Avs seeking momentum in home tilt with Thrashers

Hockey Betting Lines

03/10/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having halted their longest losing streak of the season, the Colorado Avalanche will try to string together back-to-back victories tonight in a home clash with the Atlanta Thrashers at the Pepsi Center.

Colorado halted a six-game skid on Sunday with a 5-1 win over Chicago and avoided its worst losing streak since relocating to Denver prior to the 1995-96 season. The Avalanche hadn't lost six in a row since March 30-April 11, 1998.

Peter Budaj made 24 saves and five different Avalanche skaters scored versus the Blackhawks. Milan Hejduk and Ryan Smyth ended with a goal and an assist each and have combined to score eight of Colorado's 13 goals over its last six games. Both are riding four-game point streaks heading into tonight's game, with Smyth posting four goals and two assists in that span and Hejduk adding two tallies and three helpers.

Ben Guite, Chris Stewart and Marek Svatos each lit the lamp as well for the Avalanche, who had won three in a row before their slide. Tyler Arnason ended with three helpers in the win.

Colorado plays the first of back-to-back home games tonight and is 17-15-0 at the Pepsi Center this season.

Atlanta enters this contest having won two straight and four of its last six games. The club hasn't won three in a row in nearly two months, last doing so from January 16-20.

Ilya Kovalchuk has sparked Atlanta's recent surge. He had a goal and an assist in Sunday's 5-2 win over Calgary, giving the Russian sniper six goals and seven helpers over a six-game point streak. Kovalchuk, tied for third in the league with 36 goals this season, has a point in 12 of his last 13 games, posting 15 tallies and 11 assists over that span.

Bryan Little scored twice while Chris Thorburn and Tobias Enstrom also lit the lamp versus the Flames. Kari Lehtonen turned away 27 shots in the win and is 2-0-0 as a starter in his career versus the Avs.

Atlanta begins a three-game road trip tonight and has lost its last three contests as the guest. The Thrashers will also visit Edmonton and Buffalo and are 12-17-4 as the road team this year.

The Thrashers have notched a point in four of their last five games versus the Avalanche, going 3-1-0 with a tie. Atlanta posted a 4-3 home win versus Colorado on February 24 in a game that featured Kovalchuk's first career goal in five games against the franchise.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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