Perron's two goals help Blues down Stars

Hockey Betting Lines

03/10/2009 - St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Perron scored twice to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars at Scottrade Center.

David Backes, Brad Winchester and Keith Tkachuk also scored for the Blues, who have won five of their last seven games overall. Chris Mason made 20 saves in the win.

James Neal and Mike Ribeiro scored for struggling Dallas, which fell to 2-7-1 in its last 10 games. Marty Turco started in goal for the Stars but was pulled midway through the first period after he allowed three goals on eight shots. Tobias Stephan made 17 saves in relief.

The Blues got to Turco early and often.

After Backes' 22nd goal just 59 seconds into the contest got things going, Perron lit the lamp at the 6:32 mark for a 2-0 lead. Perron gained control of the puck and carried down the left-wing side. Using his body as leverage to ward off Dallas defenseman Nicklas Grossman, Perron cut to the goal mouth and lifted a backhander past Turco.

Shortly after, Blues defenseman Jay McKee leveled Mark Parrish with a crushing body check in the neutral zone. Parrish remained on the ice in obvious pain and was helped off ice by the training staff.

Winchester's backhanded rebound goal from near the left post on the power play with 8:04 remaining in the first put the Blues up by three and chased Turco to the bench.

Dallas got on the scoreboard via the power play 5:20 into the middle session. Mike Modano held control inside the right circle and passed to Neal along the goal line to the right of the net. From a sharp angle, Neal lifted a wrister that beat Mason over the near shoulder for his 22nd goal of the campaign.

At the midpoint of the second, the Blues responded and Perron's second marker of the contest restored the three-goal advantage, as T.J. Oshie carried down the right side and passed across the top of the crease for a successful one- timer from near the left post.

Ribeiro's 18th goal less than two minutes later -- an unassisted wrister from in close below the left circle -- brought the Stars within 4-2.

With 4:20 to go in the second, the scoring was capped by Tkachuk's slap shot from the slot while the Blues were on the power play.

Game Notes

St. Louis improved to 17-12-5 at home this season...The Blues lead the season series, 3-0, and the Blues have downed the Stars in six of the last seven meetings in St. Louis...The Stars were 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Blues finished 2-for-6 with the extra skater..It was Tkachuk's 20th goal, the 15th time he's accomplished the feat in his career.

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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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