Miller perfect in net as Sabres blank Kings

Hockey Betting Lines

12/19/2008 - Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Miller recorded his third shutout of the season and 10th of his career with 40 saves, as the Buffalo Sabres skated by the Los Angeles Kings, 5-0, at HSBC Arena.

Derek Roy had a goal and two assists, extending his point streak to eight straight games, and Drew Stafford registered a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who have won two of three and five of the last seven games.

Adam Mair, Clarke MacArthur and Matt Ellis added goals as Buffalo improved to 9-8-1 as the host this year.

Jason LaBarbera was victimized for four goals on just 14 shots before getting the hook in the third period. Jonathan Quick came in and allowed the final score on eight shots.

The Kings kicked off a three-game road trip Friday with a third consecutive loss. However, LA is coming off a 2-0-2 four-game homestand -- gaining points in its last two losses in overtime and the shootout.

Buffalo struck first despite being heavily outshot in the opening period. Toni Lydman gained the offensive zone along the right boards and flipped a pass in front to a streaking Roy, who shot wide. Roy recovered and fired the puck from behind the net, deflecting off LaBarbera and in the net with 3:55 left in the first.

Just 2:33 into the second, Buffalo gained a two-goal advantage when Chris Butler sent a shot on net from the left point and Mair swatted home a rebound in the crease after LaBarbera made the initial save.

The Sabres then pushed their lead to 3-0 less than five minutes later as Roy sent a pass across the slot to Stafford, who cut toward the net and lost the handle. However, MacArthur was there to bury the disc into an open net.

Things just weren't going the Kings' way, and a broken play early in the third period along the right boards saw the puck squirt through the slot and right to Stafford in front for a quick score at the 3:01 mark that ended LaBarbera's night.

The Sabres continued to have things go their way as well, and added a goal against Quick with 5:27 left to play. LA's Patrick O'Sullivan attempted a dump-in from the neutral zone and broke his stick. Buffalo's Andrew Peters picked it up and sliced toward the net, but the puck went wide, and Ellis scooped it up for the wrap-around goal.

Game Notes

The Kings have lost three straight visiting the Sabres, and are just 1-9 with a tie in their previous 11 trips to Buffalo....The Kings are 3-4-3 so far in December and just 3-7-0 as the visiting team this season -- dropping five of their last six on the road...Buffalo winger Thomas Vanek, who leads the NHL with 24 goals this season, notched an assist...O'Sullivan had his point streak halted at six games.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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