Devils edge Blackhawks in shootout
Hockey Betting Lines
11/10/2006 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Parise and Brian Gionta both scored in the shootout and Marty Brodeur finished with 23 saves, as the New Jersey Devils captured their third consecutive win with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at The Meadowlands.
Michael Rupp scored in regulation for New Jersey, which also won in a shootout against Carolina on Tuesday. The Devils, who have now won five of their last six games, will host the Florida Panthers on Saturday.
Tuomo Ruutu scored the lone goal for Chicago, which earned its first point in its last eight games (0-7-1). Goaltender Brian Boucher stopped all but one of the 27 shots he faced in regulation for the Blackhawks, who started the 2006-07 season 4-2 but have suffered eight consecutive defeats.
Strange bounces told the story of the regulation goals, both of which were scored in the first period.
Within the first minute of the opening stanza, New Jersey nearly scored when Jamie Langenbrunner, from inside the lower right circle, slid a pass across the crease for Parise, who failed to get his stick on the puck as it slid wide at the left post.
Moments later, the Devils cashed in courtesy of a lucky bounce. Following a faceoff in the neutral zone, Johnny Oduya fired a dump-in along the left half- wall. The puck was headed behind the net and Boucher skated toward the rear boards to stop it. However, the disc deflected off a kink in the base of the boards and caromed directly into the slot, where Rupp easily deposited his first goal of the season into an open net at 2:31.
With 13:30 to play in first, Gionta sent a pass from the rear boards to the low slot, where Patrik Elias momentarily had an open net. However, Elias' wrist shot was stopped by Boucher's great sliding glove save.
Shortly after, Chicago knotted the contest. The visitors held control in their offensive zone, and Ruutu corralled the puck along the left half-wall. He circled to avoid a defender and sent a wrist shot on goal. The puck deflected off the shin pad of New Jersey's Colin White and past Brodeur at the 8:55 mark.
Midway through the second period, John Madden nearly gave New Jersey a 2-1 lead. A nifty pass by Langenbrunner from the top of the left circle avoided several Chicago sticks and found Madden's. Seconds later, Madden, stationed along the goal line to the left of the net, drifted toward the goal and attempted a stuffer at the left post, but Boucher was quicker.
Later in the second, the Devils wasted a 5-on-3 power play that lasted for over a minute. The best scoring chance during the two-man advantage came when Travis Zajac had a good look on a rebound following a point shot by Langenbrunner.
The remainder of regulation was fairly quiet and neither team produced many quality scoring chances until the final minute of overtime. With 25 seconds to play before the shootout, Gionta and Elias hustled in on a 2-on-1. The tiny Gionta sent a perfect cross-ice pass for Elias, who hit the outside of the net with a snap shot from the lower left circle.
New Jersey then took firm control in the shootout. Chicago's Rene Bourque was the first shooter and was stoned by Brodeur before Parise lifted a backhander over Boucher's right shoulder. Michael Holmqvist then tried to beat Brodeur down low, but the future Hall of Famer was too quick before Gionta's goal sealed the victory.
Game Notes
Chicago again played without starting goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who is listed as day-to-day with a broken finger...Chicago will host St. Louis on Friday...The Devils improved to 9-0-2 in their last 11 games against Chicago, which last won at New Jersey on December 30, 1997...The Devils went scoreless on eight power-play chances and held Chicago scoreless on four opportunities with the extra skater...The Devils owned the battle in the faceoff circle, 31-21...Attendance was 10,978.
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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.
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
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