Habs entertain Caps in encounter between struggling clubs

Hockey Betting Lines

02/20/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to post back-to-back wins for the first time in a month as they welcome the Washington Capitals for tonight's showdown at the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens ended a six-game losing streak Sunday by posting a 3-2 victory in Columbus. Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves in his NHL debut to guide Montreal to the close win at Nationwide Arena. Saku Koivu, Michael Ryder and Francis Bouillon all scored for the Canadiens.

Halak was called into action after Cristobal Huet suffered a hamstring tear in Montreal's 5-2 loss at New Jersey on Wednesday. Huet had surgery to repair the tear on Sunday and will be out indefinitely.

Montreal has fallen into a tie with Toronto and the New York Islanders for the eighth and final postseason berth in the Eastern Conference. All three teams have 66 points on the year.

The Capitals have lost three straight games and are coming off a close defeat in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Mark Recchi, Evgeni Malkin and Maxime Talbot registered goals as Sidney Crosby's Penguins outlasted Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps by a 3-2 count.

Crosby finished with only an assist and Ovechkin went without a point, a bit of an anti-climactic outcome to the anticipated duel between the NHL's top two young stars.

Richard Zednik and Alexander Semin had the goals for Washington, while Brent Johnson finished with 23 stops.

Ovechkin, who leads Washington in goals (34) and assists (38), has gone two straight games without a point and has just one goal and one helper over his last seven tests.

The Capitals have dropped to 14th place in the East and are trailed only by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Tonight marks the end of a three-game road trip for Washington, which is just 9-15-5 away from D.C. this year and has lost six straight and 12 of its last 13 as the visitor.

Montreal and Washington have split a pair of meetings this year, but the Habs have taken six of the last 10 matchups. The Capitals have also walked away defeated in three of their last four trips to Montreal.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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