Sliding Ducks host Predators

Hockey Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks aim for their first win in nearly a month tonight when they host a Nashville Predators club that is struggling to hold onto one of the last playoff spots in the Western Conference.

The Ducks have dropped four straight (0-3-1) since the Olympic break, meaning they haven't won a game since February 14. Anaheim will try tonight to avoid matching its longest losing streak of the season, an 0-2-3 stumble from November 29-December 6.

The Ducks began their current seven-game homestand at Honda Center with a shootout loss to Montreal on Sunday prior to Tuesday's 5-2 setback in Columbus on Tuesday.

Anaheim trailed 3-0 going into the third period before goals by Lubomir Visnovsky and Ryan Getzlaf in the frame pulled it within one. However, the Ducks failed to get any closer.

Jonas Hiller allowed three goals on 20 shots but was pulled in the second period. Curtis McElhinney, who was acquired last week from Calgary for Vesa Toskala, made his debut with the Ducks and turned aside seven shots in relief.

Anaheim, which was without Teemu Selanne because of flu-like symptoms, lost for the third straight time at home since a franchise-record 11-game home winning streak and have fallen nine points behind Nashville and Calgary for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference.

"You can't come out of a break looking for a playoff run and then drop four straight," said Bobby Ryan, who had two assists. "It's unacceptable."

Nashville will look to take advantage of slumping Anaheim tonight in an effort to strengthen its playoff bid. The Predators have lost three of their last four and are a mere one point up on the ninth-seeded Red Wings in the standings.

The Preds were in San Jose last night and took a two-goal lead into the third period before getting outscored 6-1 in the final frame on the way to an 8-5 setback.

Patric Hornqvist and J.P. Dumont each had two goals for Nashville, while Dan Ellis was victimized for six goals on 23 shots before he was relieved by Pekka Rinne late in the third. Rinne faced only two shots and yielded the goal to Marleau.

"There were sort of horrendous things that happened," said Preds head coach Barry Trotz. "The goaltender misplays the puck and they get it, then we come back and show come character and tie it, 5-5. Then a really bad goal for the sixth, and that sort of destroyed us at that point."

Nashville fell to 1-1 on a four-game road trip while losing for the eighth time in its last 11 games as the guest.

The Ducks have won two of three versus the Predators this year as well as six of nine and eight of the last 12 meetings. Nashville has also dropped two straight and eight of its last nine in Anaheim.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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