12/04/2008 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alexander Ovechkin had a goal and two assists and Donald Brashear's first goal of the year represented the game- winner as the Washington Capitals defeated the New York Islanders, 5-2, at the Verizon Center.
Eric Fehr's third-period goal gave the Caps some breathing room while Viktor Kozlov and Nicklas Backstrom also scored as Washington snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 10-1-1 at home this season.
Brent Johnson made 27 saves to pick up the win for the Caps, who were coming off their first home regulation loss of the season. Washington, had picked up wins in six of its previous seven contests prior to its latest 3-5-0 streak and still leads the Southeast Division with 31 points.
Mark Streit and Trent Hunter lit the lamp for the Islanders, who have now lost three of their last four games. Joey MacDonald allowed four goals and was assaulted with 46 shots in the loss.
Thursday's loss marked the beginning of stretch where the Isles are playing five of six and seven of their next nine games on the road. New York is 5-6-1 as the visitor this year and had won three of its last four tests away from Long Island.
The Isles turned the puck over in their own zone and Brashear ended a scrum for the puck in front by swiping in a backhand shot to net his first of the year 6:50 into the third, giving Washington the lead.
The Caps gave themselves some breathing room, netting an insurance goal on the power play with 3:46 left. Ovechkin fired one on net from the high slot with MacDonald leaving the rebound right in front. Brooks Laich swatted back two attempts and the puck scooted out to the left where Fehr swooped in and buried the rebound.
New York pulled the goaltender with 1:11 left but Backstrom scored on the empty net to seal the win.
The Caps started things off with a power play goal in the first. Ovechkin lifted a wrister under the left arm of MacDonald from the left circle to give Washington the lead with 8:29 left in the period.
It was a 2-0 advantage less than two minutes later as the Isles gave the Caps another power-play opportunity that they quickly cashed in. Bryan Helmer let fly a wrister from the right point and Kozlov deflected the disc on the way in for his fifth of the year.
New York got one back inside the final minute of the first, capitalizing on its own power-play chance with Streit's slap per from the high slot finding its way through traffic. MacDonald did well to keep the deficit at one for New York as the Caps peppered the netminder with 17 first-period shots.
The Islanders appeared to even the score about five minutes into the middle stanza when Chris Campoli's dump-in along the left boards took a wild carom off a linesman's skate and past a befuddled Johnson, who had started to skate towards the corner to play the puck. The goal was waived off, though, due to the linesman interfering on the play.
Hunter then did even the score with 6:22 remaining, taking a cross-ice pass from Andy Sutton at the right circle before skating in and firing a shot over the far shoulder of Johnson.
Game Notes
The Isles had won three straight in this series but have still notched wins in seven of the last 10 encounters between the clubs...New York also had a three- game winning streak in Washington come to an end Thursday...New York converted on only 1-of-8 power-play chances while Washington made good on 3-of-5 ...Hunter's goal was his 11th this season...Ovechkin's score was his 14th this season...The Caps recalled forward Keith Aucoin from Hershey of the American Hockey League earlier Thursday and reassigned forward Graham Mink to Hershey. The 30-year-old Aucoin is the current AHL leader in points (36) and assists (27) and has gathered 469 AHL points in 459 career games.
<< Crosby, Penguins roll past Panthers
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sidney Crosby assisted on four of Pittsburgh's
five goals, and the Penguins defeated Carolina by a 5-2 margin to spoil Paul
Maurice's second debut with the Hurricanes.
Maurice, who was fired by the team d
<< Reynolds, Villanova cruise past Houston Baptist
Villanova, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scottie Reynolds scored a game-best 23 points
to go along with six assists, as No. 17 Villanova routed Houston Baptist,
93-57, at The Pavilion.
Backcourt mate Corey Stokes added 22 points, Dante Cun
<< Griffin, Sooners outlast Trojans in Norman
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blake Griffin scored 25 points, and Austin
Johnson netted 15 of his 17 in the first half, as sixth-ranked Oklahoma
outlasted Southern California, 73-72, in a Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series tilt.
Thur
<< 49ers CB Clements hurting
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers cornerback Nate
Clements missed his second day of practice with a thumb injury and is
questionable for Sunday's game against the Jets.
Injured in last week's win over
Elias' late goals send Devils over Flyers in OT >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Patrik Elias scored with 90 seconds left
in regulation, then scored at the 2:46 mark of overtime to give the New Jersey
Devils a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center.
In the extr
Crosby, Penguins roll past Hurricanes >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sidney Crosby assisted on four of Pittsburgh's
five goals, and the Penguins defeated Carolina by a 5-2 margin to spoil Paul
Maurice's second debut with the Hurricanes.
Maurice, who was fired by the team d
Kessel strikes twice as Lightning fall to Bruins >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Kessel scored twice, and David Krejci had a
go-ahead shorthanded goal in the third period, as the Boston Bruins topped the
Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1, at St. Pete Times Forum.
Marc Savard ended with a pair o
Thabeet dominant as No. 2 Huskies edge fiesty Bulls >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hasheem Thabeet scored 21 points, hauled in 18
rebounds and had four blocks to help the No. 2 Connecticut Huskies fend off
the Buffalo Bulls, 68-64, at Alumni Arena.
Jeff Adrien poured in 18 points, grab
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.
New York, NY – October 3, 2007 – The dress rehearsal is over! The NHL preseason has ended and now that fans have had a glimpse of what is to come it is time to hit the book! Stanley Cup odds are live at MySportsbook.com, the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino.
The Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings remain on top of the odds charts after an impressive start in the preseason. Betting lines opened for both teams at 6-1 in June. Since then the Sens have fallen to 7-1 and the Red Wings are now caught in a pack including the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes, the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks, all at 10-1.
MySportsbook.com has also posted props on each team’s point total for the regular season. The Senators lead the charge at 108.5 followed by the Ducks at 106.5. Detroit will attempt a repeat for the prize as the Red Wings are deadlocked with the Predators at 104.5 a piece. The temporary loss of highly touted rookie Evgeni Malkin puts a lot of pressure on the stick of assistant captain Sidney Crosby - his lowly Pittsburgh Penguins are listed at 71.5.
Even if bettors are not brave enough to put their money on the underdog, an early bet on the favorites at sportsbook.com tends to produce bigger payouts than a mid-season wager. Placing a $1,000 bet last summer on the Detroit Red Wings or Ottawa Senators would have paid out to $8,000 and $10,000 respectively, opposed to a $2,500 or $3,000 payout at the beginning of the playoffs.
| Ottawa Senators Detroit Red Wings Carolina Hurricanes San Jose Sharks Anaheim Ducks Philadelphia Flyers Calgary Flames New Jersey Devils Buffalo Sabres Dallas Stars New York Rangers Nashville Predators Vancouver Canucks Colorado Avalanche Minnesota Wild Tampa Bay Lightning Boston Bruins Florida Panthers Montreal Canadiens Atlanta Thrashers Toronto Maple Leafs Edmonton Oilers Phoenix Coyotes Los Angeles Kings New York Islanders Columbus Blue Jackets St. Louis Blues Pittsburgh Penguins Washington Capitals Chicago Blackhawks |
7-1 10-1 10-1 10-1 10-1 12-1 12-1 12-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 15-1 20-1 20-1 25-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 40-1 40-1 50-1 50-1 80-1 80-1 100-1 100-1 |
NHL Regular Season Points - Team Must Play 82 Games
| Team Ottawa Senators Anaheim Ducks Detroit Red Wings Nashville Predators San Jose Sharks Calgary Flames Philadelphia Flyers New Jersey Devils Buffalo Sabres Carolina Hurricanes Dallas Stars New York Rangers Minnesota Wild Atlanta Thrashers Montreal Canadiens Team Los Angeles Kings Tampa Bay Lightening Vancouver Canucks Boston Bruins Colorado Avalanche Edmonton Oilers Phoenix Coyotes Toronto Maple Leafs Florida Panthers Columbus Blue Jackets New York Islanders Chicago Blackhawks St. Louis Blues Washington Capitals Pittsburgh Penguins |
Over/Under 108.5 106.5 104.5 104.5 103.5 101.5 100.5 99.5 97.5 97.5 97.5 95.5 94.5 93.5 92.5 Over/Under 91.5 91.5 91.5 89.5 89.5 88.5 88.5 86.5 84.5 82.5 80.5 72.5 72.5 72.5 71.5 |
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey sportsbook needs.
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