Flames burn Avalanche

Hockey Betting Lines

02/18/2007 - Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kristian Huselius had a pair of goals and added an assist to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche in the second of three meetings between the teams in a six-day span.

Jarome Iginla scored a goal and added an assist for Calgary, which has won two of three. Dion Phaneuf and Stephane Yelle also tallied for the Flames, while Miikka Kiprusoff made 24 saves between the pipes. Daymond Langkow also added a pair of helpers.

"Tonight, especially early on, it was tight checking," said Langkow. "Obviously both teams came to play, after the last game (which Colorado won, 7-5). It was a battle, but it was a good hockey game. We were fortunate to come out on top."

Paul Stastny and Andrew Brunette scored for Colorado, which had a two-game winning streak halted and has dropped three of its last five games overall. Milan Hejduk added an assist to extend his point streak to six games, while Peter Budaj stopped 25-of-29 shots in a losing cause for the Avs.

The Flames grabbed a 3-2 lead at 16:31 of the second, taking advantage of a Colorado line change. Nabbing the puck in the neutral zone, Roman Hamrlik charged forward and dished to Huselius, whose shot went wide of the net. Phaneuf then corralled the puck and ripped a dynamite shot past Budaj to put Calgary on top.

Huselius made it a 4-2 game in the third period with his second tally of the night. With the Flames on the power play, the right winger collected a pass from Iginla down low in the left circle and sent a wrist shot high and just underneath the crossbar in the top right corner of the net with 11:52 remaining in the game.

Yelle added a short-handed, empty-net goal with 2:25 left to play.

"I think the whole team came to play tonight," said Huselius. "It was a huge game for us and it was nice to get the two points. It's always nice to contribute. The key thing is we won and now we can go on the road and play well hopefully."

Neither side lit the lamp in the first period, with Calgary holding the slight edge in shots on goal, 5-4.

The Flames finally broke the scoreless tie on Huselius' tally in the middle stanza. Andrei Zyuzin ripped a shot toward the crease, and Huselius came around the net and broke free on the right side, wristing the shot past a sliding Budaj on the glove side at 2:59.

Colorado was quick to net the equalizer, however, as Kiprusoff got mixed up in traffic and didn't have time to recover before Stastny tipped in a shot by Hejduk at 7:42.

The Avs struck again about 3 1/2 minutes later, as Brunette followed Joe Sakic through the neutral zone and into Flames' territory. Sakic ripped a slapshot wide and off the boards, but the disc deflected right back to him for another chance before Brunette knocked home the rebound to put Colorado up by a 2-1 margin at 11:13.

Calgary, though, tied the game with a power play marker at 14:45. Langkow sent a cross-ice pass to Iginla, who turned and opened up his body before rifling a one-timer past Budaj to make it 2-2.

Game Notes

Huselius' first tally was his 100th career NHL goal... The teams meet again in Colorado on Tuesday. It will be the Flames' third straight game against the Avalanche, who visit Vancouver in between on Sunday. Hejduk has five goals and five assists during his six-game point streak...Colorado finished 0-for-3 on the power play, while Calgary went 2-for-6.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

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