Struggling Penguins head to Buffalo

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12/22/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins will aim for just their third win in eight games when they visit the Buffalo Sabres for this evening's battle at HSBC Arena.

The Penguins are 2-5-0 in their last seven outings and are coming off Saturday's lopsided loss to visiting Toronto. Pittsburgh has been inconsistent and hasn't won back-to-back tests since a six-game winning streak from November 1-15

Pittsburgh has also fallen to fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 38 points. The Penguins are now seventh in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Buffalo is ninth in the East with 36 points.

The Maple Leafs handed the Pens a 7-3 thrashing Saturday at Mellon Arena. Nik Antropov had a goal and two assists to lead Toronto to the easy win.

Petr Sykora scored twice for the Penguins in the losing effort. Sykora has 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists) over his last four contests. Evgeni Malkin also added a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to eight games.

Malkin is leading the NHL with 55 points on 15 goals and 40 assists.

Marc-Andre Fleury started in net, but was pulled after two periods as he gave up five goals on 33 shots. Dany Sabourin played the third period and gave up two goals on seven shots.

The Penguins have lost five of their last seven road games and are 9-6-2 as the visiting team this season.

Buffalo has lost three of its last five contests, but did earn a point its last time out. The Sabres were dealt a 4-3 overtime loss Saturday night in Montreal as Alex Kovalev scored the game-winning goal with just 25 seconds left in the extra session.

Andrej Sekera, Derek Roy and Clarke MacArthur scored for the Sabres, who had a three-game road win streak snapped. Jason Pominville picked up his 17th assist, and Ryan Miller made 42 saves in the loss.

Roy has recorded a point in nine straight contests and has five goals and eight assists in that span.

The Sabres have a 9-8-1 record at home this year and are playing three of their remaining four December games in western New York.

Buffalo has won two of three against the Penguins this season, but Pittsburgh has taken seven of 10 meetings overall in the series. The Pens have dropped five of their last eight at HSBC Arena.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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