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02/05/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luckily for the Winnipeg Jets, they got a day of rest before wrapping their six-game road trip.
The Jets hope to break even on the swing this afternoon in a meeting with the Montreal Canadiens, who are still searching for their first victory since the All-Star break.
Winnipeg is 2-3 on its second-longest road trip of the season -- it had a seven-game swing from Oct. 27-Nov. 8 -- and picked up a big win over Tampa Bay on Thursday. However, the Jets were in action again the following night and dropped a 2-1 test to the Panthers, falling to 0-9-0 in the second half of games on consecutive nights.
Chris Mason made 28 saves and Bryan Little had the goal for the Jets, who were looking to win three straight on the road for the first time since Dec. 4-13, 2010. Instead, the 10th-place club in the East fell five points behind Florida for first place in the Southeast Division.'
"Our team can't give up 20 minutes of free play and expect to win the game," Jets head coach Claude Noel said. "If we would have played the first 20 minutes, there's the one goal they got, you still have a chance to win the game."
The Canadiens have yet to do any winning since the All-Star break. They looked to have picked up some much-needed momentum with a big 7-2 win over the Red Wings before the hiatus, but have been outscored 11-4 in three games since. That includes yesterday's 3-0 loss to the visiting Capitals.
Former Montreal goaltender Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves for Washington, while Habs backup Peter Budaj made 20 saves. He also faced a pair of penalty shots in the game, stopping one of them.
"The intensity was in the right place," said Montreal coach Randy Cunneyworth. "We were doing the right things, but unfortunately it resulted in our third loss this week."
Montreal's Scott Gomez remains without a goal through his first 22 games of this season and he hasn't scored in a year, since Feb. 5 of last season.
The Canadiens lost the opener of a three-game homestand and have dropped five of their last seven as the host.
The Habs have won four of their last five versus the Jets franchise and responded from a 4-0 shutout loss in Winnipeg in late December with a 7-3 home win on Jan. 4. Lars Eller posted his first career four-goal game in the Montreal win.
The Jets have lost two straight and six of their last eight in Montreal.
<< Streaking Devils, Pens clash in New Jersey
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of streaking Atlantic Division rivals square off
this afternoon as the New Jersey Devils try to match their longest winning
streak of the season against the rolling Pittsburgh Penguins.
After dropping their final th
<< Bruins hope to get on track versus Capitals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins hope to avoid matching their longest
losing streak of the season this afternoon as they visit a Washington Capitals
club that has its eyes set on first place in the Southeast Division.
The Bruins haven't
<< Russia beats Spain to reach Fed Cup semis
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Svetlana Kuznetsova outlasted Silvia Soler-
Espinosa in the fourth rubber to give Russia an insurmountable 3-1 lead over
Spain in their best-of-five Fed Cup quarterfinal.
Russia entered Sunday's action with
<< Lawrie pulls away for Qatar Masters title
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Lawrie staved off challenges from Jason
Day and Sergio Garcia on Sunday to win the Qatar Masters in comfortable
fashion.
Lawrie, the second-round leader, fired a seven-under 65 on Sunday.
Heat host Raptors in matinee affair >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh said a few days ago it's
important for this team to make the essential adjustments following a loss.
"If we lose one or two, we need to make the necessary adjustments, get it done
and cut
Celtics start local events early vs. Memphis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics own an amazing 17 championships, the
most by an NBA franchise.
Their neighbors across the way, the NFL's New England Patriots, can capture
their fourth Super Bowl title Sunday night against th
Hurricanes blow into Durham seeking upset of Blue Devils >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The seventh-ranked Blue Devils will look to keep
up the race for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference as they host the
Miami-Florida Hurricanes for a bout at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
This will be the 18th
Wolverines and Spartans add another chapter to bitter rivalry >>
East Lansing, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 23rd-ranked Michigan Wolverines will
try to be the first team to knock off the ninth-ranked Michigan State Spartans
at the Breslin Center when the two rivals square off in a Big Ten Conference
battle.
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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