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03/14/2010 - Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sergei Gonchar notched the game-winning score early in the third period, as Pittsburgh clipped Tampa Bay, 2-1, at St. Pete Times Forum.
Pascal Dupuis also tallied for the Penguins, who snapped a two-game slide and have won five of their last seven.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Pittsburgh, which moved four points ahead of idle New Jersey (87-83) in the race for the Atlantic Division crown.
Vincent Lecavalier provided the lone strike for the Lightning, who slid to their eighth loss in 10 games.
Antero Niittymaki was solid in defeat, stopping 37-of-39 shots for Tampa Bay, which remained in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind the Rangers.
Dupuis knotted the game 2:20 into the third, when he followed a strange carom off the back boards from Jordan Staal's deflected chance and slipped the puck into an open net past a diving Niittymaki.
Gonchar put the Penguins ahead at 5:17 on a power play, when his blistering point shot clanged off the right post and in through a screen.
Fleury came up with four big stops -- all but one of the Lightning's total shots in the third -- on a Tampa power play with 3:40 left in regulation to keep it a one-goal margin, including a sprawling right-pad stop on Lecavalier from the right side.
Niitymaki wasn't able to head to the bench for an extra skater until 46 seconds remained, and the home team didn't threaten in the Penguins' end.
Niittymaki was good on all 13 shots he faced in the first period, and Fleury was equal to his 10 shots faced.
Lecavalier snapped a scoreless tie at 8:09 of the second period, and Pittsburgh came up empty on 11 shots in the middle 20 minutes.
Game Notes
Pittsburgh has won two of three this season over Tampa Bay and five of the last seven meetings...Fleury has won four of his last five starts...The Penguins continue their five-game road trip on Wednesday at New Jersey, and the Lightning host Phoenix on Tuesday.
<< Streelman, Collins share lead in Puerto Rico
Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Streelman and Chad Collins
were atop the leaderboard Sunday at 12-under par when the third-round of the
rain-delayed Puerto Rico Open was suspended for the day due to darkness.
Rain delay
<< Report: Jets sign Tomlinson to two-year deal
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Jets have reportedly inked
running back LaDainian Tomlinson to a two-year deal.
Financial terms were not available, according to the New York Daily News.
The likely Hall of Fame back spe
<< Browns send QB Quinn to Broncos
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quarterback Brady Quinn is set for a new
beginning that had been rumored as the former first-round pick was dealt from
Cleveland to the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
The move came a day after the Browns re
<< Lille climbs to fourth in Ligue 1
Lille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lille used an own goal from Bostjan Cesar to
follow up its Europa League win over Liverpool with a 1-0 win over Grenoble on
Sunday in Ligue 1 and climbed to fourth in the standings.
Bordeaux, Montpellier, Au
Messi's hat trick leads Barca over Valencia >>
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lionel Messi had second-half hat trick and
Barcelona beat Valencia 3-0 on Sunday in a clash of top-three clubs in Spain's
La Liga at the Camp Nou.
Messi scored in the 56th, 81st and 83rd minutes to incre
North Carolina, UConn lend big names NIT field >>
NEW YORK (AP) -North Carolina and Connecticut are lending some serious star power to the NIT.The Tar Heels were a No. 4 seed in the bracket released Sunday, the second time in the past three years that the defending national champion missed the NCAA
Coyotes nip Thrashers in SO >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adrian Aucoin scored the game-winning goal in
the fourth round of the shootout, as the Phoenix Coyotes edged the Atlanta
Thrashers, 3-2, at Philips Arena.
Rich Peverley got Atlanta on the board with a
Raiders acquire LB Wimbley from Cleveland >>
Alameda, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders announced Sunday that they
have acquired linebacker Kamerion Wimbley from the busy Cleveland Browns for
an undisclosed draft choice.
While the draft choice remains undisclosed officially,
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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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