Leino, Sabres visit Flyers
Hockey Betting Lines
02/16/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The struggling Philadelphia Flyers hope the return of Ilya Bryzgalov can help them avoid their sixth loss in seven games, as they get set to host the Buffalo Sabres in tonight's clash at Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers are just 1-4-1 over their last six games and have played the last three without Bryzgalov as the starter. The Russian backstop has recovered from his flu-like symptoms and was able to suit up as Sergei Bobrovsky's backup in Sunday's 4-3 road loss in Detroit, but tonight is expected to be his first start since posting a shutout in a 1-0 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Feb. 7.
While Bobrovsky has been torched for 18 goals in his last four starts, Philadelphia's problems right now go beyond the crease. Special teams has been a major issue for the Flyers, who are just 2-for-26 on the power play in the last six games while allowing the opposition to score nine times on 32 chances with the man advantage over the same stretch.
The Flyers will likely be down a few forwards tonight. Zac Rinaldo will serve the first part of a two-game suspension for a hit Sunday against Detroit's Jonathan Ericsson. Czech forwards Jaromir Jagr (flu-like symptoms) and Jakub Voracek (upper body) are also questionable for tonight. Voracek sat out Sunday's test, while Jagr, who turned 40 years old on Wednesday, missed practice on his birthday. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros is also questionable with an upper-body injury.
Another injured Philadelphia forward, James van Riemsdyk, has been out since Jan. 12 with a concussion and there is still no word on his return.
Meanwhile, ex-Flyers forward Ville Leino will return to Philadelphia tonight for the first time since he signed a six-year, $27 million deal with Buffalo in the summer. Leino had 83 points in 124 games (playoffs included) for Philadelphia over the previous two seasons, but the Finn has disappointed this year with just four goals and 11 assists in 45 games for the Sabres.
Leino has one goal in two encounters against the Flyers this season, but both were in Buffalo. Philadelphia won both of those meetings and has taken four of six overall in this series. The Sabres have won three of their last four regular-season tilts at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Flyers are tied with Pittsburgh for second place in the Atlantic Division and the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia failed to help its playoff standing this past weekend when it lost regulation tilts to the New York Rangers and Red Wings.
Brayden Schenn had two goals for Philadelphia in its 4-3 setback in Detroit, while Max Talbot recorded the Flyers' other goal. Bobrovsky gave up four goals on 25 shots.
"We have to find ways to win [close] games," said Schenn, who has four of his eight goals this season over his last five contests.
Philadelphia is kicking off a two-game homestand tonight and the club is just 13-9-5 as the host this year compared to a superior 18-9-2 road mark. The Flyers will end the brief residency on Saturday afternoon against Pittsburgh.
Buffalo can't afford to go on many slumps if it wants to make the playoffs and losing its last two tilts in regulation did not help its cause. With 54 points, the Sabres are still 10 behind Toronto for the eighth and final postseason berth in the East.
The Sabres scored a total of two goals over their two-game slide, which came directly on the heels of a three-game winning streak. Buffalo's most recent setback came in the finale of a four-game homestand on Tuesday, as the visiting New Jersey Devils scored three times in the third period en route to a 4-1 victory.
Jason Pominville, who is on a five-game point streak, scored the only goal for the Sabres on Tuesday, while Ryan Miller was tagged for three goals on 30 shots in the loss. New Jersey went 2-for-7 on the power play.
"We had to defend a lot out there tonight," said Miller. "We had to kill a bunch of penalties and we did a good job of that. I thought we played a good game out there, just came up short."
Buffalo is out on the road for just one game before returning to western New York for another four-game homestand. The Sabres are 11-15-0 on the road this year and 13-11-6 as the host.
On the injury front for Buffalo, Cody McCormick has sat out the last two games with an upper-body injury and is questionable for tonight's game.
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Online Sportsbook Football Betting
The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.
New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).
The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. online football betting Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.
Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.
Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.
The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.
Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.
The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.
Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.
However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).
The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.
Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.
In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.
Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.
Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.
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Big 12 Conference betting odds
Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.
Work left to do:
Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.
Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.
Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.