Announcement

**Udog** · 05-04-2017, 08:18 AM

Armadillo:Thursday's six-pack

Odds to win the SEC football title this coming fall:
2-3: Alabama
7-2: LSU
5-1: Auburn, Georgia
9-1: Florida
11-1: Tennessee
18-1: Texas A&M
40-1: Arkansas
45-1: Mississippi State, Missouri
50-1: Kentucky, South Carolina
100-1: Vanderbilt
Ole Miss is ineligible this season

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Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud……..

13) Why bad teams are always bad: Isaiah Thomas was the 60th (and last) pick of the 2011 NBA Draft, a brilliant move by the Sacramento Kings, who aren’t known for brilliance.

Here are the four players picked right ahead of Thomas in the draft:
56. Chukwudiebere Maduabum
57. Tanguy Ngombo
58. Ater Majok
59. Ádám Hanga

Brilliant draft pick by the Kings, but………

12) Three years later, Sacramento traded Thomas, who had just scored 20.3 pts/game during the 2013-14 season, to Phoenix, for Alex Oriakhi and a trade exception. Mr Oraikhi has yet to play in the NBA. Thomas just scored 53 points in a playoff game. Oy.

11) Brilliant move by Phoenix, but seven months later, the Suns did a 3-way deal with the Celtics and Detroit. Here is what each team got:

Boston: Isaiah Thomas, Jonas Jerebko, Gigi Datome
Detroit: Tayshaun Prince (he was 34 at the time)

Phoenix: Marcus Thornton, a 1st round draft pick

Boston GM Danny Ainge should’ve gone to confession after this theft.

10) Atlanta Hawks have been in the NBA playoffs 10 years in a row, but they fired their GM this week, supposedly because he wanted to rebuild the roster, while the owner and coach want to keep on their current course and hope they do better in the playoffs.

9) The offensive and defensive coordinators at Alabama make $1.3M and $1.2M a year; thats $2.5M a year for two ASSISTANT coaches- the strength coach makes $560,000 a year.

8) Being a major league manager can’t be as much fun these days; teams carry so many pitchers, they only have 3-4 bench players per game and one of those is a backup catcher who rarely is used. When Jose Reyes was doubled off second early in the Mets’ game Wednesday nite, in a blatant show of nonchalance/apathy, when he should have been yanked from the game, he couldn’t be, because it would make New York’s bench shorthanded the rest of the nite.

Reyes WALKED BACK TO SECOND BASE after a fly ball to right; the throw came in, and the Braves’ SS tagged him out from behind. Reyes might as well as turned and given Terry Collins the finger, thats how terrible a play it was. But he stayed in the game.

Reyes later knocked in five runs in the Mets’ 16-5 win; good for him, but he makes $22M a year- the least he could freaking do is pay attention.

7) How is Bill Belichick not the highest paid coach in the NFL? Pete Carroll/Sean Payton are, at $8M a year.

6) Only 7 of the world’s top 30 golfers are in North Carolina for the Wells Fargo event this week; the tournament is being played at a different course than usual, one more like Augusta National.

5) More tension in Boston last nite; Orioles’ starting pitcher Kevin Gausman was tossed in the second inning for hitting Xander Bogaerts- there had been a conference call before the game with the teams and MLB brass, to lay the law down on ending the BS of the last week, but Gausman hit Bogaerts with a curveball, so no way was it intentional.

In the 5th inning, Adam Jones got tossed for arguing balls/strikes. It is fair to say the Orioles aren’t enjoying their stay in Boston this week.

4) College basketball transfers:
— Carlton Bragg goes from Kansas to Arizona State
— Peter Kiss goes from Quinnipiac to Rutgers
— Jazz Johnson goes from Portland to Nevada.

Of the 12 players on Nevada’s roster today, nine of them are transfers.

3) Denver Broncos signed RB Jamaal Charles to a one-year deal, which will make their two games against their division rival Chiefs a little more interesting.

2) Another rough day for star pitchers: Cole Hamels and Cory Kluber are now on the shelf, Hamels for 2-3 months.

1— Colorado Rockies’ TV guys were talking about the movie Top Gun last nite; lot of it was filmed in the San Diego area and the Rockies are playing the Padres in Petco this week. Hard to believe the movie came out in 1986.

Top Gun cost $15M to make; in 31 years since, the movie has made over $350M worldwide.

**Udog** · 05-04-2017, 08:31 AM

NHL
Long Sheet

Thursday, May 4

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OTTAWA (50-31-0-10, 110 pts.) at NY RANGERS (53-31-0-7, 113 pts.) - 5/4/2017, 7:30 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
OTTAWA is 6-6 (+0.7 Units) against the spread versus NY RANGERS over the last 3 seasons
NY RANGERS is 6-6-0 straight up against OTTAWA over the last 3 seasons
7 of 10 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+3.6 Units)

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NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Thursday, May 4

Home side won seven of last eight Ottawa-Ranger games, all three in this series; Ottawa is 5-2 in its last seven games with the Rangers- they’re 2-3 in last five games in MSG. Under is 7-2-1 in last ten series games, 7-3-2 in Rangers’ last 12 games. Senators won six of last eight games overall; four of their last six wins came in OT. Ottawa was held to 2 or fewer goals in nine of their last 10 losses- they won last six times they scored 3+ goals. Rangers held 7 of last 10 foes under three goals. New York won four of its last five home games. Both teams are 1-11 on power play in series.

Second round NHL series

NY Rangers (-$150) vs Ottawa (+$130)
Ottawa 2-1
Ottawa 6-5 OT
NY 4-1

Pittsburgh (+$110) vs Washington (-$130)
Penguins 3-2
Penguins 6-2
Wash 3-2 OT
Penguins 3-2

St Louis (+$110) vs Nashville (-$130)
Nashville 4-3
St Louis 2-1
Nashville 3-1
Nashville 2-1

Anaheim (-$135) vs Edmonton (+$115)
Edmonton 5-3
Edmonton 3-2
Anaheim 6-3
Anaheim 4-3 OT

Home: 6-9 (26-31)
Over: 6-8-1 (19-29-9)

NHL

Thursday, May 4

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Trend Report
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7:30 PM
OTTAWA vs. NY RANGERS
Ottawa is 2-4 SU in their last 6 games when playing on the road against NY Rangers
Ottawa is 17-8 SU in their last 25 games when playing on the road against NY Rangers
NY Rangers are 8-17 SU in their last 25 games when playing at home against Ottawa
NY Rangers are 4-2 SU in their last 6 games when playing at home against Ottawa

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**Udog** · 05-04-2017, 08:33 AM

Thursday’s Stanley Cup Playoffs betting preview: Senators at Rangers

The Rangers rebounded from a pair of losses in Ottawa with a 4-1 victory in Game 3 - seizing control by scoring the first four goals.

Ottawa Senators at New York Rangers (-170, 5)

Sens lead series 2-0

The New York Rangers were a pedestrian team on home ice for much of the regular season but they have reversed their fortunes in the playoffs. New York will look to build upon its most lopsided victory of the postseason and even the Eastern Conference semifinal series when it hosts the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night in Game 4.

The league's best road team during the regular season, the Rangers rebounded from a pair of losses in Ottawa with a 4-1 victory in Game 3 - seizing control by scoring the first four goals. "We were behind on our thinking, behind on our execution, behind on our physicality," Ottawa coach Guy Boucher told reporters of New York's domination. "We got a slap in the face and we've got to get up." The Senators had played eight straight one-goal decisions to open the postseason and erased a two-goal deficit on three occasions before prevailing in double overtime in Game 2, making Tuesday's matchup a must-win for New York. “It says that we can erase an emotional loss,” Rangers forward Rick Nash told reporters. “We’re still down, so the next game is that much of a bigger deal.”

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, TVAS

LINE HISTORY: The Rangers opened as big -175 home favorites for Game 3 and that moneyline came down slightly to -170. The total hit the board at 5 and will likely remain on that number.

INJURY REPORT:

Senators - RW B. Ryan (Probable, leg), C Z. Smith (Doubful, upper body), D M. Borowiecki (Out Indefinitely, leg).

Rangers - No injuries to report.

ABOUT THE SENATORS (50-30-7-4, 35-50 O/U): Ottawa has some injury concerns as forwards Bobby Ryan and Zack Smith each were knocked out of Game 3, although Boucher said Ryan is likely to play Thursday while Smith's status will be determined at the morning skate. If Smith is unable to go, he will be replaced by forward Tom Pyatt, who has been sidelined since he was hurt in Game 4 of the first-round series against Boston and was called "one of our most trusted guys" by Boucher. Netminder Craig Anderson has permitted nine goals in the past two games and committed another puck-handling gaffe that led to a gimme tally in Game 3.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (53-30-4-4, 42-41 O/U): Mats Zuccarello, the leading scorer during the regular season, had a goal and an assist Tuesday to give him five points in his last four games. Mika Zibanejad, acquired from Ottawa in the offseason in exchange for Derick Brassard, also is raising his level of play with six points over the past five games to take over the team lead with seven in the postseason. “The first few games in the Montreal series, I wasn’t too happy with it, but I knew what I had to do,” Zibanejad told reporters. "When I try to play on my instincts more than trying to think out there, it works better for me."

TRENDS:

* Senators are 6-1 in their last 7 games playing on 1 days rest.
* Rangers are 5-1 in their last 6 home games.
* Over is 2-0-2 in Senators last 4 after scoring 2 goals or less in their previous game.
* Under is 8-2-2 in Rangers last 12 overall.
* Home team is 5-0 in the last 5 meetings.

**Udog** · 05-04-2017, 09:58 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Thursday, May 4

Ottawa @ NY Rangers

Game 1-2
May 4, 2017 @ 7:30 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Ottawa
11.081
NY Rangers
12.884
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
NY Rangers
by 2
4
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
NY Rangers
-170
5
Dunkel Pick:
NY Rangers
(-170); Under

NHL
Short Sheet

Thursday, May 4

Eastern Conference Semifinals – Best of 7 – Game 4 – OTT Leads 2-1

Ottawa at NY Rangers, 7:00 PM ET
Ottawa: 6-2 in road games after a blowout loss by 3 goals or more
NY Rangers: 37-45 in home games after scoring 4 goals or more in BB games

Announcement

Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/4

Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/4

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