Panthers bring fresh legs into meeting with Wild
Hockey Betting Lines
02/23/2012 - (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 four-game homestand, as the first-place club has lost three straight in regulation for the first time all season. The Panthers, who haven't played since Sunday's 2-0 loss against Anaheim, have lost four in a row just once this season when they posted an 0-2-2 mark from Jan. 13-20.
With 65 points, the Panthers enter tonight's contest tied for first in the Southeast Division with Winnipeg. Florida has played four less games than the Jets and also holds two games in hand over the Capitals, who are two points off the lead.
Meanwhile, Minnesota hopes to it can keep heading in the right direction tonight after snapping a seven-game losing streak with Sunday's 2-0 home win over Boston. It was just the sixth win in 29 games (6-17-6) for the Wild, who are still only five points out of a playoff spot in the West.
This evening's tilt marks the first meeting between Florida and the Wild since the Panthers recorded a 2-1 home win on Nov. 12, 2010. That ended a four-game slide as the host in this series for Florida, which has won two straight overall against Minnesota after dropping the previous seven encounters.
Florida has scored a total of three goals during its current slide and the Panthers failed to get any of their 31 shots past Jonas Hiller on Sunday, as the Ducks posted the 2-0 win. Jose Theodore was the tough-luck loser, giving up one goal on 26 shots for the Panthers.
"We certainly need to find ways to score goals," Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen said. "Right now we're not creating enough on the offensive end to get us two points at the end of the night."
Florida, which will play three of its next four on the road after tonight, is 14-8-7 as the host this season.
On the injury front, the Panthers hope to get defenseman Ed Jovanovski back tonight after he sat out the last 14 games with a broken right hand. The veteran blueliner suffered the injury in fight with Boston's Daniel Paille on Jan. 16 and is questionable for tonight.
Panthers forward Matt Bradley sustained a head injury in Sunday's game against Anaheim and is out indefinitely.
Niklas Backstrom willed Minnesota to a victory against the Bruins on Sunday, as made a career-high 48 saves for his fourth shutout of the season in the 2-0 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champions.
After a scoreless first period that saw Backstrom turn away 14 shots and Boston's Tim Thomas stop 12, the Wild scored twice in the middle stanza.
"[Backstrom] was outstanding tonight, especially early in the game," Wild head coach Mike Yeo said. "To make those saves early gives us a lot of confidence the rest of the way."
Backstrom is expected to start again tonight with Matt Hackett serving as the backup. Regular backup Josh Harding did not make the trip to Florida due to an undisclosed injury.
Matt Cullen and Chad Rau scored for the Wild, who also snapped a five-game skid at home.
Minnesota has a chance to snap yet another losing streak tonight, as the club has lost three straight on the road heading into this evening's tilt. The Wild, who will also visit Dallas on Friday before heading back to St. Paul, are 12-14-5 as the road team this year.
Wild captain Mikko Koivu has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury and did not travel with the team to Florida.
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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year
Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.
Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.
With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.
Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.
Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to bet on the NBA. With the regular season about to hit the homestretch, it is important to point out that MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.