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05/03/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marc Savard and the Boston Bruins will try to build off the momentum from a thrilling overtime victory when they host the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden.
Savard, playing for the first time since suffering a concussion on March 7, scored the game-winner 13:52 into overtime, leading the sixth-seeded Bruins to a 5-4 victory in the opener of this best-of-seven series on Saturday.
Boston earned the home victory despite blowing a 4-2 lead in the third period, and tonight, the Bruins will try to take a 2-0 lead before the series shifts to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4.
The seventh-seeded Flyers, meanwhile, will attempt to bounce back and earn a split in Beantown. Philadelphia, which will host Game 3 on Wednesday, is now 2-2 on the road in the postseason after going 17-21-3 as the away club during the regular season.
Boston was 18-17-6 as the host during the season and has a perfect 4-0 record at home so far in the playoffs. The Bruins won all three home games while eliminating Buffalo in six games during the opening round.
On Saturday, Savard took a rolling puck in the right circle after Philadelphia was unable to clear and rocketed a slapshot above Brian Boucher's glove into the top right corner.
Patrice Bergeron and Miroslav Satan each recorded a goal and an assist for the Bruins, who are 37-18 all-time in series when winning the opening game. Steve Begin and David Krejci also scored, while Dennis Wideman had three assists.
"I think (Savard) played great hockey," Krejci said. "I can't remember the last time he played like that. I'm talking about the overtime. It was huge. A huge goal, and it's a good win. We have the first one, but the next one is going to be much harder."
Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots for his fifth career playoff victory.
Mike Richards tallied a goal and two assists for the Flyers, who have lost seven of their last eight Game 1s. Philadelphia did take the series opener in the first round against New Jersey, en route to winning that series in five games.
Chris Pronger and Danny Briere added a goal and an assist apiece, while Ryan Parent also scored in defeat.
The Flyers, who were playing their first game since eliminating the Devils on April 22, fell behind 2-0 in the opening period and were forced to chase Boston all afternoon. The Bruins went ahead 4-2 on Krejci's goal at 7:25 of the third period, but Philadelphia received goals by Pronger and Briere in the final 10 minutes of regulation to force OT.
"It's one game," Briere said. "Obviously, we are not happy about the way we played in the first period, giving them that 2-0 lead. But that's hockey. It's one game. Get ready and bounce back. We were about to win one on their ice and in the first two, and we're still in good shape. That is going to be our goal for the next game."
Boucher, who kept his club in the extra session with 14 saves, stopped 41- of-46 shots in all for Philadelphia.
The Bruins did lose forward Marco Sturm for the remainder of the playoffs with a knee injury suffered in the first period of Saturday's game. Sturm, who failed to register a point in Boston's first seven playoff games, led the Bruins with 22 goals this season and added 15 assists for 37 points.
Boston and the Flyers are meeting in the playoffs for the first time since 1978. Each team has won twice in the four all-time playoff series between the clubs. The Flyers won the most notable matchup, beating Boston in six games to win the Stanley Cup in 1974. The Bruins have won the last two encounters, including a five-game series win over Philly the last time clubs met in the 1978 Stanley Cup semifinals.
The Flyers and B's split four games this year in a season series that included Boston's 2-1 overtime victory in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park. Both the Bruins and Flyers had 2-1-1 records in the series.
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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