Surging clubs meet as Rangers host Sens at MSG

Hockey Betting Lines

03/22/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of hot teams will meet tonight in the Big Apple, as the New York Rangers welcome the Ottawa Senators for an Eastern Conference battle at Madison Square Garden.

The Senators have won four straight and eight of their last nine contests to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Ottawa, which has qualified for the postseason in each of the last 11 seasons, is currently 12th in the East and nine points behind Montreal for the conference's eighth and final playoff berth.

New York, meanwhile, has won its last three outings and is 7-3-1 since firing head coach Tom Renney and replacing him with John Tortorella. The Rangers are seventh in the East with 84 points on the year.

Ottawa earned its latest victory Saturday night against the visiting New York Islanders. Dany Heatley's team-leading 34th goal of the season capped a four- goal second period, as the Senators rolled past the Islanders, 5-2, at Scotiabank Place.

Mike Fisher, Chris Neil, Nick Foligno and Filip Kuba also tallied for the red- hot Senators.

Daniel Alfredsson recorded three assists, while Brian Elliott made 20 saves to extend his winning streak to eight games, the longest by a rookie goaltender in franchise history.

Jason Spezza added an assist to push his point streak to nine games. The centerman has five goals and nine assists during the tear.

The Sens recorded their three most recent wins on home ice, but will kick off a six-game road trip tonight. Ottawa is just 11-18-4 as the guest this year.

The Rangers are coming off Saturday's win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres. Henrik Lundqvist made 37 saves to help the Blueshirts record the 5-3 decision at Madison Square Garden.

Ryan Callahan tallied two goals while Nikolai Zherdev, Chris Drury and Markus Naslund each had a goal for the Rangers. Callahan has recorded a point in five straight games, notching four goals and three helpers over that span.

New York is 22-10-4 as the host this year and is playing the middle segment of a three-game homestand tonight. The Rangers, who will also host Minnesota on Tuesday, have won their last four on Broadway.

The Rangers have won two of three against Ottawa this year and can win the season series in the final regular-season matchup between the clubs tonight. The Sens have still taken seven of 10 overall in the series and have also come out on top in six of their last eight trips to the Big Apple.

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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.

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