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02/17/2007 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brendan Morrison and Trevor Linden each scored in the shootout to lift Vancouver over Chicago, 2-1, at the United Center.
Matt Cooke scored the lone goal in regulation and Roberto Luongo made 34 saves, plus two more in the shootout for the Canucks, who have won three straight and moved into first place in the Northwest Division two points ahead of Calgary.
"This wasn't our best game," said Luongo. "We need to improve the effort, but it was good to get the win."
Patrick Sharp scored the only goal for the Blackhawks, who have lost two straight games in a shootout. Patrick Lalime made 28 saves for Chicago, which despite the loss has recorded at least a point in three consecutive games.
After Martin Havlat was stopped by Luongo to open the shootout, Linden skated in on Lalime and beat him stick side with a wrister. Martin St. Pierre was then stoned by Luongo and Morrison capitalized by beating Lalime stick side for the victory.
"I didn't know what to expect from St. Pierre," said Luongo of the shootout. "I was lucky to be able to stop it."
"We gave a great effort, especially in the third period," said Lalime. "It was a tight-checking game. We played very well and we just came up short."
The Blackhawks broke the scoreless deadlock early in the third period thanks to a great faceoff win by St. Pierre. Facing Morrison at the left faceoff circle, St. Pierre beat Morrison to the puck, unloading a shot off the drop. Luongo made the initial save, but the rebound found its way out front to Sharp, who hammered it home for the lead 5:14 into the stanza.
Cooke, though, tied the game 5:13 later when he skated into the offensive zone along the left side boards and from the top of the circle riffled a slap per past the stick side of Lalime.
The overtime went back and forth with it ending when Luongo made a save of a Havlat breakaway shot as time expired.
Havlat argued that a penalty shot should have been given, feeling that he was hooked enough off the puck to call one. However, the officials felt differently, especially since Havlat got the shot off.
Game Notes
Chicago was playing at the United Center for the first time since January 28...The Blackhawks went 4-2-1 on a seven-game road trip...Chicago has lost nine of 10 at home...Vancouver ended a two-game road trip unbeaten and improved to 3-0 in its last three on the road...Chicago went 0-for-8 on the power play, while Vancouver went 0-for-5...Morrison has scored in 6-of-7 shootout tries this season...Havlat had an eight-game point streak end...The Canucks won the season series 3-1.
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Bill Guerin scored
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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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