Hurricanes hope to post season-high win streak versus Maple Leafs

Hockey Betting Lines

01/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes will try for their longest winning streak of the season when they visit the sliding Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at Air Canada Centre.

The Hurricanes, who are last in the NHL with 33 points, are coming off back- to-back wins over Colorado and Ottawa, giving Carolina its fourth two-game winning streak of the season. The team last won three in a row during a nine- game winning streak from March 18-April 7 of last season.

Toronto, meanwhile, has lost three straight, five of six and eight of its last 10 outings. The Maple Leafs are last in the Northeast Division with 39 points and only Carolina is beneath them in the conference standings.

Carolina recorded a 2-1 win over the visiting Avalanche on Friday and then ended its brief two-game stint at RBC Center with a 4-1 victory against Ottawa.

Cam Ward turned aside 31 shots and Eric Staal scored in his return to the lineup in the Hurricanes' easy win over the Senators. Staal was recently granted a leave of absence following the death of his sister-in-law and missed two contests.

"I thought that's real good leadership right there," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said of Staal. "He's been through an awful lot this week, but he could sense we needed our bigger guys to step up and do something like that. It's not always in his game, but that was a real good sense by a leader, starting to understand what he needs every night from his team. Everyone is pulling for him too. I like to think that for him, coming here was a good place."

Rod Brind'Amour, Tom Kostopoulos and Brett Carson also lit the lamp for Carolina.

Although Staal has returned, the 'Canes could still be without a few other key forwards tonight. Sergei Samsonov and Erik Cole are both suffering from upper- body injuries and are questionable for tonight. Samsonov has missed the last four games, while Cole hasn't played since December 9. Another forward, Chad LaRose, is questionable for this evening's test with a lower-body injury.

Carolina will not have winger Tuomo Ruutu in the lineup for at least the next two weeks while he recovers from an upper-body injury.

The Hurricanes, who have a dreadful 3-14-4 mark as the guest this year, are playing the first of two straight on the road tonight. Carolina will also visit Detroit on Thursday.

The Maple Leafs are coming off Saturday's home loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins as Sergei Gonchar notched a pair of goals to lead the defending Stanley Cup champions to a 4-1 decision at ACC.

Matt Stajan provided the lone offense for the Maple Leafs, while Jonas Gustavsson stopped 35 shots in defeat.

Tonight marks the middle segment of a three-game homestand for Toronto, which is 8-9-5 as the host this year. The Leafs will close the residency Thursday against Philadelphia.

The Hurricanes and Leafs have split two meetings this year, but tonight marks the first matchup in Toronto. Carolina has won five of seven overall in the series and has taken two straight and three of the last four encounters in Toronto.

Wskybook Hockey Betting News

<< Flyers try to continue hot streak vs. Stars
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Philadelphia Flyers will shoot for a fourth straight victory when they welcome the Dallas Stars for tonight's clash at Wachovia Center. In addition to winning three straight, the Flyers have posted a 7-1-1 reco

<< Red Wings visit Islanders
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings will take aim at a third consecutive victory when they visit the New York Islanders for tonight's interconference clash at Nassau Coliseum. The Red Wings have won two straight and four of their last f

<< Struggling Sens, Thrashers clash in Atlanta
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A couple of struggling teams will try to post a victory tonight when the Ottawa Senators visit the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena. The Senators have lost four straight games, while Atlanta has tasted defeat in 10 of it

<< Rangers, Devils renew rivalry at MSG
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Atlantic Division rivals will meet for the first time in over two months when the New York Rangers host the New Jersey Devils tonight at Madison Square Garden. The Devils and Rangers split a pair of meetings back

<< Lakers start Texas tour in San Antonio vs. Spurs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers will hit the road to Texas for a pair of games starting with tonight's battle against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. The Lakers will also visit the Dallas Mavericks and are 8-5 away fr

Caps hope to continue dominance of Lightning >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Capitals have had little trouble when facing Southeast Division opponents this year, while the Lightning had to work twice as hard to earn their latest win. Washington aims to improve on its 9-1-0 division record this

Packers CB Woodson wins defensive player of the year >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson was named the NFL'S Defensive Player of the Year, as voted by the Associated Press. Woodson garnered 28 of a possible 50 votes from a panel of media members, wi

Surging Blue Jackets try to solve Blues >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jackets are taking steps to put their awful six- week stretch behind them. However, they could be in for a wake-up call with a trip to St. Louis on tap for tonight. Columbus, aiming for a season-high fourth straig

Oilers emerge from mini-camp with home test vs. Preds >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Though they haven't played since last Thursday, the Oilers didn't exactly take a break from hockey. Fresh off a mid-season mini-camp, Edmonton will try to win for just the second time in its last 13 games as it continues a fo

Coyotes try to end home slide against Sharks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes have lost three straight at Jobing.com Arena since having their franchise-record home winning streak halted. Tonight they face the club that ended that burst, as Phoenix hosts the San Jose Sharks for the s


Online Sportsbook Football Betting

Why Sports Betting is so much fun?

Betting Sports

The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)

But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)

Points (or Runs) Scored

Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.

The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.

Future Bets

Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.

Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)

Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:

Types of Bets

Straight Bet

Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.

Sports Betting Parlays

A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.

Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1.

Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff.

Round Robin Betting

Adventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.

Betting Teasers

Similar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.

These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it!

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.