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**Udog** · 05-22-2018, 09:46 AM

Armadillo: Tuesday's six-pack

Odds to win the CFL’s Grey Cup this coming season:

2-1: Calgary Stampeders

5-1: Hamilton Tiger-Cats

6-1: Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Toronto

7-1: Edmonton Eskimos

12-1: BC Lions, Ottawa RedBlacks

18-1: Montreal Alouettes

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Armadillo: Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but…….

13) Major League Baseball has something they need to clean up, for their own good, if they want to promote their product. I’m thinking it would be a pretty simple fix.

There was one 10pm Eastern time game Monday night; Rockies-Dodgers, but the game wasn’t shown in the Westgate SuperBook because Dodger games are blacked out in Las Vegas. Why?

12) LA and Las Vegas are 265 miles apart, a 4-hour drive; why in God’s name would Dodger games be blacked out here?

There were over 100 people in the SuperBook when the NBA game ended Monday; lot of them would’ve stuck around and watched the ballgame, and thats good for the sport, but they all either went home or played blackjack or whatever.

They’re playing ballgames in Japan and England next year, to “grow the game”. How about showing the Dodgers in Las Vegas? That would grow the game, too.

11) Was playing video poker Monday and was talking to a guy who is a Chicago cop; good guy. He told me the Westgate comps him his room because he plays video poker for ten hours at a time. Ten hours!!!! I wouldn’t be able to see the screen after half that long.

10) SuperBook had ESPN’s volume on Monday night; the 90 minutes before the Celtics-Cavs game was a seemingly eternal pre-game show. I mean, a 2-hour game doesn’t need a 90-minute pregame show, where very little, if anything new is ever said.

Best of the on-air personalities is Jalen Rose, who actually says stuff you can learn from, or will at least make you think. He claimed Monday night that Kyrie Irving won’t be happy if Boston wins the NBA title with him sitting out, since it would increase the chances that he would have to move elsewhere when his contract comes up.

Interesting theory; not sure if it is true, but it something to consider going forward.

9) 19-year old Juan Soto hit his first major league homer for the Nationals Monday night; he started this season in A ball, got only 35 plate appearances in AA before getting the call to the major leagues.

If Soto does real well in Washington, it’ll put pressure on Toronto’s brass to promote their #1 prospect, 19-year old Vladimir Guerrero Jr, who is batting .421 in the AA Eastern League. Thats .421 in 39 games, roughly 25% of a season.

8) Orioles 3, White Sox 2— Chicago had guys on 1st and 3rd, two out and Jose Abreu up in the 9th inning; he was quickly walked intentionally, which isn’t a surprise. Abreu is the White Sox’ best hitter, and Buck Showalter doesn’t let the other team’s best hitter beat him, if he can help it.

When he was managing Arizona, Showalter once walked Barry Bonds intentionally in the ninth inning, with the bases loaded and the Diamondbacks nursing a 2-run lead. He walked a guy with bases loaded!!! Next guy lined out to right to end the game, by the way.

7) Nationals 10, Padres 2— Padres’ 22-year old prospect Franmil Reyes hit his first big league homer Monday night in Washington; he is 3 for 20 in his first seven MLB games. He had 14 HR’s in 130 AB’s in AAA ball this season, before he was called up.

Reyes is listed at 6-5, 275; he looks bigger than that; his future may be as a DH. He didn’t look so good playing right field Monday.

6) Washington 3, Tampa Bay 0— Golden Knight fans were delighted when Washington won and forced a Game 7, while the Las Vegas team rests its tired legs.

5) Cavaliers 111, Celtics 102— This was by far the best game of this round of the playoffs, and it wasn’t that good. Home teams are 6-1 SU/ATS in the conference finals so far.

4) Phillies 3, Braves 0— Atlanta got shut out only once in its first 42 games; they’ve been blanked twice in their last four games.

3) 53% of NBA players have played in the G-League, which surprised me.

2) New Jersey Giants’ coach Pat Shurmur threw out the first pitch at a Mets’ game this weekend, after they were turned down by #1 draft pick Saquon Barkley, who was born in the Bronx and has different baseball allegiances.

1) Something I’m curious about but will probably never know: when good players leave the Patriots and go play somewhere else, are they happier away from Foxboro?

I’m not inferring they are or aren’t, other than I’ve read some stuff lately that suggests that maybe some guys are. Brady/Gronkowski aren’t at OTA’s this week; thats not a good sign.

**Udog** · 05-22-2018, 07:58 PM

NHL Eastern Confernce Finals Game 7 betting preview and odds: Capitals at Lightning

Washington Capitals at Tampa Bay Lightning (-145, 5.5)

Series tied 3-3.

The Washington Capitals look to put past playoff failures in the rear-view mirror when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night for a deciding Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Capitals, who sit one win away from their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals since 1998 after a 3-0 victory Monday, have a 4-11 record overall and a 1-3 mark on the road all-time in Game 7s while the Lightning are 5-2 (3-0 at home) in deciding contests.

“I don’t think there’s (another) team I’ve ever had that I’d want to go into Game 7 with,” Washington’s Barry Trotz, who has coached 107 playoff contests in his career and 1,524 in the regular season, told reporters. “This team has done a lot of special things this year. It’s grown. It continues to do that. What an opportunity. … We’ll see if we can earn the right to keep playing.” While Washington’s superstar Alex Ovechkin looks to take his team to the Cup finals for the first time in his tenure, fellow captain Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay (four goals in the series) hopes to make it for the second time in four seasons with Vegas awaiting the winner for Game 1 on Monday. The Lightning will have raise their level of play after being outshot by an average of more that 10 per game in the series and take pressure off goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has turned aside 131 of 139 attempts while winning three of the last four contests. “We wish we would have wrapped it up (Monday),” Tampa Bay right wing Ryan Callahan told reporters. “At the end of the day, Game 7s are fun. You enjoy it. This is why you battle for home-ice advantage throughout the regular season.”

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, Sportsnet One, TVA

LINE HISTORY: The Lightning opened as -150 moneyline favorites and as of Tuesday night that number is down to -145. The total hit betting boards at 5.5 and has yet to move.

CONSENSUS: Bettors are taking the home favorites with 60 percent of wagers coming on the Lightning. Users are also expecting a high scoring Game 7 with 55 percent of totals selections coming on the Over.

GOALIE SHOWDOWN:
W L OTL GAA Save % SO
Braden Holtby 34 16 4 2.99 .907 0
Andrei Vasilevskiy 44 17 3 2.62 .920 8

INJURY REPORT:

Capitals - No injuries to report.

Lightning - LW Adam Erne (Questionable, Lower Body).

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (28-17-4-1, 28-20 O/U): Washington outhit the Lightning 39-19, many of those leading to its 17 takeaways in Game 6, and defenseman Brooks Orpik told reporters: “You try to empty the tank as much as you can. That’s probably one area where we have an edge is the size and physical play.” Right wing T.J. Oshie scored two of the three goals Monday and has seven points in the series while Nicklas Backstrom set up a pair of tallies for his first points in three games since returning from a hand injury. Center Evgeny Kuznetsov had an assist Monday to extend his point streak to nine games and has 23 overall - a franchise playoff record.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (35-13-2-0, 29-19 O/U): Tampa Bay has been outshot 209-145 in the series, managing only 24 in Game 6, and have not scored a goal since 33 seconds into the second period of Game 5 on Saturday night. “We’ve got to execute, that’s part of it,” coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “People say executing is passing the puck and putting it on the tape. Executing is getting pucks on net, putting them where you can get it back. We just haven’t been near aggressive enough at that.” Right wing Nikita Kucherov, who leads the team with 17 points in the playoffs, and Stamkos each managed one shot on net in Game 6 while combining for a minus-3 rating.

MATCHUP CHART:

TRENDS:

* Capitals are 14-3 in their last 17 road games.
* Lightning are 37-15 in their last 52 home games.
* Under is 2-0-2 in Capitals last 4 overall.
* Under is 4-0-3 in Lightning last 7 following a loss of 3 or more goals.
* Under is 2-0-2 in the last 4 meetings.

**Udog** · 05-22-2018, 08:02 PM

NHL
Dunkel

Wednesday, May 23

Washington @ Tampa Bay

Game 53-54
May 23, 2018 @ 8:05 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Washington
13.064
Tampa Bay
12.103
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Washington
by 1
5
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Tampa Bay
-150
5 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Washington
(+130); Under

NHL
Long Sheet

Wednesday, May 23

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WASHINGTON (60-31-0-9, 129 pts.) at TAMPA BAY (65-28-0-5, 135 pts.) - 5/23/2018, 8:05 PM
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.

Head-to-Head Series History
WASHINGTON is 9-6 (+4.0 Units) against the spread versus TAMPA BAY over the last 3 seasons
WASHINGTON is 9-6-0 straight up against TAMPA BAY over the last 3 seasons
5 of 11 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=-0.9 Units, Under=-0.2 Units)

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NHL

Wednesday, May 23

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Trend Report
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Washington Capitals
Washington is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games
Washington is 11-5 SU in its last 16 games
Washington is 12-1 ATS in its last 13 games on the road
Washington is 12-2 SU in its last 14 games on the road
Washington is 11-4 ATS in its last 15 games when playing Tampa Bay
Washington is 16-8 SU in its last 24 games when playing Tampa Bay
Washington is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Washington's last 17 games when playing on the road against Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games
Tampa Bay is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games
Tampa Bay is 4-11 ATS in its last 15 games when playing Washington
Tampa Bay is 8-16 SU in its last 24 games when playing Washington
Tampa Bay is 0-5 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Washington
The total has gone OVER in 12 of Tampa Bay's last 17 games when playing at home against Washington

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Tuesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/22

Tuesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/22

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