Blueshirts lock up playoff spot

Hockey Betting Lines

04/06/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist and Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves as the New York Rangers clinched a playoff berth with a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.

Petr Prucha and Marek Malik also scored for New York, which has won eight of 10 and secured its second straight postseason appearance after missing it the previous seven seasons.

The feisty Sean Avery had an assist for the Rangers, who moved into the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of idle Tampa Bay. The Lightning, though, have two games remaining, while the Rangers have just one.

Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves through the first two periods and Cristobal Huet stopped all eight shots he faced in the third for the Canadiens, who had a chance to secure a playoff spot.

Sheldon Souray scored for Montreal, which still sits in eighth place in the conference with 90 points, one ahead of Toronto. The Maple Leafs and Islanders are currently playing at Nassau Coliseum.

Montreal travels to Toronto on Saturday in the season-finale for both teams.

The Rangers started the scoring just 2:53 into the contest. Prucha took the puck into the offensive zone along the right side boards and from the top of the circle slapped a shot that beat Halak low to the stick side.

New York extended its lead with 8:42 left in the second period. After taking Michael Nylander's backhanded pass from the bottom of the left circle, Jagr snapped a shot from near the top of the circle over the glove side of Halak.

Jagr then had a hand in the Rangers' third goal. Just 7:08 after his goal, Jagr sent a cross-ice pass from the right side boards that hit the skate of Avery at the top of the left circle. The puck died and Malik skated on to it and slapped a shot that went by Halak's stick side.

Souray avoided the shutout for the Canadiens, scoring a power-play goal with just under five minutes to play. But that was as close as the Canadiens could get.

Game Notes

Souray's power-play goal was his 19th of the season and 26th overall...Jagr has 96 points this season and is just three points behind Paul Coffey (1,531) for 11th place all-time...New York's regular season ends on Saturday at Pittsburgh.

Wwwsoccerstore Hockey Betting News

<< Arenas out 2-3 months following surgery
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas underwent surgery Thursday to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee and will be sidelined the next 2-to-3 months. Arenas was hurt in the first quart

<< Michigan State moves into final
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Mueller had a goal and an assist to help the Michigan State Spartans advance to their first championship game since 1987 with a 4-2 win over the Maine Black Bears in the Frozen Four. Nick Such

<< Masters First Round News & Notes
Augusta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Most veteran players come to Augusta National a week or so ahead of time to get a feel for the course. Phil Mickelson, who owns two green jackets, has been stalking the premises for over a week already

<< Rose and Wetterich lead Masters; Woods four back
Augusta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich are tied atop the leaderboard at three-under-par 69 Thursday after the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Tiger Woods, the winner of the last two m

<< Washington's Hawes experiments jumping to NBA
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Washington announced freshman center Spencer Hawes will experiment with making the jump to the NBA. The 7-foot Hawes, who led the Huskies with 14.9 points per game this past season, anno

Sabres rally to top Bruins >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thomas Vanek scored twice and also notched an assist as the Sabres doubled up the Boston Bruins, 4-2, in Buffalo's home finale at HSBC Arena. Derek Roy had a goal and one assist and Ales Kotalik als

Brodeur sets record on championship night for Devils >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Brodeur used 34 saves to break the all-time mark for wins in a single season and Jim Dowd scored the short-handed game-winner midway through the third period, as the New Jersey Devils clinched the Atl

Islanders stay alive with win over Leafs >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Blake scored the go-ahead goal 3:46 into the third period and the New York Islanders kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Nassau Coliseum. Aaron Asham and M

Heat overcome Cavs in OT >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Kapono's three-pointer late in overtime gave Miami a lead it never relinquished as the Heat edged Cleveland, 94-90, and clinched a playoff berth at Quicken Loans Arena. Antoine Walker scored

Backstrom and Wild shutout Edmonton >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Niklas Backstrom made 22 saves, recording his second consecutive shutout and fifth of the season as the Minnesota Wild blanked the Edmonton Oilers, 3-0, at XCel Energy Center. Mark Parrish, Keith Carne

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.