Habs return home to face Lightning

Hockey Betting Lines

03/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having just completed a successful road trip, the Montreal Canadiens will play for the first time at the Bell Centre in nearly a month when the playoff hopefuls host the Tampa Bay Lightning this evening.

Montreal began its post-Olympic break schedule with a four-game trek and went 3-1-0 during the swing, with the lone loss coming to Western Conference front- runner San Jose last Thursday. That surge has moved the Canadiens into seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings, one point better than rival Boston and two back of sixth-seeded Philadelphia.

The Habs concluded the trip with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory at Anaheim on Sunday, with Tomas Plekanec netting the game-winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout.

Montreal trailed 3-1 entering the third period before drawing even on goals by Brian Gionta and Andrei Markov, the latter coming with only 11 seconds remaining in regulation. The Canadiens also had their backs to the wall in the shootout, with Gionta keeping the team alive with a controversial score in the third round.

With Montreal down 1-0 in the deciding phase, Gionta fired a wrist shot in between the blocker pad and stick of Jonas Hiller. The Anaheim netminder drifted backward toward the net and looked to find the puck, inadvertently knocking it into the net for a goal.

The officials held up the goal upon review and after James Wisniewski could not score for the Ducks in the fourth round, Plekanec fired a wrister past Hiller's glove for the clincher.

"I thought Hiller had it," said Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer of Gionta's tally. "Then once he goes to relax and thinks the play is over, it drops out."

Montreal will be hoping for some more good fortune as it takes the Bell Centre ice for the first time since a 6-2 loss to Philadelphia on February 13. The Canadiens begin a three-game homestand and will also face Edmonton and Boston on the residency.

Tampa Bay currently sits four points out of a playoff spot and in 11th place in the East, but was able to put an untimely five-game skid to an end with Saturday's 6-2 rout of visiting Atlanta. Steven Stamkos led the way with a pair of goals and an assist to keep his franchise-record point streak intact, while Martin St. Louis scored once and notched a pair of helpers in the much- needed win.

Stamkos' second goal was his 40th of the season, which trails only superstars Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby for tops in the NHL, and the 2008 No. 1 overall draft choice has racked up 29 points (15 goals, 14 assists) over a 16- game tear. Steve Downie, who assisted on Stamkos' first marker of the night, has a point in 10 straight contests and has amassed five goals and eight assists during that span.

Teddy Purcell, acquired by Tampa from Los Angeles at Wednesday's trade deadline, added a goal and an assist in his second game as a member of the Lightning. Goaltender Antero Niittymaki came through with 29 saves to improve to 17-0-0 lifetime against Atlanta.

"I thought it was a good team win out there," said Stamkos. "Nitty was great back there, the defense did a good job of moving the puck up and our forwards were tenacious."

Niittymaki was also sharp in Tampa Bay's most recent encounter with the Canadiens, stopping all 33 shots he faced in a 3-0 triumph at the St. Pete Times Forum on January 27. The Lightning also downed the Habs by a 3-1 count in Montreal back on November 7, giving the team a 2-0-1 record in its last three visits to the Bell Centre.

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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.

Betting Football

NFL Football Betting Online

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.