Avs hold on to top Wild

Hockey Betting Lines

12/21/2009 - St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Hendricks scored a shorthanded goal late in the second period that proved to be the game-winner, as the Northwest Division-leading Colorado Avalanche held on for a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

Matt Duchene, Chris Stewart and Milan Hejduk also tallied for the Avalanche, who were 0-2-2 against Minnesota this season prior to the contest. Craig Anderson turned aside 28-of-31 shots for Colorado, which defeated Columbus 5-2 on Saturday and has won four of five overall.

"We played these guys five times now in the first half of the year and had a lot of good games going back-and-forth. It's great to come in here and get two points," Anderson said.

Cal Clutterbuck, Owen Nolan and Martin Havlat scored for Minnesota, which was 10-3-1 in its last 14 games coming into the contest, but dropped a 4-1 decision at Ottawa on Saturday. Niklas Backstrom made 17 saves in defeat

"I think we were really bad to start the game and they burried their chances," Clutterbuck said. "Other than that we had some chances on the power play and five-on-five and we didn't capitalize on them."

Colorado had a seemingly comfortable 4-1 lead in the third period, before Minnesota struck for a pair of goals within 1:52. First, it was Nolan tallying on a wrist shot with 7:55 remaining. Then Havlat finished off a breakaway on a feed from Clayton Stoner with 6:03 left to make it a 4-3 contest.

Minnesota kept the pressure on and despite pulling the goaltender for the extra attacker with over a minute to play, it was unable to get the equalizer and Colorado held on for the win.

Colorado got on the board late in the first. After Backstrom turned aside a flurry of Avalanche shots, Duchene was finally able to chip a rebound past the netminder from the doorstep with 11 seconds remaining in the period.

Stewart's tally on a feed from Paul Stastny at 3:49 of the second put the Avs up by a 2-0 margin. Hejduk then lit the lamp at 10:29 on a wrister that beat Backstrom on the stick side.

Clutterbuck's shorthanded tally on wrister from the right circle got through the pads of Anderson at 13:55 to get the Wild on the board. Hendricks then answered with a shorthanded goal of his own when he finished off a 2-on-1 with Cody McLeod with 2:44 remaining in the second to restore the Avs' three-goal cushion.

Game Notes

Despite the loss, the Wild have still won nine of their last 11 in Minnesota...The teams combined to go 0-for-9 on the power play.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.