Panthers try to keep rolling in visit to Avalanche

Hockey Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers will try to win four straight games for the first time this season when they visit the Colorado Avalanche tonight at the Pepsi Center.

The Panthers come into this game six points back of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but appear to be peaking at the right time. They are coming off of a victory over Minnesota on Tuesday in which they held the Wild to a Florida franchise record-low 11 shots while picking up their first victory versus the team since 2001.

It didn't look that way early, as the Wild scored a pair of first-period goals. However, Michael Frolik and Cory Stillman scored in the third period, with Frolik lighting the lamp for the fourth time in three games and Stillman forcing overtime with 9:20 left in the frame. Stillman then scored the lone tally of the shootout session in a 3-2 victory, the 500th in franchise history for Florida.

"It's though to come back, but they didn't get a lot of shots -- going into the third period we had only given up five shots," said Stillman. "We continued to put pucks on the net and knew good things were going to happen."

Tomas Vokoun needed to make just nine saves while stopping all four skaters in the shootout for the Panthers, who haven't won four straight since a seven- game run from March 2-16, 2008. Florida also halted a six-game skid on the road by winning the opener of a three-game trip, picking up its first victory as the guest since January 14.

While the Panthers are fighting to remain in the playoff race, the Avalanche are losing the chase for home ice in the first round. Colorado dropped a 6-4 test to Northwest Division-leading Vancouver on Tuesday -- blowing a pair of three-goal leads -- to fall five points back of the Canucks in the division. The Avs also trail Los Angeles by three points for fifth overall in the West.

"It was a bad game," said Paul Stastny, who matched his career high of 50 assists first set as a rookie in 2006-07 in the loss . "It was a good first period, but after that mental lapses hurt us."

Colorado, which has lost four of its last six, got a pair of goals from rookie Matt Duchene on Tuesday, and he leads all first-year skaters with 23 goals and 47 points.

Chris Stewart also extended his recent hot play with a goal, giving him eight goals and eight assists over his last nine games, while Peter Mueller scored to give him a pair of tallies and four helpers in four games since being acquired in a trade from Phoenix.

Craig Anderson racked up 26 saves in the losing effort, just Colorado's second in its last eight home games.

The Avalanche are hosting the Panthers for the first time since 2007, with the last three meetings between the teams all taking place in Florida. That includes a 6-5 shootout win by the Panthers at home on December 2, their second straight win in the series.

Stephen Weiss had a hat trick for Florida in that game and scored the lone goal in the shootout, while Scott Clemmensen made 29 saves. Stastny had a goal and three assists for the Avs, Duchene had a pair of goals and an assist and Stewart notched a goal and two helpers.

Anderson made 39 saves before exiting in overtime with a neck injury suffered when Florida's Keith Ballard crashed into him. Anderson, who spent the previous three seasons as a backup with the Panthers, missed the next four games but will make his 22nd straight start tonight.

Florida has lost three of its last four in Colorado, where it hasn't won since January 2, 2003.

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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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship

(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.

MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.