Brodeur lifts Devils to SO win over Ducks

Hockey Betting Lines

02/17/2012 - Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Brodeur stopped 36 shots in regulation and then two shootout chances as New Jersey topped Anaheim, 3-2, at Prudential Center.

Patrik Elias netted the winner, starting off the third round on a successful wrister, then Brodeur ended the contest with a dramatic sliding save of a Ryan Getzlaf chance.

Adam Henrique and Alexei Ponikarovsky tallied for the Devils, who have won two in a row.

Corey Perry and Sheldon Brookbank scored for the Ducks, who saw a three-game win streak snapped. Jonas Hiller made 25 saves in defeat.

Henrique followed up an Ilya Kovalchuk rebound and flipped it home from the slot just 1:25 into the second period.

It was 2-0 for the hosts when Ponikarovsky slipped a shot through Hiller's pads with 9:04 left, but Perry potted a rebound in close with 3:52 to go.

Anaheim knotted the game with 2:13 left in regulation after Brookbank moved up from the point and ripped home a shot from the circle.

Kovalchuk misfired on a pair of chances to win the game in the final minute- plus of the third period, and the hosts received a bit of good luck in overtime.

Just over a minute in, the Ducks saw a potential game-winner erased. Getzlaf had his stick tied up while gliding towards the right post, and a centering pass from Luca Sbisa redirected off Getzlaf's right skate before crossing the goal line. But a review determined a kicking motion and play continued.

Game Notes

New Jersey has won eight of its last nine home games against Anaheim since December of 1996...Both clubs are back in action on Sunday, as the Devils head to Montreal, while the Ducks continue their road trip at Florida.

Jazzsportd Hockey Betting News

<< James returns to rout Cavs
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James tried to soften the blow earlier this week of his once earth-shattering departure from Cleveland. On Friday night, the two-time league MVP came back to Ohio and led the Heat to their fifth s

<< Magic finish strong to down Bucks
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hedo Turkoglu scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Orlando Magic dominated the final period to take a 94-85 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Dwight Howard finished with 26 points and 20

<< Wings win in final seconds to keep home streak alive
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pavel Datsyuk scored the game-winner with less than six seconds left in regulation, and Detroit won its 22nd consecutive game on home ice with a 2-1 decision over Nashville at Joe Louis Arena. Johan Franzen

<< Jokinen provides winning goal for Hurricanes
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jussi Jokinen scored the game-winner past the midway point of the third period, lifting the Carolina Hurricanes over the San Jose Sharks, 3-2. Jeff Skinner and Justin Faulk also lit the lamp for the Hurrica

<< Bobcats top Raptors, snap 16-game losing streak
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats' 16-game losing streak is over. Reggie Williams scored 22 points, Corey Maggette had 16 and the Bobcats beat the Toronto Raptors, 98-91, on Friday night. It was their first victory

Almagro advances, Nalbandian ousted at Brasil Open >>
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed and defending champion Nicolas Almagro was an easy quarterfinal winner Friday, while David Nalbandian failed to advance at the $475,300 Brasil Open. The Spanish Almagro cruised past fifth-s

Canadiens take down Sabres in SO >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Max Pacioretty scored the winner in the shootout, as the Canadiens downed the Sabres, 4-3, on Friday. Carey Price stopped Buffalo's first two attempts in the shootout while Pacioretty and David

Harden, Durant pace Thunder over Warriors >>
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - James Harden scored 25 points in a reserve role and Kevin Durant filled the stat sheet with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in Oklahoma City's 110-87 rout of the Golden State Warrior

Stuckey fires Pistons to victory over Kings >>
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rodney Stuckey scored a season-high 36 points as the Detroit Pistons outlasted the Sacramento Kings, 114-108, at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Friday. Brandon Knight and Tayshaun Prince each added dou

Grizzlies down Nuggets on Cunningham's buzzer beater >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Memphis saw its 23-point lead disappear in the second half, but Dante Cunningham's tip-in with 0.2 seconds left in the game lifted the Grizzlies to a 103-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday. Rudy G

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.