Blues hope to continue surge versus Blue Jackets

Hockey Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A strong road trip has put the St. Louis Blues back in contention for a postseason berth. The surging club continues its critical swing with tonight's visit to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who'll be seeking a third consecutive victory when they take the Nationwide Arena ice.

St. Louis' playoff push actually began prior to the Olympic break, when the club put together a perfect three-game homestand before the NHL temporarily stopped its schedule for the Vancouver Games. The Blues have remained hot since returning to action, winning three of four tests thus far on this current trek that concludes Sunday in Minnesota.

The latest victory came in a shootout against the New York Islanders, with T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes each scoring during the final phase to give the Blues a 2-1 triumph.

Chris Mason stopped New York's Frans Nielsen to open the shootout before Oshie scored on a wrister. Mason then made a save on Matt Moulson before Boyes beat Martin Biron with a wrist shot of his own to secure the victory.

Mason was also sharp in regulation and overtime, turning aside 29 of the 30 shots he faced.

New York took a 1-0 lead on Moulson's power-play goal late in the first period, but Patrik Berglund scored with St. Louis on a man-advantage 6:24 into the second to tie the contest. The centerman now has three goals and three assists during a six-game point streak.

"Penalty kill's been outstanding this year and the last little while," said Blues interim head coach Davis Payne. "[The Islanders] found the way to get the [goal] at the end of that first power play of theirs, and we answered with one of our own and our penalty kill really stepped up."

Playing well on the road has become rather common for the Blues, who trail Calgary by six points for the final playoff seed in the Western Conference entering today's play. The team is an impressive 19-10-4 as the visitor this season.

St. Louis has not been able to establish success at Nationwide Arena however, having lost both of its two previous tests with the Blue Jackets held in Columbus during 2009-10 as well as three of the four overall matchups in the season series.

The Blue Jackets had dropped the first three outings of their post-break slate before delivering a 5-2 victory at Anaheim on Tuesday. That result was followed up with a 2-1 verdict over Atlanta in Thursday's opener of a four- game homestand.

Both wins have come without the services of leading scorer Rick Nash, and the standout forward is expected to miss a third straight game tonight because of unspecified lower-body injuries. The former No. 1 overall draft choice has generated 28 goals and 29 assists in 66 games this season.

Left wing Kristian Huselius was able to return from an injured hand that sidelined him for two games, however, and the native Swede recorded a goal and an assist to spark Columbus' offense against the Thrashers. Mathieu Garon did his part on the defensive end, with the Jackets' netminder stopping 28-of-29 shots on the evening.

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.

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