Blue Jackets hope for another dominating effort vs. Red Wings

Hockey Betting Lines

03/15/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jackets' current winning streak began with a big victory over Detroit a week ago. Playoff-hopeful Columbus will try to extend that run to five games with another win over the Red Wings this evening at Nationwide Arena.

Columbus has matched its longest winning streak of the season and its current string of four straight wins began with an 8-2 victory over Detroit on February 7. The Blue Jackets set franchise records for most goals and margin of victory in that contest.

They haven't slowed down since, as Friday's 5-3 triumph in Chicago was the Blue Jackets' 36th of the year, a single-season franchise record. Antoine Vermette scored twice to give him three goals and three assists in four games since coming over from Ottawa in a trade.

Raffi Torres, Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash each lit the lamp for the Blue Jackets, who haven't won five in a row since December 2-12, 2006. Wade Dubielewicz made 27 saves in the win, his first with Columbus.

Nash has been key as Columbus tries to make the postseason for the first time in club history. He has six goals in his last five games, including a hat trick versus Detroit last weekend. Both of Nash's three-goal games this year have come versus Detroit and his most recent was the first unassisted hat trick since Montreal's Maurice "Rocket" Richard turned the trick on March 16, 1948.

Nash also has 18 points over his last 14 games for the Blue Jackets, who are sixth overall in the Western Conference, one point behind Vancouver.

Columbus plays the first of back-to-back home games tonight and has won three straight and seven of its last nine at Nationwide Arena. The club is 22-10-2 as the host this year.

The Blue Jackets' success versus the Red Wings this year has helped its playoff chances. Columbus has won three straight over Detroit since losing five in a row to the club and has also defeated the Red Wings in four of the last five played in Ohio.

Columbus will likely have to face Marian Hossa today, as he returned to Detroit's lineup on Saturday in the club's 5-2 win over St. Louis. It was his first action since leaving a contest on March 3 on a stretcher after crashing head-first into the boards.

Hossa, who leads the Red Wings with 36 goals and has scored 10 times in 10 meetings with Columbus, had missed the last four games due to a stiff neck/back and bruised knee, but was able to skate in just over 15 minutes of action.

Pavel Datsyuk scored twice and he combined with scorers Tomas Kopecky and Brett Lebda to net three Red Wings' goals in the span of 46 seconds in the second period. Henrik Zetterberg also scored and Chris Osgood made 30 saves for his 300th win with Detroit, which has won four of its last six and leads the Western Conference with 99 points.

That is one up on San Jose and is also even with Boston in the race for the Presidents' Trophy. All three teams are in action today.

Detroit has won three straight on the road and is 20-10-5 as the guest this year.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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