Pavelski picks up 4 points as Sharks top Caps

Hockey Betting Lines

02/13/2012 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Pavelski totaled four points on two goals and two assists as San Jose dealt Washington a 5-3 defeat at Verizon Center.

Patrick Marleau contributed a pair of goals and Brent Burns also scored for the Sharks, who rebounded from a 3-0 loss in St. Louis on Sunday.

Joe Thornton added three helpers and Thomas Greiss stopped 39-of-42 shots for his third win in four starts.

Roman Hamrlik, Jeff Schultz and Dmitry Orlov tallied for the Capitals, losers of three straight and eight of 11.

Braden Holtby was shelled for all five scores on 35 shots in defeat. The 22- year-old was called up from Hershey of the AHL prior to the game because Tomas Vokoun was sidelined with the flu.

The visitors turned a two-goal edge into a four-goal margin on scores almost 2 1/2 minutes apart early in the third.

Burns made it 4-1 at 4:36 on his floater from the right point, and Marleau struck once more on the advantage at 7:03 by finishing off a passing play in tight between Ryane Clowe and Thornton.

Washington kept up the pressure, as Hamrlik cut the deficit to 5-2 just after the midway point on a backhander from the right circle and Schultz snuck a shot from the left point home with 5:51 to play.

Holtby was kept on the bench in the final minute but the Caps couldn't produce more offense.

San Jose jumped out to the lead thanks to Pavelski, whose accidental deflection of a Dan Boyle drive from center ice eluded Holtby with 7:48 left in the first period.

Pavelski doubled the Sharks' edge on a power play roughly 3 1/2 minutes into the second, lifting the rebound of a Logan Couture chance under the crossbar from in front.

Marleau pumped in a man advantage score inside of four minutes left for a 3-0 game, but the Caps got on the board just before the buzzer as Orlov's blast trickled between Greiss' arm and body.

Game Notes

San Jose has won four in a row and 16 of the last 17 meetings with Washington...Couture added two assists for the Sharks...Caps star forward and captain Alex Ovechkin was held without a point on six shots in almost 27 minutes of ice time...Prior to the game, the Capitals also recalled forward Joel Rechlicz from Hershey.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

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