11/21/2008 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Biron stopped all 40 shots he saw against his former team to post his first shutout of the season as the Philadelphia Flyers downed the Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, at HSBC Arena.
Biron, who played his first eight-plus seasons in Buffalo before being traded to Philadelphia near the trade deadline in 2007, became the first Philadelphia goaltender to post a shutout in Buffalo since Tommy Soderstrom guided the Flyers to a 2-0 win on December 27, 1993. It was also Biron's 24th shutout in his career.
"Shutouts are nice but you take the good and the bad out of them because it wasn't a perfect game for me," said Biron. "We pulled it off which is the key at the end."
Jeff Carter scored twice while Scott Hartnell tallied the other goal for the Flyers, who have won their last three games and have recorded a point in each of their last five contests.
Ryan Miller stopped 22 of 24 shots for the Sabres, who are in the midst of a season-high four-game losing streak.
"When you aren't going good you don't get the breaks, when you're going good you get the breaks," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff. "Before they scored their one goal we probably should have scored three. When they don't go in it is frustrating."
Late in the first period Buffalo had a golden opportunity to take the early lead as the team had a two-man advantage for 1:15. Philadelphia, though, got some big saves from Biron and shortly after the final penalty expired took the lead.
Hartnell, who was called for slashing to give Buffalo the two-man opportunity, had come out of the box and was loitering in the neutral zone. Simon Gagne got the puck to Hartnell, who skated into the Buffalo zone all alone and roofed a backhander past Miller for a 1-0 lead with 58 seconds left in the first.
"I came out (of the penalty box) I saw Gagne, knew the penalty was ending and he chipped it out," said Hartnell. "I was able to knock it down, I was cheating a little bit. I was able to make the first move, got it to my backhand and out it upstairs."
Biron wound up escaping the first 20 minutes without giving up a goal and making 12 saves.
Skating shorthanded, Philadelphia almost took a 2-0 lead a bit over five minutes into the second as the team had a 2-on-1 break, but Miller stopped Carter's wrister from the left circle and Thomas Vanek was sprung on a breakaway going the other way.
Vanek was impeded by Hartnell, who wound up getting called for hooking to give Buffalo a two-man advantage, but he did get a shot on net. Biron, though, came up with the save and was strong on the two-man advantage to preserve the 1-0 lead.
Neither team scored in the second period as Biron stopped 13 shots while his counterpart, Miller, made 11 saves.
Buffalo was awarded a goal with 14:20 to play as Drew Stafford redirected a shot on net from the right side. The puck was stopped by Biron and it remained under his leg, but one of the officials on the ice thought it went over the goal line. Extensive replays showed that the puck didn't come close to crossing the line and the goal was disallowed.
"Two point blank back door plays that I didn't bear down on," said Stafford. "You only get those chances so often. It's something that I guess we have to build on for our (line's) chemistry."
About four minutes later, Carter made it a 2-0 game as he picked up a clearing attempt in the Buffalo zone and from the right slot fired a laser into the right corner that Miller didn't even react to.
Carter's empty-netter with one minute to go accounted for the final score.
Game Notes
Philadelphia hosts Phoenix on Saturday...Buffalo next plays on Saturday when it will host the Islanders...Coming into the game, the Sabres had won nine of 12 against Philadelphia since the 2005-06 season...Gagne, who had an assist in the game, has a six-game point streak with three goals and six assists during the run...It was Hartnell's first goal in 10 games...Neither team scored on the power play with Buffalo having five chances and Philadelphia three.
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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.
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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