Anderson, Senators beat Panthers 6-2

Hockey Betting Lines

02/15/2012 - Sunrise, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Craig Anderson came back to haunt his old team on Wednesday.

The 30-year old goaltender, who used to wear a Panthers sweater, made 42 saves Wednesday to backstop the Ottawa Senators to a 6-2 win over Florida at BankAtlantic Center.

Milan Michalek finished with a goal and two assists, Daniel Alfredsson and Kaspars Daugavins had a goal and an assist, while Jim O'Brien, Filip Kuba, and Bobby Butler also scored for the Senators, who have won three of their last four games. Jason Spezza contributed three assists in the victory.

Shawn Matthias and Sean Bergenheim scored for the Panthers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Scott Clemmensen gave up four goals on 16 shots before he was pulled in favor of Jose Theodore, who stopped 13-of-15 shots in relief.

Ottawa opened the scoring at 5:35 of the opening period after Nick Foligno ripped a shot from the right circle that missed the net and caromed off the back boards. O'Brien chased down the loose puck and stuffed home the wrap- around attempt to give the Sens a 1-0 advantage.

Florida responded to tie the game at 11:47 of the first frame after Matthias raced through the neutral zone to the left circle and fired a wrist shot high over the left shoulder of Anderson.

Ottawa came out on fire in the second stanza and scored three consecutive goals to grab a comfortable 4-1 lead after two periods.

The first goal of the period came 5:18 into the second period after Brian Lee let a slap shot go from the right point that was tipped past a screened Clemmensen by Daugavins.

The Sens used some more nifty passing in the offensive zone to make it 3-1 at the 7:24 mark after Spezza came flying through the neutral zone and slammed on the brakes just inside the blue line on the left wing. He then found a cutting Michalek, who spun it to Butler in front for the tip-in.

Ottawa ballooned the lead to 4-1 while shorthanded at 14:06 to cap the second period when Alfredsson accepted a pass from Daugavins right up the gut, went in alone on Clemmensen and lifted a backhander into the net to send Clemmensen to an early shower.

Michalek found the back of the net with a tip-in off a perfect pass from Erik Karlsson just 1:24 into the third period to make it 5-1 Senators.

Florida got one back on the power play 4:25 into the final period when Bergenheim tipped one home from in front off a shot from Campbell to make it 5-2, but the Sens answered with a power-play tally of their own with 5:06 to play in regulation when Kuba beat Theodore with a wrister from the right circle.

Game Notes

Florida fell to 6-16-7 when notching two goals or less this season...Anderson spent parts of three seasons (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09) with the Panthers before signing with the Colorado Avalanche for the 2009-10 season...Ottawa finished 1-for-4 with the man advantage, while the Panthers converted 1-of-5 power play chances.

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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

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Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.

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

Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.