Devils, Lightning try to end March malaise

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03/22/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams struggling in March meet this evening at St. Pete Times Forum, as the Tampa Bay Lightning host the New Jersey Devils in a potential first-round playoff matchup.

The Devils are in first place in the Atlantic Division with 94 points and also hold the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings. However, New Jersey is just 3-4-2 this month and has allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins to claw within two points of its division lead.

New Jersey's latest setback came in a close game at Toronto on Tuesday, as Mats Sundin assisted on both goals to lift the Maple Leafs to a 2-1 victory at Air Canada Centre.

Travis Zajac scored for the Devils, while Martin Brodeur turned aside 23 shots in the loss.

Tuesday's game marked the opener of a five-game road trip for New Jersey, which enters the Florida portion of its swing with this evening's tilt and Saturday's test against the Panthers. The Devils are 21-12-3 as the road team this year and have taken eight of their last 10 games as the visitor.

The Lightning come into tonight with a 4-5-0 mark in March and are still fighting for a playoff berth in the East. Tampa has 84 points and is currently sixth in the conference, but the 11th-place New York Islanders are just five points in back of the Bolts.

Tampa Bay is coming off a win, however, as it defeated the visiting Isles, 4-3, on Tuesday thanks to Filip Kuba's goal just 55 seconds into overtime.

In the extra session, the Lightning's Eric Perrin received a pass at the left circle on the fly and let loose with a wrister that appeared to be going wide of the net. Kuba got his stick on the shot and re-directed the puck into the net to win the game.

Perrin and Jason Ward each finished with a goal and an assist while Vincent Lecavalier also notched a goal for the Lightning, who snapped a three-game slide.

Johan Holmqvist finished the game with 21 saves for Tampa Bay, which has won eight consecutive contests against the Islanders.

The Lightning are playing the second test of a five-game homestand tonight. They are 19-15-1 as the host club this year and have won seven of their last 10 tests at the Forum.

The Lightning have taken two of three meetings with New Jersey this year and tonight's contest marks the finale of the regular-season series. Tampa Bay is 9-3-2 (3 losses, 2 ties) in its last 14 encounters with the Devils.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

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The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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