Red Wings, Wild meet for key battle in Motown

Hockey Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams fighting for a playoff berth in the Western Conference get together tonight at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena, where the hometown Red Wings take on the Minnesota Wild in a key late-season showdown.

The reigning conference champion Red Wings are in a fierce battle to earn a postseason spot this season, as the club presently trails Calgary by one point for the West's No. 8 seed. The Flames vaulted ahead of Detroit in the standings by rallying for a 4-2 victory Tuesday in the Motor City, scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to erase a 2-1 deficit.

Detroit had gone in front on second-period tallies by Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom, but Calgary tied the contest at 2-2 when Jarome Iginla knocked home a rebound 5:45 into the final session. Rene Bourque scored the go-ahead goal less than two minutes later, and the Flames tacked on an empty-netter in the final stages to seal the outcome.

Jimmy Howard finished with 28 saves for Detroit, which was outshot by a 15-4 margin in the fateful final period.

"I thought we got good goaltending [Tuesday] to give us a chance," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We didn't respond with a good enough effort."

The Red Wings had won three of their first four outings following the Olympic break prior to Tuesday's setback and were fresh off back-to-back wins over Central Division rivals Nashville and Chicago.

Minnesota has more ground to make up in regards to a playoff spot, trailing the Flames by six points for eighth place in the West at the moment. The Wild haven't helped themselves by losing their last three games, although they did manage a point in two of those defeats.

The Wild are coming off a 3-2 shootout loss to visiting Florida on Tuesday in which the team failed to hold onto an early two-goal lead. The Panthers scored twice in the third period to force overtime, then prevailed on Cory Stillman's goal in the fourth round of the deciding phase.

"We should be playing desperate, playing playoff hockey, and we were far from that [Tuesday]," said Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who turned in 29 saves in a losing cause.

Mikko Koivu and Robbie Earl netted first-period goals for the Wild, which begins a stretch of two straight road games tonight. Minnesota, a subpar 10-19-3 as the visitor for the season, will visit Northeast Division leader Buffalo on Friday.

The Wild has also historically struggled in Joe Louis Arena, having gone 2-8 with a tie in their last 11 trips there with losses in five of their last six games as the guest in this series. Detroit has taken five of the past seven overall meetings between the teams as well.

The Red Wings and Wild split two matchups held in Minnesota earlier this season.

Datsyuk, who has generated four goals and nine assists over a six-game scoring streak, netted both Detroit goals in a 5-2 loss to the Wild on January 27.

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Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup

September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com.  The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans. 

Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to  name a  few.  Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR.  They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.

The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer.  Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.

Ryder Cup Odds

Europe
Tie
USA
4-5
10-1
6-5


Ryder Cup Top US point scorer
Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Chris DiMarco
David Toms
Stewart Cink
Chad Campbell
Scott Verplank
Zach Johnson
Vaughan Taylor
JJ Henry
Brett Wetterich
9-4
4-1
5-1
7-1
8-1
12-1
15-1
15-1
25-1
30-1
30-1
50-1


Ryder Cup Top European scorer
Sergio Garcia
Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington
Colin Montgomerie
Darren Clarke
David Howell
Lee Westwood
Paul Casey
Henrik Stenson
Jose Maria Olazabal
Paul McGinley
Robert Karlsson
5-1
5-1
6-1
13-2
8-1
9-1
9-1
11-1
12-1
12-1
20-1
25-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com