Flames edge Wild in shootout

Hockey Betting Lines

03/01/2007 - Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jarome Iginla scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Calgary Flames over the Minnesota Wild, 2-1, at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

Robyn Regehr scored for the Flames, winners of three straight and four of six. Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 28 shots to earn the victory.

Pavol Demitra tallied for the Wild, who have won four of six. Niklas Backstrom made five saves before leaving the game at the first intermission due to a lower-body injury. Josh Harding took the loss despite stopping 21 shots in relief.

Iginla notched the game-winning score by skating up the middle and sticking a wrister just inside the left post on Harding's glove side. Pierre-Marc Bouchard had the last Minnesota try, but Kiprusoff got his right pad out to stop his trademark spin-o-rama shot from the edge of the crease.

"It's been awhile, but I just tried to shoot it as hard as I could at that point, and after that, it was a huge save by Kipper to get the win," said Iginla.

The win moves the Flames into a first-place tie with the idle Canucks atop the Northwest Division. Both Calgary and Vancouver have 77 points, and the Wild sit in third place with 76 after earning a point for the shootout loss.

After 40 minutes of scoreless action which saw the play between the teams become quicker and more physical, Gaborik tallied the first goal of the night on a power play, 1:50 into the third.

Calgary kept pressing and eventually evened the score with 4:31 left in regulation, as Regehr teed up from the right point and scored with a beautiful shot that hit just beneath the crossbar as Harding was disrupted by a moving screen.

Each team could only muster one shot apiece in overtime before Iginla's shot decided the contest.

"I didn't know what he was going to do," said Harding of Iginla's shootout chance. "He's one of the most talented guys in the league but I know you've got to cover up absolutely everything, but he found a hole and beat me."

Game Notes

The Flames have won nine of the last 13 meetings, and three of the five matchups this season...Minnesota finished the game 1-of-4 with the man advantage, and Calgary went scoreless in three opportunities.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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