washington clinched the No. 2 slot with a win against Tampa Bay earlier Thursday.
Brian Gionta and Brian Rolston scored in regulation while Martin Brodeur made 28 saves for the Devils, who have now won three of four following an untimely six-game slide.
Dany Heatley scored to force overtime with exactly one minute remaining in regulation and Jarkko Ruutu found the back of the net in the first period for the Senators, who were riding a franchise-record nine-game winning streak at home and three-game win streak overall. Alex Auld had 30 saves in defeat.
The Sens' recent stretch earned new head coach Cory Clouston a two-year contract through the 2010-11 season on Wednesday. Clouston took over the for the fired Craig Hartsburg on February 2 with the Senators mired in last place in the Northeast Division at 17-24-7. While Ottawa will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, the team has responded to the coaching change by producing a mark of 19-10-4 under Clouston.
Shanahan's wrister escaped the grasp of Auld and found twine in the top right corner to begin the second round. Brodeur came back to stone Mike Fisher and Jamie Langenbrunner had a chance to win it, but Auld kept the pads together on a low shot.
Brodeur then sprawled to his right and deflected a Jason Spezza backhander up high for the win.
Ruutu was camped to Brodeur's left and was in position to put back the rebound off a Brian Lee slap shot from the right point for the early lead 4:13 into the game.
Gionta and Rolston swung the momentum New Jersey's way with goals 46 seconds apart in the second, but Heatley was able to capitalize on a mad scramble by Ottawa near the end of regulation.
Fisher got behind the defense and even a flailing Brodeur, but chipped a bouncing puck off the right post. The Senators retained possession, though, and Heatley was able to rip one from the slot to tie the game.
Game Notes
The Devils got forward Patrik Elias back after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury. Elias is second on the team in goals (31) and points (78) this season...New Jersey played in its final road game of the regular season and will close the campaign with Saturday's test against Carolina...The Devils are 23-15-3 as the guest this year and had lost six in a row on the road before winning in Buffalo this past Saturday...The Senators are 22-12-7 as the host this year and played their final home game of the season...Ottawa will complete its 2008-09 schedule with Saturday's test in Toronto...New Jersey completed the four-game season series sweep...The Devils have taken six in a row and nine of 11 from Ottawa and have won three straight and four of five in Canada's capital city.
<< Arnott gives Nashville shootout win over Red Wings
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joel Ward scored the equalizer with 59.3
seconds left in regulation and Jason Arnott had the deciding goal in the
shootout, as Nashville stayed in the playoff race with a key 4-3 win over
Detroit
<< Despite OT loss to Bruins, Montreal clinches playoff spot
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Recchi scored two goals, including the
game-winner in overtime, and dished out two assists, as the Boston Bruins
outlasted the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4, in a battle between Northeast Division
rivals
<< Panthers win, but are eliminated from playoff picture
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Booth scored the game-winner with under
five minutes left, but the Florida Panthers couldn't fight off elimination
despite a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.
Florida began the night two poin
<< Capitals double-up Lightning
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brooks Laich scored twice and Mike Green
registered a goal and two assists as the Washington Capitals held on to edge
the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2, at St. Pete Times Forum.
David Steckel also tallied
Bulls draw closer to playoffs with thumping of Philadelphia >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyrus Thomas and Ben Gordon each scored 24
points as Chicago inched closer to a playoff berth with a 113-99 victory over
slumping Philadelphia.
Derrick Rose added 16 points and eight assists, Brad Mille
Miami-Ohio and Boston University advance to Frozen Four final >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Wingels registered two goals and an
assist as Miami-Ohio defeated Bemidji State, 4-1, in the semifinals of the
Frozen Four at Verizon Center.
Alden Hirschfeld and Bill Loupee also tallied fo
Granollers falls to Haas in Houston >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers fell
to German Tommy Haas in second-round play Thursday at the $500,000 U.S. Men's
Clay Court Championships.
In a matchup of former titlists here, Granollers won t
Stars slip past Avalanche in SO >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Ribeiro scored the decisive goal in a wild
shootout, as the Dallas Stars topped the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, at the Pepsi
Center.
In the shootout, Colorado's Wojtek Wolski went first and fooled Dal
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football wagering needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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