Bruins carry impressive road streak into Pittsburgh

Hockey Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One day after getting a season-long road trip off to a desired start, the Boston Bruins will try to keep up their recent success in enemy venues when they visit Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena this afternoon for a battle with the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins.

Boston began its current seven-game trek with Saturday's 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders, the Bruins' sixth triumph in their past seven games. Four of those wins came on a road stretch from February 7-13 that preceded the NHL's break for the Winter Olympics.

David Krejci and Marc Savard scored within a 4 1/2-minute span in the second period to snap a 1-1 tie and back an excellent performance from goaltender Tim Thomas, who racked up 37 saves in his second consecutive start.

Thomas, the 2008-09 Vezina Trophy winner, had been supplanted by Tuukka Rask as Boston's No. 1 netminder last month after a string of inconsistent showings, but has been called upon to start the team's past two contests after Rask hurt his knee in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to Montreal. He responded by stopping 24-of-26 shots against Toronto on Thursday, then thwarted all three skaters he faced in the shootout to help the Bruins to a 3-2 decision over the Maple Leafs.

Rask is considered day-to-day with his injury, making Thomas a likely candidate to draw the assignment again this afternoon. The 35-year-old made 27 saves to shut out the high-scoring Penguins in Boston on November 10, but struggled in a 6-5 overtime defeat at the Igloo four days later.

Thomas and the Bruins will have to deal with a Pittsburgh squad that had its offense cranking in Saturday's matchup against Dallas, with Sidney Crosby amassing two goals and an assist to lead the Pens to a 6-3 rout.

Jordan Staal and Chris Kunitz had a goal and an assist in the win, Pittsburgh's third in a row since returning from the Olympic shutdown. Alexei Ponikarovsky, acquired Tuesday in a trade with Toronto, also lit the lamp in his Penguins debut.

Marc-Andre Fleury, coming off a shaky outing in Thursday's 5-4 overtime win over the New York Rangers, rebounded with 27 saves to record his 30th victory of the season.

"We always know he bounces back," said Crosby of Fleury. "It's going to happen, we all have tough nights. He responds the best way possible every time."

One Pittsburgh player who didn't have a hand in Saturday's offensive outburst was Evgeni Malkin. The star center had a career high-tying 15-game point streak, in which he had piled up nine goals and 15 assists, come to an end after being kept off the scoresheet by the Stars.

The win pushed the Penguins' lead on idle New Jersey to three points for first place in the Atlantic Division and improved them to 20-10-3 at home for the season.

Boston's surge has propelled the 2008-09 Northeast Division champions into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, one point better than Montreal and three ahead of Atlanta and the Rangers in the tightly-bunched playoff race.

"We've won two in a row which is a good thing, but there's areas where we can do better," said Thomas after Saturday's game. "At this point in the year, we need as many wins as we can get so we're not going to complain about them too much."

The Bruins are an impressive 11-3-2 with two ties over their last 18 visits to Mellon Arena, but have come out on the losing side in each of their past two games as the visitor in this series.

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Super Bowl 2009 Betting

Super Bowl 2009 Betting propositions

Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.

Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.

Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.

If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.

Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.

By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.

In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.

So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.

While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.

There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.

In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:

SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.

XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.

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