Bourque highlights Calgary's win in Motown
Hockey Betting Lines
03/09/2010 - Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rene Bourque assisted on the tying goal early in the third period and scored the game-winner less than two minutes later, as the Calgary Flames edged the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2, at Joe Louis Arena.
Jarome Iginla posted a goal and an assist for the Flames, who moved one point ahead of Detroit for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West with 32 calendar days remaining in the regular season. Daymond Langkow also tallied for the Flames, who have won three straight games.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves in the victory.
Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk scored for the Red Wings, who saw their two- game win streak halted and are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in 20 years. Detroit will also host Minnesota and Buffalo on its current three-game homestand.
Jimmy Howard allowed three goals on 31 shots in the loss.
Calgary entered the third period trailing by a goal, but scored twice within a 91-second span for a 3-2 lead.
First, at the 5:45 mark, the visitors tied it up on Iginla's 31st goal of the season. A shot by Bourque from in close near the inner rim of the lower left circle was saved, but Iginla's backhanded rebound attempt from the top of the crease was successful.
Soon after, it was Bourque's rebound -- again from the goal mouth area -- which gave Calgary the lead. A blast from the centerpoint by Robyn Regehr hit the pad of Howard before Bourque was able to put his body in the right position at the right time and the disc appeared to bounce off his skate and carom across the goal line with 12:44 remaining in regulation.
In the final minutes, Detroit had a power play for more than a minute, but Chris Higgins' empty-netter with 45 seconds to play sealed the victory.
After a scoreless opening period, the Flames grabbed a 1-0 lead 5:18 into the second on Langkow's 13th tally of the season.
Midway through the frame, Datsyuk's 20th goal knotted the contest. Datsyuk accepted a pass from Holmstrom along the right side and lit the lamp with a backhander from the lower portion of the circle that hit Kiprusoff but deflected in.
With the score tied 1-1, the Red Wings took the lead in the latter stages of the second period. After the Flames were whistled for too many men on the ice, the Wings went to work with the extra skater and passed the disc around the perimeter until Brian Rafalski held control at the right point.
Rafalski then quickly passed along the blue line to Nick Lidstrom at the centerpoint, and his slap shot was deflected into the back of the net by Holmstrom with 3:31 to play before the second intermission. Lidstrom's shot was headed wide left of the net but the deflection by Holmstrom, who was stationed near the left post, was perfectly positioned to change direction.
Game Notes
The Red Wings fell to 17-10-5 at home this season, while the Flames are now 17-9-6 on the road in 2009-10...Detroit was 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Flames were scoreless on two chances with the extra skater...Rafalski assisted on both Detroit goals.
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Betting the NFL preseason
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.