11/21/2008 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Biron stopped all 40 shots he saw against his former team to post his first shutout of the season as the Philadelphia Flyers downed the Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, at HSBC Arena.
Biron, who played his first eight-plus seasons in Buffalo before being traded to Philadelphia near the trade deadline in 2007, became the first Philadelphia goaltender to post a shutout in Buffalo since Tommy Soderstrom guided the Flyers to a 2-0 win on December 27, 1993. It was also Biron's 24th shutout in his career.
"Shutouts are nice but you take the good and the bad out of them because it wasn't a perfect game for me," said Biron. "We pulled it off which is the key at the end."
Jeff Carter scored twice while Scott Hartnell tallied the other goal for the Flyers, who have won their last three games and have recorded a point in each of their last five contests.
Ryan Miller stopped 22 of 24 shots for the Sabres, who are in the midst of a season-high four-game losing streak.
"When you aren't going good you don't get the breaks, when you're going good you get the breaks," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff. "Before they scored their one goal we probably should have scored three. When they don't go in it is frustrating."
Late in the first period Buffalo had a golden opportunity to take the early lead as the team had a two-man advantage for 1:15. Philadelphia, though, got some big saves from Biron and shortly after the final penalty expired took the lead.
Hartnell, who was called for slashing to give Buffalo the two-man opportunity, had come out of the box and was loitering in the neutral zone. Simon Gagne got the puck to Hartnell, who skated into the Buffalo zone all alone and roofed a backhander past Miller for a 1-0 lead with 58 seconds left in the first.
"I came out (of the penalty box) I saw Gagne, knew the penalty was ending and he chipped it out," said Hartnell. "I was able to knock it down, I was cheating a little bit. I was able to make the first move, got it to my backhand and out it upstairs."
Biron wound up escaping the first 20 minutes without giving up a goal and making 12 saves.
Skating shorthanded, Philadelphia almost took a 2-0 lead a bit over five minutes into the second as the team had a 2-on-1 break, but Miller stopped Carter's wrister from the left circle and Thomas Vanek was sprung on a breakaway going the other way.
Vanek was impeded by Hartnell, who wound up getting called for hooking to give Buffalo a two-man advantage, but he did get a shot on net. Biron, though, came up with the save and was strong on the two-man advantage to preserve the 1-0 lead.
Neither team scored in the second period as Biron stopped 13 shots while his counterpart, Miller, made 11 saves.
Buffalo was awarded a goal with 14:20 to play as Drew Stafford redirected a shot on net from the right side. The puck was stopped by Biron and it remained under his leg, but one of the officials on the ice thought it went over the goal line. Extensive replays showed that the puck didn't come close to crossing the line and the goal was disallowed.
"Two point blank back door plays that I didn't bear down on," said Stafford. "You only get those chances so often. It's something that I guess we have to build on for our (line's) chemistry."
About four minutes later, Carter made it a 2-0 game as he picked up a clearing attempt in the Buffalo zone and from the right slot fired a laser into the right corner that Miller didn't even react to.
Carter's empty-netter with one minute to go accounted for the final score.
Game Notes
Philadelphia hosts Phoenix on Saturday...Buffalo next plays on Saturday when it will host the Islanders...Coming into the game, the Sabres had won nine of 12 against Philadelphia since the 2005-06 season...Gagne, who had an assist in the game, has a six-game point streak with three goals and six assists during the run...It was Hartnell's first goal in 10 games...Neither team scored on the power play with Buffalo having five chances and Philadelphia three.
<< Hansbrough starts against UCSB
Santa Barbara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Carolina senior forward Tyler
Hansbrough, who missed the first two games of the season, started Friday night
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Hansbrough missed the firs
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<< Smith helps Duke top Michigan in MSG title game
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Gerald H
<< Rockets conjure up win with fourth-quarter rally over Wizards
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Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks
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Minnesota Timberwolves.
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Villanueva, Bucks crush short-handed Knicks >>
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New York Knicks.
Andrew Bogut scored 14 points and hauled in 17 boards for the Bu
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Mavs finally get first home win, top Grizzlies >>
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America
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
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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.
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