Seguin, Bruins take down Predators in SO

Hockey Betting Lines

02/11/2012 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scored in the shootout and the Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon.

Bergeron, Daniel Paille and Milan Lucic had goals in regulation as the Bruins bounced back from a 6-0 loss to Buffalo on Wednesday to win for the second time in five games.

Lucic tied the game with 67 seconds left in the third period.

Tim Thomas had 19 saves, including three in overtime, and stopped Sergei Kostitsyn and Martin Erat in the shootout to earn the victory for Boston.

Shea Weber, Patric Hornqvist and Mike Fisher had goals for the Predators, who have lost four of their last five (1-2-2).

Indeed, both teams needed a win. The Bruins, after being routed by Buffalo, came into the game just 5-6-1 in their previous 12 games. They peppered Pekka Rinne with 41 shots through overtime and Nashville blocked another 29.

Fisher gave the Predators their first lead at 3-2 with 3:32 remaining when he skated around the net to get his own rebound on a shot that skidded through the crease and beat Thomas with a sharp backhand.

But Lucic tied it on a power play, picking up a rebound low on the right side after a shot by Rich Peverley was ticked aside and flipped it into the net with Rinne down in the crease.

The Bruins, testing Rinne all day, tried to sneak the game-winner through in the last seconds of regulation. Brad Marchand had two good looks in a row but both were stopped -- the second by the defenseman Weber, who slipped in behind his own goaltender to knock the puck out of mid air.

Earlier, with the Bruins shorthanded, Bergeron opened the scoring with a shot from the right side after a drop pass from Marchand late in the first period.

Weber scored with a slap shot from high on the left side during a power play in the second period but Boston regained the lead on Paille's backhand goal in front early in the third period. Hornqvist then tied it again midway through the third, jamming in a loose puck from in front.

Game Notes

The teams have historically been evenly-matched. They had split the previous 10 games entering Saturday...Although they have lost four of their last five, the Predators are 14-4-2 in their last 20.

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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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