Streaking Kings try to continue mastery of rival Ducks
Hockey Betting Lines
02/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will be aiming to extend a franchise- record winning streak tonight. If recent history is any indication, the Anaheim Ducks may not be posing much of a problem towards achieving that feat.
The Kings shoot for an unprecedented 10th consecutive victory, as well as a sixth straight triumph over the Ducks, when these two area rivals face off once again tonight at the Honda Center.
Los Angeles established its new club mark with Saturday's 4-3 win over visiting Detroit, in which the Kings overcame a three-goal deficit after one period.
The Kings stormed back on second-period goals by Alexander Frolov, Michal Handzus and Ryan Smyth to tie the contest, then went ahead when Handzus scored again with 2:21 left to play.
"We have a lot of confidence right now, and we know that if we stick to our game most nights we will be successful," said Handzus. "We knew we did not play well in the first period. We came out a little flat, and they came to us pretty hard. We decided not to try and hit a home run, we just stuck to our game plan."
Goaltender Jonathan Quick bounced back from a shaky beginning between the pipes by stopping all 15 shots he faced over the final two periods. The Kings' youngster turned aside only 5-of-8 chances during the opening frame.
Saturday's victory came on the heels of a 6-4 decision over Anaheim Thursday at the Staples Center, where Los Angeles blew an three-goal advantage before regrouping to win.
The Kings took a seemingly-comfortable 4-1 lead on Jack Johnson's one-timer through a Handzus screen 1:44 into the third period, but goals by Troy Bodie, Matt Beleskey and Ryan Carter within a span of just over six-minutes pulled the Ducks even.
The game remained tied until 5:32 remaining in regulation, when the Kings' Dustin Brown knocked home a rebound of an Anze Kopitar shot. Kopitar, who racked up two goals and two assists in the wild win, later added some insurance with a power-play tally in the final minute.
It's definitely not how we wanted to win, but in the end, we got two points and that's most important," said Kopitar afterward. "It shows we cannot let up in the third period. We need to shut these games down."
Recently-acquired Jason Blake logged a goal and an assist for Anaheim, which had a three-game win streak come to an end, while Ryan Getzlaf set up two of the Ducks' scores.
Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller allowed all six goals on 31 shots in Thursday's defeat. The Swiss standout had let up just one goal on 80 shots over his previous two outings, which came immediately after he signed a four- year contract extension.
"We kind of lost our game," said Hiller of the loss. "We had to take some penalties and they scored two goals (on the power play). They were right back into the game. We fought back, had a chance and I think that's a positive."
The Ducks have not played since Thursday's setback, giving them some additional time to try to work out their troubles in this series of late. Los Angeles has won the last five meetings between these Pacific Division foes and has amassed 14 goals over its three victories against Anaheim this season.
Hiller has particularly struggled lately against the Kings, having recorded a subpar 4.59 goals against average in losing his last five starts versus Los Angeles.
In contrast, Quick is 5-0-0 with a 2.60 GAA lifetime against Anaheim, although he managed to save only 18-of-22 shots in Thursday's game.
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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES
NFL Football Sports BettingTwo playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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