Kessel helps Leafs edge Edmonton

Hockey Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Kessel scored two goals and dished out an assist, as the Toronto Maple Leafs outlasted the Edmonton Oilers, 6-4, in a matchup between two teams in the basement in the NHL standings.

Tyler Bozak had a goal and two assists for the Leafs, who have won three in a row but still sit last in the Eastern Conference with 58 points. Nikolai Kulemin finished with a goal and an assist. Mikhail Grabovski and Jamie Lundmark also lit the lamp for the victors.

Jonas Gustavsson turned aside 25-of-29 shots.

Dustin Penner ended with a goal and two assists for the Oilers, who have dropped three straight and sit in the cellar of the West with 49 points. Andrew Cogliano had a goal and an assist, while Gilbert Brule and Aaron Johnson also scored in defeat.

Jeff Deslauriers stopped 23-of-28 shots before being pulled after the second period. Devan Dubnyk made 18 saves in relief.

The Leafs drew first blood at the 13:34 mark of the first period on Kulemin's wrister. Toronto's margin was two when Bozak's backhander beat Deslauriers with 1:55 remaining.

Cogliano scored just 57 seconds into the second to make it a 2-1 game. Cogliano charged up the right wing and went top-shelf with a wrister to beat Gustavsson.

Lundmark's fifth goal of the season at the 4:24 mark put the Leafs back in front by two.

Toronto then scored back-to-back goals on the power play to build a comfortable lead. A Zack Stortini roughing call at 5:25 was followed 28 seconds later by a Johnson tripping penalty. Kessel capitalized at the 6:15 mark to make it 4-1. Grabovski lit the lamp 35 seconds later on the power play to give Toronto a four-goal cushion.

Brule found the back of the net with a slapper with 6:49 remaining to cut the deficit to 5-2.

A power-play goal from Penner at the 6:26 mark of the third made it a 5-3 contest. Ryan Whitney's slap shot from the point was deflected in by Penner.

Kessel lit the lamp during a 5-on-3 power play to give the Leafs a 6-3 cushion. Kessel gathered the disc and made his way to the bottom of the right circle before firing a wrister past Dubnyk.

Johnson scored on the power play with less than a minute left to account for the final margin. Mike Comrie, who was positioned at the side of the net, slid a pass in front to Johnson, whose snap shot found the upper left corner of the net.

Game Notes

Edmonton and Toronto split a pair of matchups this season...The Oilers have dropped nine of their last 11 contests in Toronto...Edmonton is a dismal 8-22-3 as the guest this year...The Leafs went 3-for-8 on the power play, while the Oilers went 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

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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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