Thrashers try to end slide in Columbus

Hockey Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers will be out to halt a poorly-timed three-game losing streak in tonight's matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets from Nationwide Arena.

Atlanta had put itself in the Eastern Conference playoff mix with a 4-0-2 stretch that spanned the NHL's break for the Winter Olympics, but have fallen back a bit in the race due to the team's recent slide. The Thrashers enter this evening's play in 10th place in the East with 66 points, four behind Boston for the eighth and final postseason seed.

The Thrashers head to Columbus off back-to-back home losses plagued by a lack of offense. After being shut out by fellow Southeast Division member Carolina on Sunday, Atlanta was dealt a 2-1 defeat by Nashville Tuesday at Philips Arena thanks to a 30-save performance from Predators goaltender Dan Ellis.

Nik Antropov scored 29 seconds into the second period for the lone Atlanta goal, but the Thrashers couldn't overcome tallies by Nashville's Ryan Suter and Colin Wilson in the first.

"I thought we played pretty well," said Atlanta coach John Anderson. "When you get down two goals, you tend to take a step back from that."

The Thrashers will try to bounce back tonight against an opponent they haven't beaten since December 9, 2005. Columbus has won the last three meetings between the teams, with the most recent one a 4-3 decision in Atlanta on November 5.

In the Thrashers' last visit to Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jackets posted a 2-0 victory on December 26, 2007.

Columbus had lost five in a row before Tuesday's 5-2 triumph at Anaheim, in which the Jackets recorded their highest goal output in nearly two months despite being without two of their top three scorers in Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius.

Fedor Tyutin, Jakub Voracek and Antoine Vermette all stepped up in the duo's absence, with each compiling a goal and two assists on the evening. Goaltender Mathieu Garon did his part as well, stopping 36-of-38 shots to help Columbus stop its skid.

"We killed a lot of penalties and we didn't panic," Garon said. "Up 3-2 with five minutes left, earlier in the season we lost a lot of those games. Tonight we managed to keep going."

Nash, Columbus' leader with 28 goals and 57 points, sat out the contest with a lower-body injury and is uncertain to play tonight. Huselius, who's generated 17 goals and 30 assists in 60 games this season, is likely to miss a third straight outing with an injured hand.

Tonight's tilt begins a four-game homestand for the Blue Jackets. Columbus has gone 15-10-7 at Nationwide Arena thus far in 2009-10, but is 0-1-2 over its last three home tests.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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