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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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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