Bruins try to solve visiting Hurricanes

Hockey Betting Lines

02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Try as they may, the Boston Bruins haven't been able to solve the Carolina Hurricanes this season. They'll get one more chance tonight as the two teams clash in Boston.

The Bruins and Hurricanes sit at opposite ends of the Eastern Conference. Boston leads the Northeast Division by six points over Ottawa and trails the New York Rangers by three points for the top seed in the conference.

Carolina, meanwhile, sits last out of the 15 teams in the East with just 45 points, but it has had Boston's number all season long. The Hurricanes bested the Bruins twice during Boston's slow start in October, then came away with a 4-2 home win on Jan. 14 that was just the Bruins' third in its past nine trips to Carolina.

Jay Harrison and Eric Staal scored 28 seconds apart late in regulation during the Hurricanes' three-goal third versus the Bruins, while Cam Ward came up with 33 saves.

Carolina will hope to feed off that momentum this evening as it faces Boston for the final time this regular season looking to avoid a fourth straight road loss. The Hurricanes had a three-game winning streak at home end on Tuesday with a 5-2 setback to the Islanders.

Brandon Sutter and Tim Brent erased a two-goal deficit with goals in the third period, but New York's John Tavares scored the game-winner at 7:36 of the frame before the Islanders added a pair of empty-net goals. Ward ended with 21 saves and it was his giveaway on a dump-in that led to Tavares' goal.

"We didn't get off to the start we wanted, but we were still in the game," Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller said. "We had a tough second period, but came out hard in the third."

Carolina will play five of its next seven games on the road and is just 5-13-6 as the guest this season, including 0-1-2 in its past three.

Boston won 21 of its next 24 after a 3-7-0 mark in October, but has begun to cool down a bit. The Bruins are 8-5-1 in their past 14 games since and have alternated wins and losses in their last nine games. However, they are coming off Tuesday's 4-3 win over the visiting Senators.

Boston found itself down 3-1 late in the second before Milan Lucic scored with 44.6 seconds left in the frame. Brad Marchand then scored to tie the game early in the third and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg netted the game-winner near the midway point with his third goal of the season and first since Dec. 28.

"No doubt that goal from Lucic late in the second period certainly made our task a lot easier in the third period," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien.

Zdeno Chara, fresh off serving as a captain in Sunday's All-Star Game, scored his first goal in 17 games, while Tim Thomas made 30 saves in the opener of a three-game homestand.

"It's always nice to get back on a winning note," Thomas said. "Hopefully the good feeling from the win will carry over."

Boston, which is 7-1-1 in its past nine at home, is eligible to have Andrew Ference back in the lineup this evening after he wrapped up a three-game suspension on Tuesday. The defenseman was given the ban for a hit versus the Rangers on Jan. 21.

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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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