Devils sweep season series with Penguins

Hockey Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Parise and Patrik Elias each posted a goal and one assist as New Jersey completed a six-game regular-season sweep of Pittsburgh with a 5-2 decision at the Prudential Center.

Dainius Zubrus, Paul Martin and Rob Niedermayer also tallied for the Devils, who have won four of five and are tied for the Atlantic Division lead with 87 points.

By virtue of having one more win than Pittsburgh (42-41), the Devils assumed the second spot in the Eastern Conference.

Martin Brodeur stopped 24 shots for New Jersey, which has won six in a row over Pittsburgh for the first time since moving from Denver prior to the 1982-83 season.

Chris Kunitz and Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Penguins, who have dropped three of four.

Marc-Andre Fleury allowed four goals on 13 shots over 30-plus minutes in the loss. Brent Johnson finished the game by stopping all five shots he faced.

Martin gave the Devils a 2-1 lead with a slick wrister inside the left post from the right wing with 1:42 left in the first period.

Fleury made a spectacular sweeping glove save on Travis Zajac's short-handed breakaway early in the second period. However, he was beaten seconds later as Elias broke away and stuck a forehander home at 3:09.

New Jersey took a 4-1 lead at 10:17 and chased Fleury as Parise finished off a ragged 4-on-2 rush by poking a loose puck home from inside the crease.

Fedotenko's right-circle shot at 5:23 of the third period brought the visitors within two, but the Pens failed on a late-game three-minute power play and Niedermayer hit the empty net with 1:13 to go.

Kunitz put the Pens on the board just over four minutes into the contest, and Zubrus equalized at 10:51.

Game Notes

Martin's goal was his first of the year, in his first game back since October 24 after surgery on a fractured left arm...Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin missed the game after suffering a foot injury while blocking a shot on Sunday. He is officially listed as day-to-day...The Devils wore red-and-green jerseys for the contest, honoring the color scheme the club wore from 1982 to 1992...The last sweep in the series between these clubs came when Pittsburgh swept a three-game series from the Devils during lockout-shortened 1995 season.

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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.