Avalanche's Skrastins ties mark for most consecutive games by defenseman

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02/06/2007 -

DENVER (AP) -Colorado Avalanche defenseman Karlis Skrastins played in his 486th straight game Tuesday night, tying him with Tim Horton for the longest consecutive games streak by a defenseman in NHL history.

Skrastins - nicknamed ``Scratch,'' but never is on game nights - can break Horton's mark Thursday night at home against the Atlanta Thrashers.

The 32-year-old native of Riga, Latvia, began the run on Feb. 21, 2000, as a rookie with the Nashville Predators, who selected him with a ninth-round pick in the 1998 Entry Draft.

``He's a guy that really flies under the radar in terms of the attention he gets, but our team is very much aware of the contributions he makes each and every game,'' Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said in a statement before the game against Florida. ``He's very reliable, steady and consistent in the way he goes about his game. As a coach, you love to have a guy like that.''

Horton, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, played in 486 straight for the Toronto Maple Leafs from Feb. 11, 1961, to Feb. 4, 1968. The longest streak in NHL history is held by center Doug Jarvis, who played in 964 games in a row from 1975-88.

The Avalanche acquired Skrastins from Nashville in a trade on June 30, 2003, giving up future considerations.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

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The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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