Halak, Canadiens edge Blue Jackets

Hockey Betting Lines

02/19/2007 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves in his NHL debut to guide the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

Saku Koivu, Michael Ryder and Francis Bouillon all scored for the Canadiens, who snapped a six-game losing streak. Koivu and Ryder also added primary assists in the win.

Halak was called into action after Cristobal Huet suffered a hamstring tear in Montreal's 5-2 loss at New Jersey on Wednesday. Huet was expected to undergo surgery on Sunday, and will be out indefinitely.

Nikolai Zherdev and Gilbert Brule both had goals in the third period for Columbus, which has dropped six of its last eight contests. Pascal Leclaire made 25 stops in a losing effort.

Montreal erupted for three goals in the second period to assume control.

The first goal of the game came 18 seconds into the stanza, as Ryder took a feed from Koivu along the left side of the net and snuck a shot past Leclaire for the power-play marker.

The Canadiens broke out on an odd-man rush moments later, with Ryder barreling into the zone before deeking past the lone defender. With the attention squarely on him, Ryder dished the puck to Koivu, who tucked the puck home from the doorstep.

Bouillon's wrister from the point with 11:23 left in the second made it through traffic and into the back of the net to make it a three-goal game.

Zherdev got his club on the board 8:05 into the third, and Brule beat Halak with a wrist shot from the left circle just over three minutes later to make it 3-2.

The Blue Jackets applied heavy pressure in the closing seconds with their goalie pulled, but came away empty.

Game Notes

Columbus went 2-4 on its franchise-long six-game homestand. The Blue Jackets are 14-14-3 at Nationwide Arena for the campaign...This clash marked the first encounter between these teams since they fought to a 1-1 tie in Montreal on November 11, 2003. The Canadiens have only visited Columbus one other time previously, back on October 12, 2001. The Habs came away with a 3-1 decision.

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Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

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SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.

“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”

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