Panthers aim to push win streak to four, visit Devils

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01/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers will try to secure their first four- game winning streak in almost two years when they visit the sliding New Jersey Devils for tonight's clash at Prudential Center.

The Panthers have tied a season-high with three straight victories, but the club hasn't posted four wins in a row since a seven-game stretch from March 2-16, 2008.

Meanwhile, the Devils have lost three straight to match a season-worst skid and Jersey will try to avoid losing four in a row for the first time since a six-game slide from March 22-April 1 of last year.

The Devils have won four of six and five of the last eight meetings against Florida, but the clubs have split a pair of encounters so far this year. The Panthers have dropped eight of their last 10 in New Jersey, but Florida recorded a 4-2 win when the teams met at the Rock on December 11.

Florida, which is currently outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with 50 points, began its current hot streak with last week's home-and-home sweep of Tampa Bay and then notched a close win over visiting Atlanta on Monday.

Tomas Vokoun made 27 stops for his fifth shutout of the season as the Panthers grabbed a 1-0 win over the Thrashers. Vokoun is just one blanking shy of tying his career-best mark for shutouts in a season, which was set last year. The Czech backstop is expected to get the start again for Florida tonight.

Gregory Campbell scored the lone goal for the Panthers on Monday. Kamil Kreps and Jason Garrison assisted on the only score of the game.

"Every game for the rest of they year is going to be huge," said Vokoun. "We put ourselves in a bad spot early in the season. If we want to go somewhere we have to put some wins together."

The Panthers are currently 11th in the East and two points out of a playoff berth.

Florida is 12-12-2 as the guest this year and will wrap a brief two-game road trip Thursday against the New York Islanders.

The Devils were blanked Monday afternoon by the host Islanders as Rick DiPietro stopped all 20 shots he faced to post his first shutout of the season in New York's 4-0 triumph at Nassau Coliseum.

Martin Brodeur allowed four goals on 32 shots through two periods in defeat for the Devils, who have also lost four of five. Yann Danis stopped 14-of-14 shots over the final 20 minutes.

"I think you have to be a little bit concerned," Brodeur said of the skid. "We know we can play well. We just have to get back to the basics."

The loss dropped New Jersey to 16-7-1 as the road club this year. The Devils are 16-7-0 as the host and they are kicking off a two-game residency tonight.

The Devils were without Patrik Elias on Monday as the veteran winger is sidelined with a concussion suffered Saturday in Colorado. Elias, who has 10 goals and 26 points this year, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday.

Florida could get defenseman Dmitry Kulikov back on the ice for the first time since December 18 tonight. The Russian blueliner sat out the last month with a knee injury and he is expected to return either tonight or tomorrow against the Islanders.

In other injury news, Panthers centerman Stephen Weiss missed his first game of the year on Monday with a lower-body injury and is questionable for tonight. Weiss leads Florida with 19 goals and is second on the team with 42 points.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Cassel Signs Contract

Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.

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After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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