Devils hope to stay hot at home against Stars

Hockey Betting Lines

01/05/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will aim for a sixth straight home victory when they welcome the Dallas Stars for tonight's interconference battle at Prudential Center.

The Devils, who are first in the Eastern Conference with 59 points, have won five in a row at the Rock to improve their home record to 15-6-0 on the season. Overall, New Jersey has won three of four and eight of its last 10 contests.

Tonight marks the first of two straight on home ice for the Devils, who will also welcome Tampa Bay on Friday. Jersey will then begin a five-game road trip with Saturday's stop in Montreal.

The Devils picked up a road win in their most recent game, downing Minnesota this past Saturday at Xcel Energy Center. Jamie Langenbrunner notched his first career hat trick and Jay Pandolfo wound up with the game-winning goal in the third period to lift Jersey to the 5-3 decision in St. Paul.

"It's definitely been a good start to 2010, that's for sure," Langenbrunner said. "Getting your first career hat trick is a lot of fun. I was well aware of it (not having one). That's something you know. I've had a few opportunities to get it, but it was good to get that third one."

All told, Langenbrunner posted five goals and six points in four contests last week and was named the NHL's First Star for the period ending January 3.

Dean McAmmond also scored and Patrik Elias picked up three assists for the Devils. Martin Brodeur stopped 29-of-32 shots for the win.

Prior to tonight's game, the Devils will honor the 2000 Stanley Cup championship team that beat Dallas in six games to earn the franchise's second title.

The Stars, meanwhile, come into tonight off a loss Saturday against visiting Vancouver. The setback ended a two-game winning streak for Dallas, which has yet to win three in a row this season.

Dallas tied the game at 1-1 on Loui Eriksson's goal just 37 seconds into the third period, but Daniel Sedin scored the game-winner with 2:38 remaining in regulation. Alexandre Burrows added an empty-net tally for Vancouver to seal the win.

Eriksson's tally was his 17th of the season for the Stars. Marty Turco made 24 saves in the losing effort for Dallas.

The Stars will visit the New York Rangers on Wednesday and, beginning with tonight, are playing five of six and eight of their next 11 games on the road. Dallas is just 7-7-6 as the visiting team this year and has lost four straight and seven of its last eight away from home.

Dallas recorded a 5-3 home win over the Devils on November 21 and has taken four of the last six meetings between the clubs. However, the Stars have lost four straight on the road in this series.

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Super Bowl XLIII Betting - Super Bowl 2009

Super Bowl 2009, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Let’s take a look at the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds and the betting line and figure out where they’ve been and where they are going to go.

MySportsbook.com put up the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds late on Sunday night with the Pittsburgh Steelers favored by 6.5 points and a total betting line at 47.5 points.

Since then, however, the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds have seen a good deal of movement and you’ll want to be on top of where they are likely to move to make sure you get the best line value for the big game.

Since opening, the Super Bowl 2009 betting lines went to Steelers -7 in the span of roughly 3 hours but were quickly bought back down just minutes later to 6.5 again.

After that is took about 5-6 more hours before the betting line went back to -7 where it has sat for a while now and is likely to remain. The opening betting total of 47.5 was bet down right after the line became available and went to 47 within minutes.

Roughly a day later it has been bet even further down to the 46.5 tally it currently is set at.

Roughly 60% of gamblers seem to be on the Cardinals here so the point spread will be bet down and a 7.5 would not last very long at all with many taking the early 6.5 in hopes of finding a potential middle in the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds.

If you like Arizona and see a 7.5, I’d take it as soon as possible because it’s unlikely to last. For Pittsburgh backers, the -7 might be the best you’ll be able to find but a 6.5 is definitely possible close to game time.

Regarding the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds for the total, most tracked gamblers are already on the over and with those who took the under 47.5 already securing a middle on the over 46.5, the only way I see it moving is back up to 47 so if you like the over, I’d recommend betting now.

Get free Super Bowl XLIII Betting from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online Super Bowl betting with credit cards

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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