Blues hope to keep flying high in trip to Colorado

Hockey Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues are in position to record their longest winning streak in over six years, but to reach that mark they'll have to find a way to halt their struggles versus the Colorado Avalanche this season.

St. Louis goes for a sixth straight victory when it visits Colorado and the Pepsi Center this evening.

The Blues open their post-Olympic schedule with six straight games on the road, a season high, and they have won the first two contests of that trek to run their overall win streak to five games. After a victory at Phoenix on Tuesday, St. Louis claimed a 6-1 triumph in Dallas on Thursday behind a pair of goals from Paul Kariya that give him 398 in his NHL career.

Kariya also had an assist and Alexander Steen, Patrik Berglund, Brad Boyes and T.J. Oshie all added goals for the Blues, who haven't won six straight since December 6-18, 2003. St. Louis has 23 goals over its current win streak.

"Going into the [Olympic] break there, I thought we were playing our best hockey of the year," said goaltender Chris Mason after making 29 saves. "Fortunately enough, we seem to be carrying it over after the break. We're playing hard, getting the pucks at the net and making it difficult for the goalie."

Andy McDonald added an assist for St. Louis to give him three goals and two assists over a five-game point streak.

St. Louis, now 18-9-4 as the visitor this year, are within three points of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The Blues hope their current momentum can help them capture their first win over the Avalanche this season. St. Louis has been outscored 9-2 in losing both of its previous meetings this year with Colorado, including a 5-2 road setback on February 8 that dropped the club to 3-6-0 in its last nine trips to Denver.

Mason was pulled in the second period of that loss after allowing five goals on 15 shots faced. Ty Conklin halted all 18 shots he faced in relief.

Chris Stewart has three goals and three assists for Colorado in the two meetings this year, and the forward has four goals in his last seven games. He did not score in the Avalanche's last contest, a 3-1 setback to Phoenix on Thursday.

Craig Anderson made 27 saves but allowed the game-winning goal to former teammate Wojtek Wolski with 23.7 seconds left in regulation. Wolski was dealt to Phoenix on Wednesday for Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter.

Mueller scored in his Phoenix debut on Wednesday night and assisted on John- Michael Liles' tally Thursday, but Colorado still lost for the third time in four games and is two points behind Vancouver for first place in the Northwest Division.

"We've come back from tough losses where we maybe should have got a point, but we respond the right way," said Anderson.

Colorado kicks off a three-game homestand tonight and is 20-9-2 as the host thanks to wins in five of six and nine of its last 12 at the Pepsi Center.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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