12/02/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto head coach Ron Wilson makes his return to San Jose tonight, as the Maple Leafs visit the Sharks at HP Pavilion.
Wilson took over as head coach of San Jose during the 2002-03 season and then helped engineer a quick turnaround. After finishing that season in last place in the Pacific Division, Wilson's Sharks never finished lower than second place over the next four seasons and he is the club's all-time leader in wins with 206.
Wilson, who guided the Sharks to three 100-point seasons over his four-plus campaigns there, failed to get San Jose past the second round in each of the last three playoffs. That led to his firing in May, and he joined Toronto months later.
San Jose, meanwhile, replaced Wilson with Todd McLellan.
The Maple Leafs weren't done reshaping, as they hired Brian Burke as their new general manager on Saturday. Toronto has won both games since the hiring to halt a five-game losing streak, winning Monday's test versus the Los Angeles Kings, 3-1.
Matt Stajan, playing despite flu-like symptoms, and Mikhail Grabovski scored power-play goals 81 seconds apart in the third frame and Jeff Finger iced things with an empty-net goal. Vesa Toskala came up huge by stopping 32 shots, including all 26 he faced over the final two periods.
The win came in the opener of a three-game road trip that wraps in Phoenix on Thursday. The Maple Leafs are 5-5-2 as the road team this year.
Toskala will play the Sharks for just the second time since the club traded him to Toronto prior to last season. Originally a fourth-round pick by the Sharks in the 1995 draft, Toskala went 65-28-5 with five ties and a 2.35 goals against average in 115 games with San Jose.
However, he lost his first start against them last year, allowing three goals.
The loss was Toronto's second straight to the Sharks, and it hasn't won in San Jose since March 26, 1997. The Leafs are 0-2 with two ties in four meetings out west since.
The Sharks continue to play red hot, as their 3-2 win over Phoenix was their season-high tying seventh in a row. They also won seven straight from October 25-Novemver 8.
The Sharks have also still yet to lose in regulation at home, going 12-0-1 at HP Pavilion.
Joe Pavelski scored twice and Rob Blake added a goal of his own to run his points streak to five games. He has three goals and five helpers in that span. Milan Michalek tallied two assists for the Sharks, who lead the NHL with 41 points.
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 18-of-20 shots to get the win and he is 1-0-1 with a 2.40 GAA in two career starts versus the Maple Leafs.
<< Coyotes welcome Kings to the desert
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It didn't take too long for the Coyotes to find their way
back into the loss column. Phoenix will try to rebound tonight against a club
it enjoyed success against last year, as it hosts the Los Angeles Kings at
Jobing.com Are
<< Stars visit Calgary in search of season's first win streak
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off yet another milestone, Mike Modano will try to
lead the Dallas Stars to consecutive wins for the first time this season, as
they visit the Calgary Flames tonight at Pengrowth Saddledome.
Dallas has yet to put tog
<< Thrashers hope to get in the win column versus Canadiens
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers will try for just their second win in
eight games when they visit the Montreal Canadiens for tonight's battle at the
Bell Centre.
The Thrashers have lost six of seven games since tying a franchise rec
<< Lightning recall Szczechura, Smolenak
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled center Paul
Szczechura and left wing Radek Smolenak from Norfolk of the American Hockey
League.
Szczechura, 23, leads Norfolk in scoring this season, racking up 11 goals
United's Ronaldo named Europe's best >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned European
Footballer of the Year on Tuesday after winning the 2008 Ballon d'Or.
The 23-year-old Portugal winger won the prestigious accolade after leading
Manchester
Jays owner Rogers dead at 75 >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Toronto Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers died at his
home at the age of 75.
The founder of Rogers Communications Inc., Canada's largest cable television
and mobile phone company, suffered from congestive heart f
Astros decline arbitration to four players >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have declined to offer
salary arbitration to pitchers Doug Brocail and Randy Wolf, as well as
infielder Mark Loretta and catcher Brad Ausmus.
The Astros are not precluded from
Oilers recall Schremp >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers have recalled center Rob
Schremp from Springfield of the American Hockey League.
The 22-year-old has scored one goal and leads the Falcons with 17 assists and
18 points in 18 games this
Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.
New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.
His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.
HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.
The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.
RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.
First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.
The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.
These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.
New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.
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