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Tim Connolly had two assists and James Reimer made 30 saves as Toronto won back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game win streak from Nov. 22-27.
Toronto has been paced all year by Phil Kessel, who is tied for second in the NHL with 20 goals and 41 points. However, one player Wilson and Burke may be missing is current Panther Kris Versteeg, who leads Florida with 16 goals and 37 points.
Versteeg and company came up empty in a big way on Friday, getting blasted by the Bruins 8-0. Jose Theodore gave up four goals on 14 shots before being lifted after one period. Scott Clemmensen made 17 saves in relief as the Panthers lost a season high-tying third straight game for the second time this month and third time this year.
Injuries may have played a factor as Florida was without second-leading point generator in Stephen Weiss. He became the seventh Panther forward to suffer an injury and four of those skaters, including Weiss, have all been hurt within the last four games.
Three of Florida's injured players -- Jack Skille, Marco Sturm and Sean Bergenheim -- scored when the Panthers dealt a hosting Toronto club a 5-1 defeat back on Nov. 8 in the first of four meetings between the teams this season.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers began December with seven straight victories, but Peter Laviolette's club will try to avoid a fourth setback in five games when it visits the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at St. Pete Times Forum. The Flyers recorded their longest win streak in nearly a decade earlier this month, but they have gone 1-2-1 since. The most recent setback came Friday in a 4-2 road loss against the New York Rangers, who tied Philly for first place in the Atlantic Division with the win and are now two points ahead of the Flyers.
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was sharp in the Winter Classic preview, turning aside 28 shots in the win for New York. Andrej Meszaros and James van Riemsdyk each had a goal for the Flyers, who have dropped their past three games in Madison Square Garden. Ilya Bryzgalov was tagged for all four goals on 24 shots.
The Flyers, who are playing five straight on the road leading up to the Winter Classic, fell to 13-4-2 as the visiting team this season. Philly has one more road game before the outdoor contest, as it's set to visit Pittsburgh on Thursday.
On the injury front for Philly, forward Danny Briere expects to return tonight after sitting out Friday with a bruised hand. Centermen Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn are day-to-day after missing time with head injuries. Schenn has sat out the last nine games with a concussion, while Couturier has missed three tests since getting hit in the back of the head with a puck shot by teammate Kimmo Timonen on Dec. 17.
"We're lucky to get the point tonight," said Garon.
The Lightning have played the last two games without Nate Thompson, but the centerman could return tonight from his lower body injury.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last-place Montreal Canadiens will try again for their first win under Randy Cunneyworth, as the Habs visit the Ottawa Senators for tonight's Northeast Division clash at Scotiabank Place. The Canadiens, who will aim to halt a five-game losing streak tonight, are last in the Northeast with 33 points -- six less than the third-place Senators. Montreal's last four setbacks have come under Cunneyworth, who took over as interim head coach for the fired Jacques Martin on Dec. 17.
The Habs fired 27 shots at Ondrej Pavelec on Thursday, but the Jets goaltender turned aside all of them to post his third shutout of the season. Meanwhile, Carey Price was tagged for all four goals on 34 shots for the Canadiens.
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Jets Victory Smash Highlight Over Goals
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Win Leaves Puck Over Edmonton
Calgary Replaces Penguins For Crosby >>
Toronto Backs Points With Calgary >>
Left Adds Period Against Side >>
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard 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 online football betting 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.
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