Biron sharp again, Asham nets a pair as Flyers beat Rangers

Hockey Betting Lines

03/14/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Biron stopped 39-of-41 shots to help the Philadelphia Flyers take a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers in the opener of a home-and-home set at the Wachovia Center.

Aaron Asham had two goals while Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards each lit the lamp for the Flyers, who have won three of their last four games and wrapped up a five-game homestand with a mark of 3-2-0.

Sean Avery and Nik Antropov each had a goal for the Rangers, who had won four of five coming into the game. Henrik Lundqvist was charged with four goals on 25 shots in the loss.

These Atlantic Division rivals will face-off at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

The Rangers drew first blood off of a Flyers turnover. Holding the puck at the left point, Matt Carle attempted to dump back down low, but Antropov blocked the attempt. Antropov then raced down the other end on a breakaway and wristed the puck into the left corner at the 3:28 mark.

Philadelphia tied the game with 3:26 left in the first on a 2-on-1 break. Jeff Carter skated down the right wing with Hartnell on his left and let fly with a shot that Lundqvist stopped with the right pad. The rebound, though, kicked out to the left side and Hartnell buried it.

At the 6:07 mark of the second period, the Flyers took the lead. With another 2-on-1 rush, Richards sent a pass from the left to the right for Simon Gagne, but Gagne flubbed the shot. However, he did recover the puck in time to center it for Kimmo Timonen, who one-touched the puck over to the left side for Richards who pumped his own rebound into the net.

After a questionable elbowing call on Richards at the 13:14 mark of the second, the Rangers appeared to tie the game. A left circle faceoff win was drawn back to Derek Morris, who let fly with a slap shot that Biron stopped. The puck went into the air and Scott Gomez, who was behind Biron, knocked it home. However, Gomez appeared to knock it in with his glove and the goal was waived off by the on-ice official and a replay upheld the call.

Richards was again the victim of a questionable penalty a little over two minutes after his first when he was called for boarding Avery and the Rangers had another power play chance. This time, Biron came up with a big save as he stopped Nikolai Zherdev down low at the left side to help the Flyers carry the one-goal lead into the third period.

Philadelphia gave itself some breathing space at the 5:47 mark of the third. Claude Giroux had the puck behind the net and centered it to a streaking Asham, who tapped it in from down low for a 3-1 advantage.

Asham netted his second goal of the game with 5:27 left in the game when he picked up a dump along the left boards in the Rangers zone all alone and lasered a shot over the glove of Lundqvist.

Avery got the Rangers back to within two goals as his wrister from the left circle got past a sliding Biron with 3:41 to play.

New York pulled Lundqvist from the net late in the game for the extra attacker, but were unable to put any more pucks into the net.

Game Notes

Hartnell's goal was his 25th of the season, which ties a career-high he set in 2005-06 with Nashville...Giroux and Dan Carcillo each added two assists for the Flyers...Philly has won four of the last five against New York...Neither team scored on the power play with New York having four chances and Philly three.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

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