Sharks visit Ducks aiming for season series sweep

Hockey Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After three straight come-from-behind victories, the Sharks finally ran out of magic on Saturday. Good thing they haven't need much when facing the Ducks this year.

San Jose kicks off a six-game road trip this evening versus Anaheim at the Honda Center aiming to sweep the season series for the first time in 11 seasons.

The Sharks are leading the Western Conference with 96 points, three more than the second-place Blackhawks and are also three points back of Washington for the most in the NHL.

The club took a three-game winning streak into Saturday's meeting with Florida, a run in which San Jose had to rally in each game after being down heading into the third period. The Sharks then jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period yesterday, but failed to score again and ended up losing a 3-2 overtime decision to the Panthers.

Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe scored for the Sharks, who went 3-1-1 on a five-game homestand. Making his first start since Feb. 10, Thomas Greiss had 25 saves but allowed the winner at the 2:46 mark of overtime to Bryan Allen.

"We've got to put it behind us," said Sharks head coach Todd McLellan. "We accomplished a couple things tonight. We came out and we had a little fire in our belly and we played extremely hard in the first period but we let it get away from us though and that's the inconsistency in our game right now."

San Jose now hits the road for six straight and has won 10 of its last 12 as the guest. It opens the swing in Anaheim and will look to sweep the season series with the Ducks for the first time since it took all six meetings in 1997-98.

Anaheim eliminated top-seeded San Jose in last year's opening round of the playoffs as the eighth seed, but has been outscored 19-7 in losing all five regular season meetings this year. The Sharks have won six straight and eight of the last nine regular-season meetings overall, including four straight in Anaheim.

The Ducks have not been able to slow down the Sharks' top line of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Marleau. Thornton has nine assists and 13 points versus the Ducks this year, while Marleau has five goals and 10 points. Heatley has chipped in with two goals and five assists as well.

Meanwhile, San Jose netminder Evgeni Nabokov, who should get the start tonight, has a 1.40 goals-against average while winning all five meetings.

Anaheim comes into this matchup struggling, as it has dropped a season high- tying five games in a row and has yet to win since the Olympic break ended. The Ducks were shut out for the second time on their current slide Friday, losing 1-0 to Nashville.

Jonas Hiller stopped 27 shots and the only goal in the contest came on a Predators power play with the Ducks down two men in the opening period. Anaheim, meanwhile, failed to get any of its 31 shots past Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne.

"We didn't really have a glorious number of chances in tonight's hockey game," said Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle. "It was tight and it seemed they were content playing that way once they got the 5-on-3 goal. They were keeping four guys above the puck as much as possible and trying to block people out. We had some chances. We just weren't able to get one to go into the net for us."

The Ducks, who are 10 points out of a playoff spot, have now matched their 0-2-3 rut from Nov. 29-Dec. 6 and will try to avoid their first six-game slide since Jan. 20-Feb. 2, 2008.

Anaheim, which has been outscored 18-8 on its five-game slide, is 0-2-1 on a seven-game homestand and has lost four in a row as the host since a franchise- record 11-game home winning streak.

Hiller is 0-3-0 with a 3.03 GAA this year versus the Sharks and just 1-8-0 against them lifetime with a 2.49 GAA.

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2007 NFL Football Betting Preview


“You play to win the game!”

Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.

The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.

The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.

Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?

Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.

New York Giants betting lines

Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.

Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.

Dallas Cowboys betting lines

Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.

The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.

Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.

Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.

Oakland Raiders betting lines

This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.

First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”

The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason. 

Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.

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