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Buffalo used three power-play goals to snap a two-game slide and conclude a five-game homestand 2-1-2. The Sabres will now look to win back-to-back contests for the first time since a four-game win streak from Nov. 4-11.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks probably couldn't have picked a better spot to close out their five-game road trip. The Canucks look to secure their ninth straight victory over the Maple Leafs this evening as the two clubs clash in Toronto.
A visit to Toronto could help Vancouver finish the swing on a winning note. The Canucks haven't lost to the Maple Leafs since Nov. 24, 2003 at Toronto, outscoring the Maple Leafs by a 19-9 margin in four meetings at Air Canada Centre since.
Vancouver held a two-goal lead over Carolina in the second period on Thursday following goals by Kevin Bieksa and Mason Raymond, but the Hurricanes countered with four in a row until Alexandre Burrows pulled the Canucks to within one with 11:20 to play.
"We had quite a few quality chances to put that game away and we didn't," said Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault. "Casual in front of their net and weren't able to bury some Grade-A scoring chances, made a couple of mistakes and then all of a sudden you're in penalty trouble and the score's 4-2. It's really tough to come back in this league."
Joffrey Lupul and Mikhail Grabovski also scored and Phil Kessel had an assist to bring his point total to 37, second-highest in the NHL, but the Maple Leafs lost for the fifth time in seven games.
The Maple Leafs now return home for three straight.
Selanne was a first-round pick of the original Jets franchise back in 1988 as he was selected 10th overall by the club. He quickly made an impact on the team and in the league by posting NHL rookie records of 76 goals and 132 points in 1992-93.
"Obviously, the first couple days I was just totally shocked about what happened," Selanne said of the trade in a conference call on Tuesday. "But then when you start learning the business a little bit more and how this works, and how excited I am with the new franchise. They really wanted me here."
Now in his 19th NHL season and in his second stint with Anaheim, Selanne won a Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007 and is the franchise's all-time leader in goals, assists, points and games played. He is tops on the club this season with 21 assists and 31 points heading into his anticipated return to Winnipeg.
Anaheim also hasn't won on the road since Oct. 27, going 0-7-3 in 10 games since. It started up a five-game road trip last night with a 4-1 defeat in Chicago.
Jonas Hiller gave up all four Chicago goals on 24 shots as his club fell to 2-4-1 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau.
"We didn't play smart enough," Hiller said. "We gave them their chances."
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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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