Brodeur tries for record-tying win in Montreal

Hockey Betting Lines

03/14/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Montreal is where Martin Brodeur was born and where Patrick Roy won a plethora of his 551 career victories. It is also where Brodeur will get his first shot at tying Roy's all-time wins mark.

Just one victory shy of Roy's record, Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils visit the Canadiens in what could be yet another historic night at the Bell Centre.

Many thought that the 36-year-old Brodeur would have long surpassed Roy's record by now. However, a torn biceps in the netminder's left elbow in early November sidelined him for 50 games and kept him on the shelf until late last month.

Brodeur has been on fire in seven games since returning to action on February 26, going 6-1-0 with a 2.08 goals against average and two shutouts for the Atlantic Division-leading Devils, who own a nine-point edge over Philadelphia in the division and are also just six points back of Boston for the top mark in the East.

Brodeur is 12-3-2 on the season with a 2.13 GAA and earned win No. 550 on Thursday with a 5-2 victory over Phoenix. The four-time Vezina Trophy Award winner halted 26 shots. In 54 career starts versus Montreal, Brodeur is 34-15-0 with five ties, a 1.80 GAA and eight shutouts.

Patrik Elias had a goal and an assist while Zach Parise recorded his 40th goal of the season for the Devils, who have won six of their last seven games. Parise, second in the league in goals scored, reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his four-year career.

New Jersey, which is 20-10-2 on the road this year, did just fine versus the Canadiens this year without Brodeur. The clubs wrap their four-game season series tonight and the Devils won all three previous meetings while Brodeur was injured.

The Devils have won 12 of their last 15 versus the Canadiens and five of their last seven trips to Montreal.

The struggling Canadiens had a two-game win streak end on Thursday with a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders. Tomas Plekanec and Tom Kostopoulos accounted for the Montreal goals, while Carey Price halted 36 shots in defeat.

The setback dropped Montreal to just 9-13-2 since January 20, though the club is still fifth overall in the East with 80 points, two back of Philadelphia and one up on Pittsburgh.

Montreal's loss to the Islanders halted a four-game home winning streak and came in the second contest of a four-game residency. The Canadiens are 21-6-5 as the host this year and wrap their stand on Tuesday versus the Rangers.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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