Kings try to bounce back against Blue Jackets

Hockey Betting Lines

03/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will try to avoid a three-game losing streak when they host the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at Staples Center.

The Kings won their first game following the Olympic break, pounding Dallas, 5-1, on Tuesday. Since then, however, LA has dropped consecutive 4-2 decisions to Nashville and Montreal.

After losing a road test to the Predators on Thursday, the Kings were dealt a setback Saturday at home by the Habs. Brian Gionta and Benoit Pouliot each had a goal and an assist in Montreal's 4-2 win.

Anze Kopitar and Fredrik Modin had the goals for Los Angeles, while Jonathan Quick made 21 saves in defeat -- just the Kings' third regulation loss in the last 15 games.

"This was a pretty good effort, we just unfortunately gave the puck away at the wrong time," Kings coach Terry Murray said.

The Kings have 80 points and are tied with Colorado for the fifth seed in the Western Conference. LA hasn't made the postseason since the spring of 2002.

LA is 18-10-3 as the host this year, but has lost two of its last three home games.

Meanwhile, Columbus is second from the bottom in the Western Conference and has lost four straight, including two losses since the Olympic break.

The Blue Jackets were dealt an overtime loss Tuesday by visiting Vancouver and then lost a close regulation decision Saturday in San Jose. The Western Conference-leading Sharks posted a 2-1 win after scoring twice in the third period.

Andrew Murray scored the lone goal while Steve Mason made 42 stops for the Blue Jackets.

"They're a first-place team. They're there for a reason and they showed it tonight," Mason said. "Going into the third period we had the lead. They never give up and it showed."

Columbus has lost six of its last eight on the road and is just 10-19-4 as the guest this year. The Jackets will cap a three-game road trip Tuesday in Anaheim.

The Kings have taken two of three from Columbus this year and tonight's test marks the final meeting between the clubs this season. LA has won five of seven overall in the series and the Blue Jackets have dropped two of three at Staples Center.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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