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03/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins closed out their pre-Olympic break schedule with excellent play on the road, something the team hopes carries over when it opens up a season-long seven-game trek with this afternoon's matchup with the New York Islanders from Nassau Coliseum.
Boston won all four tests of a away swing from February 7-13 to put itself back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, but dropped a 4-1 home decision to rival Montreal on Tuesday in its first outing back from the NHL's extended hiatus for the Winter Olympics. The Bruins were able to bounce back on Thursday, however, by claming a 3-2 shootout victory over visiting Toronto on Miroslav Satan's goal in the third round.
Satan, who also accounted for the game's first goal in the first period, beat Maple Leafs goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere on a nifty deke to the backhand to put Boston ahead in the deciding phase, and netminder Tim Thomas stoned all three Toronto skaters he faced -- including former Bruin Phil Kessel -- during the shootout in his first start since February 2.
Thomas had 24 saves in regulation and overtime while subbing for Tuukka Rask, who sat out the contest due to a knee injury suffered in the Montreal game.
"I didn't take any extra pleasure because it was Phil," said Thomas when asked about stopping his ex-teammate in the shootout. I needed to get a win, our team needed to get a win. It's been a long time since we had a win at home."
The Bruins had lost 10 in a row (0-7-3) at TD Garden since a 4-0 shutout of Atlanta on December 30. The team's last win at home occurred at Fenway Park on New Year's Day, when Boston edged Philadelphia in the Winter Classic.
With Rask termed as day-to-day, Thomas will likely get a second straight start between the pipes today. The previously-struggling 2008-09 Vezina Trophy recipient owns a 7-4-1 record with a 2.00 goals against average in 12 career starts versus the Islanders, although he saved just 16-of-19 chances in a 4-3 overtime loss at Nassau Coliseum on December 12.
Boston may have leading scorer Patrice Bergeron back in the lineup this afternoon after the talented center took part in the team's morning skate on Thursday. The 24-year-old is dealing with a groin pull he sustained while competing for Canada in the recent Olympics and missed the Bruins' first two tilts after the Vancouver Games.
The Bruins, who have compiled a respectable 14-10-5 record on the road this season, enter today's play in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 67 points, one more than Atlanta, Montreal and the New York Rangers.
The Islanders started off strong after the league stoppage, besting Western Division co-leader Chicago by a 5-3 count Tuesday at the Coliseum, but couldn't sustain the momentum in a 6-3 road loss to Atlanta two nights later. The Thrashers erupted for four first-period goals, three of which came in the game's initial 10 minutes.
New York netminder Dwayne Roloson was pulled just 9:16 in after surrendering three goals on only seven shots, while backup Martin Biron stopped just 12- of-15 chances the rest of the way.
"In that first period, it felt like everything they shot went in," said Islanders head coach Scott Gordon.
Tim Jackman and Rob Schremp each pumped in a power-play goal for the Islanders, who will play four of their next five games at home and are presently six points out of a playoff spot in the East.
New York has won two of its three previous meetings with the Bruins this season, but Boston is 7-1-1 over the last nine bouts in the series and has gone 3-0-1 at the Coliseum during that stretch.
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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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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