Bruins hope to bolster playoff chances vs. Maple Leafs
Hockey Betting Lines
03/09/2010 -
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins will try to bolster their playoff hopes
when they visit the last-place Toronto Maple Leafs for tonight's clash between
Original Six clubs at Air Canada Centre.
The Bruins are currently holding onto the eighth and final postseason berth in
the East with 69 points -- giving them just a two-point edge over the ninth-
seeded New York Rangers.
Despite being fourth in the Northeast Division, the Bruins are just 10 points
behind first-place Buffalo. Toronto is last in the division, as well as the
conference, with 52 points.
The Bruins have won three of four meetings against Toronto this year and have
taken 10 of 12 overall. Boston has also notched seven victories in its last
nine trips to Air Canada Centre.
Boston had a two-game win streak halted Sunday in Pittsburgh, losing 2-1 to
the Penguins in a game that saw Bruins forward Marc Savard suffer an injury on
a dangerous hit.
Savard suffered a Grade Two concussion late in regulation on a blind-side hit
to the head by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke. Cooke caught an unsuspecting Savard
with a shoulder moments after he released a shot from the high slot. Savard
lay motionless for several minutes while being attended to by the medical
staff. He was eventually taken off the ice on a stretcher and is out
indefinitely.
No penalty was called on the play, but the league is still investigating the
hit and a suspension could be levied against Cooke as early as today.
"A guy like that has to be suspended," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said of
Cooke. "And that's the way I see it, because it's an elbow to the head from
the blind side. That's exactly the example they show of what we've got to get
out of this game."
Savard has missed 23 of Boston's 64 games this year, mostly due to foot and
knee injuries. Despite missing time, he is tied for third on the Bruins with
33 points.
Blake Wheeler had the lone goal for Boston on Sunday and Tim Thomas was
saddled with the loss despite making 31 saves.
The Bruins are playing the third test of a seven-game road trip tonight.
Boston is just 15-11-5 as the visiting club this season and had won five
straight as the guest before Sunday's loss.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs were defeated for the fifth time in six games on
Sunday, losing a 3-1 decision in Philadelphia.
Nikolai Kulemin scored the lone goal for the Maple Leafs, who have lost three
of four since the NHL returned from its Olympic break. Jean-Sebastien Giguere
made 22 stops in the loss.
Tonight marks the first of three straight on home ice for Toronto, which is
just 11-14-5 as the host this year.
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NFL Football Sports Betting
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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