Bruins host Devils in clash between East's top teams

Hockey Betting Lines

03/22/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top two teams in the Eastern Conference will clash today in Beantown, as the Boston Bruins welcome the New Jersey Devils for a showdown at TD Banknorth Garden.

The Bruins leads the Northeast Division as well as the conference with 100 points, while New Jersey is tops in the Atlantic and second in the East with 97 points. Washington is just one point behind the Devils in the third slot.

Boston also became the first team in the East to clinch a playoff berth thanks to Florida's loss to Columbus on Saturday.

New Jersey has taken two of the three encounters with the Bruins this year and can win the season series for the third time in four campaigns with another victory today. The Devils have taken six of eight and 11 of the last 15 overall meetings with the Bruins and have come out on top in two of their last three stops at the Garden.

Despite its standing as the top team in the East, Boston has struggled since the early stages of February and is just 6-9-4 in its last 19 contests. The Bruins come into today's test having lost two straight, four of six and seven of their last 10 games.

Boston last played on Thursday when it was able to salvage a point in an overtime setback to visiting Los Angeles. Dustin Brown scored with 35 ticks remaining in OT as the Kings rallied for three goals in the final 15 minutes to take a 3-2 decision at TD Banknorth Garden.

Mark Recchi and Matt Hunwick got the goals for Boston. Tim Thomas blanked the Kings for nearly 50 minutes before wilting under LA's 38-shot barrage in the loss.

The Bruins are 24-6-6 as the host this year and are capping a brief two-game homestand today. Boston won't play again until Saturday's contest in Toronto.

Meanwhile, the Devils have played very well recently, winning five of six and nine of their last 11 games. New Jersey had a four-game winning streak halted by Wednesday's setback at Carolina, but the club rebounded with Friday's easy home win over Minnesota.

Martin Brodeur turned aside all 35 shots he faced to notch the 101st shutout of his legendary career, as the Devils breezed past the Wild, 4-0, at Prudential Center. Brodeur is now just two shy of the great Terry Sawchuk for the league's all-time record for shutouts.

Brodeur notched the 552nd win of his career on Tuesday against Chicago to pass Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy for first on the all-time list. Brodeur was given a rare night off Wednesday when New Jersey lost at Carolina.

Patrik Elias scored twice for the Devils, who have won a club-record 11 straight games on home ice.

Elias has four goals and four assists during a five-game point streak, while Zach Parise, who had two assists in Friday's win, has recorded a point in seven straight contests. Parise has three goals and seven helpers during his point streak.

Today's tilt marks the first of three straight on the road for New Jersey, which will also visit Philadelphia and Chicago during the swing. The Devils have an excellent 21-11-2 record as the guest this year, but have lost four of their last seven road games.

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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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