Habs aim to make it three straight in clash with Isles

Hockey Betting Lines

02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to post their longest winning streak in over three months when they visit the New York Islanders tonight at Nassau Coliseum.

The Canadiens have recorded recent home wins over Winnipeg and Pittsburgh, but the club hasn't notched three victories in a row since a season-high four-game run from Oct. 26-Nov. 4.

Meanwhile, the Islanders have won three of four and have recorded a point in five straight (3-0-2). New York is currently nine points out of a playoff spot in the East and is just one point ahead of Montreal in the conference standings.

The Canadiens outlasted the visiting Penguins on Tuesday, as Tomas Plekanec scored in the eighth round of the shootout to help Montreal take a 3-2 decision at Bell Centre.

In the eighth round, Plekanec beat Marc-Andre Fleury to the glove side with a wrister and Carey Price sealed the win as he kept out a low forehand shot from Jason Williams.

"I thought we played well the whole game," said Plekanec. "We tried to shut them down. We were able to get two points. That's the most important thing."

Louis Leblanc and Lars Eller both scored in regulation for the Canadiens, who had grabbed a 2-1 lead early in the third period before allowing James Neal to tie it with his 28th goal of the year at the 7:32 mark of the stanza. Price made 32 stops in the win.

Montreal is just 10-13-2 as the visiting team this year and is beginning a brief two-game trip tonight. The Habs will also visit the rival Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

The Islanders also won a shootout decision Tuesday night in Philadelphia, as Frans Nielsen scored the winner in the second round in a 1-0 victory over the Flyers at Wachovia Center. All around, it was an exciting day for Nielsen, who earlier on Tuesday signed a new four-year contract with the Islanders.

But the real story for New York on Tuesday was the magnificent play of goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 45 shots through the 65 minutes of play for his second shutout of the season and 52nd of his career for the Islanders. Nabokov stopped both Flyers shooters in the shootout to get the win.

"When you look at the game, he made some huge saves for us," said New York head coach Jack Capuano. "Anytime you get goaltending like that, normally you win a hockey game and we did that tonight against a really good team."

John Tavares also scored in the decisive phase for the Isles on Tuesday.

The Islanders are hoping to get defenseman Milan Jurcina back tonight after he sat out the last three games with a lacerated elbow. New York will not have either defensemen Travis Hamonic (broken nose/facial lacerations) and Dylan Reese (knee), who will be out four-to-six weeks after suffering a sprained MCL against Philadelphia.

New York is kicking off a three-game homestand tonight and is 11-11-5 as the host this season. The Isles will also welcome Los Angeles and Florida during the residency.

The Isles had won three straight against Montreal before the Canadiens evened the season series at one game each with a 5-3 home win on Dec. 13. New York has won two in a row and three of the last four meetings on Long Island.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.