Flyers counting on another comeback

Hockey Betting Lines

06/07/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While walking around Philadelphia's Wachovia Center in the hours leading up to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, it became clear to me that the Flyers organization and their fans are not big on subtlety.

In fact, the Flyers' default position skews to the dramatic side of things. Fans come to the arena clad in orange T-shirts that bear slogans like "Defy All Odds", "Together We Fight" and "We Bleed Orange".

Prior to Game 3, when the Flyers trailed the series 2-0, the club posted a picture of captain Mike Richards on the big screen accompanied with the famous Winston Churchill quote, "We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls."

In a sense, the Flyers market themselves as a kind of NHL version of the Oakland Raiders and, perhaps, the warrior imagery and flair for the dramatic is what makes the Wachovia Center such a tough place to play.

This was, after all, the home of the Broad Street Bullies, one of the most notorious championship teams in pro sports history. The group of players who made up the 1974 and '75 Cup title clubs -- the only two championships in franchise history -- are still worshipped as conquering heroes in the City of Brotherly Love.

Now, the Flyers will have to use the art of psychodrama to keep their Cinderella season alive for one more game. Philadelphia and Chicago will meet Wednesday night for another showdown at the Wachovia Center.

After posting a dominating 7-4 win in Sunday's Game 5, the Blackhawks will take a 3-2 series lead into that next battle, and can claim their first Stanley Cup title since 1961 with the win.

But that figures to be easier said than done for the Blackhawks, after all, this series has been owned by the home teams. Chicago proved that once again on Sunday as it improved to 3-0 on home ice in this set. The Flyers, of course, are 2-0 on Broad Street.

Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette is confident that his club can continue the trend of home dominance on Wednesday night.

"We've got to get back as a team and make sure we're ready to play our brand of hockey, our style of hockey in our building with our fans," said Laviolette. "We have to make sure we're ready to win one hockey game."

Of course, there isn't much sense in looking ahead to Game 7 yet, but if the Flyers are able to take the sixth meeting, it certainly would be tough for Philly to pull off a road win should there be a decisive contest in Chicago.

Then again, the Flyers have been counted out so many times this season it would be unwise to sound the death knell at this stage. A team that has already come back from down 3-0 in a series to win in this postseason is not going to be scared off by a mere 3-2 deficit.

"I think that when you get to this point there's a tremendous amount of confidence in your team to win hockey games," added Laviolette. "They get it and they understand it. If any team gets it, this team gets it, because we've been here so many times."

BUFF TURNS THE TABLES ON PRONGER

The most intriguing matchup of this series has been a battle between heavyweights -- Chris Pronger of the Flyers and Dustin Byfuglien of the Blackhawks.

Pronger, a towering defenseman, and Byfuglien, the game's bulkiest player, have been hammering away at each other since the Cup Finals began over a week ago. The Flyers blueliner dominated the first four games, limiting Byfuglien to just one assist in Games 1-4.

However, Chicago's mammoth winger exploded for four points in Game 5 on Sunday night, posting two goals and two assists to push his club within one game of a Stanley Cup title.

"I think last night was the biggest influence in the game he's had throughout the playoffs," Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said of Byfuglien's Game 5 effort. "He was a big factor."

Pronger, on the other hand, had his worst game of the playoffs Sunday, as he was on the ice for six of Chicago's seven goals and finished a minus-five for the night. He was a plus-seven through the first four games of the series.

Laviolette defended his No. 1 blueliner after Game 5 and was obviously not keen to make a scapegoat of Pronger.

"Our team needs to be better, the whole group, I believe, needs to be better," said Laviolette. "When we're successful, we do it as team. When we lose and we have a night that's tougher, we do it as a team. The minus 5's, are they all his fault? No."

WILL IT BE THE LEIGHT SHOW IN GAME 6?

There is some speculation as to who will be between the pipes for the Flyers in Game 6. Michael Leighton was torched for three goals in the first period and was replaced by Brian Boucher before the start of the second.

It should come as no surprise that Laviolette has been mum on who will be his starter in Wednesday's game.

"I don't comment on lineups," was all Laviolette had to say on Monday when asked if he was sticking with Leighton.

It's hard to believe he will make the switch to Boucher. Leighton was also pulled after giving up five goals in Game 1 of this series and rebounded nicely in the next game, stopping 24-of-26 shots in what turned out to be a 2-1 loss for the Flyers.

Wwzdnet 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.

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