Sliding Blackhawks welcome Kings to town

Hockey Betting Lines

03/22/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The stumbling Chicago Blackhawks will try to end a five- game losing streak when they host the Los Angeles Kings in an afternoon clash today at the United Center.

With the regular season winding down, the Blackhawks have picked a terrible time for their longest losing streak of the season. Chicago once seemed to have a lock on the Western Conference's fourth seed, but is now tied with Vancouver at 85 points apiece.

Despite losing their last five games, the Blackhawks have at least been able to recorded a point in their two most recent trips to the ice. Chicago dropped an overtime decision in Columbus on Wednesday and was handed a shootout loss Friday against visiting Edmonton.

The setback to the Oilers marked the first of five straight on home ice for the Blackhawks. Chicago has lost three in a row and four of five as the host, but is 18-8-7 in the Windy City this season.

Patrick O'Sullivan scored the game-winner in the shootout to lead Edmonton to Friday's 5-4 victory over Chicago. After Jonathan Toews was stopped by Dwayne Roloson, O'Sullivan lifted the puck over Nikolai Khabibulin. Patrick Kane was then denied his stuff attempt from the left side and Ales Kotalik sealed the win with a wrister into the right corner.

Martin Havlat had a goal and an assist and Khabibulin stopped 27 shots in the setback for the Blackhawks, who have also lost seven of their last eight tests.

Chicago will be without forward Ben Eager for the next three games as he was suspended by the league for delivering a blow to the head of Edmonton's Liam Reddox on Friday. Eager is considered a repeat offender, having also earned a three-game suspension in October for swinging his stick from the bench at then-Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery in a preseason game.

Eager has tallied 10 goals and four assists, with 139 penalty minutes, in 66 games this season.

The Kings are 13th in the West, but are still only seven points out of a playoff berth. Los Angeles hasn't helped its postseason chances lately, as it has dropped four of five and eight of its last 12 games.

LA was in action Friday night at Pittsburgh and was handed a 4-1 setback by the Penguins as Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby both registered a goal and an assist.

Kings center Michal Handzus netted the lone goal of the third period -- a power-play tally -- to spoil Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury's shutout bid. Jonathan Quick surrendered four goals on 26 shots in the loss for Los Angeles.

LA activated right winger Justin Williams from injured reserve Friday and he played in the game against the Penguins. Williams, who was acquired from Carolina at the trade deadline in a three-way deal with the Hurricanes and Edmonton, had not played since February 15th because of a broken hand.

The Kings are playing the third segment of a season-high six-game road trip today. Los Angeles is just 14-17-2 as the guest this year and has lost three of four and seven of its last eight road tests.

LA has won two of three matchups with Chicago this season and the clubs will complete the season series this afternoon. The Kings have taken four of six overall in the series, but have dropped two of three and four of six in the Windy City.

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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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