Bruins lose defensive grip on Bolts

Hockey Betting Lines

05/22/2011 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For slightly over four periods it seemed like Claude Julien's Bruins had figured out how to slow down Tampa Bay's relentless offensive attack.

After yielding 10 goals to the Lightning in splitting the first two games of the series, Boston shut out the Bolts in Game 3 and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth meeting.

But, Boston's defensive mastery of the Lightning proved fleeting, as Tampa's offense broke free in the second and third periods of Saturday's Game 4 in Florida. The Lightning scored three times in just under four minutes in the second period and would eventually take the contest by a 5-3 score.

Instead of Boston grabbing a 3-1 lead in the series, the Bruins and Lightning are now tied at 2-2. The swing in momentum has Julien's club right back where it was following Game 2, wondering what is the best way to stop Tampa from dominating play with its speedy forwards.

It appeared as though the return of Patrice Bergeron to the Bruins lineup could have been the key to slowing down Tampa, but after Saturday's turn of events it's obvious that Boston needs a more concerted defensive effort from its entire club.

Bergeron, who is regarded as Boston's best defensive forward, sat out the first two games of this series before returning to action for the 2-0 shutout in Game 3. He scored two goals, including a short-handed tally, in the first period on Saturday to help stake Boston to the early 3-0 edge.

But, even Bergeron was unable to swing things back in Boston's favor once the Lightning began to ramp up the pace in the second period.

"Yeah, it was a perfect first period," Bergeron told his team's website. "And we stopped battling and we stopped being hard on the forecheck. I mean, that's what gave us success in the first period and we sat back. They've got too much speed and too much firepower up front to do that."

Boston's head coach was also left searching for answers for his club's collapse and Julien will need to come up with a quick fix before Monday's Game 5 in Boston.

"Somehow we started getting stretched out again," Julien said in his postgame press conference. "They started getting speed. They started getting momentum. And after they scored a few goals, we almost looked like we were paralyzed out there. Just weren't reacting, weren't moving, and just snowballed from there."

Meanwhile, the Lightning, who received two goals from Teddy Purcell and a goal and two assists from Simon Gagne in Saturday's comeback, may have rallied around a comment made by Boston goaltender Tim Thomas following Boston's Game 3 shutout.

Thomas suggested that he felt "comfortable" in Boston's shutout win and Tampa head coach Guy Boucher felt those comments had a big impact on his team.

"Well, some of the players talked a lot about it," Boucher said. "He (Thomas) did say that it was an easy game to play against us last game. And obviously a lot of the guys were very fired up for this game. Certainly, I did hear it in the locker room, for sure."

It's difficult to tell whether or not Thomas' comments were the spark that led to Tampa's Game 4 comeback, but one thing is clear: the Lightning proved that there is no easy fix to containing their explosive offense.

If Boston is going to take this series than it may need to win ugly like it did in a 6-5 victory in Game 2. As Tampa proved in Game 4, Thomas and the Bruins can no longer expect to win this showdown in "comfortable" fashion.

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NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams

NFL Betting

It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.

We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.

Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.

Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.

Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.

NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.

The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Wagering

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