11/19/2008 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chuck Kobasew and Zdeno Chara both scored twice, as the red-hot Boston Bruins scored the last five goals and defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 7-4, at TD Banknorth Garden.
Marc Savard registered a goal and three assists, while David Krejci had a goal and two helpers for the Bruins, who have won 10 of their last 12 games and lead the Northeast division with 28 points.
Phil Kessel scored a goal and assisted on another for Boston, which has won six straight games as the host. Manny Fernandez stopped 25-of-29 shots to pick up the win.
"We are happy but not satisfied," Chara said. "Tonight we didn't play the whole sixty minutes. We need to put sixty minutes together. I felt that as the game went on we were better."
Thomas Vanek finished with two goals and an assist for Buffalo, which was handed its third consecutive lopsided loss. The Sabres have been outscored 18-7 during their skid.
Jason Pominville recorded a goal and two assists in defeat.
Ryan Miller allowed seven goals on 20 shots and was lifted in the third period in favor of Patrick Lalime, who made three saves the rest of the way.
"We got off to a good start again, got a couple of goals," said Pominville. "You can't give up the goals like we did. We handed them their opportunities. They didn't get that many shots."
It was a shooting gallery as the clubs combined for seven goals in the first period. Pominville's fourth goal in as many games got things started. On the rush, he accepted a feed from Vanek and swept a backhander over the glove of Fernandez at the 1:41 mark.
A bad turnover resulted in the tying marker just 1:18 later. Blake Wheeler picked off Henrik Tallinder's clearing pass and dished to Krejci in the left circle. Krejci faked the one-timer to freeze the goaltender before sliding the puck to Kobasew in the slot, and he tucked it into the empty net.
Derek Roy restored the lead for Buffalo less than two minutes later on a redirection of a Toni Lydman shot from the left point, and Vanek gave the Sabres a two-goal edge just 29 seconds later.
The Bruins, though, got one back, as Krejci fired a shot that ricocheted off Buffalo defenseman Teppo Numminen and behind Miller at 5:38.
Vanek's power-play tally made it 4-2 with 7:23 remaining, but Boston, once again, had an answer. Matt Hunwick sent a outlet pass to Kessel, creating a 2-on-1 for the Bruins. The former first-round pick streaked down the right wing and his pass was slowed by the stick of Lydman, but Savard still was able to shovel the puck home on the backhand 29 seconds after Vanek netted his league-leading 15th goal of the season.
Boston evened the score in the middle stanza on the power play. Chara let go a drive from up high that made its way through traffic and beat Miller on the glove side at the 2:37 mark.
Kobasew's second goal of the game gave the Bruins their first lead with 7:29 remaining, and another blast by Chara from the point put the Bruins up 6-4 with 2:48 remaining.
Kessel capped the scoring 1:16 into the third frame.
Game Notes
The four-point performance gave Savard 600 points for his career...Kobasew appeared in his 300th career game...Boston finished 2-for-6 on the power play, while Buffalo converted once in three opportunities...Hunwick and Patrice Bergeron each collected two assists for Boston...The Bruins lead the season series 2-1, with the home team winning each game...Before the game, Boston placed defenseman Andrew Ference (fractured right tibia) on injured reserve and recalled defenseman Matt Lashoff from Providence of the American Hockey League.
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LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP
With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.
There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.
Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.
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The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.
While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.
For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.
1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.
2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.
How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.
Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.
Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.
How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).
Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.
Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.
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