Blues play host to sliding Wild

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02/18/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will try to continue their home success when they host the sliding Minnesota Wild in today's matinee battle at Scottrade Center.

The Blues have been nearly unbeatable on home ice all season long, posting an amazing 25-3-4 mark in the Gateway City. St. Louis has also gone without a regulation loss as the host since Dec. 3 and is 17-0-3 in its last 20 games on friendly ice.

With a 10-12-3 record on the road this year, it's safe to say the Blues can thank their home play for their current standing in the Western Conference. St. Louis is seeded fourth in the West and is five points ahead of Nashville for that distinction. The Blues are also just five points in back of Detroit for first place in the Central Division.

Following today's game, the Blues will play seven of their next eight contests on the road.

The Blues turned in a dominating performance in Thursday's home test against the New York Islanders. T.J. Oshie had a goal and two assists and Brian Elliott made 26 saves to lift St. Louis to the 5-1 victory.

Jason Arnott, Kevin Shattenkirk, Andy McDonald and David Perron all scored for the Blues, who rebounded nicely after Tuesday's 2-1 loss at Columbus. St. Louis scored five unanswered goals on Thursday to win for the sixth time in eight games.

"We kind of kept it pretty simple," said Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. "We scored four goals on just shots and tips, doing what we do best. That's putting pucks to the net, getting in front of the goalie's eyes and banging and crashing."

Blues defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo missed Thursday's game with a wrist injury and he may be able to return for today's tilt.

The Wild's struggles continued Thursday night, as Minnesota lost its sixth straight game with a shootout loss against visiting Winnipeg. The six-game slide is Minnesota's second-longest skid of the year after an 0-5-3 stretch from Dec. 13-28.

Minnesota, which was leading the NHL in points in early December, has gone 5-16-6 over its last 27 games to deliver a serious blow to its playoff hopes. The Wild enter tonight trailing Phoenix and Los Angeles by six points for the last postseason berths in the West.

The Wild were burned by Evander Kane in Thursday's loss, as Winnipeg's star forward scored twice in regulation and added the winner in the shootout to lift the Jets to the 4-3 decision at Xcel Energy Center.

Devin Setoguchi had two goals and an assist in the loss while Mikko Koivu added a goal and a helper for the Wild. Niklas Backstrom made 24 stops in the loss.

"It's not fun when you lose, so it wasn't fun," said Setoguchi. "We played a better game and scored, but our game isn't run and gun."

The Wild lost defenseman Mike Lundin to an undisclosed injury on Thursday and he is questionable for today's game.

Minnesota is 12-13-5 as the guest this year and has lost 13 of its last 15 road games.

The Wild were 2-0 against the Blues this year after the clubs met twice in St. Paul, but St. Louis recorded a 3-2 shootout victory on home ice when the teams battled on Jan. 14. Minnesota has taken six of eight overall in this series, but the Blues have won five of the last seven encounters at Scottrade Center.

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Chiefs' Treen Green out for Sunday's game

How long Trent Green will remain sidelined is unknown. Coach Herm Edwards said Monday he will miss a second straight start Sunday when the Chiefs host the San Francisco 49ers.

A two-time Pro Bowler, Green was going into a feet-first hook slide when he was knocked unconscious by a thunderous, head-snapping hit from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers.

Oddsmakers at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com currently have the Chiefs listed as 7-point favorites versus the 49ers.

The 49ers got beat by Philadelphia 38-24 as a 6.5-point underdog last week. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total (42.5).

Alex Smith completed 27-of-46 passes for 293 yards with a touchdown. Michael Robinson rushed for 29 yards and a pair of touchdowns on five carries.

The Chiefs lost 9-6 to Denver last week as an 11-point underdog. The combined score was well UNDER the posted over/under total (38).

Larry Johnson rushed for 126 yards on 27 carries. Damon Huard completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

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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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