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**Udog** · 12-16-2015, 10:17 AM

Armadillo: Wednesday's six-pack

Six of the more interesting NFL games this weekend.........

-- Texans @ Colts-- First place on line with backup QBs playing for 6-7 teams.

-- Panthers (-5) @ Giants-- Carolina can get to 14-0 with win here.

-- Packers (-3) @ Raiders-- Oakland can get to .500 with an upset win here.

-- Broncos @ Steelers (-6)-- Denver scored 19 ppg in Osweiler's first four starts.

-- Bengals (-4) @ 49ers-- McCarron gets first NFL start for Cincinnati.

-- Cardinals (-3.5) @ Eagles-- Much bigger game for 6-7 Philly.

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Armadillo: Wednesday's List of 13: tba

13) Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan abruptly retired last night, after Badgers beat Texas-Corpus Christi 64-49. Timing of the announcement seems odd, but I have a theory that Ryan wants his assistant Greg Gard to have a shot at succeeding him as Wisconsin coach and this was the only way that was going to happen.

12) CNN's crew analyzing Republican debate was outside the Venetian in Las Vegas last night; they looked like they were freezing their butts off. As I type this, it is 43 degrees in Las Vegas, 43 here in beautiful upstate New York.

11) Monmouth 83, Georgetown 68-- Hawks were 10-20 from arc, 31-37 on foul line as they led Hoyas just about whole way. Monmouth has beaten UCLA, Notre Dame, USC and Georgetown- they also lost at Canisius. UNC alum King Rice is the coach at Monmouth, at least for another three months, then he'll get a bigger job.

10) Going into Tuesday's games, college basketball scoring was up 5.28 ppg, so the new rules have influenced coaches to play more aggressively, which had created a lot more attractive product to watch, all of which will make this winter more fun.

9) ESPN will televise 38 of the 41 bowl games; they OWN ten of them. 80 of 128 college football teams are going to bowls-- it is just too many. You go 6-6 or 5-7 and you get a trip to the Bahamas or San Diego-- those teams don't deserve it!!!!

8) Last year, Eastern Washington QB Vernon Adams transferred from I-AA Eagles to Oregon in hopes of enhancing his resume for NFL scouts. Now it has happened again, as Montana State QB Dakota Prukop will transfer to the Ducks-- he chose them over Alabama. Whatever happened to loyalty? Whatever happened to finishing what you started? Tony Romo went to Eastern Illinois, Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard, future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner went to Northern Iowa.

If you're good enough, the NFL will find you, that I guarantee.

7) Parents, please teach your kids to throw lefty: reliever Jerry Blevins just signed a deal with the Mets for $4M for next season. I have great fondness for Blevins, who helped the A's make the playoffs in 2012-2013, but he has 16 wins, two saves in his nine major league seasons. $4M a year, thats million, with an M. Wow.

6) Eli Manning was playing flag football Monday night, going 27-31 against a team that blitzed him three times the whole game. Three times. Eli Manning is immobile, just like his brother and Odell Beckham is a great deep threat. How on God's green earth do you let him stand back there and throw the ball long all night?

5) There is a TV program on A&E called Married at First Sight where couples are matched and then get married, five minutes after they first meet. A friend asked me if this was a real show and it is; these people get married legally, then have six weeks or so to decide if they want a divorce or to remain married. No annulments. Oy.

My mom passed away in 2004; my one wish would've been to sit in a room with her while this show was on and just watch her boil over as it unfolded. She was religious and outspoken-- the over/under on her demanding the channel be switched would've been roughly 11.5 minutes, and I'm being generous. It would've been great fun.

4) Raiders' LB Khalil Mack had five sacks in Denver Sunday; if he played for a New York team, they'd be fitting him for his Hall of Fame jacket already. Oakland has a shot for a .500 season- they haven't had one since 8-8 years in 2010-11- their last winning season was in '02, when they lost to the Bucs in the Super Bowl.

3) Raiders' QB Derek Carr bought all of his offensive linemen flatscreeen TVs as Christmas presents. What do QBs on lousy teams buy their linemen?

2) Nick Young played over 400 minutes on floor at same time as Kobe Bryant, until he assisted on a Bryant basket. Thats hard to believe, but it was true until he finally assisted on a Bryant basket last week.

1) Baseball won't reinstate Pete Rose, which is fine; he is 74 years old so he wasn't going to coach or be in a front office job anyway-- he makes over $1M a year signing his name in Las Vegas 4-5 days a week, and he does studio work on FOX, so he has his hand in it a little bit, but the Hall of Fame needs to let him in. Here is why.

-- He has more hits than anyone who ever played the game.
-- He changed positions mulitple times to help his team improve; all he wanted to do was win and he was a great player whose teams did win a lot.
-- Cooperstown, NY is a very small town that could use a boost and a ceremony with Rose would be the biggest weekend the Baseball Hall of Fame has ever seen.
-- He broke a rule and bet on baseball, so put it on his Hall of Fame plaque, say he was banned from baseball, but let him have his day-- he'll make a speech and then this will become a non-issue.
-- I'm not a Reds fan, but I think Rose deserves to be honored as a great player.

**Udog** · 12-16-2015, 10:19 AM

NHL

Wednesday, December 16

NHL roundup: Varlamov, Avs blank Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Semyon Varlamov stopped all 29 shots he faced, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.

Matt Duchene, Zach Redmond and Gabriel Landeskog scored for the Avalanche, who won their third consecutive game on the road.

Chicago was shut out for the second time this season, meaning Patrick Kane's point streak ended at 26 games.

Kane compiled 16 goals and 24 assists during his 26-game streak, which set a franchise record and marked the most by any American-born player in NHL history. Kane's streak was the longest in the league since Hall of Famer Mats Sundin scored at least one point in 30 consecutive games with the Quebec Nordiques during the 1992-93 campaign.

Corey Crawford stopped 24 of 26 shots for Chicago.

Stars 5, Blue Jackets 1

DALLAS -- Tyler Seguin scored two goals 30 seconds apart late in the second period and Kari Lehtonen stopped 34 of 35 shots in a Dallas win against Columbus at American Airlines Center.

Johnny Oduya, Alex Goligoski and Mattias Janmark also scored for the Stars, who remains the lone team in the NHL yet to lose consecutive games this season. Jamie Benn assisted on Seguin’s second goal, the 400th point of his career.

The Blue jackets lone goal was from Scott Hartnell.

Flyers 4, Hurricanes 3 (OT)

PHILADELPHIA -- Michal Neuvirth and Philadelphia did enough to cool off Carolina in overtime at Wells Fargo Center.

Shayne Gostisbehere won it in the extra session off a beautiful feed from Jakub Voracek. Voracek, Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier also scored for the Flyers.

Jeff Skinner scored a hat trick to give him nine goals in the last six games. Eddie Lack made 27 saves in the loss.

Sharks 3, Canadiens 1

MONTREAL -- San Jose made the most of its chances, snapping a six-game losing streak with a win against Montreal at the Bell Centre.

Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Dainius Zubrus scored for the Sharks while Dale Weise scored for the Canadiens.

Martin Jones made 26 saves for the Sharks. Dustin Tokarski stopped nine-of-12 shots before being replaced by Mike Condon, who made six saves in relief for the Habs.

Panthers 5, Islanders 1

NEW YORK -- Roberto Luongo recorded 33 saves, and five players scored a goal apiece for Florida , to beat the New York Islanders at Barclays Center.

Reilly Smith, Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Huberdeau all scored for the Panthers.

Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, who got just 12 saves Jaroslav Halak.

Rangers 4, Oilers 2

NEW YORK -- Rick Nash scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period as the New York Rangers snapped Edmonton's six-game winning streak with a victory at Madison Square Garden.

Jesper Fast, Mats Zuccarello and Dylan McIlrath also scored for the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 18 shots.

Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle had the Oilers' goals and Anders Nilsson turned aside 17 shots.

Devils 2, Sabres 0

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Cory Schneider made 25 saves to lead New Jersey over Buffalo.

It was Schneider's second shutout of the season and the 19th of his career. Lee Stempniak and Jiri Tlusty scored for the Devils.

Linus Ullmark made 19 saves in the losing effort for the Sabres.

Lightning 5, Maple Leafs 4 (OT)

TORONTO -- Vladislav Namestnikov scored in overtime to give Tampa Bay a comeback win over Toronto.

Nikita Kucherov, Anton Stralman, Mike Blunden and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for the Lightning. Tyler Bozak, James Van Riemsdyk, Morgan Rielly and Daniel Winnik scored for the Maple Leafs.

Jonathan Bernier made 22 saves for Toronto and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 for Tampa Bay.

Flames 2, Predators 1 (OT)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Kris Russell scored on a 2-on-1 in overtime, giving Calgary its sixth straight win with a decision over Nashville at Bridgestone Arena.

Karri Ramo stopped 21 shots to earn the win for the Flames, while Pekka Rinne came up with 19 saves for the Predators.

Cody Hodgson scored on a penalty shot to open the scoring for Nashville and T.J. Brodie scored for the Flames.

Wild 6, Canucks 2

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Thomas Vanek scored once and added three assists as Minnesota blasted past Vancouver.

Zach Parise, Jason Zucker, Mikko Koivu, Ryan Suter and Marco Scandella all added goals for the Wild, who took an early lead and didn't let up. They got 29 saves from Darcy Kuemper, who was making his fourth consecutive start.

Jannik Hansen and Daniel Sedin had the Vancouver goals. Henrik Sedin assisted on both.

Blues 4, Jets 3

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Paul Stastny scored the game-winning goal late in the third period to cap St. Louis' come-from-behind victory over Winnipeg at the MTS Centre.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Troy Brouwer and Alexander Steen also scored for the Blues.

Mark Scheifele, Chris Thorburn and Drew Stafford scored for the Jets.

**Udog** · 12-16-2015, 10:24 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Wednesday, December 16

Ottawa @ Washington

Game 51-52
December 16, 2015 @ 7:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Ottawa
12.993
Washington
11.804
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Ottawa
by 1
4
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Washington
No Line
N/A
Dunkel Pick:
Ottawa
N/A

Pittsburgh @ Boston

Game 53-54
December 16, 2015 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Pittsburgh
13.520
Boston
12.404
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Pittsburgh
by 1
6
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Boston
-150
5
Dunkel Pick:
Pittsburgh
(+130); Over

NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Wednesday, December 16

Hot teams
-- Washington won five of its last seven games.

Cold teams
-- Ottawa lost four of its last five road games.
-- Penguins lost six of their last eight games. Boston is 3-4 in its last seven games.

Series records
-- Senators won eight of their last ten games with Washington.
-- Bruins won eight of last ten games with Pittsburgh.

Totals
-- Seven of last nine Ottawa-Washington games stayed under.
-- Under is 5-1-2 in last eight Pittsburgh-Boston games.

Back-to-backs
-- None

NHL

Wednesday, December 16

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Trend Report
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7:00 PM
OTTAWA vs. WASHINGTON
Ottawa is 8-2 SU in its last 10 games when playing Washington
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Ottawa's last 8 games when playing on the road against Washington
Washington is 2-8 SU in its last 10 games when playing Ottawa
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing Ottawa

8:00 PM
PITTSBURGH vs. BOSTON
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Pittsburgh's last 13 games when playing Boston
Pittsburgh is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing Boston
Boston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Pittsburgh
Boston is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games

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**Udog** · 12-16-2015, 01:16 PM

NHL
Long Sheet

Wednesday, December 16

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OTTAWA (16-10-0-5, 37 pts.) at WASHINGTON (21-6-0-2, 44 pts.) - 12/16/2015, 7:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
WASHINGTON is 21-8 ATS (+30.2 Units) in all games this season.
WASHINGTON is 21-8 ATS (+10.1 Units) first half of the season this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
OTTAWA is 4-2 (+2.2 Units) against the spread versus WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
OTTAWA is 4-2-0 straight up against WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
4 of 6 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+1.7 Units)

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PITTSBURGH (15-11-0-3, 33 pts.) at BOSTON (16-9-0-4, 36 pts.) - 12/16/2015, 8:05 PM
Top Trends for this game.
PITTSBURGH is 59-57 ATS (-28.4 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
BOSTON is 158-139 ATS (+305.2 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the first half of the season since 1996.
BOSTON is 5-10 ATS (-9.5 Units) after 3 or more consecutive unders over the last 2 seasons.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 4-2 (+2.4 Units) against the spread versus PITTSBURGH over the last 3 seasons
BOSTON is 4-2-0 straight up against PITTSBURGH over the last 3 seasons
1 of 2 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=-0.3 Units, Under=-0.1 Units)

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NHL
Short Sheet

Wednesday, December 16

Ottawa at Washington, 7:05 PM ET
Ottawa: 11-2 SU when playing their 8th game in 14 days
Washington: 13-21 SU after allowing 2 goals or less in 2 straight games

Pittsburgh at Boston, 8:05 PM ET
Pittsburgh: 3-9 SU off a home loss against a division rival
Boston: 9-3 SU when playing their 3rd game in 5 days

Announcement

Wednesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 12/16

Wednesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 12/16

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