Blues roll into Columbus
Hockey Betting Lines
02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will try to extend their winning streak to a season-high five games when they visit the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at Nationwide Arena.
St. Louis is in the midst of its fifth four-game win streak of the 2011-12 campaign, but the club last won five in a row from Dec. 21-31 of last season. Ken Hitchcock's team has a 13-2-2 record in its last 17 games and has built a five-point edge over Nashville for the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
The Blues are also just three points in back of Detroit for first place in the Central Division, Western Conference and NHL. St. Louis enters today with two games in hand to use over the Red Wings.
Meanwhile, Columbus has been going through a nightmare of a season and is last in the NHL with 38 points -- 11 less than its closest competition in the league standings.
The Blues are 2-0 against Columbus this season, winning one at home and one on the road while recording eight goals over the two meetings. St. Louis has taken five straight in the series overall and three in a row at Nationwide Arena.
St. Louis last played on Sunday, when it rode goaltender Jaroslav Halak to a 3-0 victory over the visiting San Jose Sharks. Halak made 25 saves to record his sixth shutout of the season and 22nd of his career. Five of the Czech goaltender's shutouts this year have come over his last 10 starts.
Alex Pietrangelo finished with two goals and an assist and David Perron also scored for the Blues, who extended their franchise-record home points streak to 19 games (16-0-3). Perron has six goals and an assist over his last four games and was named the NHL's Third Star last week.
St. Louis has won its last two road games, but is still just 10-11-3 as the guest this year compared to a stellar 24-3-4 mark at home.
On the injury front, the Blues have played the last five games without Jason Arnott (shoulder) and fellow forward Matt D'Agostini has sat out three in a row with a head injury. Neither player is expected to be available tonight.
The Blue Jackets had won three of four before getting dealt a 5-3 loss by Anaheim on Sunday in the opener of a three-game homestand. Corey Perry recorded his second hat trick of the season to lead the Ducks past Columbus, which fell to 9-15-3 as the host this year.
Fedor Tyutin had a goal and an assist in the loss, while Aaron Johnson and Antoine Vermette scored also for the Blue Jackets. Steve Mason stopped 30- of-35 shots in defeat.
"They executed extremely well, we made some mistakes and ended up paying for them," said Blue Jackets interim head coach Todd Richards.
Columbus captain Rick Nash enters tonight on a five-game point streak. He has one goal and five helpers during the run.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will try to get back in the win column this evening when they visit the Buffalo Sabres for a clash at First Niagara Center. The Devils had won a season-high five straight heading into a two-game home
<< Hawks commence trek against Lakers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta will kick off a five-game road trip tonight at
Staples Center when they take on a Lakers team returning from its annual
Grammy trek.
The Hawks, who will also visit Phoenix, Portland, Chicago and New
<< Blazers try to halt home skid vs. Wizards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers will try to halt a rare losing
streak at the Rose Garden when they play host to a Washington Wizards team
coming in off its second road victory.
The Blazers had been a gaudy 11-1 in Rip Ci
<< Suns, Nuggets clash at Pepsi Center
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver halted one losing streak on the road in its last
outing and will now try to stop its longest skid at home in nearly a decade
when they play host to the Phoenix Suns.
Ty Lawson scored 27 points on Saturday
<< Jazz close out stretch in Oklahoma City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah just might be a sitting duck when it finishes a
grueling three games in three nights road stretch tonight in Oklahoma City.
The Jazz lost to the Thunder, 101-87, in Salt Lake City last Friday and has
played
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After having little success on a recent five-game homestand, the Ottawa Senators hope to have more luck when they kick off a road trip tonight by battling the Tampa Bay Lightning at Tampa Times Forum. The Senators went 1-2
Rangers, Bruins clash in Boston >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers have established themselves as the top
team in the East and the Blueshirts will try to increase their conference lead
when they visit the Boston Bruins tonight at TD Garden.
With 77 points, the Rangers
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join the Big 12 in July.
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Red Wings aim to set new NHL home mark vs. Stars >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings will try to set a new NHL record for
the longest home winning streak in league history when they host the Dallas
Stars tonight at Joe Louis Arena.
Detroit matched a league standard with its 20th conse
Surging Ducks visit Minnesota >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks continue to dig themselves out of an
early-season hole that has made reaching the playoffs a difficult task.
They'll try to pick up their latest victory over a Minnesota Wild team that
continues to move sout
MySportsbook.com: NFL draft - The NFC South
In part two of MySportsbook.com’s draft preview, we’ll take a look at a division that was extremely disappointing last season: the NFC South. Many “experts” predicted the Panthers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, of course they could not even make the playoffs in an extremely weak NFC. The Saints definitely made up for the disappointing seasons of their NFC South brethren by exploding out of no where en route to the NFC Championship game. For the avid NFL gambler, it is imperative to pay attention to the NFL draft. Although free agency gets a ton of publicity, the successful franchises build their teams around the draft.
1. New Orleans Saints
Who would have thought this time last year that the Saints would be the favorites to win the NFC South for the 2007 campaign? New Orleans is loaded with firepower on the offensive side of the ball but with the exodus of Joe Horn they will most likely look to draft a WR on Day 1. Despite having the NFL’s 3rd ranked pass defense last season, the Saints will most likely upgrade their CB’s with one of their first two picks. Other possibilities for the Saints will be TE and DT. Because of where they will be selecting (27th), the Saints could go the “best available player” route which could net a LB.
Key additions: Eric Johnson TE, Troy Evans LB, David Patten WR
Key loses: Joe Horn WR,
Team needs: CB, WR, TE, LB, DT
Possible draftees: Aaron Ross CB Texas, Darrelle Revis CB Pitt, Ted Ginn Jr. WR OSU, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Chris Houston CB Arkansas, Greg Olsen TE Miami
2. Carolina Panthers
Carolina was one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL last season. With the signing of David Carr, expect the very first quarterback controversy to come out of Carolina if Jake Delhomme doesn’t rebound quickly from an average 2007 season. With veteran safety Mike Minter getting up there in age, they will look to draft a safety on Day 1 but probably not in the first round. LB is another need with the loss of Chris Draft to go along with Dan Morgan’s concussion problems. If TE Greg Olsen is still on the board, he might be too good to pass up despite their needs on the defensive side of the ball.
Key additions: David Carr QB
Key loses: Chris Draft LB
Team needs: LB, TE, S, OT
Possible draftees: Greg Olsen TE Miami, Patrick Willis LB Ole Miss, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Levi Brown OT PSU
3. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons were another NFC South team to have a disappointing 2007 season. The Falcons have been plenty busy during the off season with plenty of players coming and going including a new head coach. The Falcons were able to improve their draft position with the trade of coveted backup QB Matt Schaub. High on the list of Day 1 needs will be a defensive end to replace Patrick Kerney and a hard hitting safety since Lawyer Milloy is nearing the end of his career. With an additional 2nd round pick, the Falcons could attempt to trade up to acquire local product WR Calvin Johnson.
Key additions: Joey Harrington QB, Toniu Fonoti OG, Joe Horn WR
Key loses: Justin Griffen RB, Patrick Kerney DE, Matt Lehr OG, Ashley Lelie WR, Matt Schaub QB
Team needs: DE, S, OT, WR, DT
Possible draftees: LaRon Landry S LSU, Amobi Okoye DT Louisville, Levi Brown OT PSU, Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas, Alan Branch DT Michigan
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Age really caught up to the Bucs last season. The Bucs still have plenty of household names on defense in Ronde Barber, Simeon Rice and Derrick Brooks but the one thing those three have in common is unfortunately age. It is imperative for the Bucs to get much younger, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Despite having bigger needs on the defensive side of the ball, WR Calvin Johnson is the most likely pick if he is still available when the Bucs pick at the four spot. This would suit Bucs’ faithful just fine as Johnson is widely considered the top talent in the draft and it is a position of need for the Bucs.
Key additions: Jeff Garcia QB, Kevin Carter DE, Torrie Cox CB, Cato June LB
Key loses: Dewayne White DE, Sean Mahan OG
Team needs: WR, LB, DE, CB (Youth on defense!)
Possible draftees: Calvin Johnson WR Georgia Tech, Gains Adams DE Clemson, Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas
It is never too early to start betting on the NFL. Log on to MySportsbook.com to checkout all of the NFL futures for the upcoming season. On the clock: the NFC North
Odds to win the NFC South:
New Orleans Saints 8-5
Carolina Panthers 2-1
Atlanta Falcons 12-5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-2
Odds to win the NFC:
New Orleans Saints 13-2
Carolina Panthers 7-1
Atlanta Falcons 20-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25-1
Odds to win the Super Bowl:
New Orleans Saints 18-1
Carolina Panthers 20-1
Atlanta Falcons 50-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 75-1
To visit this sportsbook get to MySportsbook.com for all your online sportsbook needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.