Sabres try to stay hot against visiting Bolts
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02/11/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Buffalo Sabres will try to post their longest winning streak of the season tonight, when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at First Niagara Center.
Buffalo has notched wins in its last three outings and is one victory shy of matching a four-game winning streak from Nov. 4-11. The Sabres have also recorded a point in six consecutive tests, going 5-0-1 during that stretch.
Neither Buffalo nor the Lightning are currently in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. The Sabres are seeded 11th and are eight points out of a postseason berth, while Tampa is two points in back of Buffalo.
The Sabres were in action on Friday against visiting Dallas and Buffalo was able to pull out a 3-2 shootout win. Nathan Gerbe scored the winner in the fifth round of the shootout, but that was after Derek Roy sent the game to overtime by scoring just 39 seconds before the end of regulation.
Roy and Thomas Vanek both scored in regulation for the Sabres, while Ryan Miller made 24 stops in the win.
"We were able to keep at it tonight and make some plays," said Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff. "We need to get some more of these wins to get back in the hunt. But that was an important point for us."
Buffalo is 2-0 on a four-game homestand that is set to end Tuesday against New Jersey. The Sabres are 13-9-6 as the hosting team this season.
Sabres forward Cody McCormick left Friday's game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. He is questionable for tonight's tilt.
Although the Lightning have lost three of their last four games, Tampa still has only one regulation loss over its last nine trips to the ice (6-1-2). The Bolts were dealt a second straight setback Thursday against the New York Rangers, dropping a 4-3 overtime decision in the opener of a three-game road trip.
Tampa Bay held a 3-2 lead over the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers after 40 minutes, but Brian Boyle's tally at 10:13 of the third would send the game to overtime. Former Lightning forward Brad Richards then scored 2:37 into the extra session to give the Rangers their extra point.
Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Bruno Gervais had goals for Tampa Bay, while Mathieu Garon gave up four goals on 31 shots. Stamkos has four goals and four assists during a five-game point streak and is leading the NHL with 36 goals.
"We played a pretty solid game (but) we missed some opportunities to get a two-goal lead," said Lecavalier. "It definitely could have gone either way tonight."
Poor road play has been a problem for Tampa all season long. The club is just 8-16-4 as the guest this year compared to a 15-8-2 mark as the host. Improved play away from the Tampa Times Forum will likely be necessary if the Lightning want to make the playoffs, as the Bolts are currently 10 points out of a playoff spot in the East.
Tampa hopes to get a boost from a returning player tonight, as forward Ryan Malone could come back from an upper-body injury that has caused him to sit out the last six games. Malone has 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games this season and is questionable for tonight.
The Lightning and Sabres faced twice back in October and Tampa Bay won both meetings, notching a 3-0 home win on Oct. 22 and posting a 4-3 regulation victory three days later in Buffalo. Tampa has taken four of six overall in the series and two of three in western New York.
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What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
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.