After making 15 saves and posting a shutout, against lowly Norway on February 15, Roberto Luongo then watched as Martin Brodeur allowed seven goals on 46 shots (.848 save percentage) over two games.

For Tuesday’s game against Germany, Luongo will get his third career Olympic start in an arena that he is very familiar with which should change Olympic hockey odds.

The Montreal, QC native is in his fourth season with the Vancouver Canucks, who conveniently play out of GM Place; which has so cleverly been renamed Canada Place for the duration of the Olympics.

On home ice Luongo has boasted a 87-36-14 record (including 21-7-1 this season) and 16 shutouts over his time with the Canucks and has a good chance of improving to 2-0 in Olympics if Canada pulls out the victory over Germany.

Whatever the outcome, you can expect a giant cheer of “Loooouuuu” when he hits the ice tonight.

While Luongo was receiving word that he would start, Joni Pitkanen was learning that he is being suspended for the quarterfinal round.

The Finland defender had been put under review after receiving a game misconduct for an elbow to the head of Sweden’s Patric Hornqvist on Sunday.

After the incident, both Hornqvist and Pitkanen did not return and there is no word yet whether the Swedish forward will suit up for the next game.

The Finn’s will have a day to figure out their line-up as they earned a bye to the quarterfinals by finishing with the fourth best record in the round robin.

One other report out of Vancouver; Toronto Maple Leaf Mikhail Grabovski was arrested after an altercation outside of a club on Pacific Boulevard.

The 26 year-old forward was held off of the Belarusian team with a wrist injury but joined his countrymen to provide support throughout the games. An investigation is pending.

Anyone who follows Olympic Hockey betting will know that the rivalry between the Canadian and United States teams is one of the biggest rivalries in the sport.

After demolishing Norway 8-0 in their opener after only one practise as a full team, the Canadians will have worked out any of the kinks and will be ready for the American side that struggled to finish off a pesky Swiss team 3-1.

The Canadians have a powerful offense that is going to put up a lot of goals in this tournament and unlike the other big offense in the tournament, Russia, is strong at the back end. The Americans have been hurting on defence with the losses of Mike Komisarek and Paul Martin and being a young group with only Brian Rafalski being over 30 years old.

The biggest factor in this game will be Ryan Miller. He is having an incredible season this year with the Buffalo Sabres and has nine games with over 35 stops and has only lost two of them, both of which came in overtime. If he gets on a hot streak, the Canadians might be in trouble.

While the American team has a solid team, they will be no match for the powerhouse Canadian side. The U.S. team will have two solid lines however their third and fourth lines are no match and their top lines are undersized.

Their top forwards are Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane and Zach Parise, each of whom stands less than 5’11”. The whole Canadian team boast only three players under six feet tall. The size and physicality of the Canadian side will be too much for the Americans and, much like what happened in the game against Norway, they will be worn out and allow a lot of goals in the third period.

NHL Trade Rumors

The NHL is on Olympic Break while its stars travel to Vancouver to play in the 2010 Olympic Games. While they’re away (until February 28^th) there is a trade hiatus in the NHL. That hasn’t stopped GM’s from talking of course and we now have almost two weeks for blockbuster deals to take shape.

Sports Interaction Review: NHL Trade Deadline

Teams that will become scary with one addition:

Pittsburgh Penguins: Looking to add a forward to play with Malkin. Pens having been looking at Carolina’s Ray Whitney and Toronto’s Alexei Ponikarovsky to be the lucky benefactor of some crisp Malkin passes and a chance to win a Stanley Cup. Malkin is slumping in production this year and getting him a scorer to feed can’t hurt. This team is a Stanley Cup favorite every year they have Malkin and Sid the Kid on their roster together.

Philadelphia Flyers: With the career of goalie Ray Emery in jeopardy with a hip injury similar to that A-Rod had this past season with the Yankees, the Flyers are in the market for a goaltender. Montreal has two in Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price that both could be starters and are likely to move one or the other by the deadline. Florida G Tomas Vokoun has also been rumored to be on the market and is by far the best goaltender out there. The Flyers maybe the only team with enough assets up front to make a blockbuster deal for the All-Star net-minder, and would be a serious contender with a quality backstop like Vokoun.

Best 3 guys reportedly on their way out:

Toronto Forward Alexei Ponikarovsky: Underrated winger for the Maple leafs has played well the past couple of years without a true center. He likely will not return to Toronto and become a free agent so the Leafs would be wise to move him. Ponikarovsky is ready to be a top 6 forward for a contender right now.

Nashville D Dan Hamhuis: Defenseman has played significantly better than his contract pays and Nashville will not be able to re-sign him. They will not want to lose out on him and the Devils amongst others are looking for a big defenseman. He will be an impact player at this deadline for any team that needs some size on its blue-line.

Carolina Forward Ray Whitney: Whitney is the marquee name out there right now at the forward position with Ilya Kovalchuk traded to New Jersey. Whitney has posted 19 goals and 29 assists on a struggling Hurricanes team and is their best chance to get some much needed prospects in the farm system. The Canes will ask for a lot for Whitney who may be the first to be traded after the Olympics.

We’re betting management all across the NHL are working the phones right now, trying to get a deal done before the Olympic roster freeze on Friday at 3 PM ET. With action resuming on March 1^st and the official trade deadline on March 3^rd, there won’t be much time, so expect a couple of these deals to go through.

Ray Whitney

The Carolina forward is being chased by Los Angeles, and the Hurricanes are asking for a prospect and a draft pick for the 37-year-old who has 16 points and 28 assists in 57 games. Whitney would add scoring for the Kings, who missed out on Ilya Kovalchuk, and he would also add a veteran presence on a very young team that is exceeding expectations.

Paul Kariya/Keith Tkachuk

These two St. Louis Blues veterans are free agents this summer, and it seems like Tkachuk’s name also comes up in trade talks. But as Bill Guerin showed last year in Pittsburgh, veteran experience can be key in the playoffs. It’s just a matter of what the Blues want for the 37-year-old Tkachuk and the 35-year-old Kariya, who both have 28 points in 55 and 54 games, respectively.

James Wisniewski

The 25-year-old Anaheim defenseman is reportedly being shipped around as the Ducks don’t think they’ll be able to afford the raise he should get in arbitration this summer. Wisniewski is averaging a career high of 24:18 in ice time, and the word is his old club, Chicago, wants him back to provide stability at the back. Wisniewski would be an excellent fit for chemistry for Chicago, who is already though to be the NHL betting favorite in the Western Conference.

The Montreal Canadiens cannot wait for the Olympic break, not only do they have a goaltending controversy but Bob Gainey just stepped down as general manager. They have also been bitten by the injury bug going into a game against league leading Washington and two against a Philadelphia team that trails them by one point in the standing, making them a danger to people doing NHL betting

Gainey announced on February 8 that he would be vacating his position in a surprise move citing that he was not planning on re-signing, when his contract runs out in June, and wanting the new GM to be able to make the trades at this deadline that will affect the team next year.

The Canadiens also announced on Monday that Marc-Andre Bergeron (knee) and Benoit Pouliot (shoulder) would be sidelined until March. This adds to the growing list of long-term injuries that now sits at five and takes two of the better offensive players out of the Habs line-up.

Bergeron leads the defence with 10 goals and 28 points including 20 on the Montreal powerplay that ranks second in the league. Pouliot has played very well after coming over from Minnesota earlier in a trade for Guillaume Latendresse; scoring 11 goals and 14 points in just 20 games.

They will join leading goal scorer Mike Cammaleri (knee), Paul Mara (upper body) and Andrei Kostitsyn (knee) in the press box until at least their March 2 game following the Olympics. The game against the Bruins kicks off a tough four game road trip that starts in Boston and heads to the opposite coast for games against Western Conference leading San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles.

Sitting at 62 points, the Canadiens are third in the Northeast division and sixth in the conference but cannot afford to start losing as there are six teams within five points of them in the standings. Having gone 7-7-3 since New Years, they will need to come together as a team to keep in the playoff hunt; which will be hard to do with the locker-room rift caused by the goaltender battle between Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price.

US sportsbook odds (US sportsbook reviews) didn’t even give Phoenix a shot of staying in the city, much less making the playoffs, but there the Coyotes are in fourth place in the Western Conference as they travel to Chicago on Friday to meet the second-place Blackhawks.

Coyotes vs Blackhawks odds – Friday, February 5, 8:30 PM ET

The Coyotes have won five in a row, and captain Shane Doan has grabbed the team by the scruff of the neck, notching nine points in a current four-game point streak. In their five-game winning streak, four of the wins have come by one goal, including two in the shootout and one in overtime. So if anything, you know it’ll be a good game when you watch the Coyotes.

The Blackhawks have dropped two straight, but it’s no time to panic for a young Chicago team that is still the Stanley Cup favorite in the West. But the Blackhawks can definitely take confidence from a recent road trip in which they went 5-3, and now they have four very winnable games before the Olympic break starts.

The Blackhawks should be favored at home, and they’re a sparkling 21-6-1 at the United Center, where they’ve won four straight over the Coyotes. Chicago is also 8-2 in their last 10 against the Coyotes, who have won their last three games on the road, so something has to give. Cristobal Huel has looked shaky in goal over the last couple of games, but the offense hasn’t been great either. That isn’t a good sign against a Phoenix team who is building up steam heading into the break.

NHL picks: Phoenix

Brian Burke would thrive in a super casino, as he’s willing to take risks. The Toronto GM did just that over the weekend, getting Dion Phaneuf from Calgary, among others, in what was a very big weekend for the Maple Leafs, and kicked off the countdown to the trade deadline. We know Ilya Kovalchuk will go somewhere, but what about other players?

Some rumors are kicking around that the St. Louis Blues may be in the market to move a couple of experienced wingers, Keith Tkachuk and Paul Kariya. The Blues are five points out of a playoff spot, but odds are they won’t go very far, so they could be selling. Tkachuk and Kariya would be a good fit on the right team, and probably a team that could use some scoring. Boston comes to mind as the Bruins are in freefall due to their lack of scoring, and Detroit could use them as well. The Red Wings are a bit old already, but having these two to help out Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg would be a boost to their Stanley Cup odds. Pittsburgh made a similar move to get Bill Guerin last year, and promptly put him on a line with Sidney Crosby to add some grit and experience. The Blues are playing well right now, but they could make this move before the Olympics.

The Super Bowl spread participants, Indianapolis and New Orleans, struggled down the stretch before the playoffs, but it was nothing like what Calgary is going through as the Flames have dropped nine of their last 10. They’ll try to right the ship in Dallas on Wednesday.

Flames vs Stars betting – Wednesday, 8:30 PM ET

A lack of goals is the main problem for the Flames, as they’ve scored more than two goals just twice in their last 10 games. Captain Jarome Iginla hasn’t lit the lamp since January 2^nd against Toronto, and this is his longest drought since the 1999-2000 season. Other players have to step up, obviously, but Iginla has to spark his team somehow.

The Stars had their own funk to start January, but have won three of their last five games, including two in a row at home, where they are 14-5-5. Maybe the Stars just need to keep it close: in those last five games, their three wins have all been by a one-goal difference.

The Stars should be favored at home, but Calgary won in Dallas on November 4^th by a 3-2 result in overtime, getting a pair of goals from Iginla, including the winner. The Flames desperately need to get it going, and they’ll have to get a big game from their captain in what will be a physical matchup. They’ve won four of their last five in Dallas overall, so maybe this is the place where they’ll turn it around.

NHL betting odds pick: Calgary

While the tri-state area will be checking Super Bowl odds, there’s an NHL matchup on Friday night to get you warmed up as the New Jersey Devils go for their seventh straight win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Canadiens vs Devils odds – Friday, January 22, 7:00 PM ET

The Canadiens have lost three in a row and are 2-6 since the beginning of the year, and they still have no idea who is their No.1 goalie. Is is Jaroslav Halak? Is it Carey Price? Neither can get any momentum going as the Canadiens play musical chairs between the pipes.

There’s no such controversy in New Jersey, where Brodeur runs the show. They snapped a three-game skid with a 2-0 shutout of Florida on Wednesday, the seventh of the year and 108^th of his career for Brodeur, who knows he has to be at his best each night, as the Devils struggle to score goals.

The Devils should be favored at home, as the Canadiens have lost their last two games away from home after going 6-1 on a road trip to end 2009. Halak has better numbers, but the Canadiens seem to be stuck on Price, and that causes controversy, which isn’t needed when you’ve lost seven of your last 10, and six straight, against your next opponent.

Bet on sports: New Jersey

While most people are focused on the 2010 Super Bowl odds, the NHL season has passed its halfway point and you know what that means: it’s time for trade winds to start blowing.

One of the most bandied about players right now is Atlanta Thrashers sniper, Ilya Kovalchuk, who has been the face of the Thrashers since they drafted him. While they have tried to build around him and get him some help, the reality has been that they simply have failed to do so. They’ve barely even made the playoffs during his time there and as he moves closer and closer to free agency at the end of this season, it’s time for the Thrashers to start looking for what they can get in return for him.

The Thrashers have already had some problems re-signing Kovalchuk because he is probably looking for a fresh environment. One of those environments could be the Calgary Flames, who are desperately looking for scoring.

In return, the Flames have been said to be offering defenseman Dion Phaneuf, who is still one of the best in the NHL, but the team has soured on his performances recently.

The Thrashers could use a solid defenseman – something they have lacked for a while – so keep an eye on the two teams to see if they get together on this. The Flames would be getting a rental but the Thrashers could be getting a rock for years to come.

Alright, back to NFL picks.