Avs turn tables on Kings with home victory

Hockey Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Stastny tallied twice as Colorado finished off a season sweep of Los Angeles with a 4-1 decision at Pepsi Center.

"From start to finish tonight we played our game. We kept attacking even after we were up four goals," said Stastny. "Our defense played really well and created a lot of offense for us."

Mark Olver and Jay McClement also lit the lamp for the Avalanche, who took all four games this year over the Kings for the first time since moving to Denver prior to the 1995-96 campaign. LA won all four meetings a season ago.

Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves to pick up his second victory in three starts.

Dustin Brown provided the sole offense for the Kings, who dropped their fourth straight game and sixth in seven.

Jonathan Quick took the loss and was pulled following the first period after allowing three goals on 11 shots. Jonathan Bernier stopped 15 shots the rest of the way.

Olver started the early burst when he ripped a shot under the crossbar from the inner edge of the left circle just over seven minutes in.

Stastny doubled the edge exactly six minutes later when he grabbed an errant Kyle Clifford clear behind Quick, and scored on a wraparound.

It was 3-0 with 2:38 left before intermission as McClement tipped in a Ryan O'Reilly centering pass.

"It's 3-0 and something had to change. They were moving the puck so well and created a lot of chances early," Quick noted. "We have to be prepared and ready to play every night from now on. They seemed to want it more than we did."

Bernier spelled Quick for the start of the second but the move failed to spark the visitors. Stastny pumped in a power-play goal at 12:45 of the second period when he netted a Gabriel Landeskog rebound while falling down.

Brown hit the scoreboard for LA with 4:35 played in the third after Brown tipped in a Drew Doughty point blast, but the visitors had no more answers.

Game Notes

Stastny recorded his second multi-goal game of the season, after a two-goal performance at San Jose on December 15...Avs defenseman Erik Johnson left after the first period with back spasms and did not return...Steve Downie, acquired from Tampa Bay on Tuesday, finished his first game in a Colorado uniform with one shot on goal in 16:20 of ice time.

Gamblingforfun Hockey Betting News


<< Ellis' last-second shot lifts Warriors over Suns; Curry injures foot
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Monta Ellis scored 26 points and made the game- winning jumper with one second left, lifting the Golden State Warriors over the Phoenix Suns, 106-104. Ellis' fadeaway jumper with Grant Hill in his face snap

<< Vinci out at Monterrey Open
Monterrey, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci was a second-round loser at the $220,000 Monterrey Open on Wednesday. Vinci fell to Russian Nina Bratchikova 7-5, 7-5 in 1 hour, 21 minutes on the hardcourts at Sierr

<< Packers TE Finley tweets 2-year deal
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Green Bay Packers and tight end Jermichael Finley have agreed on a two-year deal. Finley confirmed a report of the deal on his Twitter account Wednesday night, saying: "It's TRUE! Thank you so much to the Packers

<< No. 6 Michigan State edges Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Keith Appling's go-ahead free throws with 32 seconds remaining lifted No. 6 Michigan State to a 66-61 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday. Austin Hollins airballed a three-pointer from the right w

<< Bruins hang rare home regulation defeat on Blues
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brad Marchand scored twice as Boston doubled up St. Louis, 4-2, at Scottrade Center. Chris Kelly and Milan Lucic each posted a goal and one assist for the Bruins, who had lost three of four coming in. Ti

No. 4 Kansas tops Texas A&M >>
College Station, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elijah Johnson scored a team-high 21 points to lead No. 4 Kansas past Texas A&M, 66-58, in the final Big 12 clash between the two schools. Tyshawn Taylor added 12 points, Jeff Withey contribute

Roddick ousted in Memphis >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Belgian Xavier Malisse knocked off second- seed and defending champion Andy Roddick 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 in first-round action at the $1.155 million Regions Morgan Keegan Championships on Wednesday. Rodd

Gasol, Lakers edge Mavericks >>
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pau Gasol had 24 points and nine rebounds on Wednesday night, as the Lakers escaped with a 96-91 win over the Mavericks. With the narrow victory, the Lakers improved to 2-0 this season against Dallas,

UNLV handles Boise State >>
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chace Stanback drained four three-pointers en route to a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds as No. 21 UNLV took care of business on Wednesday with a 75-58 victory over Boise State. Brice Massamba contrib

Paul leads Clippers past Nuggets >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Paul had a season-high 36 points to go along with nine assists as the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away in the fourth quarter to down the Denver Nuggets, 103-95, at Staples Center. Blake Griffi

FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.

NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams

NFL Betting

It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.

We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.

Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.

Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.

Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.

NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.

The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Wagering

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.