Blake tallies hat trick, Hunter caps wild Isles win
Hockey Betting Lines
02/28/2007 - Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trent Hunter's second goal of the game, coming with 31 seconds left in overtime, sent the New York Islanders past the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5, at Nassau Coliseum.
Jason Blake recorded a hat trick and one assist for the Islanders, winners in five of their last six games. Chris Simon also scored, while Randy Robitaille collected three assists and Mike Sillinger added two assists of his own.
Rick DiPietro stopped 29 shots to earn the victory.
R.J. Umberger tallied twice for the Flyers, who have dropped five straight. Dimitry Afanasenkov had a goal and an assist, Sami Kapanen and Simon Gagne scored, and Joni Pitkanen picked up a pair of helpers.
Antero Niittymaki played well despite giving up six goals on 39 shots in the loss.
Late in overtime, and already on the power play, the Islanders were about to go up by two men when Sillinger held in the left circle before feeding in the slot to Hunter, who redirected the puck into the top corner of the net.
The win vaulted the Isles into seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, pulling them even with Montreal, which lost to the Rangers, and moving one point ahead of Carolina, which fell to Ottawa.
Down by two goals heading into the final 20 minutes of play, the Flyers showed some uncharacteristic grit and rallied to come within 5-4 on Umberger's second goal of the night at the 8:12 mark.
Gagne completed the long comeback with his 35th goal of the year on a rising backhander from a tangle of bodies at the left side of the crease 55 seconds later, and each side survived some close calls before the game slipped into the extra session.
New York took an early 1-0 lead as Chris Campoli's blistering one-timer from the high slot tipped off Blake and sailed past a screened Niittymaki just 2:10 into the contest. Blake made it 2-0 at 8:34 when he followed up Robitaille's breakaway chance by barreling into the crease and shoving the loose puck into the net.
Umberger countered at 13:42 to bring the Flyers within 2-1, but Hunter restored the Isles' two-goal advantage 20 seconds later when he stashed home his own rebound.
Blake ended a lopsided first period for New York and finished his trifecta by stealing the puck from Kapanen deep in the Flyers' defensive zone, moving to the backhand and slipping the puck inside the far post with 14.7 seconds remaining.
Kapanen atoned for his mistake and brought the Flyers within 4-2 with 2:48 played in the second, as his point blast caught Campoli's jersey and deflected past DiPietro.
However, Blake and Robitaille teamed up with renowned tough-guy Simon to increase New York's lead to 5-2 at 6:20, then Simon squared off with the Flyers' Todd Fedoruk in a spirited bout immediately following his goal.
Philly forward Darren Reid and Islanders enforcer Arron Asham tussled a mere five seconds later, and the fisticuffs re-energized the visitors, who cut the deficit to 5-3 when Afanasenkov was left all alone in front to tuck a shot through DiPietro's pads at 7:10.
Game Notes
The Isles have won four of the six meetings this season...New York is 5-1-0 on their current seven-game homestand...Ryan Smyth, acquired on Tuesday from Edmonton, was not in the lineup for the Isles...The Flyers did not have the services of goaltender Martin Biron, acquired before the trading deadline on Tuesday -- he will join the club on Thursday when they play in Boston. However, defenseman Braydon Coburn, acquired from Atlanta on Monday, and backliner Lasse Kukkonen, acquired from Chicago also on Monday, were in the lineup...Kukkonen recorded an assist in his first game in a Flyers uniform...The Flyers fell to 2-5 in overtime, and the Islanders improved to 8-4 in the extra period.
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Redd poured in 31 points, Charlie Bell reached double digits for the 19th straight time with 20 points and Andrew Bogut scored 13 points to go along with 14 rebounds, as Milwaukee trounce
<< Carter, Kidd lead Nets over Wizards
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Kidd had another solid all-around game with 26 points, eight rebounds and nine
assists, as the Nets used a big run in the fourth quarter for a 113-101 win
over Wa
<< Sabres crush Toronto
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assist as Buffalo pummeled Toronto, 6-1, at the Air Canada Centre.
Clarke MacArthur had a goal and two assists, while Derek Roy also tallied and
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Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena.
Brodeur stopped 31 shots and Jamie Langenbr
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in the shootout and Olli Jokinen recorded his third hat trick of the season,
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Oilers honor legendary Messier >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers retired former center
Mark Messier's No. 11 prior to Tuesday's home game against the Phoenix
Coyotes.
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Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points, grabbed 14
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rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Mavs are now one win shy of their
franchi
Manning watches, Summitt cheers, Vols swamp Gators >>
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning sitting in
the stands and Tennessee legendary women's coach Pat Summitt dressed as a
cheerleader, the Volunteers rode early momentum to beat No. 5 Florida, 86-76,
handing
Legace has knee surgery >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Blues goaltender Manny Legace
underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday.
No immediate timetable was given on his return.
Legace is 23-15-5 with a 2.59 goals-against average and five
FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL Football Trash TalkTrash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
El Duque expected to throw Tuesday
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez, sidelined at spring training because of arthritis in his neck, is expected to resume throwing on Tuesday.
Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.
El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.
MySportsbook.com has the Mets as -110 favorites to repeat as NL East champions odds.
Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.
New York already is without Pedro Martinez, out until at least midseason following rotator cuff surgery. Among those competing for starting jobs are prospects Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber and Jason Vargas, plus veterans Chan Ho Park, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Sele.
Notes: Mets manager Willie Randolph is excited about two new utility players he could have on his bench: Damion Easley and David Newhan. ''Their value is really all over the place,'' Randolph said. Easley can play anywhere in the infield and could be used as an emergency outfielder, though Randolph said he would prefer to keep the veteran in the infield. Newhan, meanwhile, can play second base, third or any outfield position for the Mets. ''I love versatility,'' Randolph said. ''I love guys that can give me options when I need them to step in.''
Additional baseball lines and World Series odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.