Devils edge Rangers in chippy affair

Hockey Betting Lines

02/21/2007 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Parise scored the game-winning goal in the third period and Martin Brodeur made 35 saves, as the New Jersey Devils edged the New York Rangers, 2-1, in the start of a home-and-home series.

Brian Rafalski also scored and Scott Gomez added a pair of helpers for New Jersey, which has won three of four. The Devils were without the services of their leading point-scorer, Patrik Elias, as well as leading goal-scorer, Brian Gionta. Elias sat out with the flu, while Gionta was sidelined with a groin injury.

Petr Prucha had the lone tally for New York, which lost for just the second time in its last six games. Henrik Lundqvist was solid in net, making 24 saves.

With the game tied, 1-1, New York rode the momentum into the third period, putting heavy pressure on Brodeur before the Rangers' Colton Orr dropped the gloves with Cam Janssen. Orr landed a couple of solid blows and took Janssen to the ice, though both players were clearly tiring in the end.

New Jersey then turned the game around, as Brodeur came up with a couple of huge saves before the Devils went the other way in an odd-man rush. Gomez was leading the charge, but it was Parise who failed on the backhand, collected his own rebound off the right side of the net and flipped it over the goal line with 7:54 remaining.

Brodeur came up with some crucial saves down the stretch, including a late flurry with under a minute remaining. The Rangers pulled Lundqvist in favor of the extra attacker, but failed to convert on the man-advantage.

New Jersey opened the scoring in the first period on Rafalski's tally. Sergei Brylin drew a crowd below the right circle before dishing cross-ice, with the feed glancing off the skate and through the legs of Gomez. Rafalski read the one-timer perfectly, and from all alone in the slot, rifled a slapshot off the left post and past Lundqvist on the stick-side at 8:16.

The Blueshirt pulled even with just three minutes left in the middle stanza, but the controversial score nearly ignited a brawl.

Rangers' forward Sean Avery was camped just in front of the crease and appeared to make contact with Brodeur, who failed to stop a slapshot by Aaron Ward that deflected off the skate of Prucha and into the net.

Brodeur and Avery briefly jawed at one another, before Brodeur pushed the left winger. Avery then returned the favor by sending Brodeur to the ice, but several players came to the netminder's aid, including Rafalski, Brylin and John Madden. Avery was whistled for goaltender interference and roughing, while Rafalski was also given a minor for his part in the skirmish.

Game Notes

The teams will meet again Thursday night at Madison Square Garden...New York was also missing its leading goal-scorer, as Brendan Shanahan continues to recover from a concussion suffered Saturday against Philadelphia...The game marked the last time these teams will face each other in the Meadowlands. New Jersey will move to a brand new arena next season...Jaromir Jagr had a six- game point streak snapped for New York...The Devils lead the season series, 4-2-1.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

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.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

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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