Devils hold on to edge Bruins

Hockey Betting Lines

03/15/2010 - Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Parise scored the eventual game-winner late in the first period, as the New Jersey Devils held off the Boston Bruins, 3-2, at Prudential Center.

David Clarkson had a goal and an assist for the Devils, who have won three of four to move within two points of the Penguins, who lead the Atlantic Division with 87 points. Rob Niedermayer also lit the lamp for New Jersey, which got 34 saves from Martin Brodeur.

Blake Wheeler finished with a goal and an assist for the Bruins, who fell to 2-3-1 on a seven-game road trip that ends Tuesday in Carolina. Patrice Bergeron also scored for Boston, which has 72 points and sits in eighth in the Eastern Conference.

Tim Thomas allowed three goals on 12 shots in the first period before being pulled for Tuukka Rask, who turned aside all 16 shots he faced.

Down 3-1 in the third, the Bruins went on the power play at the 14:43 mark. Brodeur held strong in net, though, to keep it a two-goal game.

Boston then pulled Rask for an extra attacker. With 1:03 to go, Dennis Seidenberg's one-timer from the right point was deflected in by Bergeron to cut the gap to 3-2. But New Jersey held on from there.

The Devils got on the board at the 9:58 mark of the first period. Clarkson's shot from the slot was deflected in by Niedermayer, who was screening Thomas.

Clarkson's goal with 2:37 remaining made it a 2-0 game. Brodeur slid a beautiful tape-to-tape pass to Clarkson, who gathered the disc at center and used a backhander to score on a breakaway.

Parise lit the lamp less than a minute later to give New Jersey a three-goal cushion. A shot from the top of the slot left a rebound in front for Parise, whose backhander beat Thomas.

Boston cut the gap to 3-1 on Wheeler's score 43 seconds into the second. Mark Stuart's shot from along the goal line was deflected into the back of the net by Wheeler.

The Devils had a goal called off with 11:07 remaining due to a high stick.

Game Notes

The Devils have won four straight at home...Boston was without defenseman Andrew Ference (groin)...New Jersey leads the season series with the Bruins, 3-0...New Jersey has won five of six and nine of its last 12 overall versus Boston as well as five of the last six played in the Garden State.

Wsmartmoney Hockey Betting News

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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