Canucks host streaking Coyotes in Vancouver

Hockey Betting Lines

02/13/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will try to push their longest winning streak of the season to six games when they visit the first-place Vancouver Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena.

The Coyotes, who are holding onto the eighth seed in the West with 62 points, are on their first five-game win streak since March 10-18 of last year. Phoenix also last won six straight in 2010-11, when it went on an eight-game tear from Feb. 5-22.

Phoenix posted its most recent victory Saturday in a 3-0 decision against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks. Mike Smith stood tall between the pipes for the Coyotes, making 38 saves to record his third shutout of the season and 14th of his career.

Smith turned aside 10 shots in the first period, 12 in the second and 16 in the third for the shutout. Phoenix also stopped Chicago from scoring on three power-play opportunities.

"My teammates did a great job in front of me tonight," Smith said.

Radim Vrbata scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season for the Coyotes, who are just two points ahead of Calgary and Colorado in the West standings. Boyd Gordon and Kyle Chipchura also scored in the win.

Ray Whitney added an assist to push his point streak to eight games. Vrbata has reached the scoresheet in seven straight.

After playing tonight in British Columbia, Phoenix will visit Los Angeles on Thursday to complete a two-game trip. The Coyotes are 13-11-4 as the road team this season.

The Canucks are second in the Western Conference with 74 points and also hold a 14-point edge atop the Northwest Division. Vancouver had a three-game winning streak halted with Saturday's shootout loss in Calgary, but the Canucks have gained a point in nine straight contests (6-0-3).

After getting robbed on a breakaway late in regulation, Calgary's Jarome Iginla was able to post the decisive goal of the shootout in the Flames' 3-2 win over the Canucks at the Saddledome. Iginla was robbed by the glove of Roberto Luongo on a break with 2:06 remaining in the third period, but the Calgary captain converted in the third round of the penalty-shot tiebreaker, scoring on a backhand-forehand deke.

Luongo finished with only 16 saves for the Canucks, while Cody Hodgson and David Booth recorded the goals for Vancouver, which completed a four-game road trip with a 3-0-1 mark.

"I thought we played a really good game tonight from start to finish. This was probably our best game of the road trip and we lost," said Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault.

The Canucks are back home for three straight and they are 15-6-4 as the host this season. Vancouver will also welcome Colorado and Toronto during this residency.

Vancouver has won three of its last four meetings with the Coyotes and posted a 5-0 rout in Phoenix on Nov. 25 in the first encounter between the clubs this season. Cory Schneider recorded the shutout for the Canucks in that one with 21 saves.

Phoenix has won two straight at Rogers Arena, as it outscored the Canucks by a combined 8-1 margin in two trips to B.C. last season.

Wwfantasysharks Hockey Betting News


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MySportsbook.com refunds all bets on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay from NFL week one.

(September 14) – Week one of NFL action saw three teams go scoreless for the first time since 1977.  Another four were unable to get a touchdown and almost half of the underdogs covered the spread. Those three teams saved bettors at MySportsbook.com from losing out completely, thanks to the company’s unique NFL Shutout Rule -- which ensures that if the team you backed goes scoreless, your wager is refunded.

Sportsbook refunded tens of thousands of dollars to customers who bet on Oakland, Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the three teams that stunk up the field so badly that their fans and backers never had a chance to get up from their couches and cheer.  In the spirit of the low scoring start to the season, odds makers at the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino have set odds on how many total shutouts there will be this season. 

MySportsbook.com has posted updated sports betting lines for week two of the season.  Ben Roethlisberger’s health status is still questionable, so Willie Parker will try to lead Pittsburgh again as they travel to Jacksonville as a one point favorite.  After beating up on his little brother last week, Peyton Manning will look to lead the Colts to victory against Houston. Indianapolis is a whopping 13.5 favorite in the match-up.

Seattle, last year’s highest scoring team, showed the power of their defense with their gritty 9-6 win in Motown over the ravenous Lions.  They take their act back home to the comforts of Qwest Field where they will face the resurgent Arizona Cardinals.  The Seahawks are favored by a touchdown. 

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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.

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