Red Wings aim to set new NHL home mark vs. Stars
Hockey Betting Lines
02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings will try to set a new NHL record for the longest home winning streak in league history when they host the Dallas Stars tonight at Joe Louis Arena.
Detroit matched a league standard with its 20th consecutive home win Sunday night against Philadelphia. The 4-3 regulation decision moved the Red Wings into a tie with the 1975-76 Flyers and 1929-30 Boston Bruins for the longest- ever home winning streaks and the Red Wings hope to have the record all to themselves after tonight.
The Red Wings haven't lost in the Motor City since a 4-1 setback against Calgary on Nov. 3 and Detroit is boasting a stellar 23-2-1 record at the Joe this season. The strong home play has helped offset a 15-15-1 road mark and is also a big reason Detroit is leading the Central Division, Western Conference and NHL with 78 points.
Detroit will also be trying to sweep the season series against the Stars after going 3-0 against Dallas so far in 2011-12. The Stars have won four of their last six games in Motown, but the Wings notched a 5-2 victory when the teams last met at the Joe on Nov. 12.
Johan Franzen scored 52 seconds into the third period on Sunday to break a 3-3 tie against the Flyers and the Red Wings were able to hold on for the win. Niklas Kronwall, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings, who are 3-0 at the start of a six-game homestand.
"It's been something special. Looking back, we've had some great teams over the last 20 years, but none that have been close to this record," said captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who played his 1,550th game -- all with Detroit. "So we should take a lot of pride in it."
Joey MacDonald had 26 saves in the latest victory, including 10 in the third period to keep the Flyers off the board. With regular No. 1 netminder Jimmy Howard sidelined with a broken finger, MacDonald has started the last four games for Detroit.
Howard suffered his finger injury on Feb. 2 and was originally expected to miss four-to-six weeks of action. That timeline has since changed dramatically and Howard could return to the crease as early as Friday's home test against Nashville.
In other injury news for Detroit, forward Danny Cleary is expected to miss a third straight game tonight with a lower-body issue.
The Stars are fighting desperately to stay afloat in the Western Conference playoff race, but losses in two straight and three of their last four games have not helped that cause. Dallas enters tonight as the 11th seed in the West and is four points behind the conference's final postseason berth.
After getting dealt a shootout loss Friday in Buffalo, the Stars returned to Texas and were handed Sunday's regulation loss by the Los Angeles Kings. LA scored the game's first two goals, but Dallas rallied to tie it at 2-2 by the early stages of the third period. The Kings, however, used the first goal of Jordan Nolan's NHL career and an empty-netter from Justin Williams to secure the win.
Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder scored for the Stars, while Kari Lehtonen allowed three goals on just 15 shots in defeat.
"We didn't start well, that's for sure," Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We gave them a goal early and had to press from behind. We obviously weren't ready to play in the beginning."
Dallas is 13-13-1 as the road team this year and has lost four of its last six away from the Lone Star State.
Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray has missed the last two games with a foot injury and he is questionable for tonight. Dallas captain Brenden Morrow (neck/back) is still on injured reserve and sidelined indefinitely.
Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - West Virginia and the Big East have agreed to settle their lawsuits, enabling the university to leave the conference and join the Big 12 in July. West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck would not d
<< Rangers, Bruins clash in Boston
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers have established themselves as the top
team in the East and the Blueshirts will try to increase their conference lead
when they visit the Boston Bruins tonight at TD Garden.
With 77 points, the Rangers
<< Sens begin road trip in Tampa
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After having little success on a recent five-game
homestand, the Ottawa Senators hope to have more luck when they kick off a
road trip tonight by battling the Tampa Bay Lightning at Tampa Times Forum.
The Senators went 1-2
<< Blues roll into Columbus
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will try to extend their winning streak
to a season-high five games when they visit the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets
tonight at Nationwide Arena.
St. Louis is in the midst of its fifth four-game win stre
<< Devils try to bounce back in Buffalo
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will try to get back in the win
column this evening when they visit the Buffalo Sabres for a clash at First
Niagara Center.
The Devils had won a season-high five straight heading into a two-game
home
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks continue to dig themselves out of an early-season hole that has made reaching the playoffs a difficult task. They'll try to pick up their latest victory over a Minnesota Wild team that continues to move sout
Blackhawks try to end lengthy slide in Nashville >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks didn't look like a team ready to
break out of their longest slump in four years the last time they hit the ice.
Doing so against the Nashville Predators may prove difficult as well.
The Blackhawks ho
Sliding Leafs shoot for rare win in Calgary >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Given that Toronto hasn't won in Calgary in over nine
years, the club didn't pick the best time to go on a three-game losing streak.
The Maple Leafs hope to avoid posting their longest skid of the season this
evening and s
Nets waive Bogans; sign Andre Emmett >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have waived guard
Keith Bogans, just a day after he underwent surgery that will keep him
sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Bogans had a torn deltoid ligament re
Gators take on Tide in Tuscaloosa >>
Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 14th-ranked Florida Gators seek a quick
turnaround, as they head to Coleman Coliseum for Southeastern Conference
competition with the short-handed Alabama Crimson Tide.
This game matches up an apprentice
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.