Panthers hope to rebound against Islanders

Hockey Betting Lines

01/21/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers will try to rebound from a shutout when they visit the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum for tonight's clash between playoff hopefuls.

The Islanders have 52 points and are currently hanging onto the eighth and final playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. Florida is just two points behind New York, but is four places back in the 12th seed.

Florida had won its third straight game with Monday's 1-0 victory over Atlanta, but the Panthers were blanked Wednesday evening in New Jersey as Martin Brodeur stopped 22 shots to lead the Devils to the 2-0 win at Prudential Center.

Tomas Vokoun was the hard-luck loser, making 30 saves for the Panthers, who had won four of five coming into the battle with New Jersey.

"I played my game. I'm not worried about who I'm going to face on the other end of the ice," Vokoun said when asked if he felt pressure squaring off against Brodeur, who extend his NHL record for career shutouts to 108.

The Panthers have lost four of their last six road tests and are 12-13-2 as the visiting club this season. Following tonight, Florida will play two straight and five of its next six games on home ice.

The Islanders will try to get back in the win column tonight as they also had a winning streak halted in their last outing.

New York tied a season high with a fourth straight win Monday against visiting New Jersey, but the Isles stumbled the following night in Pittsburgh. Evgeni Malkin recorded his fifth career hat trick to lead the Penguins to the 6-4 victory at Mellon Arena.

Trent Hunter, Andy Sutton, Freddy Meyer and Richard Park scored for the Islanders, who were trying for their first five-game winning streak since posting six straight victories from February 12-21, 2008.

Dwayne Roloson allowed five goals on 28 shots in the loss and is expected to back up Rick DiPietro tonight. DiPietro, who missed the first three months of the season due to knee surgery, posted a shutout in his last game, a 4-0 win over the Devils on Monday afternoon.

The Islanders are 13-8-2 as the host this year and will shoot for a sixth consecutive home win tonight. This evening's test starts a three-game homestand for New York, which will also welcome New Jersey and Washington during this residency.

New York will be without Sutton for tonight's test as well as Saturday's game against the Devils after he was handed a two-game suspension by the league for driving Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis face first into the boards. Sutton was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding on the play. He will be eligible to return Tuesday against Washington.

The Panthers have won both meetings against the Islanders this year and posted a 7-1 blowout victory when the clubs met last on December 14 at the Coliseum. Florida has taken three straight and nine of 11 overall in the series, but New York has five wins in the last eight matchups on Long Island.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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