Devils return home for battle with rival Rangers
Hockey Betting Lines
03/10/2010 -
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three straight road games out west following the Olympic
break seemed to have caught up with the Devils in their most recent contest.
New Jersey now returns home for the first time in nearly a month this evening
when it plays host to a New York Rangers club that is struggling on offense
itself as of late.
The Devils return to the Prudential Center to play their first home game since
February 12 because of the Winter Olympics. They lost in Carolina in their
last game before the break, then went 1-2-0 on the swing's final three games.
The trip was capped on Sunday with a 2-0 loss to Edmonton.
Martin Brodeur made 33 saves, but New Jersey's offense failed to get any of
its 22 shots past the Oilers' Jeff Deslauriers.
"When you give up 35, 40 shots to a team and you get 20, you should be better
than that," Devils head coach Jacques Lemaire said.
Ilya Kovalchuk, who has three goals and five assists in nine games with the
Devils since being acquired in a trade with Atlanta, led the team with five
shots as New Jersey was shut out for the first time since February 2.
A return home could help. The Devils play two straight and four of their next
five at home, where they are 20-9-1 this season. New Jersey also needs to
rebound quickly as it has fallen five points back of first-place Pittsburgh in
the Atlantic Division.
New York, meanwhile, seemed to have put its season-long scoring troubles
behind them after posting a total of eight goals in its first two games after
the break. However, the Rangers were blanked, 2-0, by Washington on Saturday
before suffering a 2-0 overtime setback to Buffalo the following day.
The Rangers are three points back of the final playoff spot in the Eastern
Conference after Sunday's loss. Brandon Dubinsky scored with 1:23 left to play
in overtime, his third goal in four games, snapping New York's goal drought at
149 minutes and 30 seconds. That goal also forced overtime, but Henrik
Lundqvist, who made 35 saves, allowed the game-winner 2:22 into overtime.
"We needed the two points, we got one," said Rangers head coach John
Tortorella, whose club is 0-1-2 following a three-game win streak. "We have to
keep on fighting. That is all we can do. There are a lot of questions about
offense."
The Rangers and Devils have split four meetings this year, though they haven't
met in the Garden State since a 3-2 New York win on October 5. The Devils then
took the next two in the series on the road before the Rangers rebounded with
a 3-1 home win on February 6.
Marian Gaborik scored his team-leading 35th goal in that game, but has zero
points in his last three games since that meeting. He has also missed a total
of four games since then due to injury.
Lundqvist made 41 saves for the Rangers, while Brodeur had 22.
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
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