Desperate Wild resume road trip in Vancouver

Hockey Betting Lines

03/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild will try again for the first win on their longest road trip of the season in tonight's clash with the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place.

The Wild have lost each of their last three games, including the first two tests of a six-game road trip. Minnesota is now just 12-15-0 on the road this year and has fallen two points back of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

This trek began with a loss in Calgary on Friday, and the Wild then headed to Edmonton the following night and were dealt a 3-2 setback by the Oilers.

Andrew Brunette and Antii Miettinen lit the lamp for Minnesota, which had a 27-save effort from Josh Harding go by the wayside in the club's sixth loss in its last eight contests.

The loss was overshadowed due to a scary eye injury suffered by the Oilers' Ethan Moreau, who caught an inadvertent high-stick by Miettinen flush in the right eye with 20 seconds left. Moreau stayed laying on his stomach for a stretch before being helped to the locker room. He was taken to Royal Alexandria Hospital, which specializes in optometry, but won't need surgery.

The Wild played without Derek Boogaard, who missed Saturday's game after serving the first contest of a five-game suspension handed down that day for an elbow to the head of Calgary's Brandon Prust on Friday.

Boogaard was given consecutive minors for boarding and roughing and has just three assists with 85 penalty minutes in 47 games for the Wild this season.

Minnesota did see the return of Marian Gaborik on Monday, but not yet to the ice. The rehabbing Gaborik went back to the Twin Cities to continue his rehab from hip surgery and has been limited to just six games this year. The pending free agent hopes to return to action before the end of the season.

Minnesota will be aiming tonight to solve red-hot Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo, who halted 19 shots in Sunday's 3-1 win over Columbus. Luongo has now won 10 of his last 11 starts, posting a 2.34 goals against average in that span. He has yielded two goals or less in five straight contests.

Sunday's home win over the Blue Jackets was the Canucks' fifth in a row at GM Place following a franchise-worst nine-game home skid. Vancouver is 16-11-4 as the host this year and wraps up a four-game residency Saturday versus San Jose.

Ryan Kesler had the game-winner in Sunday's victory, while Sami Salo and Alex Burrows also scored for the Canucks, who posted their 10th win in 12 games. That stretch includes a 9-2-0 mark in February.

Vancouver is fifth overall in the Western Conference and eight points back of first-place Calgary in the Northwest Division.

The Canucks had won their first three meetings with the Wild this year before Minnesota's 4-3 overtime win in Vancouver on January 31, the final setback of the Canucks' franchise home losing streak. Minnesota has won in four of its last five trips to GM Place.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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