Murray goes for win No. 600 as Senators host Oilers

Hockey Betting Lines

02/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams headed in different directions face off tonight at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, where the Senators wrap up a three-game homestand with a matchup against the slumping Edmonton Oilers.

Ottawa has won the first two games of this home stretch and four in a row overall. The team's latest victory came via the comeback variety, as the Senators scored three times in the third period to erase a one-goal deficit in Saturday's 5-3 triumph over Atlanta.

Mike Comrie tied the contest at 3-3 midway through the final frame and Dean McAmmond netted the go-ahead goal with 4:20 left to play. Mike Fisher would seal the win with an empty-net tally with under a minute to go.

Chris Kelly added a goal and an assist for Ottawa, while Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson each finished with a pair of assists. Martin Gerber put forth a solid performance between the pipes, stopping 28-of-31 chances on the night.

Gerber started his second consecutive game in place of No. 1 netminder Ray Emery, who will serve the final contest of a three-game suspension tonight. Emery received the penalty for slashing Montreal's Maxim Lapierre on February 10.

A victory by the Senators tonight would give head coach Bryan Murray 600 career wins. Only four coaches in league history -- Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour, Dick Irvin and Pat Quinn -- have previously reached that milestone.

Fisher and teammate Peter Schaefer have each recorded a point in five straight games, with both players having notched three goals and two assists during that span.

The Senators own an 18-11-2 home mark for the season and have won three consecutive outings at Scotiabank Place. Following tonight's tilt, Ottawa will begin a crucial home-and-home series with Northeast Division rival Buffalo on Thursday.

Edmonton is at the midway point of a seven-game road trip that has not yielded much success thus far. After opening the trek with a shutout loss at Boston and an overtime defeat to Buffalo, the Oilers were handed a 4-3 defeat by Toronto Saturday at the Air Canada Centre.

Marc Pouliot, Steve Staios and Ryan Smyth all tallied for Edmonton while goaltender Dwayne Roloson ended with 31 saves.

With their postseason hopes fading, the Oilers made a trade in hopes of improving their future on Sunday. The club shipped defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron to the New York Islanders in exchange for 23-year-old blueliner Denis Grebeshkov.

Grebeshkov, a former first-round pick of Los Angeles, appeared in 21 games for the Islanders in 2005-06 but is currently playing in his native Russia.

Edmonton currently stands eight points behind Minnesota for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Oilers will be visiting Ottawa for the first time since the teams fought to a 3-3 tie on November 6, 2003. In the lone meeting between the clubs last season, the Senators came through with a 5-3 win in Edmonton.

Wwwsportsbetting Hockey Betting News

<< Wild try to end futility against Dallas
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild will try to stop their longest current losing streak against any team in the league when they host the Dallas Stars this evening at Xcel Energy Center for the final time this season. Minnesota has droppe

<< Nuggets, Spurs clash in San Antonio
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs have recovered from their eight-game road trip and return to the AT&T Center this evening to host the Denver Nuggets. San Antonio, which is second in the Southwest standings, went 4-4 on the swing a

<< Pistons visit Central Division-rival Milwaukee
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Central Division-leading Detroit Pistons try to get back on the winning track tonight when they hit the road to visit the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center. Detroit had its seven-game winning streak halted with las

<< Argonauts ink QB McMahon
Toronto, Ontario (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Argonauts signed former NFL quarterback Mike McMahon on Tuesday. In 29 career NFL games, spread over five seasons with Detroit and Philadelphia, McMahon completed 229 of 515

<< Big East action pits Mountaineers at Friars
Providence, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In need of a quality win, the Providence Friars host the 22nd-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in a key Big East showdown from the Dunkin' Donuts Center tonight. The Friars have had a solid campai

Habs entertain Caps in encounter between struggling clubs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to post back-to-back wins for the first time in a month as they welcome the Washington Capitals for tonight's showdown at the Bell Centre. The Canadiens ended a six-game losing stre

Rangers, Devils open home-and-home series in New Jersey >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils begin an important home-and-home series this evening, with the first of the consecutive meetings to take place at Continental Airlines Arena. These two games carry importance for

Lightning try to rebound against Panthers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first-place Tampa Bay Lightning will attempt to avenge a weekend loss to the Florida Panthers when the Southeast Division rivals complete a home-and-home series tonight at St. Pete Times Forum. Florida got the upper ha

Line of Scrimmage: Norv Turner - Bad Things Happen in Threes >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - They're rejoicing in Denver, Kansas City, and Oakland right about now. Norv Turner is an NFL head coach for the third time, having taken over for Marty Schottenheimer in San Diego, and the rest of the AFC

Martin comes up big both on track and off >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Martin won the 2007 Daytona 500. Sure, he didn't get the trophy, the huge check or drenched by champagne in Victory Lane, but that doesn't change the fact that he won the race. In typical N

SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.

It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.