Tavares scores twice as Islanders handle Canucks

Hockey Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie John Tavares posted two goals and three assists to lead the New York Islanders to a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place.

Matt Moulson added a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who have won three straight following a four-game winless skid. Dwayne Roloson was strong with 35 saves, while Dylan Reese and Freddy Meyer also scored for the victors.

With 67 points and 12 games remaining in the season, the Eastern Conference playoff race is taking shape with the Islanders on the outside looking in. New York sits seven points behind the current eighth-seeded Boston Bruins.

Kyle Wellwood and Alexandre Burrows scored for the Canucks, who saw their seven-game home win streak halted and failed to record at least one point for only the second time since the Olympic break (6-2-1). Roberto Luongo allowed four goals on 12 shots through two periods before being pulled in favor of Andrew Raycroft, who ended with seven saves.

After Colorado's win in St. Louis earlier Tuesday, Vancouver's lead atop the Northwest Division was trimmed to three points.

The Islanders opened the scoring at the 6:22 mark of the first period on Reese's first career goal. The rookie defenseman held control at the centerpoint and released a wrist shot that made its way through traffic and past Luongo.

A roughing minor called on Vancouver's Mikael Samuelsson at 11:29 led to New York's second goal.

Only 16 seconds into the power play, Tavares scored his 19th goal of the season. He held control along the goal line to the right of the net and passed to Blake Comeau in the low slot. Comeau's one-timer was saved, but the rebound was put home by Tavares from the right post.

Moulson, who had earlier in the game hit the post with a wrister from the left circle, lit the lamp at the 15:30 mark of the second period for a 3-0 Isles lead. From the bottom of the right circle, Tavares' blind backhand pass perfectly found the stick of Moulson, who redirected it into the back of the net from the top of the crease.

However, only 65 seconds later, Wellwood cut the Vancouver deficit to two.

Exactly two minutes after Wellwood's tally, the hosts drew within 3-2 via Burrow's 32nd tally of the campaign. The play was made possible by Daniel Sedin, who held control behind the net and sent a beautiful backhand pass from a sharp angle to the cutting Burrows, whose backhander from the goal mouth beat Roloson.

New York regained its two-goal advantage with eight seconds remaining before the second intermission. Tavares streaked down the right-wing side and attempted a stuffer at the near post. The puck trickled past Luongo's far pad and deflected off the leg of Meyer, who was falling down in the crease.

Roloson was solid down the stretch and stopped all nine shots he faced throughout the final stanza before Tavares' empty-netter capped the scoring.

Game Notes

The Isles halted their nine-game road skid...Despite the loss, Vancouver is still 25-8-1 at home this season...The last Islanders victory in Vancouver was on March 19, 1999...New York was 1-for-4 on the power play and held the hosts without a goal on both of their chances with the extra skater.

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