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**Udog** · 03-27-2015, 10:04 AM

Armadillo: Friday's six-pack

-- Watched the two CBS games on airplane coming home; technology is amazing.

-- I don't watch pregame/halftime shows very much, but friend of mine who knows stuff can't stand Kenny Smith on college games, says he doesn't add anything at all.

-- Jets' owner Woody Johnson sold his co-op apartment in New York for $77.5M.

-- Odd stat of NCAA tournament: Duke beat San Diego State easily last Sunday, but for whole game, they were 2-2 on foul line. Since when does that happen?

-- Dean Smith left every guy who played for him $200 each in his will.

-- Sean Miller is a terrific coach but is 0-3 in regional finals; he is a 1.5-point favorite Saturday against Wisconsin team that beat Arizona in this round last year.

**********

Armadillo: Friday's List of 13: Things I think about on a 5-hour flight........

13) Notre Dame 81, Wichita State 70-- Fighting Irish pass the ball, they shoot the ball, are great fun to watch. They'll give Kentucky a ballgame because of it, but it'll take a near-perfect performance to post an upset.

12) Wisconsin 79, North Carolina 72-- Tar Heels shot 8-13 from arc and still lost; Badgers got nine minutes off bench from PG Traevon Jackson; Gasser played 40:00, Kaminsky played 39:00. Badger bench played total of only 31 minutes.

11) Arizona 68, Xavier 60-- Game was tied at half, but Musketeers were 3-17 on arc, which isn't good enough to post an upset. Underdogs were 2-2 vs spread last night, are now 25-11 in this round the last 4.5 years. Its a sad commentary on our world today that Sean Miller will take some heat if Arizona loses to Wisconsin Saturday, since he is 0-3 in regional final games.

10) Kentucky 78, West Virginia 39-- Al McGuire once said, "The best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores", which I'm guessing is what Bob Huggins is thinking about freshman Daxter Miles' trash talk about Kentucky before this game, which might've been the worst game I saw all season.

9) West Virginia isn't good enough to beat Kentucky no matter what, but no one pays to watch referees blow the whistle; I can't remember a game where there were two fouls in the first 0:15- Devin Williams had two fouls in the first 1:14 and left with the score 0-0-- it was 18-2 within a flash after that.

8) Post-game press conferences are high comedy, when players are always referred to as "the student-athletes". Xavier's press conference took place around 1am ET on a Friday morning, about seven hours before classes begin on Xavier's campus in Ohio. Xavier's players are in Los Angeles. Just call them what they are, players. Some are good students, some are not.

7) If Texas is thinking about firing Rick Barnes, who exactly are they going to bring in who is better? He's been in 13 of last 14 NCAA tournaments, but hasn't been higher than a 7-seed since 2011- he is 35-37 in Big X the last four years, but I'll ask another question-- if you fire a guy with Barnes' overall record, is this really a good job? Not all changes result in improvements.

6) Correction: New Nevada coach Eric Musselman didn't work for Trent Johnson at LSU, he worked for Johnny Jones, who succeeded Johnson in Baton Rouge.

5) Bad night for Wichita State last night, and now it could get worse, as Alabama is going to throw $3M a year at Gregg Marshall and if he says no, there's a chance Texas could do the same thing. And for you cocky Kentucky fans out in Las Vegas? The day is coming when Calipari is going to go back to the NBA-- what you going to do then??

4) Victor Martinez homered Thursday, good news for my fantasy baseball team; he isn't and probably won't be catcher-eligible, but I still need his bat at DH.

3) Why would a business refuse service to anyone based on their sexual orientation? Indiana passed a weird and dangerous law this week-- everyone's money is worth the same amount, why should it be legal for a business to exclude gay people-- how would you know who is and who isn't? I'll say this; it sets a dangerous precedent.

2) Hardest part of vacation was dragging my butt out of bed a couple days at 10am to go down to the sportsbook and watch exhibition baseball games. My sleep clock gets all kinds of messed up on my trips to the desert.

1) You know it was a great vacation when it feels like you've been gone for a month when you get back and its only been ten days.

**Udog** · 03-27-2015, 10:08 AM

NHL
Long Sheet

Friday, March 27

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CALGARY (40-27-0-7, 87 pts.) at MINNESOTA (42-25-0-7, 91 pts.) - 3/27/2015, 8:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
MINNESOTA is 54-38 ATS (-1.1 Units) second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
MINNESOTA is 11-4 ATS (+6.9 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
CALGARY is 40-34 ATS (+75.7 Units) in all games this season.
CALGARY is 10-6 ATS (+18.5 Units) in a road game where where the total is 5 or less this season.
CALGARY is 40-37 ATS (+84.2 Units) second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
MINNESOTA is 7-3 (+2.2 Units) against the spread versus CALGARY over the last 3 seasons
MINNESOTA is 7-3-0 straight up against CALGARY over the last 3 seasons
4 of 7 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+1.0 Units)

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COLUMBUS (34-35-0-4, 72 pts.) at CHICAGO (44-23-0-6, 94 pts.) - 3/27/2015, 8:35 PM
Top Trends for this game.
CHICAGO is 24-6 ATS (+12.3 Units) in home games in non-conference games over the last 2 seasons.
COLUMBUS is 79-82 ATS (+172.2 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
COLUMBUS is 13-9 ATS (+27.4 Units) in road games second half of the season this season.
COLUMBUS is 6-1 ATS (+7.5 Units) in road games in March games this season.
COLUMBUS is 122-116 ATS (+254.6 Units) in non-conference games since 1996.
COLUMBUS is 11-8 ATS (+23.0 Units) after scoring 4 goals or more in their previous game this season.
CHICAGO is 48-47 ATS (-44.7 Units) second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
CHICAGO is 56-65 ATS (-32.9 Units) in home games on Friday nights since 1996.
CHICAGO is 14-15 ATS (-14.0 Units) after a non-conference game this season.
CHICAGO is 39-32 ATS (-6.8 Units) when playing against a team with a losing record over the last 2 seasons.
CHICAGO is 14-18 ATS (-21.6 Units) when playing against a team with a losing record in the second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
CHICAGO is 6-1 (+4.3 Units) against the spread versus COLUMBUS over the last 3 seasons
CHICAGO is 6-1-0 straight up against COLUMBUS over the last 3 seasons
4 of 7 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+0.6 Units)

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DALLAS (36-28-0-10, 82 pts.) at EDMONTON (21-40-0-13, 55 pts.) - 3/27/2015, 9:35 PM
Top Trends for this game.
DALLAS is 3-10 ATS (-8.8 Units) after a 3 game unbeaten streak over the last 2 seasons.
DALLAS is 18-12 ATS (+32.6 Units) in a road game where where the total is 5.5 this season.
DALLAS is 9-4 ATS (+14.8 Units) in road games after scoring 4 goals or more in their previous game this season.
EDMONTON is 21-53 ATS (-59.8 Units) in all games this season.
EDMONTON is 14-38 ATS (+75.5 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent this season.
EDMONTON is 3-14 ATS (+25.6 Units) after scoring 4 goals or more in their previous game this season.
EDMONTON is 154-155 ATS (-48.1 Units) in home games when playing against a team with a losing record since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
DALLAS is 6-2 (+3.1 Units) against the spread versus EDMONTON over the last 3 seasons
DALLAS is 6-2-0 straight up against EDMONTON over the last 3 seasons
3 of 6 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=-0.6 Units, Under=-0.2 Units)

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NHL

Friday, March 27

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Trend Report
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8:00 PM
CALGARY vs. MINNESOTA
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Calgary's last 6 games
Calgary is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing Minnesota
Minnesota is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
Minnesota is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Calgary

8:30 PM
COLUMBUS vs. CHICAGO
The total has gone OVER in 16 of Columbus's last 23 games when playing Chicago
Columbus is 1-13 SU in its last 14 games when playing Chicago
The total has gone OVER in 16 of Chicago's last 23 games when playing Columbus
Chicago is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Columbus

9:30 PM
DALLAS vs. EDMONTON
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Dallas's last 8 games on the road
Dallas is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games when playing Edmonton
Edmonton is 2-10 SU in its last 12 games when playing Dallas
Edmonton is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games at home

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**Udog** · 03-27-2015, 10:10 AM

NHL

Friday, March 27

Road teams outshine hosts on ice Thursday

There was not much of a home-ice advantage in the NHL Thursday night, as road teams went an impressive 9-2 straight up. Traveling teams outscored their hosting opponents 38-29, with four of the games seeing the road team win by two or more goals.

The two teams to actually net a win in front of their faithful were the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes, with the Caps needing overtime to seal the deal.

You could say the Buffalo Sabres won on home-ice by losing, thus increasing their odds at the top overall pick, Sabres fans did cheer when their team lost the game, but that's not going to help bettors.

Pushes dictate totals action on Thursday

It was an odd night for totals action in the NHL Thursday, as games combined for a 5-1-5 over/under mark. With five games notching five combined goals, the push dominated leaving a lot of bettors tearing up tickets.

The lone under of the night went to the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs, with even that game only going under by 0.5 goals.

Games have topped the closing total 52.78 percent of the time in NHL action this season.

Lehtonen on fire this month for Stars

With a fighting chance to make the playoffs, the Dallas Stars are expected to start Kari Lehtonen in nets Friday. The Finnish netminder has been lights-out for the Stars this month sporting an 8-1 record with a 2.07 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.

Dallas has won seven of their past eight contests and are currently eight points out of the final playoff spot in the West. The Stars will need continued hot play down the stretch to make the postseason, as they close their season with five of eight on the road.

The Stars will visit the Edmonton Oilers Friday, with Dallas currently a -163 favorite.

**Udog** · 03-27-2015, 11:03 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Friday, March 27

Calgary Flames vs Minnesota Wild

Game 1-2
March 27, 2015 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Calgary Flames
12.525
Minnesota Wild
11.220
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Calgary Flames
by 1 1/2
4
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Minnesota Wild
-170
5
Dunkel Pick:
Calgary Flames
(+150); Under

Columbus Blue Jackets vs Chicago Blackhawks

Game 3-4
March 27, 2015 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Columbus Blue Jackets
12.228
Chicago Blackhawks
10.870
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Columbus Blue Jackets
by 1 1/2
5
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Chicago Blackhawks
-210
5 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Columbus Blue Jackets
(+175); Under

Dallas Stars vs Edmonton Oilers

Game 5-6
March 27, 2015 @ 9:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Dallas Stars
12.000
Edmonton Oilers
10.701
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Dallas Stars
by 1 1/2
6 1/2
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Dallas Stars
-160
5 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Dallas Stars
(-160); Over

**Udog** · 03-27-2015, 11:07 AM

NHL

Friday, March 27

NHL roundup: Kings move back into playoff position

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Center Anze Kopitar scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:23 left in the third period, and the Los Angeles Kings moved into playoff position in the Western Conference with a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night at Nassau Coliseum.

With their third consecutive win, the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings (37-23-14) moved one point ahead of the idle Calgary Flames for third place in the Pacific Division.

Centers Nick Shore, Tyler Toffoli and Anze Kopitar all scored for the Kings.

Center Frans Nielsen and defenseman Johnny Boychuk scored for the Islanders.

Coyotes 4, Sabres 3 (OT)

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Center Sam Gagner scored 56 seconds into overtime, giving Arizona a win over Buffalo.

Right winger Jordan Szwarz, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and right winger David Moss also scored for the Coyotes (23-44-8). Arizona goalie Mike Smith made 32 saves.

Center Tyler Ennis, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and right winger Brian Gionta scored for Buffalo (20-46-8). Goalie Matt Hackett stopped 38 shots.

Hurricanes 5, Penguins 2

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Carolina displayed rare offensive execution with a few players breaking scoring droughts in a victory over Pittsburgh at PNC Arena.

Center Eric Staal, defenseman Ryan Murphy, center Jay McClement, right winger Alexander Semin and center Andrej Nestrasil scored for the Hurricanes, who won for the first time in five games (1-2-2).

Center Brandon Sutter opened the scoring for the Penguins, who have won only once in a seven-game span and yet remain in solid position to make the playoffs. Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Cole scored after Carolina built a four-goal lead. Carolina goalie Cam Ward made 27 saves, showing few signs of rust from recent inactivity. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 23 shots for Pittsburgh.

Capitals 3, Devils 2 (OT)

WASHINGTON -- Goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 29 of 31 shots, but Washington still needed overtime heroics by defenseman Matt Niskanen to skate away with a wild victory over New Jersey at the Verizon Center.

Defenseman Karl Alzner and center Eric Fehr scored in regulation for the Capitals.

Devils right winger Steve Bernier scored with 29.2 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime after center Travis Zajac scored a short-handed goal in the second period.

Ducks 3, Bruins 2 (OT)

BOSTON -- Anaheim tied the game in the last minute of regulation and ended a two-game losing streak when captain Ryan Getzlaf scored with 1:51 left in overtime to give his team a victory over Boston.

Ducks right winger Corey Perry forced overtime with a deflection goal with 38.5 seconds left in regulation and left winger Patrick Maroon scored the other Ducks goal while goaltender Frederick Andersen made 27 saves for the win.

The Bruins got power-play goals from rookie center Ryan Spooner and right winger Loui Eriksson and Tuukka Rask made 29 saves.

Rangers 5, Senators 1

OTTAWA -- The New York Rangers threw some water on red-hot Ottawa in a victory at the Canadian Tire Centre. The win was the Rangers' eighth in their last 10 games and it stopped the Senators' winning streak at seven.

It also marked the first regulation loss for Senators goalie Andrew Hammond, who was pulled in the second period after giving up five goals on 22 shots. He entered with a 14-0-1 record and one game shy of tying the mark for best career start by an NHL goalie.

Winger Chris Kreider led the Rangers with two goals. Winger Tanner Glass, center Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Dan Boyle had the others. Center Curtis Lazar scored the Senators lone goal.

Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 1

TORONTO -- Florida kept its playoff hopes alive with a win over lowly Toronto, moving three points back of the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins, who are tied for the second Eastern Conference wild card.

Panthers left winger Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman Steven Kampfer scored 30 seconds apart on the second period. Florida center Brandon Pirri added two goals. Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo made 24 saves for his 26th win of the season.

Rookie center Sam Carrick had the lone goal for the Maple Leafs. Toronto goaltender Jonathan Bernier allowed three goals on 16 shots and was replaced by James Reimer in the second period. Reimer stopped all 11 shots he faced.

Predators 3, Lightning 2

TAMPA, Fla. -- Behind goalie Pekka Rinne, Nashville outlasted Tampa Bay at Amalie Arena.

The Predators (46-21-8) scored twice in 40 seconds in the opening five minutes -- from centers Mike Ribeiro and Paul Gaustad -- then got a crucial goal from center Michael Santarello in the second period that proved to be the winner.

Tampa Bay (46-22-7) took a rare home loss to snap a four-game win streak, unable to rally in the third period as they had two nights earlier against the Florida Panthers. Centers Vladislav Namestnikov and Brian Boyle scored the Lightning goals.

Sharks 6, Red Wings 4

DETROIT -- Left winger Patrick Marleau had two goals and an assist to lead San Jose over Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.

Centers Chris Tierney and Logan Couture had a goal and an assist each and defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and left winger Matt Nieto also scored for San Jose while goalie Antti Niemi made 30 saves.

Right winger Tomas Jurco, left winger Tomas Tatar, right winger Stephen Weiss and left winger Justin Abdelkader scored for Detroit. Defenseman Dan DeKeyser had two assists and goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped seven of 10 shots before being pulled after the first period on his 31st birthday. Petr Mrazek made 17 saves in relief.

Jets 5, Canadiens 2

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Mark Scheifele scored and added an assist as Winnipeg dominated Montreal.

The Jets (39-24-12) also got goals from defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, center Jim Slater, right winger Blake Wheeler and left winger Adam Lowry. The Canadiens' (46-21-8) tallies came from defenseman Andrei Markov and Brendan Gallagher.

Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec made 20 first period stops on route to a 39-save performance for his sixth straight win between the pipes for Winnipeg while goalie Dustin Tokarski made 17 saves in a losing effort for Montreal.

Avalanche 4, Canucks 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Left winger Gabriel Landeskog scored a goal and added an assist as Colorado kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a victory over Vancouver.

The Avalanche, in tough to grab a wild-card berth in the Western Conference , improved to 34-28-12 as they stayed within 10 points of the Winnipeg Jets, who also won Thursday. The Canucks (43-27-4) saw their three-game win streak end as they continued their trend of playing poorly against teams below the playoff bar. The Canucks retain second place in the Pacific Division, but now hold only a two-point lead on the surging Los Angeles Kings, who moved into third place with a win over the New York Islanders earlier Thursday.

Left winger Alex Tanguay, right winger Jarome Iginla and center John Mitchell also scored for the Avalanche, while defenseman Yannick Weber scored the only goal for the Canucks.

**Udog** · 03-27-2015, 05:33 PM

NHL
Short Sheet

Friday, March 27

Calgary at Minnesota, 8:05 ET
Calgary: 17-14 SU as a road underdog
Minnesota: 12-2 SU in home games after scoring 2 goals or less in 2 straight games

Columbus at Chicago, 8:35 ET
Columbus: 11-7 SU after having won 4 or 5 of their last 6 games
Chicago: 11-17 SU after 2 consecutive non-conference games

Dallas at Edmonton, 9:35 ET
Dallas: 13-4 SU in road games off a win or tie in their previous game
Edmonton: 8-26 SU after covering 2 of their last 3 against the spread

NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Friday, March 27

Hot teams
-- Minnesota won five of its last six games.
-- Chicago won seven of last ten games. Blue Jackets won six of their last seven games.
-- Edmonton is 3-2 in last five games, after losing previous seven games. Dallas Stars won nine of their last eleven games.

Cold teams
-- Flames lost four of their last six games.

Series records
-- Minnesota won four of last five games with Calgary.
-- Blue Jackets lost nine of last ten games with Chicago.
-- Dallas Stars won four of last five games with Edmonton.

Totals
-- Five of last seven Minnesota home games stayed under.
-- Over is 5-2-1 in last eight Columbus road games.
-- Seven of last nine Edmonton games went over total.

Back-to-back
-- None

Announcement

Friday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 3/27

Friday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 3/27

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