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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.
<< 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
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
West Virginia set to join Big 12 in July >>
Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Virginia and the Big East have agreed
to settle their lawsuits, enabling the university to leave the conference and
join the Big 12 in July.
West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck would not d
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
Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.
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After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
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