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Canucks host streaking Coyotes in Vancouver

Hockey Betting Lines

02/13/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will try to push their longest winning streak of the season to six games when they visit the first-place Vancouver Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena.

The Coyotes, who are holding onto the eighth seed in the West with 62 points, are on their first five-game win streak since March 10-18 of last year. Phoenix also last won six straight in 2010-11, when it went on an eight-game tear from Feb. 5-22.

Phoenix posted its most recent victory Saturday in a 3-0 decision against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks. Mike Smith stood tall between the pipes for the Coyotes, making 38 saves to record his third shutout of the season and 14th of his career.

Smith turned aside 10 shots in the first period, 12 in the second and 16 in the third for the shutout. Phoenix also stopped Chicago from scoring on three power-play opportunities.

"My teammates did a great job in front of me tonight," Smith said.

Radim Vrbata scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season for the Coyotes, who are just two points ahead of Calgary and Colorado in the West standings. Boyd Gordon and Kyle Chipchura also scored in the win.

Ray Whitney added an assist to push his point streak to eight games. Vrbata has reached the scoresheet in seven straight.

After playing tonight in British Columbia, Phoenix will visit Los Angeles on Thursday to complete a two-game trip. The Coyotes are 13-11-4 as the road team this season.

The Canucks are second in the Western Conference with 74 points and also hold a 14-point edge atop the Northwest Division. Vancouver had a three-game winning streak halted with Saturday's shootout loss in Calgary, but the Canucks have gained a point in nine straight contests (6-0-3).

After getting robbed on a breakaway late in regulation, Calgary's Jarome Iginla was able to post the decisive goal of the shootout in the Flames' 3-2 win over the Canucks at the Saddledome. Iginla was robbed by the glove of Roberto Luongo on a break with 2:06 remaining in the third period, but the Calgary captain converted in the third round of the penalty-shot tiebreaker, scoring on a backhand-forehand deke.

Luongo finished with only 16 saves for the Canucks, while Cody Hodgson and David Booth recorded the goals for Vancouver, which completed a four-game road trip with a 3-0-1 mark.

"I thought we played a really good game tonight from start to finish. This was probably our best game of the road trip and we lost," said Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault.

The Canucks are back home for three straight and they are 15-6-4 as the host this season. Vancouver will also welcome Colorado and Toronto during this residency.

Vancouver has won three of its last four meetings with the Coyotes and posted a 5-0 rout in Phoenix on Nov. 25 in the first encounter between the clubs this season. Cory Schneider recorded the shutout for the Canucks in that one with 21 saves.

Phoenix has won two straight at Rogers Arena, as it outscored the Canucks by a combined 8-1 margin in two trips to B.C. last season.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.

    The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:

    Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots

    Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21

    The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.

    Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.

    Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).

    Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.

    And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.