Red Wings aim to set new NHL home mark vs. Stars

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02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings will try to set a new NHL record for the longest home winning streak in league history when they host the Dallas Stars tonight at Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit matched a league standard with its 20th consecutive home win Sunday night against Philadelphia. The 4-3 regulation decision moved the Red Wings into a tie with the 1975-76 Flyers and 1929-30 Boston Bruins for the longest- ever home winning streaks and the Red Wings hope to have the record all to themselves after tonight.

The Red Wings haven't lost in the Motor City since a 4-1 setback against Calgary on Nov. 3 and Detroit is boasting a stellar 23-2-1 record at the Joe this season. The strong home play has helped offset a 15-15-1 road mark and is also a big reason Detroit is leading the Central Division, Western Conference and NHL with 78 points.

Detroit will also be trying to sweep the season series against the Stars after going 3-0 against Dallas so far in 2011-12. The Stars have won four of their last six games in Motown, but the Wings notched a 5-2 victory when the teams last met at the Joe on Nov. 12.

Johan Franzen scored 52 seconds into the third period on Sunday to break a 3-3 tie against the Flyers and the Red Wings were able to hold on for the win. Niklas Kronwall, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings, who are 3-0 at the start of a six-game homestand.

"It's been something special. Looking back, we've had some great teams over the last 20 years, but none that have been close to this record," said captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who played his 1,550th game -- all with Detroit. "So we should take a lot of pride in it."

Joey MacDonald had 26 saves in the latest victory, including 10 in the third period to keep the Flyers off the board. With regular No. 1 netminder Jimmy Howard sidelined with a broken finger, MacDonald has started the last four games for Detroit.

Howard suffered his finger injury on Feb. 2 and was originally expected to miss four-to-six weeks of action. That timeline has since changed dramatically and Howard could return to the crease as early as Friday's home test against Nashville.

In other injury news for Detroit, forward Danny Cleary is expected to miss a third straight game tonight with a lower-body issue.

The Stars are fighting desperately to stay afloat in the Western Conference playoff race, but losses in two straight and three of their last four games have not helped that cause. Dallas enters tonight as the 11th seed in the West and is four points behind the conference's final postseason berth.

After getting dealt a shootout loss Friday in Buffalo, the Stars returned to Texas and were handed Sunday's regulation loss by the Los Angeles Kings. LA scored the game's first two goals, but Dallas rallied to tie it at 2-2 by the early stages of the third period. The Kings, however, used the first goal of Jordan Nolan's NHL career and an empty-netter from Justin Williams to secure the win.

Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder scored for the Stars, while Kari Lehtonen allowed three goals on just 15 shots in defeat.

"We didn't start well, that's for sure," Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We gave them a goal early and had to press from behind. We obviously weren't ready to play in the beginning."

Dallas is 13-13-1 as the road team this year and has lost four of its last six away from the Lone Star State.

Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray has missed the last two games with a foot injury and he is questionable for tonight. Dallas captain Brenden Morrow (neck/back) is still on injured reserve and sidelined indefinitely.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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