Devils aim to keep rolling against East-leading Rangers

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02/07/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils have matched their longest winning streak of the season and will try to keep rolling tonight, when they face the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

The Devils have used a potent offensive attack to record wins in each of their last four games, matching a streak from Dec. 12-17. New Jersey has notched 20 goals in its last four trips to the ice and it posted a pair of key wins over Atlantic Division rivals over the weekend.

New Jersey jumped out to a 6-0 lead in Philadelphia on Saturday and held on for a 6-4 win over the Flyers. The Devils then posted a 5-2 triumph Sunday against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

With 60 points, the Devils are seeded sixth in the East, but are also fourth in the Atlantic, where they are one point behind Pittsburgh and three in back of Philadelphia. The Rangers, meanwhile, are five points ahead of Philly and eight in front of Jersey.

New York has also been hot lately, winning four of its last five (4-0-1). The only setback for the Rangers during that stretch came in a shootout loss in New Jersey last Tuesday. The Blueshirts have still taken six of the last nine meetings with the Devils overall and New York has claimed three of the last four matchups in the Big Apple.

One player who has clearly made a difference for New Jersey during its current winning streak is Ilya Kovalchuk. The Russian forward had a goal and two assists in Sunday's decisive win over the Penguins and now has 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists) in his last four games.

"We are consistently doing the right things," said Kovalchuk. "We create a lot of chances and defensively we didn't give much."

Zach Parise also had a goal and an assist in the victory over the Pens, while Anton Volchenkov and Dainius Zubrus also found the back of the net. Both Parise and fellow forward Patrik Elias are riding five-game point streaks.

Martin Brodeur made 28 saves to post Sunday's win and he also added an assist on David Clarkson's empty netter.

The Devils have won three straight and four of their last five on the road and are 15-10-1 as the guest this season.

New Jersey defenseman Adam Larsson (back) and forward Ryan Carter (hand) are questionable for tonight's game. Both players were injured in last Tuesday's game against the Rangers.

New York has won two straight since dropping last week's shootout decision against the Devils. The Rangers are coming off Sunday's impressive 5-2 rout of the visiting Flyers. Artem Anisimov had a goal and two assists to lead the New York to the easy win over their division rivals.

Marian Gaborik had a goal and an assist while Michael Del Zotto, Brandon Dubinsky and Ruslan Fedotenko all scored for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist, who had posted shutouts in his previous two starts, allowed two goals on 23 shots in the win.

"I think we know how important these games are," said Gaborik. "We come with a lot of energy and stick with our system. We have played very well against them this year and this game was one of them."

Lundqvist is expected to be back in net tonight to face the Devils. New York's No. 1 netminder had made 32 consecutive starts in the series with New Jersey before Martin Biron received the call last Tuesday. Biron is 8-15-3 with a pair of ties in his career against the Devils, while Lundqvist has built a stellar 23-9-5 record versus New Jersey.

The Rangers began a three-game homestand on Sunday and are 16-5-2 as the host this year.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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