Miller, Sabres blank Bruins
Hockey Betting Lines
02/08/2012 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Miller made 36 saves to record his third shutout of the season and 25th of his career as the Buffalo Sabres thumped the Boston Bruins, 6-0, at First Niagara Center.
Jason Pominville netted a pair of goals and Tyler Ennis finished with a goal and an assist. Christian Ehrhoff, Patrick Kaleta and Drew Stafford all scored for the Sabres, who have won three of their last four games. Ville Leino and Andrej Sekera added two helpers apiece in the victory.
Tuukka Rask was tagged for three goals on 10 shots before getting yanked in favor of Tim Thomas, who didn't fare much better, giving up three goals on 19 shots for the Bruins. They have lost three of four.
Buffalo started its offensive onslaught at 6:23 of the first period with a little luck when Ehrhoff wristed a shot on goal from the left point that deflected off the stick of Bruins' forward Gregory Campbell in front and floated past the glove side of Rask.
The Sabres extended their lead to 2-0 at 14:49 of the first frame when Leino accepted a perfect cross-ice pass in the neutral zone and started down the left wing on the attack. Leino gained the blue line with speed, slammed on the breaks at the circle and flung a centering pass right to the tape of Pominville, who backhanded a tap-in past Rask.
Buffalo came out with jump in the second period and quickly extended its lead to 3-0 off a great individual effort by Ennis.
Just 1:52 into the second stanza, Ennis collected the puck in his defensive zone and started up. He blazed through the neutral zone with speed and cut through four Bruins defenders before shifting to his backhand and putting one on net from the right circle that just squeezed through the legs of Rask, sending the netminder to an early shower.
Buffalo got another fortunate break at 18:11 of the second stanza when Kaleta let a shot go from the left circle that deflected off the stick of Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and fooled Thomas for a 4-0 Sabres lead.
The theme continued in the third period for Buffalo, as it took advantage of a frustrated and sloppy Bruins team at 1:18 of the final frame.
Sekera ripped a shot from the right point that was kicked out by Thomas, but the puck wound up on the stick of Leino on the left wing. Leino then spotted a wide-open Pominville, who stuffed it home from the slot to make it 5-0.
Stafford capped the scoring with a tap-in off a pass from Ennis with 1:02 to play.
Game Notes
Buffalo exacted some revenge after the Bruins had taken the first two games between the teams this season...Rask is 4-4 in 10 career games against the Sabres...Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton participated in his 100th career NHL fight...The game featured 90 total penalty minutes between both teams...Buffalo failed to score on two power-play chances, while the Bruins did not receive any power play opportunities...The Bruins will host the Nashville Predators on Saturday, while the Sabres will welcome the Dallas Stars on Friday.
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Boozer scored 18 points and the Chicago Bulls barely needed Derrick Rose in an easy 90-67 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night. The Hornets lost their seventh game in a row
<< No. 22 Michigan takes care of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zack Novak had 14 points to lift No. 22
Michigan to a 62-46 win over Nebraska.
Stu Douglass had 13 points and Trey Burke added 12 along with five rebounds
and five assists for the Wolverines (18-7,
<< Oilers become Red Wings' latest victim at Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Detroit just cannot be beaten at home this
season.
Goals in the third period by Drew Miller and Henrik Zetterberg helped the Red
Wings extend their home winning streak to 18 games in a 4-2 win over
<< Kansas cruises past Baylor
Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Withey scored a career-high 25 points as No.
7 Kansas rolled over sixth-ranked Baylor, 68-54, to take a share of first
place in the Big 12.
The teams entered the game in a tie for second place wit
<< Smith leads Hawks past Pacers
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Smith had 28 points and 12 rebounds on
Wednesday, leading the Hawks to a 97-87 win over the Pacers.
Atlanta had lost three in a row, but got 20 points and eight assists from Joe
Johnson, 17 points f
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke trailed the entire second half until Austin Rivers hit a three-pointer from the right wing as time expired, lifting the 10th-ranked Blue Devils over No. 5 North Carolina, 85-84. Rivers finished with
Improved bench has Spurs ready to ride in watered-down West >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's tough to write an obituary for a team
that wins 61 games during the NBA's regular season but that didn't stop a
number of my peers from declaring the aging San Antonio Spurs dead on arrival
after they we
Nowitzki leads Mavs over Nuggets >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points and pulled down
nine rebounds as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Denver Nuggets 105-95 at
Pepsi Center on Wednesday.
Dallas had five players in double figures, including 17
Jokinen's hat trick leads Flames over Sharks >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Olli Jokinen capped his seventh career hat
trick with the winner in the third period as the Calgary Flames took a 4-3 win
over the San Jose Sharks.
Jokinen also had an assist while Jarome Iginla added a g
Perry lifts Ducks past Hurricanes in overtime >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Corey Perry scored the game-winning goal at
2:14 of the overtime period, sending the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 win over the
Carolina Hurricanes at Honda Center.
The deciding play began with a little luck f
Football Betting
NFL Football Betting OnlineThe San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .