Canucks end record road trip in Phoenix

Hockey Betting Lines

03/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The longest road trip in NHL history will come to an end tonight when the Vancouver Canucks visit the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena.

The Canucks are playing their 14th straight road game this evening, having last played in Vancouver on January 27 -- nearly two weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics in British Columbia.

Vancouver has a solid 8-5-0 record so far on the epic swing and had a decent 18-16-1 mark as the guest this year. The Canucks, who will kick off a five- game homestand Saturday against Ottawa, have played much better at GM Place, posting a 23-7-1 record on home ice this season.

The Canucks beat Colorado on Tuesday night, extending their lead atop the Northwest Division to four points over the Avalanche. Mikael Samuelsson recorded his first career hat trick and Jannik Hansen scored a controversial goal late in the third period to help Vancouver rally to beat the Avalanche, 6-4, at the Pepsi Center.

Samuelsson had a four-point night, and all three of Samuelsson's tallies came in the second period, helping the Canucks win for the fourth time in five games. Vancouver trailed 3-0 after the first period and was down 4-1 in the second period.

"I wish we didn't have to come back like this," Samuelsson said. "It takes the energy away from you. You have to play the game for 60 minutes and we never stopped. That's the good thing. We know we can do it. We got a couple of comebacks early in the season, so that helps us confidence wise."

Hansen's game-winner came as he skated through the crease and deflected the puck away from goaltender Craig Anderson and the disc then trickled into the net.

Daniel Sedin had a goal and two assists, while Roberto Luongo made 23 saves in the win.

Ryan Kesler notched a pair of assists to push his point streak to 10 games. Only Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos, who is riding a club-record 17-game point streak, has a longer current stretch in the NHL.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes will shoot for a third straight victory tonight, when they cap a five-game homestand. Phoenix is 24-10-2 as the host this year and will begin a four-game tour of the Southeast Division with Saturday's stop in Carolina.

The Coyotes haven't played since Saturday when they posted an impressive victory over Anaheim. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 32 shots for his seventh shutout of the season to help Phoenix post a 4-0 win over the Ducks.

Wojtek Wolski had a goal and an assist while Petr Prucha, Vernon Fiddler and Keith Yandle each lit the lamp for the Coyotes, who had lost three straight prior to winning back-to-back outings.

"That's the best game we've played in a long time," said Phoenix head coach Dave Tippet. "We looked like a well-oiled machine out there. There's still work to be done but I like the way we competed tonight."

The win was Bryzgalov's 34th of the season, setting a franchise record. The previous mark of 33 was shared by Sean Burke, Bob Essensa and Brian Hayward.

This evening's game pits two of the Western Conference's highest-seeded teams against each other. Phoenix is currently fourth in the conference with 83 points, while Vancouver is third in the West with 84.

Phoenix has a tough road ahead if it wants to climb higher than the fourth seed as San Jose is 10 points ahead of the Coyotes for the Pacific Division lead.

The Coyotes and Canucks have split two meetings this year with each club winning on home ice. Phoenix has won three of five overall in the series, while Vancouver has lost two straight and three of its last four games in the desert.

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Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

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A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).

Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).

Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

To visit this online sports book got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.