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02/11/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Buffalo Sabres will try to post their longest winning streak of the season tonight, when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at First Niagara Center.
Buffalo has notched wins in its last three outings and is one victory shy of matching a four-game winning streak from Nov. 4-11. The Sabres have also recorded a point in six consecutive tests, going 5-0-1 during that stretch.
Neither Buffalo nor the Lightning are currently in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Sabres are seeded 11th and are eight points out of a postseason berth, while Tampa is two points in back of Buffalo.
The Sabres were in action on Friday against visiting Dallas and Buffalo was able to pull out a 3-2 shootout win. Nathan Gerbe scored the winner in the fifth round of the shootout, but that was after Derek Roy sent the game to overtime by scoring just 39 seconds before the end of regulation.
Roy and Thomas Vanek both scored in regulation for the Sabres, while Ryan Miller made 24 stops in the win.
"We were able to keep at it tonight and make some plays," said Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff. "We need to get some more of these wins to get back in the hunt. But that was an important point for us."
Buffalo is 2-0 on a four-game homestand that is set to end Tuesday against New Jersey. The Sabres are 13-9-6 as the hosting team this season.
Sabres forward Cody McCormick left Friday's game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. He is questionable for tonight's tilt.
Although the Lightning have lost three of their last four games, Tampa still has only one regulation loss over its last nine trips to the ice (6-1-2). The Bolts were dealt a second straight setback Thursday against the New York Rangers, dropping a 4-3 overtime decision in the opener of a three-game road trip.
Tampa Bay held a 3-2 lead over the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers after 40 minutes, but Brian Boyle's tally at 10:13 of the third would send the game to overtime. Former Lightning forward Brad Richards then scored 2:37 into the extra session to give the Rangers their extra point.
Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Bruno Gervais had goals for Tampa Bay, while Mathieu Garon gave up four goals on 31 shots. Stamkos has four goals and four assists during a five-game point streak and is leading the NHL with 36 goals.
"We played a pretty solid game (but) we missed some opportunities to get a two-goal lead," said Lecavalier. "It definitely could have gone either way tonight."
Poor road play has been a problem for Tampa all season long. The club is just 8-16-4 as the guest this year compared to a 15-8-2 mark as the host. Improved play away from the Tampa Times Forum will likely be necessary if the Lightning want to make the playoffs, as the Bolts are currently 10 points out of a playoff spot in the East.
Tampa hopes to get a boost from a returning player tonight, as forward Ryan Malone could come back from an upper-body injury that has caused him to sit out the last six games. Malone has 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games this season and is questionable for tonight.
The Lightning and Sabres faced twice back in October and Tampa Bay won both meetings, notching a 3-0 home win on Oct. 22 and posting a 4-3 regulation victory three days later in Buffalo. Tampa has taken four of six overall in the series and two of three in western New York.
<< Gaels seek redemption in WCC clash with Broncos
Moraga, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams at opposite ends of the West Coast
Conference spectrum meet in Moraga, California tonight, as the Santa Clara
Broncos have come to challenge the 16th-ranked Saint Mary's-CA Gaels.
Santa Clara has had a
<< ACC matchup pits top-25 foes in Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coming off a deflating last second loss to
rival Duke, the fifth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels seek a quick turnaround,
as the welcome the 19th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers to Chapel Hill this
afternoon for a k
<< Second-ranked Orange host Huskies in Big East affair
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With their sights still set on a Big East
crown, the second-ranked Syracuse Orange welcome the defending national
champion Connecticut Huskies to the Carrier Dome this afternoon.
The Orange won their fourth st
<< SEC action pits Gators against Vols
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The eighth-ranked Florida Gators return to
Gainesville looking to regain their swagger, as they play host to the
Tennessee Volunteers in SEC action at the O'Connell Center.
Billy Donovan's Gators headed int
Avs, Blues collide in St. Louis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche will try to boost their playoff
chances against a tough opponent, as they visit the St. Louis Blues for
tonight's clash at Scottrade Center.
The Avalanche enter today tied with Dallas for the ninth s
Wild try to halt slide vs. Blue Jackets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild will try to snap a three-game losing
streak tonight when the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets come to town for a battle
at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild have gone 0-2-1 in their last three games after winning
Surging Coyotes host skidding Blackhawks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will try to extend their season-high
win streak to five games when they host the sliding Chicago Blackhawks in
tonight's clash at Jobing.com Arena.
Phoenix has posted four straight victories for the fir
Canucks roll into Calgary >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Canucks have been piling up the points lately and
Vancouver will try to keep that trend going tonight, when it visits the
Calgary Flames for a Northwest Division clash at the Saddledome.
The Canucks, who lead the divis
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.
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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