Flames, Coyotes open home-and-home set in the desert

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02/22/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames will attempt to end a long winless drought on the road, while the Phoenix Coyotes hope for a victory of any kind, when the two teams get together tonight at Jobing.com Arena for the opener of a home-and-home series.

Calgary enters this matchup with a poor 7-15-7 road record on the season, and the club's season-long struggles as the visitor is the biggest reason for its current third-place standing in the competitive Northwest Division. The Flames have also lost six consecutive away games, the most recent being a 4-3 setback at Colorado on Tuesday.

Tony Amonte, Dion Phaneuf and Kristin Huselius all scored for Calgary, which has gone 0-3-3 over the course of this road slide. Miikka Kiprusoff rebounded from a rough first period, when the reigning Vezina Trophy winner gave up three goals, to finish with 28 saves.

Jarome Iginla assisted on Huselius' goal and has now notched a point in five consecutive contests. The Calgary captain has four goals and five assists over that stretch.

Tuesday's defeat was the sixth in the last eight overall games for the slumping Flames, who trail Northwest leader Vancouver by four points and second-place Minnesota by one.

Phoenix is presently mired in its first six-game losing streak since the 2002-03 campaign and was dealt a 4-1 loss by the Nashville Predators Monday in the Music City.

Curtis Joseph recorded 31 saves for the Coyotes, while Oleg Saprykin prevented a shutout when he scored with 2:46 remaining.

Phoenix, which hasn't lost seven in a row since March 13-26, 2000, will likely be without top defenseman Ed Jovanovski for tonight's contest because of a nagging abdominal injury. The All-Star blueliner is expected to visit a specialist in Philadelphia over the weekend in regards to the problem.

Calgary has won both of the two previous meetings between these teams this season, including a 6-3 decision in Glendale on December 16, and four straight in this series. The Flames have also come away victorious in five of their last six visits to Phoenix.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.