Bruins host sliding Panthers

Hockey Betting Lines

04/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins hope to further strengthen their grasp on a playoff spot in tonight's encounter with a Florida Panthers squad that enters TD Garden seeking to avoid a fifth consecutive loss.

Boston enters this evening's play tied with Philadelphia and Montreal for the final three postseason seeds in the Eastern Conference with only six games remaining in the regular season. A playoff trip is far from a sure thing for the Bruins, however, as ninth-place Atlanta is lurking only two points back and the New York Rangers are four points behind in 10th.

The Bruins have been able to help their cause by winning four of their last six outings, including a big 1-0 overtime decision at playoff-bound New Jersey on Tuesday. Patrice Bergeron netted the game's only goal with just 18.3 seconds left in the additional session.

With time winding down in overtime, Boston's Mark Stuart gained control of a loose puck in the slot and unloaded a shot from the right circle. The puck hit Mark Recchi in front and slid to Bergeron, who tucked it into the open net.

"[Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur] is so good in front, that I had to find a way to tip it and either score right away or he was going to give me a rebound," Bergeron said of the play. "It was good to get the right bounce for once."

Bergeron's tally came on the Bruins' 34th shot of the evening. Boston netminder Tuukka Rask wasn't quite as busy as Brodeur on the opposite end, needing to make just 21 saves to notch his fifth shutout of the season.

The Bruins now return to TD Garden, where they've compiled a mediocre 16-16-6 record for the season and have dropped two of their last three games, to take on a Panthers club that is just about eliminated from postseason consideration. Florida is currently tied for 13th place in the East with 72 points, 10 less than Boston, Philadelphia and Montreal with six games to go.

An 0-3-1 stretch has essentially taken the Panthers out of the mix, and the team played like a non-contender in last night's 6-2 loss at Northeast Division leader Buffalo. The Sabres outshot Florida by a whopping 20-2 margin in the second period and a 41-15 count for the night.

"Pretty ugly," remarked Panthers head coach Peter DeBoer. "I thought we had a good first period...then the wheels fell off."

Jeff Taffe gave Florida a short-lived 1-0 lead when he scored less than two minutes into the contest, with Michael Frolik registering the team's only other score. A busy Tomas Vokoun stopped 35-of-41 chances for the Panthers between the pipes.

Florida has now lost three straight road games in regulation but did post a 1-0 decision over the Bruins at the Garden back in November, with Vokoun making 40 saves to lead the way. Boston has won the last two meetings between the teams, however, as well as five of the last seven bouts in the series.

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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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