Newly-armed Predators aim for another win over Blues

Hockey Betting Lines

02/16/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nashville Predators will likely have to wait until Saturday for the debut of Peter Forsberg, but they still hope to continue their dominance of the St. Louis Blues tonight at Scottrade Center.

The Predators pulled off the biggest trade of the NHL season so far on Thursday, when they acquired Forsberg from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for right wing Scottie Upshall, defenseman Ryan Parent and first-round and third-round draft picks in the 2007 NHL draft.

The acquisition should vastly improve a club that is already leading the Western Conference with 81 points. Forsberg comes with quite a pedigree, having won the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 1995 and the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2003. He has also played in five All-Star games, won a pair of Olympic gold medals with Sweden and lifted two Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche.

The 33-year-old Swede has appeared in 40 games this season and has 11 goals and 29 assists. In 680 games over 11 seasons, nine of them with Quebec/Colorado, he has 246 goals and 610 assists.

Forsberg is expected to begin his Predators' career in Saturday's home game against Minnesota.

Nashville has dominated the Blues in recent history, winning all six meetings this year and 14 straight overall matchups. The Predators are also 7-0-1 (1 tie) in their last eight trips to St. Louis.

The Preds are coming off Wednesday's impressive win over the visiting San Jose Sharks. Tomas Vokoun stopped all 22 shots he faced as Nashville skated to the 5-0 win.

Shea Weber scored two goals and Martin Erat had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who have won three of their last five games.

The Blues are also coming off a win, as they defeated the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Wednesday. David Backes scored twice, including the game-winner in the third period, to give St. Louis the 4-2 triumph at Nationwide Arena.

Bill Guerin and Dallas Drake each scored a goal while Manny Legace made 20 saves for the Blues, who had lost three of their last four coming into the game.

Nashville is 18-12-0 as the visiting club this year, while the Blues are 12-15-3 on home ice.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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