Rangers welcome Caps for matinee at MSG

Hockey Betting Lines

02/12/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off another dominating performance against their nearest division rivals, the first-place New York Rangers will welcome the Washington Capitals for today's battle at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers visited Philadelphia on Saturday and slammed the Flyers, 5-2, to extend their lead atop the Atlantic Division to six points. With 75 points, New York is also five points in front of Boston for the top seed in the East and one behind Detroit for the best record in the NHL.

The Blueshirts have simply dominated the second-place Flyers, winning all five encounters this season and seven straight meetings overall. The Rangers have outscored the Flyers 29-10 over the past seven matchups, shutting them out twice over that span. Saturday's lopsided win was keyed by Ryan Callahan's second career hat trick and a 3-for-7 performance on the power play.

"It's good. Anytime you get three goals obviously you are excited. Callahan said. "It's a big game, especially with a team that's so close to you in the standings. I had some pretty easy, tap in goals there. So it wasn't all me tonight."

Marian Gaborik added a goal and three assists for the Rangers, who have won four of five and six of their last eight contests. Artem Anisimov also lit the lamp for New York, while Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves in the victory.

The Rangers beat Philadelphia without forward Ruslan Fedotenko, who did not travel with the team on Saturday after he took a shoulder to the head from Tampa Bay's Dominic Moore on Thursday. Fedotenko, who has seven goals and seven assists in 51 games this season, is not expected to play today either.

New York has a 17-6-2 record as the host this year and has won three of its last four at MSG.

The Capitals will try to bounce back from Thursday's home loss to Winnipeg, as the Jets scored twice in the final 2:15 of regulation to send the game to overtime and then earned the 3-2 win in the shootout. Trailing 2-0 with less than three minutes to play, Winnipeg got goals from Evander Kane and Dustin Byfuglien in a span of 12 seconds to force OT.

Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin notched regulation goals for Washington, while Tomas Vokoun had 25 saves in the loss. The tying goal came when Byfuglien beat Vokoun from center-ice after the puck deflected off a Washington defenseman.

"You get beat by a long shot, it's one of those plays that happens in hockey," Capitals coach Dale Hunter said of Byfuglien's goal. "It goes for you sometimes and it goes against you."

The Capitals enter today two points behind Florida for first place in the Southeast Division and the Panthers are also in action this afternoon. Washington is also one point behind Toronto for the eighth and final postseason berth in the East.

Washington has struggled all year on the road and is just 9-14-3 as the guest this year compared to a 19-7-2 mark in D.C.

The Rangers and Caps split a pair of games in D.C. earlier this season and the final two encounters will take place in NYC. Washington halted a four-game skid in this series with a 4-1 win over the Rangers on Dec. 28. New York routed the Caps, 7-0, when the teams last met at the Garden on Dec. 12, 2010, but Washington had won the three previous matchups in the Big Apple.

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MySportsbook.com : Fortune Favors Favorites in March Madness betting?

Just like Day 1 of the “Sweet 16”, Friday’s games are chock full of some of the nation’s elite.  Unlike Thursday’s games, there is a little bit more of a “Cinderella” feel as #7 seed UNLV and #6 seed Vanderbilt will attempt to move on to the Elite Eight.  With powerhouses Florida, UNC and Georgetown looking to continue their momentum against lesser known teams, it isn’t surprising that once again the “betting public” is backing most of the favorites.  As the early coin rolls in, 56% of Sportsbook.com bettors prefer Georgetown (-7.5) as they take on Vanderbilt; 84% of the early money is backing Oregon (-3) as they square off against UNLV; and a slight majority (52%) of the early cash is on Florida (-10.5) against Butler as the Gators continue their quest for another National Title. The only favorite the public don’t seem confident in is UNC, as 59% of the cash is backing the underdog Trojans (+8).

Midwest

#1 Florida vs. #5 Butler

The defending National Champs have been on a mission since last April.  Joakim Noah and Al Horford turned down millions of dollars for one reason, to REPEAT.  After a late season hiccup which saw them lose three out of four, the Gators have won six straight by an average of 20.3 points. More importantly, they covered in five of those six games.  Behind their stymie defense that yields only 56.9 PPG, Butler has been a very pleasant surprise this season.  As their 20-11 ATS record will indicate, “surprise teams” like Butler are often good bets for gamblers.  Playing in an average conference, Butler wasn’t and underdog too often but when they were, they covered (6-0 ATS).  Butler’s defense will have its hands full against a Gators offense which averages 80.1 PPG on an amazing 52.9% shooting from the field.  With Florida’s tournament experience over the last few years, it isn’t surprising that they are 5-1 ATS this season, 20-4 ATS over the last three seasons and 38-20 since 1997 in tournament action.

#3 Oregon vs. #7 UNLV

As a #7 seed, UNLV is the closest thing to a “Cinderella” we have this year.  If you bet on UNLV this season with any regularity, you most likely cashed in. Behind their guard oriented attack, the Rebels are an impressive 20-11 ATS this season.  As an underdog they covered in 8 out of their ten games which isn’t surprising since they are 52-30 ATS as a ‘dog since 1997. The Rebels have been a consistent cover during the month of March as well.  This March they are 6-0 ATS, 11-3 ATS over the last three seasons and 24-11 since 1997. Their impressive ATS trends don’t end there; versus teams with a winning record they are 15-6 ATS this season and 41-21 over the last three seasons.  Although Oregon hasn’t been as generous to gamblers as UNLV this season, they have been covering consistently as of late.  There is no question that they are playing their best ball of the season having won their last 8 straight up (SU) by an average of 14.5 points. Not surprising they covered in 7 of those games.  It is interesting to note how similar these teams are in regards to scoring and scoring defense. UNLV averages 75 PPG while giving up 66.5 PPG and Oregon scores 75.8 PPG while yielding 65.5 PPG.

East

#6 Vanderbilt vs. #2 Georgetown

“Hoya Paranoia” is officially back! After a decent start, Georgetown has rolled through the second half of the season.  Over their last 18 games, they are 17-1 SU.  They have definitely improved ATS as the season has progressed as well. After opening the season 1-4-1 ATS, the Hoyas have covered 78.3% of their games.  With their great interior play of Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, the Hoyas as a team shoot 50.5% from the field.  Like the Georgetown teams from years ago, they also excel on defense.  Hoya opponents averaged only 56.8 PPG on 38.2% shooting from the field and an extremely low 30.4% from beyond the arc.  The last stat could be of some concern to Vanderbilt considering they shoot 37.7% from long-range.  Ranking second to last in the SEC in rebounding margin, Vanderbilt will have its work cut out for them against the Hoya trees. As far as covering is concerned, Vanderbilt has been almost a “sure thing” (7-1 ATS) versus good defensive teams that allow less than 64 PPG.

#1 UNC vs. # 5 USC

The Tar Heels are as talented and as deep as any team in the country.  Going ten deep and chock full of HS All-Americans, UNC averages 86.1 PPG and scored 100+ seven times.  Led by All-American forward, Tyler Hansbrough (18.6 PPG 7.9 RPG) UNC has a very balanced attack which can kill you on the inside as well as on the perimeter.  UNC only real concern is their youth as eight of their rotation players are either sophomores or freshmen.  UNC was a reliable cover this season going 20-13 ATS.  An intriguing covering trend for the Tar Heels in recent years has been how they fared after non-conference games.  This season they are 11-3 ATS after non-conference games and over the last three seasons they are 31-13 ATS.  USC is also a pretty deep team which is loaded with swingman types.  An match-up to keep an eye on will be freshman forward Taj Gibson (12.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG) as he squares off against the AA Hansbrough.  USC has been a covering machine this season achieving a 21-10 record ATS.  They have thrived in the underdog role, having covered 10 out of 12.  When playing a team with a winning record, the Trojans are an incredible 20-6 ATS. Keep in mind, USC dedicated their season to former star to Ryan Francis who passed away before the season so as they get closer to the ultimate goal, emotion could definitely be on their side.

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 this sportsbook “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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