Sabres try to run win streak to four games versus Wild

Hockey Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres will aim for a fourth consecutive victory when they welcome the Minnesota Wild for an interconference clash at HSBC Arena.

The Sabres' three-game winning streak is the club's longest since a season- best six-game stretch from Dec. 27-Jan. 8. Buffalo needs all the wins it can get at this point as it fights to stay atop the Northeast Division. With 81 points, the Sabres are just two ahead of Ottawa for first place.

After winning back-to-back overtime decisions the Sabres recorded a regulation victory Wednesday against Dallas. Thomas Vanek scored the eventual game-winner midway through the second period, helping lift the Sabres to the 5-3 home win.

Rookie defenseman Tyler Myers had a goal and three assists for the Sabres, continuing to solidify his status as a Calder Trophy candidate. Myers is third amongst all rookie skaters with 36 points and is the top defenseman on that list.

Derek Roy and Mark Mancari each had a goal and an assist. Jason Pominville had the other score for the victors.

"I'm very excited to get in to help the team," Mancari said. "Obviously, I'm doing everything I can to stay here."

Ryan Miller made 17 saves to pick up his 33rd win of the year. Buffalo's No. 1 netminder is expected to sit tonight in favor of backup Patrick Lalime. Miller is instead expected to start Saturday in Detroit.

Buffalo has won three of its last four home games and is 21-8-6 as the host this year.

Meanwhile, the Wild have lost four straight games, going 0-2-2 over that stretch. Minnesota's playoff hopes are fading, as the Wild are currently tied for 12th in the Western Conference and nine points out the West's final postseason berth.

The Wild did not help their playoff chances at all on Thursday, getting pounded 5-1 in Detroit. Johan Franzen tallied a pair of goals as the Red Wings flattened Minnesota at Joe Louis Arena.

Andrew Ebbett notched the lone score for the Wild, who slid to their sixth loss in eight contests.

Josh Harding was tagged for all five goals on 30 shots in defeat.

"Tonight just wasn't my night," Harding said. "It was bouncing off me, and went off their guys and in the net. It just bounced over top of me and into the net. There's a couple that if I save, who knows what the outcome will be?"

Harding could start again tonight after regular goaltender Niklas Backstrom suffered a groin injury during Thursday's morning skate. Wade Dubielewicz has not been officially recalled as the backup but did make the trip to Buffalo in case Backstrom is unable to suit up tonight.

The Sabres won an OT decision in Minnesota in the only meeting between the clubs last year. Buffalo has won two of the last three encounters and has five wins in nine all-time matchups between the clubs. The Wild have won three straight in western New York.

The Wild have a poor 10-20-3 record as the visiting team this season.

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Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

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