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03/15/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jackets' current winning streak began with a big victory over Detroit a week ago. Playoff-hopeful Columbus will try to extend that run to five games with another win over the Red Wings this evening at Nationwide Arena.
Columbus has matched its longest winning streak of the season and its current string of four straight wins began with an 8-2 victory over Detroit on February 7. The Blue Jackets set franchise records for most goals and margin of victory in that contest.
They haven't slowed down since, as Friday's 5-3 triumph in Chicago was the Blue Jackets' 36th of the year, a single-season franchise record. Antoine Vermette scored twice to give him three goals and three assists in four games since coming over from Ottawa in a trade.
Raffi Torres, Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash each lit the lamp for the Blue Jackets, who haven't won five in a row since December 2-12, 2006. Wade Dubielewicz made 27 saves in the win, his first with Columbus.
Nash has been key as Columbus tries to make the postseason for the first time in club history. He has six goals in his last five games, including a hat trick versus Detroit last weekend. Both of Nash's three-goal games this year have come versus Detroit and his most recent was the first unassisted hat trick since Montreal's Maurice "Rocket" Richard turned the trick on March 16, 1948.
Nash also has 18 points over his last 14 games for the Blue Jackets, who are sixth overall in the Western Conference, one point behind Vancouver.
Columbus plays the first of back-to-back home games tonight and has won three straight and seven of its last nine at Nationwide Arena. The club is 22-10-2 as the host this year.
The Blue Jackets' success versus the Red Wings this year has helped its playoff chances. Columbus has won three straight over Detroit since losing five in a row to the club and has also defeated the Red Wings in four of the last five played in Ohio.
Columbus will likely have to face Marian Hossa today, as he returned to Detroit's lineup on Saturday in the club's 5-2 win over St. Louis. It was his first action since leaving a contest on March 3 on a stretcher after crashing head-first into the boards.
Hossa, who leads the Red Wings with 36 goals and has scored 10 times in 10 meetings with Columbus, had missed the last four games due to a stiff neck/back and bruised knee, but was able to skate in just over 15 minutes of action.
Pavel Datsyuk scored twice and he combined with scorers Tomas Kopecky and Brett Lebda to net three Red Wings' goals in the span of 46 seconds in the second period. Henrik Zetterberg also scored and Chris Osgood made 30 saves for his 300th win with Detroit, which has won four of its last six and leads the Western Conference with 99 points.
That is one up on San Jose and is also even with Boston in the race for the Presidents' Trophy. All three teams are in action today.
Detroit has won three straight on the road and is 20-10-5 as the guest this year.
<< Kessel, Bruins visit Penguins
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Kessel will try to spark the Boston Bruins to a third
straight win this afternoon in a battle with the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon
Arena.
Boston has won two straight following a 1-4-1 stretch in large part to
Kesse
<< Flyers go for sweep of home-and-home set with Rangers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There isn't a large amount of separation in the Eastern
Conference playoff picture, but the Flyers would love to improve their
standing with another win over the rival Rangers.
Philadelphia will try to post a sweep of its
<< Lumberjacks and Roadrunners clash for Southland supremacy
Katy, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen F. Austin is one step away from punching
its ticket to the Big Dance, but first the top-seeded Lumberjacks will have to
get past the sixth-seeded Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners in the title matchup
of the Sout
<< Duke meets Florida State for ACC crown
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The ninth-ranked Duke Blue Devils go for their
record-tying 17th ACC Tournament title today, as they take on the 22nd-ranked
Florida State Seminoles in the championship game at the Georgia Dome in
Atlanta.
The
Blazers kick off road trip in Atlanta vs. Hawks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers take their push to win the NBA's
Northwest Division to the deep south on Sunday when they open a key five-game
road trip against the streaking Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena.
The Blazers, who are
Exhausted Heat face Sixers in Philly >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers hope to build on a raucous Spectrum
finale on Sunday when they welcome the exhausted Miami Heat to the Wachovia
Center.
Thaddeus Young set a career-high in points in a second straight outing by
drop
Pistons host Grizzlies at the Palace >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two days after their Hall of Fame owner passed away, the
Detroit Pistons hope to continue their playoff push on Sunday when they
welcome the reeling Memphis Grizzlies to The Palace at Auburn Hills.
Bill Davidson, who pilot
Mavs finish road trip in LA vs. Lakers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Mavericks conclude a tough four-game road trip
Sunday against the Western Conference's top team, the Los Angeles Lakers, at
Staples Center.
The Mavs fell to 2-1 on the trip in Oakland on Friday when Stephen Jack
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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