Sliding Leafs shoot for rare win in Calgary

Hockey Betting Lines

02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Given that Toronto hasn't won in Calgary in over nine years, the club didn't pick the best time to go on a three-game losing streak.

The Maple Leafs hope to avoid posting their longest skid of the season this evening and snap a six-game road losing streak to the Flames in the start of their trip through Western Canada.

Toronto has posted losing streaks of three games on five separate occasions this year, but hasn't lost four in a row since Nov. 26-Dec. 2 of last season. Still, the city of Calgary isn't the best of places for it to start a three- game road trip given that the Maple Leafs haven't won there since Dec. 27, 2002.

The Leafs were able to snap a four-game overall slide to the Flames with a 3-2 win at home on Oct. 15, getting a pair of goals and an assist from Phil Kessel.

The Toronto offense went silent on Saturday, when the club was handed a 5-0 loss by visiting Montreal on a night when the Leafs retired the No. 13 of former captain Mats Sundin, who coincidentally is the franchise's all-time leader in goals and points.

James Reimer yielded four goals on 15 shots and Jonas Gustavsson took over at the start of the third period. He faced only three shots, but was touched for an early goal.

Reimer, meanwhile, took the blame despite the offense going 0-for-5 on the power play. Toronto has been outscored 11-4 overall on its three-game slide.

"I didn't play good enough, that's what it comes down to," Reimer said. "In a game like this, you need to look in the mirror and I wasn't good enough."

Toronto's skid has it just one point up on Washington for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Maple Leafs defenseman Carl Gunnarsson suffered an injury in practice on Monday in a collision with Jay Rosehill and his status for this game is unknown after he had to be helped off the ice.

The Flames welcome the Leafs to town after picking up a big 3-2 shootout win over the visiting Canucks on Saturday. Jarome Iginla netted the winner in the shootout after getting robbed on a breakaway with 2:06 left in the third period.

Miikka Kiprusoff, who made 29 saves, followed Iginla's shootout tally by turning away Mason Raymond's bid to assure the extra point for the Flames, who are 3-0-2 in their last five.

"It certainly wasn't pretty at times, but we battled for everything in that hockey game and deserved the two points," said Flames associate coach Craig Hartsburg.

Calgary sits three points behind the eighth spot in the West and received regulation goals from Mike Cammalleri and Roman Horak.

With the Flames losing Mikael Backlund for 4-for-6 weeks due to an upper-body injury, head coach Brent Sutter has opted to move Cammalleri from the wing to center for this game.

The Flames are already playing without Lee Stempniak, Blair Jones, Curtis Glencross, Derek Smith and David Moss due to injury.

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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.

El Duque expected to throw Tuesday

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez, sidelined at spring training because of arthritis in his neck, is expected to resume throwing on Tuesday.

Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.

El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.

MySportsbook.com has the Mets as -110 favorites to repeat as NL East champions odds. 

Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.

New York already is without Pedro Martinez, out until at least midseason following rotator cuff surgery. Among those competing for starting jobs are prospects Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber and Jason Vargas, plus veterans Chan Ho Park, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Sele.

Notes: Mets manager Willie Randolph is excited about two new utility players he could have on his bench: Damion Easley and David Newhan. ''Their value is really all over the place,'' Randolph said. Easley can play anywhere in the infield and could be used as an emergency outfielder, though Randolph said he would prefer to keep the veteran in the infield. Newhan, meanwhile, can play second base, third or any outfield position for the Mets. ''I love versatility,'' Randolph said. ''I love guys that can give me options when I need them to step in.''

Additional baseball lines and World Series odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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