Avs turn tables on Kings with home victory

Hockey Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Stastny tallied twice as Colorado finished off a season sweep of Los Angeles with a 4-1 decision at Pepsi Center.

"From start to finish tonight we played our game. We kept attacking even after we were up four goals," said Stastny. "Our defense played really well and created a lot of offense for us."

Mark Olver and Jay McClement also lit the lamp for the Avalanche, who took all four games this year over the Kings for the first time since moving to Denver prior to the 1995-96 campaign. LA won all four meetings a season ago.

Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves to pick up his second victory in three starts.

Dustin Brown provided the sole offense for the Kings, who dropped their fourth straight game and sixth in seven.

Jonathan Quick took the loss and was pulled following the first period after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Jonathan Bernier stopped 15 shots the rest of the way.

Olver started the early burst when he ripped a shot under the crossbar from the inner edge of the left circle just over seven minutes in.

Stastny doubled the edge exactly six minutes later when he grabbed an errant Kyle Clifford clear behind Quick, and scored on a wraparound.

It was 3-0 with 2:38 left before intermission as McClement tipped in a Ryan O'Reilly centering pass.

"It's 3-0 and something had to change. They were moving the puck so well and created a lot of chances early," Quick noted. "We have to be prepared and ready to play every night from now on. They seemed to want it more than we did."

Bernier spelled Quick for the start of the second but the move failed to spark the visitors. Stastny pumped in a power-play goal at 12:45 of the second period when he netted a Gabriel Landeskog rebound while falling down.

Brown hit the scoreboard for LA with 4:35 played in the third after Brown tipped in a Drew Doughty point blast, but the visitors had no more answers.

Game Notes

Stastny recorded his second multi-goal game of the season, after a two-goal performance at San Jose on December 15...Avs defenseman Erik Johnson left after the first period with back spasms and did not return...Steve Downie, acquired from Tampa Bay on Tuesday, finished his first game in a Colorado uniform with one shot on goal in 16:20 of ice time.

Hamkooki Hockey Betting News

<< Ellis' last-second shot lifts Warriors over Suns; Curry injures foot
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monta Ellis scored 26 points and made the game- winning jumper with one second left, lifting the Golden State Warriors over the Phoenix Suns, 106-104. Ellis' fadeaway jumper with Grant Hill in his face snap

<< Vinci out at Monterrey Open
Monterrey, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci was a second-round loser at the $220,000 Monterrey Open on Wednesday. Vinci fell to Russian Nina Bratchikova 7-5, 7-5 in 1 hour, 21 minutes on the hardcourts at Sierr

<< Packers TE Finley tweets 2-year deal
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers and tight end Jermichael Finley have agreed on a two-year deal. Finley confirmed a report of the deal on his Twitter account Wednesday night, saying: "It's TRUE! Thank you so much to the Packers

<< No. 6 Michigan State edges Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Keith Appling's go-ahead free throws with 32 seconds remaining lifted No. 6 Michigan State to a 66-61 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday. Austin Hollins airballed a three-pointer from the right w

<< Bruins hang rare home regulation defeat on Blues
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Marchand scored twice as Boston doubled up St. Louis, 4-2, at Scottrade Center. Chris Kelly and Milan Lucic each posted a goal and one assist for the Bruins, who had lost three of four coming in. Ti

No. 4 Kansas tops Texas A&M >>
College Station, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elijah Johnson scored a team-high 21 points to lead No. 4 Kansas past Texas A&M, 66-58, in the final Big 12 clash between the two schools. Tyshawn Taylor added 12 points, Jeff Withey contribute

Roddick ousted in Memphis >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Belgian Xavier Malisse knocked off second- seed and defending champion Andy Roddick 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 in first-round action at the $1.155 million Regions Morgan Keegan Championships on Wednesday. Rodd

Gasol, Lakers edge Mavericks >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pau Gasol had 24 points and nine rebounds on Wednesday night, as the Lakers escaped with a 96-91 win over the Mavericks. With the narrow victory, the Lakers improved to 2-0 this season against Dallas,

UNLV handles Boise State >>
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chace Stanback drained four three-pointers en route to a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds as No. 21 UNLV took care of business on Wednesday with a 75-58 victory over Boise State. Brice Massamba contrib

Paul leads Clippers past Nuggets >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Paul had a season-high 36 points to go along with nine assists as the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away in the fourth quarter to down the Denver Nuggets, 103-95, at Staples Center. Blake Griffi

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.

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.