Panthers use strong second period to down Isles

Hockey Betting Lines

02/12/2012 - Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tomas Fleischmann, Kris Versteeg and Jack Skille tallied in the second period as Florida powered past the New York Islanders, 4-1, at Nassau Coliseum.

Tyson Strachan also lit the lamp for the Panthers, who have won three in a row. Jose Theodore stopped 26-of-27 shots to post his first win since December 27.

Frans Nielsen provided the lone offense for the Islanders, who finished with two losses on their three-game homestand.

Evgeni Nabokov was charged in the setback with four goals on 15 shots through two periods. Al Montoya finished the game by making four saves.

"You give up two faceoff goals and a power-play goal and you're not going to win too many games," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano. "We had some chances we didn't bury. I don't think we executed very well at all in the first period. We were chasing them the whole time in the second."

Fleischmann converted a Versteeg dish to put Florida up 2-1 at 4:17 of the second period, then notched the primary assist as Versteeg made it a two-goal margin on a short-side shot during a power play at 11:41.

Skille's return after a seven-game absence due to a shoulder injury was cemented with a long shot to the short side high off a left-circle faceoff win with 1:27 remaining for a 4-1 Panthers edge.

The Isles caught a lucky break with just under 4 1/2 minutes remaining, when Mike Santorelli hit the crossbar on a break down the right wing after Montoya fell down untouched in his crease.

Despite 11 third-period shots, the hosts were unable to dent Theodore.

Nielsen ripped one home from the right wing 3:35 into the contest, but Strachan's blast from the right point sailed by Nabokov for his first career score with 5:03 remaining in the opening period.

Marcel Goc set up the milestone marker by winning a right-circle draw back to the young defenseman.

Game Notes

Florida has won all three meetings from the Islanders this season, with one more matchup scheduled in Sunrise on March 25...The Panthers have also taken eight of 11 against New York since 2009...For Theodore, it was just his third appearance since the turn of the new year...Versteeg recorded his 22nd goal of the season, tying his career high first set in 2008-09 with Chicago.

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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.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

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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