Vanek scores four times as Sabres down Sens

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04/10/2010 - Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thomas Vanek had a career night in his return to the Buffalo lineup, scoring four times to help the Sabres snap a nine-game winless streak against Ottawa with a 5-2 victory at Scotiabank Place.

Vanek's first four-goal effort came after he missed the previous six games with a lower-body injury.

Derek Roy registered a goal and two assists for the Northeast Division champion Sabres, who are still in contention for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo is one point behind the Devils and closes out the regular season Sunday in New Jersey. The Devils claimed the Atlantic Division title on Saturday.

Ryan Miller made 28 saves to earn his 41st win, a new personal best.

Chris Neil and Shean Donovan lit the lamp for Ottawa (44-32-6), which dropped three of four to end the season. Pascal Leclaire allowed five goals on 28 shots to take the loss.

The fifth-seeded Senators will face the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the Senators' postseason hopes were dealt a major blow earlier Saturday with the announcement that crafty right winger Alex Kovalev will miss the playoffs with a torn ACL in his left knee. The veteran was injured during the second period of Thursday's shootout loss to Tampa Bay.

Adam Mair unloaded a slap shot that Leclaire kicked out with the right pad, but Vanek buried the rebound at 9:14 of the first. The Austrian sniper drove down the slot and tipped home a Roy feed past the Ottawa goaltender three minutes later for a 2-0 Buffalo lead.

Vanek went to the backhand to beat Leclaire on a penalty shot, completing the hat trick at 8:57 of the second period, just 74 seconds after Neil had cut Ottawa's deficit in half.

The Sabres led 4-1 when the irrepressible Vanek batted a puck out of the air for a power-play goal with 6:48 to play in the second.

Roy and Donovan traded goals in the third.

Game Notes

Vanek has six career hat tricks...Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson was honored in a pre-game ceremony for playing in his 1,000th NHL game earlier in the week...Buffalo defenseman Craig Rivet returned after sitting out two games with flu-like symptoms...The Senators finished with a 26-11-4 record as the host this year.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.