Backstrom and Wild shutout Edmonton

Hockey Betting Lines

04/06/2007 - St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Niklas Backstrom made 22 saves, recording his second consecutive shutout and fifth of the season as the Minnesota Wild blanked the Edmonton Oilers, 3-0, at XCel Energy Center.

Mark Parrish, Keith Carney and Marian Gaborik all scored for Minnesota, which has already clinched a playoff berth, but sits in seventh place in the Western Conference. The team could earn a top three seed by winning the Northwest division, and with two games remaining are just one point behind Vancouver, which can clinch the division title with a win over Colorado on Thursday night.

Jussi Markkanen finished with 26 saves for Edmonton, which has dropped six straight games, and nine in a row on the road. The Oilers have lost 18 of 19 since February 25.

"Obviously it's tough to get yourself going for 100 percent when you're absolutely out of the playoff race," said Markkanen. "At the same time it tells a lot abpit the character of this locker room. We put the effort in, but obviously we haven't (gotten) any of the results, but at least the effort is there."

The Wild opened the scoring 5:57 into the first period, as Mikko Koivu moved along the right side-boards before sending a pass to Parrish in the high slot. Parrish then one-timed a shot through the five-hole past Markkanen to make it 1-0.

Minnesota doubled its lead with 1:09 left in the first, as Carney created a turnover at the blueline, then went on a breakaway toward the net in the middle of an Edmonton line change. The defenseman wristed a beautiful shot low on the blocker side that got past Markkanen to make it 2-0.

Gaborik made it 3-0 in the middle stanza when Wes Walz sent a pass through the neutral zone and put it right on the blade of Gaborik's stick. The right winger moved in on the breakaway, deking out Markkanen before lighting the lamp on the backhand shot at 9:58.

The Oilers managed seven shots in the third period, but could not solve Backstrom.

"I think we got lucky at times," said Parrish. "We started getting a little fancy and getting away from our game a little bit, but it's nice when it seems like every time that happens, Nik (Backstrom) stands tall for us and doesn't give the other team a chance to get any life going. We've got one more game to perfect that and get all those kinks out of our system, and get back to playing the hockey we were a week-and-a-half to two weeks ago."

Game Notes

The Wild have won five straight over the Oilers, and are 12-4-0 against them since the start of last season. Minnesota has outscored Edmonton 17-2 during the five-game winning streak...Gaborik has recorded a point in 12 of his last 13 games, registering seven goals and 11 assists in that span. He has seven goals and four assists in seven games against the Oilers this season... Edmonton concludes its season against Calgary on Sunday.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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