Streaking Kings try to continue mastery of rival Ducks

Hockey Betting Lines

02/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings will be aiming to extend a franchise- record winning streak tonight. If recent history is any indication, the Anaheim Ducks may not be posing much of a problem towards achieving that feat.

The Kings shoot for an unprecedented 10th consecutive victory, as well as a sixth straight triumph over the Ducks, when these two area rivals face off once again tonight at the Honda Center.

Los Angeles established its new club mark with Saturday's 4-3 win over visiting Detroit, in which the Kings overcame a three-goal deficit after one period.

The Kings stormed back on second-period goals by Alexander Frolov, Michal Handzus and Ryan Smyth to tie the contest, then went ahead when Handzus scored again with 2:21 left to play.

"We have a lot of confidence right now, and we know that if we stick to our game most nights we will be successful," said Handzus. "We knew we did not play well in the first period. We came out a little flat, and they came to us pretty hard. We decided not to try and hit a home run, we just stuck to our game plan."

Goaltender Jonathan Quick bounced back from a shaky beginning between the pipes by stopping all 15 shots he faced over the final two periods. The Kings' youngster turned aside only 5-of-8 chances during the opening frame.

Saturday's victory came on the heels of a 6-4 decision over Anaheim Thursday at the Staples Center, where Los Angeles blew an three-goal advantage before regrouping to win.

The Kings took a seemingly-comfortable 4-1 lead on Jack Johnson's one-timer through a Handzus screen 1:44 into the third period, but goals by Troy Bodie, Matt Beleskey and Ryan Carter within a span of just over six-minutes pulled the Ducks even.

The game remained tied until 5:32 remaining in regulation, when the Kings' Dustin Brown knocked home a rebound of an Anze Kopitar shot. Kopitar, who racked up two goals and two assists in the wild win, later added some insurance with a power-play tally in the final minute.

It's definitely not how we wanted to win, but in the end, we got two points and that's most important," said Kopitar afterward. "It shows we cannot let up in the third period. We need to shut these games down."

Recently-acquired Jason Blake logged a goal and an assist for Anaheim, which had a three-game win streak come to an end, while Ryan Getzlaf set up two of the Ducks' scores.

Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller allowed all six goals on 31 shots in Thursday's defeat. The Swiss standout had let up just one goal on 80 shots over his previous two outings, which came immediately after he signed a four- year contract extension.

"We kind of lost our game," said Hiller of the loss. "We had to take some penalties and they scored two goals (on the power play). They were right back into the game. We fought back, had a chance and I think that's a positive."

The Ducks have not played since Thursday's setback, giving them some additional time to try to work out their troubles in this series of late. Los Angeles has won the last five meetings between these Pacific Division foes and has amassed 14 goals over its three victories against Anaheim this season.

Hiller has particularly struggled lately against the Kings, having recorded a subpar 4.59 goals against average in losing his last five starts versus Los Angeles.

In contrast, Quick is 5-0-0 with a 2.60 GAA lifetime against Anaheim, although he managed to save only 18-of-22 shots in Thursday's game.

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The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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