Red-hot Preds visit Flyers

Hockey Betting Lines

02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The streaking Nashville Predators should feel pretty good about their matchup tonight with the Philadelphia Flyers, especially if the game goes into a shootout.

The Predators aim to win six straight for the first time this season against a Flyers team that continued its struggles going beyond 65 minutes.

Nashville is on its third five-game win streak of the 2011-12 season, but came out a bit flat in Tuesday's game at Minnesota following the All-Star layoff. The Predators trailed the game by three goals early in the third, but potted the game's final four goals to roar back for a 5-4 win. The Preds scored their last three goals over the game's final 3:21.

Patric Hornqvist scored Nashville's second goal of the third and Mike Fisher knotted the game just 21 seconds later. Fisher added his second tally of night and the game-winner with 20.8 ticks left in regulation.

Brandon Yip also scored in the third and Matt Halischuk lit the lamp for the Predators, who are aiming to win six straight for the first time since March 17-26 of last year. Pekka Rinne made 21 saves to extend his club-record win streak to 10 straight games, though he did allow more than two goals for the first time over that run.

"They had a quick start," said Rinne, who hasn't lost since Jan. 5. "I thought that we weren't really ready in the beginning of the game, but as the game went along we picked it up and got it going."

Nashville, which has won 13 of 15, is second in the Central Division, three points behind conference-leading Detroit. It ends a three-game road trip this evening and has won six of its last seven as the guest.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, is looking to take advantage of a home-friendly portion of its schedule. Tuesday's contest with Winnipeg began a span of eight of 10 at home with a pair of tough road games versus the Rangers and Red Wings mixed in. However, the Flyers dropped a 2-1 shootout to the Jets, falling to 11-7-4 at home compared to 18-7-2 on the road.

"I think this is a big stretch for us and even though we got one point, it's disappointing," said Philadelphia winger Scott Hartnell. "We need to start playing well with stretches at home and this is a big month where we have a lot of home games in this month and it's definitely going to take some big efforts by individuals and collectively as a group and some good goaltending, just like it takes every time you're on the road."

The Flyers may also need to find a way to win in the shootout. They are 1-4 in shootouts this season and 20-38 all-time, while each of their past three games have gone past 65 minutes. Philadelphia is 1-2 over that time.

Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has lost all three of his games in the tiebreaker this year and had allowed five goals on five shots faced before stopping the initial two skaters he saw on Tuesday. However, he was beaten five-hole by Bryan Little in Tuesday's third round and the Flyers came up empty on their three chances.

Philly has scored just five times on 15 shootout attempts this year.

"We score a lot of goals," said Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. "We're one of the highest-scoring teams in the league [so] I'm not sure I have an answer [for the shootout struggles]. I think we have talented players."

Bryzgalov made 23 saves through overtime versus the Jets and Brayden Schenn had Philadelphia's lone goal.

The Flyers, who sit fourth overall in the East and five back of the Rangers for the top spot in the conference and Atlantic Division, remain without Danny Briere and James van Riemsdyk due to concussions, while defenseman Chris Pronger is expected to miss the rest of the season due to severe post- concussion syndrome.

The Predators have won four of their last six versus the Flyers, including a 4-2 home win on Jan. 14. Fisher and Martin Erat had a goal and an assist each, while Rinne made 36 saves.

Philadelphia has won two straight and three of its last four at home versus Nashville.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams

NFL Betting

It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.

We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.

Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.

Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.

Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.

NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.

The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Wagering

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