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03/12/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vinny Prospal had two goals and an assist as the New York Rangers took a 5-2 decision over the Atlanta Thrashers in a battle between playoff contenders.
Marian Gaborik had a goal and two assists while Ryan Callahan added a goal and an assist for the Rangers, who stopped a four-game slide. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots in the win.
The win moves New York to 69 points, three back of idle Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Clarke MacArthur and Ron Hainsey each had a goal for the Thrashers, who have dropped their past five games. Johan Hedberg stopped 30-of-34 shots in the loss.
The losing streak has dropped Atlanta to the 11th spot in the Eastern Conference with 66 points, two below Tampa Bay, which won at Washington earlier Friday.
The Rangers dominated play in the first period and scored three times in the frame.
The first goal came 7:49 in as Prospal accepted a long feed from Gaborik and at the left circle blasted a slap shot past Hedberg and just 41 seconds later, Gaborik scored on the power play for his 36th goal and a 2-0 lead.
Prospal notched his second goal of the period on a wrister with 6:34 left for the 3-0 advantage.
Atlanta got on the board 2:33 into the second with a power-play tally as a crisp passing play was finished when Rich Peverley fired a pass from the left to the right where MacArthur one-timed it home.
New York, though, got the goal back with 2:28 to play in the second as Michael Del Zotto's wrister from the point snuck past Hedberg.
The Thrashers cut the deficit to two with 8:34 to play in the third on the power play as Chris Thorburn fired a pass from the right circle to the slot where a wide open Hainesy wristed it home.
Atlanta got a chance to make it a one-goal game a few minutes later when Jody Shelley was called for hooking, but Lundqvist made a couple big stops to keep it a two-goal contest.
The Thrashers pulled Hedberg late for the extra attacker, but Callahan sealed the win with a shot into the empty cage.
Game Notes
New York hosts Philly on Sunday...Atlanta continues its five-game homestand on Sunday against Phoenix...Atlanta had won the previous five matchups, including the first three games of this season series...Atlanta has scored just six goals over its losing streak...New York went 2-for-6 on the power play while Atlanta was 1-for-4.
<< Kovalchuk, Devils clip Pens to tighten Atlantic race
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ilya Kovalchuk posted a goal and two assists and
Martin Brodeur stopped 34 shots as New Jersey clipped Pittsburgh, 3-1, at
Prudential Center.
Patrik Elias and Andy Greene also scored for the Devils, who hav
<< Georgia Tech downs Maryland to reach ACC semis, boost resume
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iman Shumpert scored 14 points and handed
out four assists to help Georgia Tech fend off 19th-ranked Maryland, 69-64, in
the quarterfinals of the 2010 ACC Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum.
The Yellow Ja
<< Bobcats top Clippers; Wallace hurt ankle
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Jackson poured in 14 of his 24 points
in the fourth quarter while dishing out six assists, as the Charlotte Bobcats
continued their stellar play at home with a 106-98 victory over the Los
Angeles
<< Lightning escape Verizon Center with win over Caps
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Walker had a goal and an assist as the
Tampa Bay Lightning got a big win in a 3-2 decision over the Washington
Capitals at the Verizon Center.
Vincent Lecavalier and Brandon Bochenski each had
San Diego inks CB Strickland >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers announced the signing
of free agent cornerback Donald Strickland to a two-year contract on Friday.
Strickland, 29, saw his playing time diminish with the New York Jets last
season
Richardson and Heat clobber Bulls >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quentin Richardson made 7-of-11 three-pointers on
his way to 23 points while pulling down seven rebounds, as the Miami Heat
handled the Chicago Bulls, 108-95.
Jermaine O'Neal had a season-high 25 points t
Harding solid as Wild escape Sabres >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Harding stopped a season-high 43 shots, as
Minnesota escaped from Buffalo with a 3-2 win at HSBC Arena.
Andrew Ebbett, Andrew Brunette and Guillaume Latendresse lit the lamp for the
Wild, who halted a fou
Durant sets franchise mark, Thunder slide by Nets >>
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant poured in 32 points and
pulled down 12 rebounds, as the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the lowly New
Jersey Nets, 104-102.
Durant's 30-point game was his 36th this season, breaking
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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 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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