Avs attempt to extend win streak over Flames

Hockey Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Avalanche will try for their fourth straight win overall as well as their seventh victory in a row over the Calgary Flames tonight when the two teams clash at Pepsi Center.

The Avalanche's current winning streak over the Flames includes a victory in all four meetings so far this season, with each contest ending in a 3-2 score. The first three meetings finished in regulation before Colorado notched a shootout triumph at Calgary on Jan. 11.

Chris Stewart had the game-tying goal in that victory and also notched the winner in the shootout. The forward has been red-hot as of late, posting 10 goals and 11 assists over his last 12 games.

Stewart also scored and had an assist in Tuesday night's 5-3 win over St. Louis, giving him six goals and four helpers over a five-game point streak. Paul Stastny had a tally and two assists to run his point streak to eight games (5 goals, 10 assists), while Peter Mueller scored twice to go along with an assist.

Mueller has a point in all seven games since being acquired in a trade from Phoenix, notching four goals and 11 points in that span. He had just four goals and 17 points in 54 games with Phoenix this year before the trade.

"The more chances, the more confident I get," Mueller said. "Colorado gave me that chance."

Milan Hejduk contributed a goal for the Avalanche, who won their third straight overall. After making 23 straight starts, Craig Anderson was given the night off. Peter Budaj allowed a goal just eight seconds into the game in his place, but settled down to make 36 saves.

Anderson should start tonight and he has posted a 1.96 goals-against average in winning all four games versus the Flames this year.

Colorado, three points behind idle Vancouver for first place in the Northwest Division, has won seven of its last nine at home overall as well as three straight and four of its last five as the host versus Calgary.

The Flames are on the outside looking in with regards to the Western Conference playoff race, as their 2-1 setback to the Red Wings on Monday dropped them three points back of eighth-seeded Detroit with 13 games to play.

Craig Conroy scored in the loss and Miikka Kiprusoff, who has a 2.74 GAA in four starts versus Colorado this year, made 26 saves, but the Flames dropped their second in a row after a four-game winning streak.

Curtis Glencross failed to convert a penalty shot and the Flames also went 0- for-3 on the power play. That includes a four-minute man advantage with the game tied in which they managed only two shots.

"We need our power play to capitalize for us," Flames head coach Brent Sutter said. "I'm sure there are some guys disappointed but there are 13 games left which is a still lot of hockey to play. Full marks to Detroit, they played well here tonight. We've got to find ways to win tight games."

Christopher Higgins sat out with a foot injury and is doubtful for tonight for Calgary, which has lost seven of its last 10 on the road.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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