Sharks, Flames clash in San Jose

Hockey Betting Lines

02/08/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Staring at a two-week long road trip, the San Jose Sharks would love to pick up four big points before leaving the friendly confines of HP Pavilion.

They'll look to accomplish step one of that plan this evening and extend a five-game series winning streak over the visiting Calgary Flames.

The Sharks will welcome the Flames and Blackhawks to town over the next three nights before embarking on a nine-game road trip that runs from Feb. 12 through Feb. 26. San Jose has won five of its past six at home and is 17-8-2 as the host compared to a 12-7-4 mark on the road.

The Sharks return home after dropping a 5-3 decision to the hosting Coyotes on Saturday. Patrick Marleau scored to make it a one-goal game with 32 seconds left in regulation, but Phoenix potted an empty-net goal in the final second to restore the two-goal edge.

Marleau also had an assist and both Jamie McGinn and Logan Couture scored for the Sharks, who had a three-game win streak snapped. Antti Niemi finished with 19 saves and Ryan Clowe logged three assists, while Couture has four goals and nine points over a six-game point streak.

"We weren't very good," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. "We weren't very good on pursuit, we weren't very good on coverage and we didn't create very much, so give them credit. They were well prepared and they established ice better than we did."

San Jose now holds just a two-point edge over Los Angeles for first place in the Pacific Division and began its recently-ended win streak with a 1-0 win over the hosting Flames on Jan. 24. Niemi posted a 25-save shutout in that one.

The Sharks also recorded a home win over the Flames seven days earlier and have won six of seven and eight of the past 11 encounters overall. That includes four straight wins as the host.

The Flames hope to pick up their first win at San Jose since Dec. 5, 2009 this evening and inch closer to the eighth-place Wild in the Western standings. Calgary trails Minnesota by three points and is coming off Monday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Ducks.

Aiming for his 300th career win, Miikka Kiprusoff made 31 saves through overtime, but allowed three scores in the eight-round shootout. The final one came against fellow Finn and former teammate Niklas Hagman.

Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla both scored in regulation for the Flames, with Iginla reaching the 20-goal mark for a 13th straight season when he tied the game on a power-play marker at the 6:15 mark of the third.

Iginla, though, did fail to convert on a 2-on-1 rush with Tanguay in overtime, firing high over the crossbar. The Flames were not credited with a shot in the overtime session and have lost three of their last four. They also fell to 2-0-2 in their past four on the road.

"The game was more of a roller coaster ride. We battled back to get a point," Flames head coach Brent Sutter said. "In the shootout, you have good goalies making great saves and good players making great moves. They were fortunate to get one more past our goalie."

Kiprusoff is likely to get the call again tonight as he goes for his milestone win. He is 13-12-3 with a 2.79 goals-against average in 28 career starts versus the Sharks.

Wwsportsbooks Hockey Betting News


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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets

With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship.  Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92.  After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points.  Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1.  Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years.  With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed.  UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern.  Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier.  OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak.  Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.  It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta.  But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.

Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props.  Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000.  Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.

MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:

EAST National Championship Region
Arkansas 300-1 50-1
Belmont 1000-1
Boston College 100-1 40-1
Eastern KY 1000-1
George Washington 75-1
Georgetown 10-1 3-2
Marquette 100-1 40-1
Michigan State 100-1 25-1
New Mexico St. 500-1 200-1
UNC 6-1 6-5
Oral Roberts  500-1
Texas 15-1 5-1
Texas Tech 200-1 5-1
USC 75-1 20-1
Vanderbilt 100-1 30-1
Washington State 40-1 15-1
WEST
Duke 50-1 10-1
Florida A&M 1000-1
Gonzaga 200-1  40-1
Holy Cross 300-1
Illinois 300-1 60-1
Indiana 75-1 40-1
Kansas 5-1 13-10
Kentucky 100-1 40-1
Niagara 1000-1
Pittsburgh 40-1 8-1
Southern Ill. 50-1 12-1
UCLA 10-1 3-2
VCU 500-1 100-1
Villanova 100-1 40-1
VA Tech 50-1 15-1
Weber St 1000-1
Wright St 1000-1 300-1
MIDWEST
Arizona 50-1 30-1
Butler 40-1 30-1
Davidson 300-1
Florida 4-1 4-5
Georgia Tech 75-1 25-1
Jackson State 1000-1
Maryland 30-1 6-1
Miami-OH 300-1
Notre Dame 100-1 20-1
ODU 500-1 100-1
Oregon 40-1 6-1
Purdue 300-1 60-1
Texas A&M CC 1000-1
UNLV 100-1 30-1
Winthrop 500-1 100-1
Wisconsin 15-1 7-2
SOUTH
Albany 200-1
BYU 200-1 40-1
Central CT St. 1000-1
Creighton 100-1 35-1
Long Beach St. 500-1 200-1
Louisville 40-1 10-1
Memphis 30-1 4-1
Nevada 75-1 35-1
North Texas 500-1
Ohio State 7-1 6-5
Penn 500-1
Stanford 200-1 50-1
Tennessee 100-1 20-1
Texas A&M 12-1 11-5
Virginia 75-1 18-1
Xavier 100-1 40-1

Field                                              100-1

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Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.

MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .

''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''

Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.

He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.

''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''

Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.

Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.

With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.

Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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