Flames try for rare win in Anaheim

Hockey Betting Lines

02/06/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames took care of business at home on Friday before hitting the road for a few games. The task gets a little daunting right off the bat tonight as they aim for their first victory against the Ducks at Anaheim in over eight years.

The Flames put the brakes on a two-game losing streak on Friday with a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks. It was also Calgary's first victory in its past four home games and has the club tied for 11th in the Western Conference with 54 points, four shy of a playoff spot.

On a night when he became Calgary's all-time leader in games played by a goaltender, Miikka Kiprusoff made 26 saves in his 299th career win. He passed Mike Vernon's previous mark of 526 games played.

Getting the goals for the Flames were Olli Jokinen, Jay Bouwmeester and Jarome Iginla, who netted his team-leading 19th of the season and 503 of his career. He has at least 20 tallies in all but one of his previous 14 NHL seasons.

After picking up a win over the struggling Blackhawks, the Flames hit the road for three straight and have won two in a row as the guest following a six-game slide away from Calgary. Head coach Brent Sutter hopes that Friday's triumph gave his club some momentum for its trip.

"You're playing a very good hockey team that's coming off a tough loss and we knew they were going to come here ready to play," Sutter said about Chicago. "We also knew that we had lost three in a row at home and we wanted to get back on track before we hit the road."

The Flames haven't won in Anaheim since Jan. 19, 2004, dropping their last 13 trips there. Four of their past five defeats in Orange County have come beyond regulation, including both trips there a season ago as part of a four-game sweep by the Ducks.

Even if it comes after regulation, Anaheim will look for a much-needed two points this evening as it sits 14th out of 15 teams in the West with 46 points. That has the Ducks 12 points back of the eight spot in the conference.

The Ducks missed a chance to pick up two points on Friday against the NHL's last-place club, falling 3-2 in overtime to the visiting Blue Jackets. Jonas Hiller made 18 saves, but couldn't stop Columbus' Derick Brassard on a 2-on-1 break at 3:55 of the extra frame.

"We were ready but a couple of mistakes cost us," Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. "We didn't play to our capability tonight. A loss is a loss. We got one point but we needed two."

Teemu Selanne scored both goals for the Ducks, who have lost the first two of four straight at home and three of four overall. Selanne, who leads the Ducks with 49 points, has 655 career goals, which leaves him one back of Brendan Shanahan for 12th on the all-time list.

The Ducks are still 9-2-2 in their past 13 games and that span includes a 1-0 overtime loss to the Flames in Calgary on Jan. 12 in the first of four meetings. Blair Jones had the OT winner for the Flames 1:51 into the bonus period, while Kiprusoff made 23 saves in his third shutout of the season.

Hiller stopped 18 shots in the loss, just Anaheim's third in its past 11 versus Calgary.

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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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