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03/19/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Capitals will shoot for a fifth win in six games when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning for tonight's Southeast Division clash at St. Pete Times Forum.
The Capitals began the month of March with four consecutive losses, but have since won four out of five games. Washington has all but wrapped up its second straight Southeast Division crown, as it is 13 points ahead of second-place Carolina with only a few weeks remaining in the regular season.
Washington has dominated the Lightning recently, going 3-0 against Tampa this season to extend its series winning streak to eight games. The Caps have also won 10 of 13 overall against the Bolts and have taken four straight and six of 10 in Tampa.
The Capitals had a three-game winning streak halted in Monday's 5-1 loss at Atlanta, but rebounded with Tuesday's shutout victory in Florida. Jose Theodore was spectacular between the pipes, stopping all 19 shots, as the Capitals blanked the Panthers, 3-0, at BankAtlantic Center.
Theodore improved to 28-15-4 on the year and collected his second shutout of the season. Brooks Laich, Viktor Kozlov and Mike Green scored for the Capitals, while John Erskine tallied two helpers for Washington.
Green, who leads all NHL defenseman with 25 goals this season, returned to the lineup after missing Monday's game with flu-like symptoms.
Alex Ovechkin failed in his second chance to become the first Capitals player to ever notch three separate 50-goal seasons. The Russian superstar leads all NHL players with 49 goals on the year.
Tonight's test marks the third stop on a five-game road trip for the Capitals, who close out the swing with stops at Carolina and Toronto. Washington is 18-13-4 as the guest this year and has won six of its last seven road tilts.
The Lightning are second from the bottom in the Eastern Conference standings, but have recorded at least a point in three straight games, going 2-0-1 in that stretch.
Tampa was handed a shootout loss Tuesday night against visiting Toronto. John Mitchell scored the game-winner in the sixth round of the shootout, as the Maple Leafs erased a three-goal deficit en route to the 4-3 victory.
Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and Matt Pettinger scored for the Lightning. Tampa Bay staked Karri Ramo to a three-goal lead but watched it slip away as he allowed three goals on 39 shots with each coming over the final 20:24.
Martin St. Louis added two assists and pushed his point streak to six games. He has four goals and five helpers during the run.
Tampa is playing the second of four straight on home ice tonight and is just 11-14-10 as the host this season. The Bolts have dropped four straight and seven of eight at the Forum.
<< Habs hope to continue dominance of Sens
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens hope their recent dominance of the
Ottawa Senators can help them snap a three-game losing streak, as the Habs
visit their Northeast Division rivals tonight at Scotiabank Place.
The Canadiens are 4-0
<< Oilers kick off key road trip in Denver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The playoff-hopeful Edmonton Oilers start up an important
three-game road trip that begins with this evening's clash with the Colorado
Avalanche from the Pepsi Center.
Edmonton enters its trek holding a slim one-point edge
<< Top-seeded Cavs welcome Blazers to town
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers have catapulted to the top of the
Eastern Conference thanks to their fine play at home. Tonight they will resume
a four-game residency against the talented Portland Trail Blazers at Quicken
Loans A
<< Surging Hawks close out homestand vs. Mavs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks will attempt to close out a perfect
seven-game homestand tonight versus the Dallas Mavericks at Philips Arena.
The Hawks have won the first six tests of the residency and will try for a
season h
Ducks head to Phoenix for key matchup >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks continue their battle for a postseason
spot tonight, as they take on the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena.
The Ducks are currently 12th overall in the Western Conference with 72 points,
three back of e
Sharks try to regain groove in tilt with Predators >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Even though they have already locked up their second
straight Pacific Division title, the San Jose Sharks know they are not playing
their best hockey right now.
San Jose will attempt to reverse that trend in tonight's batt
Terps tangle with Golden Bears in West Regional action >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Maryland Terrapins and California
Golden Bears meet in first-round action of the NCAA Tournament's West Regional
this afternoon, from the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
Gary Williams' Terrapins finished
Zips and Zags clash in Portland >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Making their 11th straight NCAA Tournament
appearance, the Gonzaga Bulldogs stay close to home in the first round of the
South Regional as they contend against the Akron Zips at the Rose Garden in
Portland.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
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