Lightning aim to shake off distractions versus Jets
Hockey Betting Lines
02/23/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Lightning aren't letting the selling off of a few a parts impact their playoff push. Tampa Bay opens up a three-game road trip on Thursday night looking for a fourth straight victory as it takes on the Winnipeg Jets.
The Lightning bring a three-game winning streak into this meeting and each victory has come on the same day that the club has made a trade. Tampa Bay snapped a two-game slide with a victory over San Jose last Thursday, trading forward Dominic Moore to the Sharks right before the game, and then dealt defenseman Pavel Kubina to the Flyers on Saturday before besting Washington by a 2-1 score.
The trend continued on Tuesday, with the Lightning trading forward Steve Downie to the Avalanche in exchange for Kyle Quincey, then flipping the defenseman to the Red Wings for a minor-league player and a 2012 first-round draft pick.
Fortunately, Tampa Bay still has Steven Stamkos on the roster and he went out and scored twice and added an assist in a 3-2 victory over visiting Anaheim. Stamkos leads the NHL with 42 goals and is tied for second in points with 70.
"Obviously it was an emotional day for a lot of us," said Stamkos. "We lost (Downie), a guy we were all so close with in this room and everyone respects and loves. It's the business side of hockey, sometimes it's not always pretty and we don't have control over it. He was a great friend and a great teammate and you just wish him the best of luck.
"We'll try to move on the best we can and we were able to do that with a big win tonight."
Teddy Purcell added a goal and two assists and Mathieu Garon made 28 saves to help the Lightning pick up a win despite playing without captain Vincent Lecavalier. The club announced on Tuesday that he will be sidelined indefinitely due to a non-displaced fracture in his right hand.
Following a four-game homestand, the Lightning play their next three on the road and sit just five points back of a playoff spot. That is the same margin separating from the top spot in the Southeast Division currently shared by Florida and Winnipeg.
"This was huge for the team and huge for a lot of the players," said Stamkos. "We wanted to get this win for us and the fans before we headed out on the road."
The Jets staked their claim to first place by getting a point in Tuesday's 5-4 overtime setback to the Flyers. Winnipeg got a career-high 50 saves from Ondrej Pavelec, but gave up the game-tying goal with 10 seconds to play in regulation and the overtime winner with 43.6 ticks remaining on the clock.
Pavelec matched the 50-save outing he first posted back on Oct. 31, 2009 versus Ottawa.
"He's been playing like that all year. I think it's pretty spectacular but I don't think we're too surprised by it," noted Jets forward Evander Kane. "There's a lot of pucks that go towards the net that not a lot of goalies would be able to stop but he's so athletic he's able to do that."
Winnipeg went a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play, getting goals from Dustin Byfuglien, Kane and Andrew Ladd, who totaled two goals in the game. Tim Stapleton added a career-high three assists for the Jets, whose three-game win streak came to an end as they fell to 2-0-1 on an eight-game homestand.
The Jets have won back-to-back games versus the Lightning following a 12-game series losing streak. After dropping the first of six meetings this year, Winnipeg snapped the slide with a 5-2 home win on Nov. 14 and then followed that up with a 2-1 overtime triumph in Tampa on Feb. 2.
Kyle Wellwood netted the game-winner and Pavelec made 30 saves in the recent encounter.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coming off a rare loss at home, the Blues don't have much time to figure out what went wrong. St. Louis gets right back in action tonight and tries to avoid a fifth straight loss to the Nashville Predators. The Blues carri
<< Canucks set to challenge Red Wings' home record
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After getting pushed below the .500 mark on the road in
their last game, the Detroit Red Wings will try to extend the longest home
winning streak in NHL history when they host the Vancouver Canucks at Joe
Louis Arena in tonig
<< Panthers bring fresh legs into meeting with Wild
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The well-rested Florida Panthers will try to avoid matching
their longest losing streak of the season when they welcome the Minnesota Wild
for tonight's encounter at BankAtlantic Center.
Florida is 0-3 at the start of a fo
<< Ducks close out successful swing at Hurricanes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks will try to close out a successful road
trip on a positive note when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes for tonight's
interconference battle at RBC Center.
The Ducks are 4-1-2 so far on an eight-game trip
<< Let's be Frank: Don't overlook Discreet Dancer this weekend
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With the top two early Kentucky Derby favorites - Union
Rags (trainer Michael Matz) and Algorithms (Todd Pletcher) - lining up for
Sunday's Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, it is easy to forget
about another of Pl
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blackhawks shook off the absence of captain Jonathan Toews on Tuesday to record a tight victory over the NHL's top team. No longer do they look like a team that nearly torpedoed their season at the start of the month.
Coyotes try to keep up February run against Flames >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An excellent February has helped get Phoenix into a share
of first place in the Pacific Division. The Coyotes try to keep that run going
this evening against a team that just had a successful run of its own come to
an end as
Flyers seek first victory at Edmonton in 11 years >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers hope that their latest victory can
shake them out of their near month-long slump. They'll look to win at Edmonton
for the first time in almost 11 years as they battle the Oilers.
The Flyers kicked o
Sharks aim to get on track versus Maple Leafs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling clubs will try to get back in the win
column tonight, as the San Jose Sharks visit the Toronto Maple Leafs for a
clash at Air Canada Centre.
The Sharks have been floundering on the road, posting a 1-4-
Heat try to halt the Lin-sanity >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat have received plenty of attention thanks to
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New Yor
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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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