Blackhawks hope to halt fall in San Jose

Hockey Betting Lines

02/10/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The free-falling Chicago Blackhawks will try to end their longest losing streak in over four years when they continue a lengthy road trip with tonight's battle against the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion.

The Blackhawks are 0-5-1 over their last six games, marking the club's longest skid since an 0-6-2 stretch from Dec. 30-Jan. 11 during the 2007-08 season. The last four losses (0-3-1) have come at the start of a nine-game swing.

The recent swoon has dropped the 2010 Stanley Cup champions into the sixth seed in the Western Conference, where it's three points ahead of Los Angeles and four points behind Nashville. Chicago is now also fourth in the Central Division and nine points behind Detroit for first place.

The Blackhawks have allowed a total of 16 goals over their last three losses and are coming off Tuesday's 5-2 setback in Colorado. The score was tied at 2-2 heading into the third period, but Gabriel Landeskog put the Avalanche up for good with his tally just 38 seconds into the final stanza.

The Blackhawks received goals from Brent Seabrook and Patrick Kane, while Ray Emery was tagged for four goals on 28 shots.

"Every mistake we make is being capitalized on," said Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith. "We have to get in a better position to turn things around. Everything we seem to do seems to be harder. We have to start outworking the other teams."

Chicago is just 10-12-3 as the road club this year and has lost eight straight (0-6-2) away from the Windy City. Joel Quenneville's team hasn't posted a road victory since Dec. 14 in Minnesota.

Blackhawks defenseman Steve Montador suffered an upper-body injury in Tuesday's loss and was forced to leave the game in the second period. He is questionable for tonight.

Although they're not as cold as the Blackhawks, the Sharks haven't exactly been playing their best hockey of late either. San Jose has surrendered nine goals in losing its last two games and is 3-4-1 over its last eight trips to the ice. Despite the inconsistent play, the Sharks are still leading the Pacific Division with 64 points, two more than Los Angeles.

After losing last Saturday in Phoenix by a 5-3 score, the Sharks returned home and dropped Wednesday's close regulation decision against Calgary. Olli Jokinen capped his hat trick for the Flames with the game-winner just 3:25 into the third period, lifting Calgary to a 4-3 victory. Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff also stopped 34 shots to register the 300th win of his career.

Joe Pavelski, Michal Handzus and Logan Couture all scored for the Sharks, while Antti Niemi made 32 saves in the loss.

"It's a missed opportunity," Thornton said. "We'd like to say we played good at times, it just wasn't a full 60 [minutes]."

Tonight's game represents San Jose's final home test before embarking on a season-long nine-game road trip. The Sharks are 17-9-2 as the host this year compared to a 12-7-4 mark on the road. After tonight. San Jose's next home game isn't until Feb. 28 against Philadelphia.

This evening's tilt marks the fourth and final scheduled meeting between the Blackhawks and Sharks this year. San Jose posted a 1-0 home win on Nov. 23 before Chicago posted two straight wins over the Sharks in the Windy City. The Blackhawks have taken three of four overall in this series, but San Jose has won the last three encounters at the Shark Tank.

Casinomahal Hockey Betting News

<< New York signs midfielder Palsson
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York signed Icelandic midfielder Victor Palsson on Friday. Palsson, 20, spent the last year at Scottish Premier League side Hibernian and appeared in 34 games in all competitions. The defensive

<< Avs aim to close homestand with win over 'Canes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche recently put their longest skid of the season behind them and will try to close out a four-game homestand with another victory when they face the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at Pepsi Center. The Ava

<< Blazers, Hornets tangle in the Big Easy
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portland hopes a Western Conference-worst New Orleans team proves to be a bit of a tonic after the Blazers dropped consecutive games in Rip City. A controversial goaltending call on All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge al

<< Giggs to play another year at United
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that midfielder Ryan Giggs will return to the club for another season after signing a one-year contract extension. The 38-year-old Giggs m

<< Magic welcome Hawks to central Florida
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic try to stay hot tonight when they welcome the Atlanta Hawks to the Amway Center. This, of course, is the first meeting between these Southeast Division rivals since Atlanta knocked the Magic out of last

Stars aim for rare win in Buffalo >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars have yet to win the back end when playing games on consecutive nights. That won't make ending their lengthy losing streak in Buffalo any easier. The Stars try to pick up their first road win against the Sa

Celtics head north of the border to face Raptors >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics may have seen their longest winning streak of the season come to a halt on Thursday. But, a trip north of the border to face the Toronto Raptors could get them back on track. Boston saw its five-game win

Lin, Knicks try to stay hot vs. Lakers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The flavor of the day in Gotham faces another tough test on Friday, when Jeremy Lin and the Knicks play host to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers at Madison Square Garden. Lin has exploded from obscurity over the past wee

Hoffenheim turns to Babbel >>
Sinsheim, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hoffenheim has named Markus Babbel as its new manager on Friday, signing the former Hertha Berlin and Stuttgart boss to a two-and-a-half year contract. Babbel takes the place of Holger Stanislawski,

Arango agrees to Gladbach extension >>
Monchengladbach, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juan Arango has signed a two-year contract extension with Monchengladbach, the club confirmed on Friday. Arango's previous deal was set to expire at the end of the current season, but the 31-year-


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.