| 13 April 2010
From thespread.com:
Despite this matchup being the No. 4 seeded Coyotes against the No. 5 seeded Red Wings, Detroit has been established as the sizeable favorite to win this series.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SPORTSBETTING.com have given Detroit a betting line of -210 to win this series while Phoenix has been given a +165 line.
Now, I've never been one for gambling. I usually lose interest in long, drawn-out poker tournaments among friends and I hardly spend any time in the casino. So I'm not exactly sure what the -210 and the +165 lines truly mean. But looking at the first sentence there, I'm guessing the -210 for Detroit means that putting your money on them isn't going to win you a bunch of money.
And just for the sake of ego stroking, let's see what else the spread had to say:
The Red Wings have won 11 Stanley Cups in the history of the franchise while also racking up six conference titles. Detroit finished the season with 102 points off 44 wins. The Red Wings have finished the year winning eight of their last 10 games. Only Detroit and San Jose come in to the playoffs with eight wins in their last 10 games. The Red Wings scored 229 goals this season while allowing 216.
We were, at one point, the lowest scoring team in the Western Conference (yes, including Edmonton). So the month of March was very kind to us...or rather we were very un-kind to our opponents in March and stepped up our scoring production.
Oh alright, what do you have to say about Phoenix...
Phoenix finished the season with 107 points to earn the No. 4 seed. The Coyotes actually have the third most points of any Western Conference team, but fall into the fourth spot because they were not one of the three division champions. Phoenix scored 225 goals this season while allowing 202. Phoenix won just five of its final 10 games this season. The Coyotes are seeking their first conference and Stanley Cup championship.
They're actually seeking their series victory as the Phoenix franchise. Last time they eliminated a team from the play-offs...they were in Winnipeg.
