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03/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time the Penguins and Bruins met, Boston wound up losing its best offensive player to a concussion after a questionable hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke.
Cooke is expected to be in the lineup tonight when Pittsburgh visits the Bruins and what should be a hostile crowd at TD Garden.
During Pittsburgh's 2-1 home victory over Boston on March 7, Savard suffered a Grade Two concussion on a blind-side hit to the head by Cooke.
Cooke caught an unsuspecting Savard with a shoulder moments after he released a shot from the high slot. Savard lay motionless for several minutes while being attended to by the medical staff.
There is still no timetable for Savard's return to the ice and the two-time All-Star could miss the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Cooke was not penalized for the play and did not receive a suspension or fine of any kind from the league.
However, Cooke's hit was the main impetus for a proposed rule change that would ban blind-side hits in the NHL. The rule came out of the GM meetings just days after Savard's injury, but is not yet in effect.
The Bruins come into tonight with a serious battle for the playoffs on their hands and they cannot simply be concerned with getting revenge on Cooke. Boston is currently holding on to the eighth and final postseason berth in the East and is just three points ahead of the ninth-seeded New York Rangers.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has dropped into a tie with New Jersey for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Penguins have lost three out of four and are coming off Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Devils.
Zach Parise and Patrik Elias each posted a goal and one assist as New Jersey completed a six-game regular-season sweep of Pittsburgh with a win at the Prudential Center.
Both the Pens and Devils have 87 points, but by virtue of having one more win than Pittsburgh (42-41), the Devils assumed the second spot in the Eastern Conference. New Jersey is playing in Toronto tonight.
Chris Kunitz and Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury allowed four goals on 13 shots over 30-plus minutes in the loss. Brent Johnson finished the game by stopping all five shots he faced.
"We had a good idea of what we wanted to do and how to play this game," said Pens head coach Dan Bylsma. "But then halfway through the game they have 12 shots and five of them are breakaways...we made some poor decisions with the puck. I don't think the errors were forced."
Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin missed Wednesday's game after suffering a foot injury while blocking a shot on Sunday. Malkin, who has 69 points this season, is questionable for tonight's game.
Tonight marks the finale of a five-game road trip for the Pens, who have a solid 20-14-2 record as the host this year.
Unlike Pittsburgh, Boston is coming off a victory, pounding the host Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2, on Tuesday. Mark Recchi was one of three Bruins to record a goal and an assist in the big victory for Boston at RBC Center.
Recchi recorded the 560th goal of his career, tying Guy Lafleur for 22nd place on the NHL's all-time list. Joe Nieuwendyk and Mats Sundin are 21st with 564 tallies.
David Krejci and Michael Ryder also added a goal and a helper, while Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk both scored for the Bruins, who moved three points ahead of the Rangers for the final playoff spot in the East. New York was defeated by Montreal, 3-1, at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
"We competed hard. It was a much-needed win," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. "We needed our best effort tonight."
Tuukka Rask made 30 saves in the victory for Boston, which finished a seven-game road trip with a 3-3-1 mark.
The Bruins are now home for two straight and are 14-13-6 as the host this season. Boston will host the Rangers Sunday in a key battle for playoff positioning.
Patrice Bergeron suffered a bruised right knee in Tuesday's game, taking a shot off his right leg late in the third period. X-rays taken were negative and the Bruins leading scorer is expected to play tonight.
The Penguins have won two of three meetings with Boston this year and tonight's matchup concludes the season series. Pittsburgh has taken three of four overall from the Bruins, but has lost two straight and three of four in Boston.
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versus the
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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