By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
On-again, off-again.
If you’ve been betting the Vegas Golden Knights, you know it’s been a struggle.
On-again: Against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, they were on. They beat the Sharks, 3-1 and rewarded bettors who paid as high as -259. The puck line at anywhere from +105 to -105 also paid.
Off-again: Two days later back at T-Mobile Arena, the VGK fell victim to the Boston Bruins, 5-2. There was roughly equal action on both sides, but Boston closed as a slight favorite.
On-again: Which brought the boys in the gold-toned helmets to a game with the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The money on the Golden Knights was steady all day and closed at -125. Some “square” books such as Station Casinos had them at -130.
VGK coach Peter DeBoer after the game: “Momentum is really important in this game, and it shifted back and forth all night. Two desperate teams going at it out there. Hard-fought game.”
That, of course, led to a game with the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
Off-again? Or would they stay in the “on” mode?
After 60 minutes of hockey, it was “on” — but barely as the VGK escaped with a 2-1 win over the Senators when Jack Eichel scored a power-play goal with 5.2 seconds remaining. If you were willing to lay the heavy lumber in the -300 range, you earned your win. Puck line bettors were, of course, disappointed.
Still think the Golden Knights can win it all? Both Caesars and DraftKings have them at +1000 to win the Stanley Cup. The general consensus is around +900.
The VGK, (32-25) begin a five-game trip in Philadelphia vs. the Flyers (17-38) on Tuesday. An early line has the Golden Knights at -149.
Elsewhere:
— Chills and plenty of spills: The Pennzoil 400 drew upward of 50,000 fans to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway — and traffic to the race and sports book too. At the end of a chilly, windy Sunday, it was Alex Bowman behind the wheel of No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports who prevailed in a battle with Kyle Larson in an overtime restart.
He paid a generous +2000.
Bettors who had tickets on Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Justin Haley, Tyler Reddick, and polesitter Christopher Bell had to cringe because all were involved in accidents. The yellow flag waved a total of 12 times yet on Sunday. It was the most cautions in a Las Vegas race since fall 2018 and believed to be attributable to drivers still getting the feel of the Nex Gen car.
The West Coast swing concludes next Sunday with the Ruoff Mortgage 500 at the Phoenix Raceway.
— No surprise? Few were surprised when Colby Covington defeated Jorge Masvidal by unanimous decision in the widely touted welterweight grudge match of UFC 272 on Saturday night before a full house of mixed-martial arts fight fans. Covington paid bettors anywhere from -310 to -330. Over 4.5 rounds at -150 also was a winner.
It was generally a good day to play favorites, according to Vegas Insider. Favorites were 9-4 and over/under also went 9-4.
— Mild surprise? The surging UNLV Runnin’ Rebels ran smack dab into the New Mexico Lobos on Saturday night. And bettors laying 3.5 points on UNLV were burned when the Lobos dropped the Rebels, 76-67, at the Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you wondered before (or even after) the result, New Mexico was anywhere from +138 to +150 on the money line.
UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said: “It was stagnant, just a lot of walking around. The ball was sticking, we weren’t passing and cutting like we’ve been moving. We just got in too big of a hole.”
UNLV, now 18-13 and 14-16 ATS, is the No. 5 seed in the Mountain West tournament and will play No. 4 Wyoming (24-7) in the quarterfinal round on Thursday.
— Laugher of the week: Stephen F. Austin was a -10 favorite vs. Texas-Rio Grande Valley on Saturday. The Lumberjacks routed the Vaqueros, 93-63. If you’re scoring at home, that’s a cover by 20 points.