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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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.