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Coyotes shoot for historic win in FloridaHockey Betting Lines03/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes set their sights on a history-making win when the surprising playoff contenders skate into the BankAtlantic Center this evening to take on the Florida Panthers. One of the NHL's great success stories of the 2009-10 campaign, the Coyotes appear well on their way to their first postseason appearance since 2001-02 and enter tonight's clash riding a six-game winning streak. The surging club's most recent triumph, a 2-1 verdict over Tampa Bay on Tuesday, matched a franchise record for victories in a single season that was initially set by the 1984-85 Winnipeg Jets. Phoenix, which has amassed an excellent 14-4-0 record since January 26, currently occupies the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference standings and has moved within five points of San Jose for the top spot. "I think everybody is (contributing), and that's why we're so successful this year," said forward Vernon Fiddler, who scored one of the Coyotes' two goals in Tuesday's win. "Everybody's bringing something different -- it doesn't matter if you're a checker or an offensive guy. Our goaltending is great, defense is playing well and everybody's pulling on the same rope." The Coyotes have indeed gotten strong goaltending during their hot stretch. No. 1 netminder Ilya Bryzgalov has posted a 0.98 goals against average and .967 save percentage in winning his last three starts, and stopped 27-of-28 shots on Tuesday to notch his 37th victory of the season. Matthew Lombardi also scored for Phoenix against the Lightning and Lee Stempniak set up Fiddler's tally to extend his personal point streak to seven games. The ex-Toronto forward has recorded six goals and two assists in six outings since being acquired from the Maple Leafs at the March 3 trade deadline. If they're able to knock off the Panthers, the Coyotes will have put together their first seven-game winning streak since December 28, 2006-January 7, 2007. Phoenix will wrap a string of four straight road games against Southeast Division foes tonight and has outscored the opposition by a 9-3 margin in consecutive decisions over Carolina, Atlanta and Tampa Bay on this swing. Florida got a four-game homestand off to an undesired start on Tuesday, when the high-scoring Washington Capitals cruised to a 7-3 win over the Panthers despite playing without suspended NHL points leader Alex Ovechkin. The NHL's best offense didn't miss a beat despite not having Ovechkin, who served the first of a two-game penalty for a dangerous hit on Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell on Sunday. Washington scored five times on 21 shots against Tomas Vokoun before the Panthers goaltender was removed with 5:54 remaining in the second period. "This is a disappointing effort. We left our goalies out to dry," Panthers head coach Peter DeBoer said. "We were too soft. You can't expect to get a playoff spot in this league when you don't play harder than the team you're playing against." Florida is on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture at the moment, trailing eighth-place Boston by eight points with 14 games left in the regular season and four other teams standing in between the Panthers and Bruins. On a more positive note, the Panthers seem to be close to getting one of their top scorers back in the lineup for the stretch run. Forward Nathan Horton, who hasn't played since breaking his left tibia in a January 21 loss to the New York Islanders, resumed practicing this week and is a possibility to return tonight. The talented 24-year-old had 46 points (17 goals, 29 assists) in 51 games before going down. These teams will be facing one another for the first time since a 4-1 Coyotes' win in Arizona last season. In Phoenix's last visit to the BankAtlantic Center, the Panthers came away with a 5-2 decision on February 10, 2007.
<< Flyers vie to end 13-year winless drought in Dallas
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers have goaltender Michael Leighton to thank for keeping them alive in the postseason race. However, the team will be without its waiver-wire gem when it goes for its first win at Dallas in over 13 years
<< Road-weary Sabres make a stop in Tampa
<< Surging Wild head to Nashville for key late-season clash
<< Devils visit surging Maple Leafs
<< Thrashers host Sens in battle between struggling clubs
Irish and Monarchs open tournament play in New Orleans >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thanks to a late run down the stretch, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish earned the six seed in the South Region and will open the NCAA Tournament with a first round meeting against the 11th-seeded Old Dominion Mo
Hoyas and Bobcats clash in Midwest Regional >>
No. 2 seed Kansas State begins tournament play against North Texas >>
No. 1 seed Kentucky opens NCAA Tournament against 16th-seeded ETSU >>
Grizzlies battle Lobos in first round of 2010 NCAA Tournament >>
Sportsbooks to bet on footballRecently 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 football betting 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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