Maple Leafs/Blue Jackets tonight

Maple Leafs/Blue Jackets tonight Probably too late for anyone to react. I notice Cizzle is on the Jackets tonight and so am I. But Leafs are starting a goalie for the first time. It is always an interesting situation. BUT I'm going to cover myself now with a Leafs puck line bet. Just announced the Leafs will start Scrivens in goal. Nothing scares me more than a rookie goalie making his first start. Now I'm not sure if it is his first career start. They may have given him a few games last year I can't recall. He outplayed the backup Gustavsson during training camp but he's younger so they sent him down. Reimer the starter injured so Leafs going with backups. This is a change that I believe is a positive for the Leafs---not a negative. Gustavsson is generally aknowledged to be weak. He has a high GAA. Seems to be at least 3 by him every night. Look at their record! They're in a back to back beating NJ last night. They throw the kid to the dogs on the second night of back to back against that hungry Columbus team off to the horrible start. I'm already on the move on Columbus but the line has moved enough I'm willing to throw back on the Leafs at this price with the different goalie----especially when I think he is better than Gustavsson. We'll see how it does. Can the Jack(et) offs win one by a goal???

Good luck, Skeeter. Let's hope for: TOR (x-1) CBJ x

apparently toronto is for real this year??

It was Scrivens first career start. And it was the difference in the game. Mason was not up to par which has occurred many times over the past 2 seasons and they had to yank him. The Jackets had good chances early but never took the lead and Mason took care of the rest. Scrivens did make some good saves. From a betting perspective this line closes -135 on Columbus and opens around PK -106 on the Jackets. I jumped in at -110 at a real off number book but it was perhaps not a great play but with Gustavsson in net I liked it. But the change to Scrivens was everything and the sharp bettors just get hammered on this game. Not helping at all to rescue Columbus followers. It was already a reach. You're really betting a situation already. No way do have a power ratings edge on Columbus. Yes, Hardrock I can't say the Leafs are a top team but this was a helluva bargain on their price especially near game time IMO. They are one of the fastest teams in the league and Kessel is a top goal scorer. I also think the Leafs are the youngest team in the league. A very fleet mobile D. They're good. In a salary cap league they have six reasonable scoring forwards and several D who can play. No questions sharp bettors are betting Columbus here and they're betting them like crazy. If someone wants to tell me the "off screen" places had Leafs -120 I'd be interested to know to rescue me from this stuff. I'll be able to pull a few of my own saves in hockey and NFL, NBA but I won't save myself from all of them so some of you sharp bettors better start getting this stuff right or I won't be out here anymore. Plain and simple.

well, this is my first year to wager hockey, and it's been a losing prop thus far. I heard Toronto coach is bad, from a ex player at a local sports bar. I do appreciate your input, maybe I will look to bet on Toronto, as obviously they are exceeding any power ratings from the start of the year. On aside, it seems like if you bet every dog this year, you'd be up quite a bit. I guess it's probably too late now, as the variance will correct, soon.. Edit: I was with the masses who didn't buy into the new kid in net. It looked like Toronto jumped out to an early & big lead, so not too sure how you attribute that to the goal keeper??

Or even if the O was motivated because it was a rook in net. Ron Wilson was the head coach here in San Jose before he was fired and subsequently went to Toronto. He was often criticized for poor coaching when he was here, but I'm not going to pretend to understand why. If anything, being so close to it keeps me from being objective. What sports team's fan base doesn't criticize the coach if the team doesn't meet expectations. (And yes, you get enough division titles and your fans expect a Cup.)

good post Joel. So give me a non objective 1-10 rating from a bettors point of view...hey, we know the puckers cause from poor coaching better than ESPN lol. And the short answer to your rhetorical question: Houston!! they're soft here...hey, Gary Kubiak, I'd give him the keys to my house...same with the little texans QB. Ironically that seems to be enough to keep them here, because in the scope of expections, they both should be gone by now....yet the fans here still pour into the Tattoo parlors for little texans tattoos....and Astros Tattoos, same deal there, really...granted they don't come out as much, but in a lot of markets there'd of been a lynching by now!!

[Edit: I was with the masses who didn't buy into the new kid in net. It looked like Toronto jumped out to an early & big lead, so not too sure how you attribute that to the goal keeper?? Hardrock, The Jackets pulled Mason in the 2nd period and replaced him. He gave up a couple of soft goals. Scrivens was solid for Toronto stopping well over 30 shots. Arniel the Columbus coach in the post game said something to the effect "Their guy was good and our guy wasn't". Columbus should have scored early in the game they had good chances and Scrivens was up to the task. If Columbus had scored early, it might have been a different game. Scrivens was given the first star of the game and I'm really not sure who else could have even been up for consideration other than him. Columbus outshot the Leafs 38-18. That doesn't do justice to the Leafs as once they were up 4-0 they cruised. They scored 4 goals on 11 shots and at least 2 goals should have been stopped. That was the whole game. The Leafs didn't need any offense. Once Mason was pulled they took 7 shots on net for the second half of the game. That is the explanation for how the goaltending made the difference in the game and it was a clear cut example of it. All I will say is that the guy who lived across the street from me when I was a kid and always liked playing goalie could have played goalie for the Leafs and they would have won tonight so I'll agree Scrivens wasn't totally the difference. Mason was. The Leafs seriously I'm sure they would have won the game with Gustavsson but Scrivens was good. Joel, Wilson is on the heat seat in Toronto as well. Leafs must be a playoff team this year or he's done. He's underachieved. The Leafs have had PK problems especially maybe even PP problems since he's been there and have had poor GAA. That was a surprise since it is one of the reasons they hired him because in SJ you guys had good GAA. But it hasn't shown up in Toronto yet. The Leafs have gotten poor goaltending in his tenure for the most part but have improved with Reimer. Gustavsson was supposed to be good but isn't so far. Scrivens outplayed both at Leafs training camp but they sent him down anyway. He's a long time coach though with SJ and he definitely had success there. He also coached Washington and I think they made a Stanley Cup final with him. SJ has had some top teams and never made it over the hump so they booted him. I'll throw another reason out there why Leafs might be good is an early season trade they did for David Steckel who has played well for them. He is a face off specialist and wins well over half his draws especially in the defensive zone. He seems to own it. This is very big on the PK and in late game situations to be able to send a guy out there to win these draws. I don't know why Washington and New Jersey didn't find him useful in the last year because he's played for both those teams so there might be something I'm missing but this is a guy who can help you it seems as one of your last 5 forwards.

Skeeter, thanks for the info. I've noticed the repeating irony when on the right side of a game, it often isn't why you thought it was right, it just tends to work out. And as devinci said: "All things are interconnected", so, I can buy that. Maybe the kid will get more time there, and will get even better. Congrats on the nice dog winner!! I should run my hockey plays through you if I do decide to make a play again. I just can't seem to get with the sport, in general, as obviously you are into it!! That's great, man. I have some crazy metaphor in my head that my ignorance of Hockey could actually work in my favor as to not over-think things. Well, there's no real metaphor there, but I'm sure I could come up with one if I sat here long enough. I should probably figure out what those four columns of numbers are for in the place where a team's record normally is found LOL.