Win Adds Flames Over Puck

Hockey Betting Lines

Filip Kuba had a goal and Craig Anderson made 36 saves in the hard-luck loss for Ottawa.

 

Ottawa expects to get leading goal-scorer Milan Michalek back tonight after he missed the last five games with a concussion. The Czech winger passed his baseline concussion test on Thursday and is considered ready to go for tonight. Michalek has 19 goals and six assists this season.

 

Ottawa is 10-7-1 as the host this year and has won its last two games on home ice.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins will take aim at a fourth consecutive victory tonight, when they host the Carolina Hurricanes for a battle at Consol Energy Center. With recent wins over Buffalo, Chicago and Winnipeg, the Penguins are on their first three-game winning streak since posting five straight victories from Oct. 18-27. Pittsburgh has scored 15 goals over its current win streak, which has improved the Pens' record in December to 6-4.

 

"I think the guy (counting) the shots was sleeping a couple of times, he (missed) a lot," said Fleury. "Other than that, in the second though, it was quiet, sometimes kind of (slow) back there, but that's when you have to stay focused and get ready for the next shot."

 

Pittsburgh is still without superstar Sidney Crosby, who is dealing with concussion-related symptoms. Defensemen Paul Martin (leg), Zbynek Michalek (concussion) and Kris Letang (nose/concussion) are also sidelined with their own issues. Martin could return tonight and is listed as questionable.

 

Pittsburgh has won its last two home games and is 10-3-2 as the host this season.

 

Carolina posted an overtime win over Ottawa on Friday and emerged from the Christmas break to defeat the New Jersey Devils on Monday. The 4-2 decision over the Devils ended a three-game homestand for the Hurricanes. Carolina, which is 4-9-4 as the guest this year, will try to end a three-game road skid this evening.

 

Sutter scored his seventh goal of the season, but he was denied the second multi-goal game of his career. Tuomo Ruutu and Anthony Stewart also tallied for the Hurricanes, who have won three of five.

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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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