Gagner matches Oiler greats with 8-point night

Hockey Betting Lines

02/03/2012 - Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sam Gagner joined the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey as he posted eight points to lead the Oilers to an 8-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Gagner, who came into the game with just five goals and 17 assists, totaled four goals and four assists to match the Edmonton record for most points in a game held by Gretzky and Coffey.

"It's something I will never forget," said Gagner. "It definitely feels good, it felt like everything I touched went in."

Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle each had a goal and three assists while Ryan Whitney added a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who have won three of four. Devan Dubnyk stopped 43 shots in the win.

Patrick Sharp scored twice while Jamal Mayers and Dave Bolland each had a goal for the Blackhawks, who have dropped four straight.

"What can you say about a game like that," said Sharp. "That guy (Gagner) had the magic touch tonight."

Corey Crawford was pulled in the third period after allowing five goals on 28 shots. Ray Emery played the rest of the way and gave up three goals on 13 shots.

With the score tied in the third, the Oilers took a 4-3 lead as a shot by Whitney from the left point went high, but it took an Edmonton bounce as it went to the right side and Gagner buried it 1:54 in.

Less than two minutes later, the Oilers took a 5-3 lead as Cam Barker's off- speed shot from the left point got past the glove of Crawford, who was pulled for Emery after the goal.

Chicago responded two minutes later when Bolland backhanded home a loose puck in the slot, but Gagner completed the hat trick less than 30 seconds after that on a wrister from the right circle off a feed from Hall.

Gagner scored his fourth of the game and ninth of the season with 5:29 left in the contest and assisted on Eberle's goal with 4:45 to play to cap the scoring and break into the Edmonton record book.

The only goal of the first period went to Chicago when Mayers scored his fifth of the year 6:29 in.

Chicago made it 2-0 just 40 seconds into the second as Patrick Kane's pass from the right to the left saw Sharp one-time it between the pads of a sliding Dubnyk.

Edmonton tied the game less than two minutes later as Hall went in on a break and snuck it home. Just five minutes after that, the Oilers tied the game on a wraparound from the left side by Gagner.

The Oilers then took a 3-2 lead on the power play with 7:37 left to play in the second when Whitney's slap shot from the left point went into the right corner of the net.

Chicago, though, tied the contest three minutes later while shorthanded as a 2-on-1 break saw Jonathan Toews blast a shot from the right circle and Sharp bury the rebound from the left side.

Game Notes

Chicago continues its nine-game road trip in Calgary on Friday...Edmonton hosts Detroit on Saturday...Edmonton won three of four against Chicago this season...It was Gagner's second career hat trick.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.