Sens welcome Fisher back to Ottawa

Hockey Betting Lines

02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators were already burned by one former teammate this week. They hope that same thing doesn't happen this evening against the Nashville Predators in Mike Fisher's return to Scotiabank Place.

The 31-year-old Fisher was a second-round selection by the Senators in the 1998 Entry Draft and amassed 167 goals and 181 assists in 675 games with Ottawa. His stint with the club came to an end nearly a year ago when the Sens shipped him to the Predators on Feb. 10 for a pair of draft picks, including a 2011 first rounder as they looked to begin a rebuilding process.

Fisher had five goals and seven assists in 27 games with the Predators after the deal and added seven points in 12 playoff games.

"I've been looking forward to it for a long time, but I'm sure it is going to be a little strange going into the visiting locker room," Fisher told Nashville's website. "But that being said, as an athlete you get ready for playoff games and there are different emotions, excitement and you have to learn to just channel it. I'm sure (Thursday night) will be a little like that. But you know what, when the puck drops it is all business and it is all the same."

Fisher's return comes just two days after former starting Ottawa goaltender Brian Elliott came back to town as a member of the St. Louis Blues. Elliott haunted his former club by making 28 saves in dealing the Senators a 3-1 loss, Ottawa's season-high seventh in a row.

Elliott was traded to Colorado last season for Craig Anderson, who was pulled less than four minutes into Tuesday's game after allowing a pair of goals on four shots. Alex Auld made 13 saves in relief.

Daniel Alfredsson had the lone goal for the Senators, who are on their longest losing streak since an 0-9-2 drought from Jan. 14-Feb. 9 of last year.

"The first 10 minutes, they forced a lot of turnovers and capitalized on a couple of them, and we put ourselves in a tough hole again," Alfredsson said.

Ottawa's skid, which includes losses in the first three of a five-game homestand, has dropped the club to the eighth overall spot in the Eastern Conference and just two points ahead of ninth-place Florida.

Senators defenseman Chris Phillips is expected to reach a milestone tonight after skating in his 999th career game on Tuesday. He will join Alfredsson as the only players to skate in 1,000 games with Ottawa.

Fisher will look to dampen that celebration and help his club get back on track following a 4-3 shootout loss to the Canucks on Tuesday. The loss dropped Nashville to 14-3-1 in its past 18 games and the club sits in a tie with St. Louis for second place in the Central Division, five points behind first-place Detroit.

Fisher had a goal on Tuesday to give him nine tallies and 17 points over his past 16 games. He also has eight goals in his past eight contests, while Sergei Kostitsyn and Colin Wilson lit the lamp as well.

Pekka Rinne carried a club-record 11-game win streak into Tuesday's start, but allowed three first-period goals en route to his first defeat since Jan. 5. He had allowed more than two goals just once over his run of victories.

"That's a fast team over there and we tried to match it," said Nashville defenseman Roman Josi. "I thought we played pretty well and a got a point out of it, just couldn't get that extra point."

The Predators had a six-game home winning streak snapped. They play four of their next five on the road.

Nashville posted a 6-5 overtime win when these clubs last met in Ottawa on Oct. 22, 2009, with captain Shea Weber logging the game-winner as part of his two-goal effort.

The Sens, though, have sandwiched that loss with a pair of wins in Nashville, including a 2-1 victory in the lone encounter last season.

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Betting Football

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.