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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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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