Flyers rally to upend Chicago on Pronger's last-second score

Hockey Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Pronger scored the game-winner with 2.1 seconds left in regulation as Philadelphia edged Chicago, 3-2, at Wachovia Center.

With time winding down, Claude Giroux carried the puck down the right-wing side and waited at the outer edge of the right circle, until Pronger raced down the left side and was able to redirect the cross-ice pass into a half- open net.

Simon Gagne and Scott Hartnell also recorded third-period scores for the Flyers, who have won three of four.

Michael Leighton, who was making his 13th consecutive start, stopped 39-of-41 shots for Philadelphia, which has won 13 of the last 15 meetings against Chicago since December, 1997.

Kris Versteeg and Marian Hossa tallied for the Blackhawks, who had taken three of four games coming in and failed in their bid to tie idle San Jose for the top spot in the Western Conference. The Sharks still hold a two-point lead (95-93) over Chicago.

Cristobal Huet made 31 saves in the setback.

In a scoreless first period, Leighton made 15 saves and Huet stopped 12 shots.

Leighton continued to shine in the second, diving across the crease to stop a Hossa chance midway through. Huet responded by staying strong despite intense Flyers pressure in the final 90 seconds of the period, including a great sprawling stop on Dan Carcillo from 10 feet.

Gagne broke the deadlock at the 1:18 mark of the third period, taking a dish from Carcillo and beating a diving Huet from the left circle.

Versteeg knotted the game at 3:01 while Chicago was on the power play, chipping home a rebound from the left side.

Hossa gave the 'Hawks a 2-1 lead with 7:09 left in regulation, but Hartnell fought off a defender and beat Huet off the left post with 2:04 to play.

Game Notes

Pronger's last game-winning tally occurred on January 19 against Columbus, and his last goal of any kind came on January 23 against Carolina...Chicago has not won in Philadelphia since November 9, 1996, having lost eight straight since then...Hartnell broke a 13-game goalless drought stretching back to January 30.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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