Toronto knocks off dreadful Philly

Hockey Betting Lines

02/25/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff O'Neill and Alex Steen both had a goal and an assist, as the Toronto Maple Leafs got back on the winning track with a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wachovia Center.

Chad Kilger, Mats Sundin and John Pohl also scored for the Maple Leafs, who had dropped two straight and five of their last seven games (2-2-3) entering the contest.

Bryan McCabe notched three assists for Toronto, which was coming off a close loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday. Thursday's test kicked off a three-game road trip for the Maple Leafs, who are 18-10-4 as the visitor this season. Andrew Raycroft blocked 22 shots in the win.

Sami Kapanen and Simon Gagne scored for the Flyers, who have dropped four straight contests. Michael Leighton stopped 25 shots for the Flyers, who have been dreadful at home this season, going just 5-18-7 in the City of Brotherly Love.

Steen got Toronto going in the first when he took a feed from O'Neill across the slot and wristed the puck to the stick side 11:16 into the period.

Steen next took a wrister from the left circle and handcuffed the goaltender, allowing O'Neill to fire a wrister on an empty net from 10 feet out 12:57 into the second.

At the 18-minute mark of the second, Kilger took a breakaway pass from Tomas Kaberle. He faked like he was going to go backhand, and powered the puck past the netminder for a 3-0 Toronto lead.

Kapanen got Philly on the board 46 seconds later. He kept it at the left point and then fired a slap shot from the top of the left circle low glove side, to cut the Flyers' deficit to two goals at the second intermission.

The Leafs upheld control out of the locker room. Sundin redirected the puck off the netminder's pad and into the net for a 4-1 Toronto lead 8:41 into the third.

Toronto's last goal came when McCabe passed the puck across the slot and Pohl one-timed it just beneath the crossbar 18:50 into the third.

Gagne got his 34th goal and 11th this month just 28 seconds later, on a wraparound wrister scored on the glove side for the final margin.

Neither team utilized the man-advantage, as Toronto finished 0-for-2, while Philly was 0-for-3 on the power play.

Game Notes

Sundin got his 522nd goal tying Pat Verbeek for 29th place on the career regular-season NHL goals list...Toronto is 3-0 against the Flyers this season and has taken five straight and seven of the last eight meetings overall...After the game, the Flyers dealt defenseman Alexei Zhitnik to the Atlanta Thrashers for defenseman Braydon Coburn.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.