Coyotes visit Dallas with shot at ninth straight win

Hockey Betting Lines

03/21/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will try to match another franchise record tonight and also take a shot at first place in the Pacific Division when they visit the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.

The Coyotes have already set a club mark for wins in a season with 45 and enter tonight with an eight-game winning streak -- one victory shy of the franchise record set by the Winnipeg Jets from March 8-27, 1985.

More importantly, Phoenix, which hasn't made the playoffs since the spring of 2002, has a chance to take over first place in the Pacific from San Jose. The Sharks are one point ahead of the Coyotes and are playing in Edmonton tonight.

The Coyotes have won their last two games in the shootout phase and earned a 5-4 victory over visiting Chicago on Saturday. Radim Vrbata scored the lone goal of the shootout to lift Phoenix to its fourth straight home win

In the third round of the shootout, Vrbata lifted a backhand into the top of the net, and Ilya Bryzgalov sealed the win when he stopped Patrick Sharp's stuff attempt.

Lee Stempniak had two goals, while Adrian Aucoin and Wojtek Wolski each had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes. Bryzgalov made 34 saves in the win.

"I thought it was a very entertaining hockey game," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said. "We found a little bit of a second wind in the third period."

Stempniak is riding a nine-game point streak and he has nine goals and two assists in eight games since coming over from Toronto in a trade on March 3. He has 23 goals and 41 points overall this season.

Phoenix has a solid 19-12-3 record as the guest this year and is beginning a three-game road trip this evening.

Meanwhile, Dallas enters Sunday with fading playoff chances and is closing out a six-game homestand tonight. The Stars are eight points behind Detroit for the eighth and final playoff seed in the West.

Dallas has won two of its last three, but Saturday's win over Ottawa was just the third victory in the last 10 games for the Stars. Trevor Daley notched the game-winner early in the third period as Dallas overcame a three-goal effort by Jason Spezza to clip the Senators, 5-4.

Brad Richards tallied twice with Mike Ribeiro and Jamie Benn striking once each for the Stars. Kari Lehtonen picked up his second win with Dallas after a 25-save performance.

"We were very resilient," Stars head coach Marc Crawford said. "This time of the year that's a great quality to have. We didn't play our best game that we've played probably over the last homestand, and we had to be resilient enough and determined enough and we were good when we had to be."

The Stars, who will begin a four-game road trip Tuesday in Nashville, are 20-10-6 as the host this season.

Tonight marks the final meeting of the season between the Stars and Coyotes. Phoenix has taken three of five from Dallas this year, but the Stars have posted wins in the last two encounters. The Coyotes have seven victories in the last 10 overall matchups and have also won five of their last seven in Big D.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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