Bourque scores twice to push Flames past Avs

Hockey Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rene Bourque tallied twice and Vesa Toskala made 32 saves as Calgary clipped Colorado, 3-2, at Pepsi Center.

Eric Nystrom picked up the other score for the Flames, who snapped a two-game slide and won for the fifth time in seven tilts to move within one point of idle Detroit for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Chris Durno and Milan Hejduk scored for the Avalanche, who had won three in a row. Craig Anderson took the loss despite 31 stops.

Calgary led by two after one period, thanks to a short-handed breakaway score from Bourque at 3:12 and Nystrom's redirection of a Jamal Mayers pass at 7:33.

Bourque pumped in a power-play goal for a 3-0 Flames edge at 6:55 of the second period, before the Avs got on the board with a disputed goal.

In a goal-mouth scramble, Durno managed to sneak his rebound shot between the left post and Toskala's outstretched pad with 6:16 to play in the period. Since the puck settled in an area of the net obscured from plain view, a review found a replay angle which clearly showed the disc over the goal line.

Hejduk's second-chance poke of a Paul Stastny chance pulled Colorado within 3-2 with 32.5 seconds remaining and Anderson on the bench, but the Avs couldn't net an equalizer.

Game Notes

Bourque posted his second multi-goal game of the year, and first since a three-goal game at Edmonton on December 28...Hejduk reached the 20-goal plateau for the 10th time in his 11-year career...All five games in the season series have ended with identical 3-2 scores, with Colorado having won the first four.

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Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

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A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.