Monday Morning Gambler: Vegas Golden Knights Back In Groove Of Paying Bettors
By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Call it a wee bit of green magic. Or a St. Patrick’s Day miracle. Or good hockey.
Regardless, the Vegas Golden Knights stopped the high-flying Florida Panthers on the unofficial day for green, 5-3. Evgenii Dadonov racked up his second multigoal game of the season in the win, and third-string goalie Logan Thompson stopped 33 shots.
Bettors noticed. The Knights, who had lost five in a row, paid in the +155 range. Playing the reverse puck line was even more lucrative.
“It’s funny. I’ve had a lot of winning streaks and a lot of losing streaks,” coach Pete DeBoer told reporters prior to the game. “The winning streaks inevitably, as they go on, the worse your details get. And losing streaks are the opposite. As they lengthen, the better those things get.”
Which brought the boys in the gold-toned helmets to a Saturday matinee vs. the Los Angeles Kings. This time bettors were back in the familiar position of laying a price, about -135 in this case.
But it was like old times as the VGK blitzed the Kings in a 5-1 win. Five players scored, and Thompson stopped 38 shots for his second straight win.
“We challenged our group,” DeBoer told reporters. “Your goaltender is always your best penalty killer and our goalie was real solid tonight.”
Besides allowing bettors to again cash a winning ticket, the win moved them within four points of the Kings in their pursuit of postseason play.
Next up for the suddenly resurgent Golden Knights: Monday’s game at the Minnesota Wild. Oddsmakers have made the Knights a +145 underdog with the total at 6.5.
Elsewhere:
— Lady Rebels cover: The UNLV Lady Rebels, seeded No. 13 in the NCAA Women’s tournament jumped out to a 14-9 first-quarter lead on Saturday. But in the end, No. 4 seed Arizona pulled away for a 72-67 victory. Desi-Rae Young finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for UNLV but only played five minutes in the fourth quarter before picking up her fifth foul.
Station Casinos made Arizona a 12.5-point favorite in the game, which meant the game was a fairly easy cover for the Las Vegas team. The Lady Rebels finish the season at 26-l7.
— Big crowds for big dance: Those huge crowds you see in the local race and sports book aren’t there to watch exhibition Major League Baseball. It was all basketball all the time as the NCAA Men’s Tournament pared the field to the Sweet Sixteen on Sunday.
Futures odds have been adjusted accordingly. Gonzaga is now +225 to +240 to win the title. Arizona is anywhere from +500 to +650. Kansas is anywhere from +450 to +500. Houston and Purdue are both generally in the +800 to +1000 range.
If you think the early run of the St. Peter’s Peacocks has legs, you can find them at +40000.
Ironically, the Zags failed to cover both of their first two games and trailed Memphis on Saturday before rallying for an 82-78 win on Saturday. They were laying 9.5 points in that game.
— Vegas knows best: Sharp-eyed bettors have witnessed many anomalies between seeding and betting favorites during the big dance. Just one from Sunday — the No. 5 seed Houston Cougars were actually 3.5-point favorites vs. the No. 4 seed Illinois Fighting Illini. And, surprise, the Cougars won and covered, 68-53.
— Raiders to the Super Bowl? The Raiders’ trade for Davante Adams stirred up headlines and launched countless tweets. But it barely nudged the needle on the Raiders’ chances of winning Super Bowl 57 next February. They are still +5000 at FanDuel and BetMGM. DraftKings now has them at +4500 and PointsBet at +4000.
— Fight Night: Curtis Blaydes is a -334 favorite over Chris Daukaus in their heavyweight match at UFC Fight Night on Saturday. Baukaus is +250 on the buyback. The event is at the National Arena in Cleveland.
— Laugher of the week: St. Mary’s was a mere -2.5 in their first-round game vs. Indiana on Thursday. The Gaels rolled to an easy 82-53 win over Indiana, covering by 26.5 points. The Gaels lost to UCLA in their next game as 3-point underdogs, 72-56.
Dan Behringer is a longtime Las Vegan. Follow posts at doublegutshot.com. On Twitter, @DanBehringer221.
