Canadiens head to Columbus seeking end to downward spiral

Hockey Betting Lines

02/18/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens take to the road in hopes of ending their recent tailspin, as the free-falling club visits Columbus' Nationwide Arena tonight for a rare matchup with the Blue Jackets.

Montreal is currently mired in a season-high six-game losing streak, a slide which has seen the Habs drop from fourth place in the Eastern Conference into a tie with the New York Islanders for ninth. The Canadiens now sit on the outside looking in of the playoff picture, two points behind rival Toronto for the final postseason spot in the East.

The team's struggles continued on Saturday, when Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour scored two goals, including the 400th of his career, to propel the Hurricanes to a 5-3 victory at the Bell Centre.

Montreal fell despite producing a 45-31 advantage in shots, as Carolina goaltender Cam Ward outdueled David Aebischer with an impressive 42-save performance.

Sheldon Souray, Radek Bonk and Tomas Plekanec all scored for the Canadiens, who have been outscored 22-10 during the streak.

Aebischer was filling in for injured All-Star Cristobal Huet, who needs surgery to repair a hamstring tear suffered in Montreal's 5-2 loss at New Jersey on Wednesday. The Habs recalled rookie Jaroslav Halak from the minors Friday as a result of Huet's injury, and the 21-year-old is expected to make his NHL debut tonight.

Columbus will be playing the last of a franchise-record six consecutive home games and would like to draw even for the lengthy stand. After dropping three of the first four contests of the residency, the Blue Jackets downed San Jose on Friday behind a stellar performance from goaltender Fredrik Norrena.

The Finnish rookie earned his third career shutout by turning back all 29 shots he faced as Columbus came through with a 3-0 triumph over the Sharks. Norrena got plenty of offensive support from Fredrik Modin, Gilbert Brule and Sergei Fedorov, all of whom recorded a goal and an assist on the evening.

The Blue Jackets are 14-13-3 at Nationwide Arena for the campaign, but have posted an 11-6-1 home mark since Ken Hitchcock took over as head coach in late November.

Tonight's clash marks 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 time previously, back on October 12, 2001. The Habs came away with a 3-1 decision.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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