Hockey Today - November 7
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, Nov. 7
Nashville at Detroit (7:30 p.m. EST)
Henrik Zetterberg has at least one point in all 14 of the Red Wings' games this season and has a league-leading 24 this season.
STARS
Tuesday
-Todd White, Thrashers, scored the 100th goal of his career 1:34 left in overtime to give Atlanta a 2-1 victory over Washington.
-Martin Gerber, Senators, made 30 saves in Ottawa's 5-1 win against Toronto.
STRONG START
The Ottawa Senators set a team record with their eighth straight win, 5-1 over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. Ottawa is off to the best start in NHL history through 14 games with a 13-1-0 mark and a record total of 26 points.
ROAD WOES
The New York Islanders scored three goals in the final period snapping the New York Rangers' winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Tuesday night. The Rangers fell to 0-5-1 on the road.
SLUMPING
Todd White scored the 100th goal of his career with 3:26 left in overtime to give the Atlanta Thrashers a 2-1 victory over Washington on Tuesday night. The Capitals lost their 10th in 12 games after starting the season with three straight victories.
REJECTED
Steve Moore has rejected an approximately $350,000 offer to settle the player's $15 million lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi and the former owner of the Vancouver Canucks, according to recently filed documents. The lawsuit, currently in the discovery stage, stems from an ugly incident during a March 8, 2004, game in Vancouver when Bertuzzi, then of the Canucks, attacked Moore, who was playing for the Colorado Avalanche.
SPEAKING
''I think that our mental sharpness left something to be desired over the course of three periods. We weren't as crisp as we needed to be, weren't as precise as we needed to be.'' - Rangers coach Tom Renney after a 3-2 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday night.
Wednesday's key NHL matchup notes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres
Both teams are struggling as they are amid nine-game stretches of division play. While the Bruins (7-5-1) have lost back-to-back games to division-leading Ottawa since beating Buffalo, the Sabres (5-7-1) enter this contest looking to avoid a season-high fourth straight loss.
Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins
The Flyers' awful start included five losses to Pittsburgh, which went on to sweep the season series for the first time. The Penguins scored at least three goals in every meeting, and scored at least five in five of those matchups.
Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida has beaten the Lightning twice in three meetings this season to improve to 13-5-1 in the series since the start of 2005-06. The Panthers, though, are just 4-4-1 at Tampa during that stretch.
Nashville Predators at Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings (11-2-1) try for their eighth straight victory as they return home Wednesday to take on Nashville (7-7-0) for the first time this season.
Columbus Blue Jackets at Chicago Blackhawks
Rick Nash and Jiri Novotny each scored twice in Columbus' 7-4 victory at Chicago on Oct. 23. The Blue Jackets have won four of their last six meetings with the Blackhawks, including two of three at the United Center.
Edmonton Oilers at Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche are 5-1-1 in their last seven meetings with the Oilers, although they've dropped four of the last five matchups at the Pepsi Center.
Phoenix Coyotes at Anaheim Ducks
Phoenix opened this season with a 3-2 home win over St. Louis on Oct. 4, but has dropped six in a row there since including a 5-2 loss to the Ducks on Saturday. Anaheim got a goal and two assists from Mathieu Schneider in his second game after suffering a broken during the preseason.
Dallas Stars at San Jose Sharks
San Jose's top-line center Joe Thornton had two assists Saturday, giving him two goals and four assists during a four-game point streak. He has a goal and eight assists in his last six games against Dallas.
Tim Connolly, Adam Mair out indefinitely
November 6, 2007
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -Sabres centers Tim Connolly and Adam Mair are out indefinitely, marking the latest blow to a once-dominant team that has struggled to start the season.
Coach Lindy Ruff said Tuesday that both will be out after Connolly strained his abdomen and Mair sprained his right ankle in a 2-0 loss at Montreal a day earlier. Ruff said Connolly would ``miss some time,'' but was more concerned about Mair's injury, saying the gritty fourth-line player will be out for weeks.
Mair did not return after he was hurt in the second period. Connolly continued playing after he was hurt early in the third period, but Ruff said the injury worsened after the team returned home.
Connolly has been Buffalo's most consistent forward, and was tied for team lead with 12 points (11 assists) in 13 games. Mair has two goals and one assist in 13 games.
The Sabres (5-7-1), who host Boston on Wednesday, have lost three straight and are tied for 12th in the Eastern Conference. That's a major turnaround from last year, when Buffalo won its first 10 games to match an NHL record for best start, on its way to a league-best 53-22-7 finish.
The Sabres are already missing two veteran defenseman. Dmitri Kalinin is out indefinitely with a sprained right knee and Jaroslav Spacek has missed six of seven games with a shoulder injury. Defenseman Nolan Pratt is also out after straining his groin in his Sabres debut last week.
BEHIND THE LINES
By Lonnie White
NHL betting requires savvy
Understanding matchups is crucial because the best teams aren't necessarily best against the spread.
Hockey may not receive the same betting action as football, but money can be won just the same with puckline wagers.
And unlike the NFL -- where players can normally win by betting on winning teams against the spread -- bettors that play the NHL usually need to understand matchups in order to be successful.
For example, the Kings are 7-8 and have not been above .500 since they defeated the Ducks to open the season. Yet, the Kings have an 8-7 record against the spread, which is a half-game better than Detroit, the best team in the Western Conference.
The Red Wings, who have dominated opponents, are 11-2-0-1 on the ice but 7-7 against the spread.
Want more? Ottawa, which has the NHL's best overall record, had a 7-6 mark against the spread in its first 13 games.
Because hockey does not feature high-scoring games, the puckline plays like a stingy form of the spread.
It is set at 1 1/2 goals. If you bet on a team at +1 1/2 , that team can win, tie or lose by one goal. If you place your bet on the team favored by -1 1/2 , they must win by at least two goals in order for your wager to cash.
Also, each line is normally accompanied by a price, for example: Kings +1 1/2 /-230; Ducks -1 1/2 /+200. That means, you need a bet of $230 to win $100 with the Kings or risk $100 to win $200 with the Ducks.
www.latimes.com