Blues and Preds meet in St. Louis

Hockey Betting Lines

10/08/2011 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will begin their 2011-12 schedule on home ice tonight, as they host the Nashville Predators in a Central Division battle at Scottrade Center.

Last spring, the Blues missed out on the playoffs for the fifth time in six years, but there are reasons to be hopeful for 2011-12.

St. Louis made 25 straight postseason appearances from 1979-2004, but the club has been in rebuild mode since the lockout wiped out the 2004-05 campaign. At the start of last year, when the Blues opened with a 9-1-2 record, it seemed like the franchise's patience was finally going to pay off.

However, the fast start was quickly negated when the club was bit hard by the injury bug. St. Louis placed ninth in the NHL in man-games lost and finished the year 10 points out of a postseason berth in the West. Head coach Davis Payne hopes he has more healthy players to work with in his second full season as the Blues' bench boss.

The Blues are still a young team, but the addition of veteran forwards Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner this summer could help the organization turn the corner and get back to being a perennial playoff participant. Arnott recently underwent surgery to remove a cataract in his eye and he is questionable for tonight.

St. Louis hopes Arnott and Langenbrunner can bring experience to a team that is loaded with youthful talent.

The Blues are also hoping for a more consistent year from goaltender Jaroslav Halak this season. The 26-year-old Czech netminder received mixed reviews during his first season in St. Louis, finishing with a 27-21-7 record and a solid 2.48 goals-against average while appearing in a career-high 57 games.

Halak, who is in the second year of a four-year, $15 million contract, should be able to improve greatly on last year's performance with a healthy team in front of him in 2011-12.

David Perron's concussion is an injury that hurt the Blues last year and is one that the club and Perron are still dealing with. Perron had 20 goals and 27 assists in 2009-10, but played in just 10 games last year before his season was ended in early November. It's uncertain how much of this season Perron will miss before getting back into game action.

Meanwhile, Nashville, which made the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons last year, began the 2011-12 season with a road victory in Columbus on Friday night. Ryan Suter, Craig Smith and Matt Halischuk tallied for the Predators as they hung on for a 3-2 win at Nationwide Arena.

"It's the first game of the year and everyone is ramped up. In the first period we had to weather the storm. We have some young guys with some jets on them," Suter said.

Pekka Rinne stopped 32-of-34 shots in net for the Predators, who were eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks in six games in the conference semifinals last season.

The Predators are opening the season with two straight road games, but won't have forward Mike Fisher (shoulder surgery) or defenseman Francis Bouillon (concussion) on the mini-swing due to injury.

Nashville's home opener is scheduled for Thursday night against Phoenix.

St. Louis posted four wins over six meetings with the Predators in 2010-11. Nashville has still taken six of 10 overall in the series and seven of 11 at Scottrade Center.

Gamblingforfun Hockey Betting News

<< Raiders owner Al Davis dies
Alameda, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis has died. He was 82 years old. The Raiders did not disclose a cause of death on the team's website and said the club will issue a statement later Saturday. A legendary fig

<< New-look Panthers visit Isles
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In an effort to snap a record playoff drought, the Florida Panthers brought in a number of new faces this summer. The New York Islanders have been working on their core group for a few seasons. The two playoff-starved c

<< Caps open campaign against visiting 'Canes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eager to put recent playoff disappointments behind them, the Washington Capitals will begin the 2011-12 season on home ice when they host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at Verizon Center. The Capitals have posted the East

<< Devils begin season with home tilt against Flyers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Not even a strong finish to the 2010-11 season could prevent the Devils from missing out on the postseason for the first time since 1996. A slow beginning to the campaign was ultimately to blame and New Jersey hopes to get of

<< Maple Leafs welcome Sens to Toronto
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After receiving a superb outing from James Reimer in the season opener, the Toronto Maple Leafs will try to ride the young goaltender to a 2-0 start when they host the Ottawa Senators tonight at Air Canada Centre. Reimer,

Heatley, Wild host Blue Jackets to open season >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dany Heatley will make his official debut with the Wild tonight, as Minnesota opens its 2011-12 schedule by hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets at Xcel Energy Center. Since taking over as just the second general manager in W

Stars and Blackhawks cap home-and-home in Chicago >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks will try to bounce back from a season-opening loss this evening when they host Dallas at the United Center in the finale of a home-and-home series. The Blackhawks and Stars began their 2011-12 season

Avs begin campaign against visiting Red Wings >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After finishing 29th out of 30 NHL teams in the standings last year, the Colorado Avalanche are eager to get off to a good start in 2011-12. The Avs will get a tough test in tonight's season and home opener, as they host the

Flames start year at home against Pens >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames will lift the lid on their 2011-12 campaign tonight, when the Pittsburgh Penguins invade the Saddledome. Calgary has been a model of consistency for almost a decade now, having won at least 40 games in s

Sharks and Coyotes kick off seasons in San Jose >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2011-12 NHL season will commence for a pair of Pacific Division rivals tonight from HP Pavilion, where the San Jose Sharks will host the Phoenix Coyotes. The Sharks are again among the favorites to hoist Lord Stanley's

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.