Blake tallies hat trick, Hunter caps wild Isles win

Hockey Betting Lines

02/28/2007 - Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trent Hunter's second goal of the game, coming with 31 seconds left in overtime, sent the New York Islanders past the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-5, at Nassau Coliseum.

Jason Blake recorded a hat trick and one assist for the Islanders, winners in five of their last six games. Chris Simon also scored, while Randy Robitaille collected three assists and Mike Sillinger added two assists of his own.

Rick DiPietro stopped 29 shots to earn the victory.

R.J. Umberger tallied twice for the Flyers, who have dropped five straight. Dimitry Afanasenkov had a goal and an assist, Sami Kapanen and Simon Gagne scored, and Joni Pitkanen picked up a pair of helpers.

Antero Niittymaki played well despite giving up six goals on 39 shots in the loss.

Late in overtime, and already on the power play, the Islanders were about to go up by two men when Sillinger held in the left circle before feeding in the slot to Hunter, who redirected the puck into the top corner of the net.

The win vaulted the Isles into seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, pulling them even with Montreal, which lost to the Rangers, and moving one point ahead of Carolina, which fell to Ottawa.

Down by two goals heading into the final 20 minutes of play, the Flyers showed some uncharacteristic grit and rallied to come within 5-4 on Umberger's second goal of the night at the 8:12 mark.

Gagne completed the long comeback with his 35th goal of the year on a rising backhander from a tangle of bodies at the left side of the crease 55 seconds later, and each side survived some close calls before the game slipped into the extra session.

New York took an early 1-0 lead as Chris Campoli's blistering one-timer from the high slot tipped off Blake and sailed past a screened Niittymaki just 2:10 into the contest. Blake made it 2-0 at 8:34 when he followed up Robitaille's breakaway chance by barreling into the crease and shoving the loose puck into the net.

Umberger countered at 13:42 to bring the Flyers within 2-1, but Hunter restored the Isles' two-goal advantage 20 seconds later when he stashed home his own rebound.

Blake ended a lopsided first period for New York and finished his trifecta by stealing the puck from Kapanen deep in the Flyers' defensive zone, moving to the backhand and slipping the puck inside the far post with 14.7 seconds remaining.

Kapanen atoned for his mistake and brought the Flyers within 4-2 with 2:48 played in the second, as his point blast caught Campoli's jersey and deflected past DiPietro.

However, Blake and Robitaille teamed up with renowned tough-guy Simon to increase New York's lead to 5-2 at 6:20, then Simon squared off with the Flyers' Todd Fedoruk in a spirited bout immediately following his goal.

Philly forward Darren Reid and Islanders enforcer Arron Asham tussled a mere five seconds later, and the fisticuffs re-energized the visitors, who cut the deficit to 5-3 when Afanasenkov was left all alone in front to tuck a shot through DiPietro's pads at 7:10.

Game Notes

The Isles have won four of the six meetings this season...New York is 5-1-0 on their current seven-game homestand...Ryan Smyth, acquired on Tuesday from Edmonton, was not in the lineup for the Isles...The Flyers did not have the services of goaltender Martin Biron, acquired before the trading deadline on Tuesday -- he will join the club on Thursday when they play in Boston. However, defenseman Braydon Coburn, acquired from Atlanta on Monday, and backliner Lasse Kukkonen, acquired from Chicago also on Monday, were in the lineup...Kukkonen recorded an assist in his first game in a Flyers uniform...The Flyers fell to 2-5 in overtime, and the Islanders improved to 8-4 in the extra period.

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

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