In the opening round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Nashville turned some heads with its impressive five-game ousting of the Red Wings, but after becoming a sexy pick to come out of the West among the conference’s four remaining teams. At two games apiece against the suddenly hot Coyotes, the Preds suddenly find themselves in a 2-0 hole as they return home hoping to even the series.

Phoenix was expected to do little with the opportunity when it reached the postseason. They typically have been one of those lightly regarded franchises. The Coyotes surprised many in this season when they managed to win the competitive Pacific Division. The Coyotes have done away with their first-round opponent and are suddenly just two wins from their first-ever conference finals appearance since joining the NHL, even after getting a tough draw that pitted them against the talented Chicago Blackhawks.

After an overtime loss in Game 1 against the Coyotes and a surprising 5-3 defeat in Game 2, the Nashville’s dominant series win over the Red Wings suddenly seems long in the past. The Preds may be relying on a return home to Bridgestone Arena to recharge their batteries.

The Preds could be facing a huge obstacle when it comes to on-ice production, even though credit the Predators for taking a strong stand and holding Radulov and Kostitsyn accountable despite the series deficit facing Nashville.

Vermette and Ray Whitney each have four points in their last three games for Phoenix, while for the Nashville, Patric Hornqvist could be heating up after following up his two-assist performance in the series-opener with a goal in Game 2. The two teams are otherwise as healthy as can be hoped for at this point in the season, although Lauri Korpikoski is questionable for Phoenix for undisclosed reasons.

The Predators’ defense seemed to dry up in the Arizona sun, although Nashville’s hard-checking style and strong defensive game has made it one of the best teams in the conference all season. In two games against the Coyotes, Nashville has already given up as many goals and this needs to be checked.

The Celtics could gain even more momentum with the veteran sharpshooter back in the lineup, after building an increasingly impressive winning streak entirely without Ray Allen.

Then again, riding an even bigger surge are the San Antonio Spurs. On Wednesday night, the visiting Spurs will be looking for a ninth straight win in their only meeting of the season with the Celtics. The Boston team is on a look out to bolster their Atlantic Division lead with a ninth consecutive home victory.

Boston (30-22) has won five in a row overall to leapfrog Philadelphia for first place, even though Allen has missed the last six games with a sore right ankle. Sunday’s 91-72 win over Miami was the obvious highlight of that run. It was Miami’s most lopsided defeat of 2011-12 with shot a season-worst 34.8 percent.

While beginning a three-game stretch against elite competition, the Celtics made a defensive statement. On Thursday, they visit Chicago. In town, they will have to do it again with the Spurs (37-14). In 30 games Tuesday, San Antonio won for the 25th time, cruising past Cleveland 125-90.

Against Eastern Conference opponents, it was also the Spurs’ 14th win in 16 road games and 13th victory in their last 14. With Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker each playing less than half the game, Coach Gregg Popovich’s team moved within two games of West-leading Oklahoma City.

Avery Bradley’s production has been quite surprising. The second-year guard has averaged 14.6 points on 52.8 percent shooting, starting the last five games in place of Allen.

Barring a setback, Allen practiced fully Tuesday and he is expected to return against the Spurs. Bradley’s solid play has sparked a debate about how the minutes should be split up down the stretch, especially on the defensive end.

Coach Doc Rivers is not worried about Bradley’s transition back to a reserve role and he has confirmed Allen will regain his starting spot.

A big reason Boston is 8-0 at home and 15-5 overall since the All-Star break is because of a seemingly rejuvenated Kevin Garnett. In that stretch, Garnett is averaging 17.3 points and 8.6 rebounds.

Since acquiring Allen and Garnett in 2007, the Celtics have gone 6-2 against San Antonio, including two wins last season. In a 105-103 win Jan. 5, 2011, the last time the Spurs visited Boston, Rondo had a triple-double – including 23 assists, not to mention six steals.

With a victory in this visit to California’s capital, the Jazz could be back in the Western Conference playoff picture, but knocking off the resurgent Kings could be a challenge. When the Kings try to close out the franchise’s longest homestand with a fourth straight victory, Utah goes for a season high-tying fifth consecutive win Thursday night.

The Jazz (24-22) dropped their season-high fourth in a row Feb. 28, arriving in Sacramento with just three victories in 13 games. They lost 103-96 to fall a season-worst three games below .500. With its last two victories coming over the West’s elite, Utah is on a roll heading into this contest.

Al Jefferson said that currently it is all about their confidence. He had 16 points. He missed the previous two games to attend his grandmother’s funeral. The Jazz will hold the eighth spot in the West, if Utah can match a 5-0 run from Jan. 2-10 and Houston loses to Golden State earlier Thursday. Following the Feb. 28 defeat, they were 2 1/2 games out of the conference’s final playoff position.

Sacramento is averaging 118.0 during its three-game winning streak, led by Marcus Thornton’s 30.3 points per game. It appears the Kings are getting along well. Tyreke Evans has sprained left ankle may not make a comeback. Coach Keith Smart will want to make sure to give Evans plenty of minutes. In a 96-93 loss in Salt Lake City on Jan. 28, Evans had a season-high 31 points and his 22.6 average versus Utah is his highest against any team.

On Feb. 28, Kings center DeMarcus Cousins scored 22 points with 18 rebounds and in three home games against Utah, he is averaging 21.3 points and 13.7 boards. The Jazz are ahead of only Sacramento’s four. They have the second-fewest road wins (six) in the West. For the first time since 2006-07, the Kings are trying to win two straight in this series.

Oddsmakers from online sports book have Utah Jazz-11/10 and Sacramento Kings-4/5.

In an email to The Associated Press, Venus’ agent, Carlos Fleming, wrote that at Roland Garros, the seven-time Grand Slam champion would not compete. This was also notified to the tournament organizers. Play at Roland Garros starts May 22.

Since January, the 30-year-old American has been off the tour. In the third round of the Australian Open, she had stopped playing only minutes into a match because of a hip injury. Over the final six months of 2010, a left knee injury limited her to just one tournament.

In tennis history, the sisters are among the attention-drawing and most dynamic players. They own a combined 20 Grand Slam singles titles and they were both ranked No. 1 by the WTA. Serena has won Grand Slam singles titles for 13 times, while Venus has won 7. in eight major finals, they have played each other, including at the 2002 French Open, won by Serena.

In this week’s rankings, Serena is 17th, Venus 19th; although a series of health problems have limited them lately.

Venus has entered in a grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, England, that begins June 11, while the 29-year-old Serena has not pointed to a specific target date for her return to action.

The federation said on its website that in 2011 Roland-Garros games; the 29-year-old player was unable to take part as she “insufficiently recovered from her foot injury and pulmonary embolism”.

After winning Wimbledon title, the former world No.1 has not played since July 2010. Russian Dinara Safina and Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky will not participate either due to injuries. They will be replaced by Anne Keothavong of Britain and Anna Tatishvili from Georgia respectively.

In May 22, Roland-Garros will kick off. The best odds for the few players in the 2011 French Open – Victoria Azarenka are 9/2, Caroline Wozniacki 5, Vera Zvonareva 10, Petra Kvitova 10, Samantha Stosur 12.

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In a rematch of last year’s National League Wildcard playoff series between the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants, the teams clash for a three-game series this weekend.

Last season saw the Giants defeat the Braves in the best-of-five series three games to one en route to the World Series championship. Each of the four games was a one run contest, so you can expect this weekend’s series to be close as well.

Atlanta is at 20-1 to win the World Series while the Giants are at 15-1 in MLB Odds.

Both teams have gotten off to a similar start here in the beginning of the 2011 season with the Braves sporting an -10 record and the Giants sitting at 10-8. When Atlanta makes the trip out west to San Francisco, baseball fans will be treated by some fantastic pitching match ups full of familiar faces from last year’s playoff action.

In Game 2 on Saturday, what is probably the best pitching match up of the series has Tim Hudson facing Tim Lincecum, who almost threw a no hitter the other day against Colorado. In the series finale on Sunday, Brandon Beachy will do battle against Jonathan Sanchez.

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In NHL Betting the Flyers are a -160 moneyline favorite to win the opener.

The Flyers narrowly missed landing the top seed in the Eastern Conference as they finished an excellent season. With one win less than the Washington Capitals, they had just one more overtime loss. This game does not necessarily favor them while they have the home court advantage. Compare to their home performance they are actually a better team playing on the road. Compared to the 25-11-5 record that they achieved on the road they had a record of 22-12-7 in Philadelphia this season.

Additionally, this season the Sabres are actually a better team on the road than they are at home. With a record of 21-16-4 at home they had a 22-13-6 record on the road. As they very well could sneak away a victory or two from the Flyers in Philadelphia, this will make them a dangerous team in the playoffs.

Even though Philadelphia does have a slightly more potent offense than Buffalo does, both of these teams are solid. As the Sabres have somewhat of a “middle of the pack” defense and may be vulnerable to a strong attack, look for Philadelphia to attack early on.

As both teams are talented and capable of winning on any given night, this should be a good series.

In college basketball betting odds Butler is a 2.5-point favorite and the over/under total is 133.5.

Between the Bulldogs and Rams, one of them will advance to the finals to take on the winner of the Kentucky vs. Connecticut game as they both had dream runs through the NCAA Tournament.

These teams could make a run like this through the tournament that very few people would have ever believed. En routing to their final 4 appearance, the Rams have already taken out the USC Trojans, Georgetown Hoyas, Purdue Boilermakers, Florida State Seminoles and the Kansas Jayhawks. The Rams continue to say that they are not done yet while many people believe that VCU has already fulfilled their dreams by making the tournament.

The Bulldogs have not had a road that is any easier while the Rams have had a tough road to the final 4. Butler proceeded to beat the top seeded Pittsburgh team as they started out by beating Old Dominion. By taking out Wisconsin they continued and most recently beat Florida in Overtime. Butler has only managed one win by more than 3 points to this point in the tournament.

Butler have a chance to make history by being a Cinderella type of team two years in a row as they were the Cinderella story of last year.  As VCU will be the talk of the tournament in qualifying for the finals as an 11th seed that needed a play-in game to make the main part of the tournament, they will be forgotten if they lose however.  In basketball picks the Butler Bulldogs are favorites to win this match.

In the Sony Ericsson Open, World No. 8 Venus Williams will not contest due to an abdominal injury that she suffered at the Australian Open. She is the three-time champion of the Sony Ericsson Open title and last year she was the finalist. She won the titles in 1998, 1999 and 2001.

Since Wimbledon 2008, Venus has not won any major title. She turns 31 this June and since pulling out of her third-round Australian Open match with a hip injury, she has not played. She will miss the Key Biscayne too, after losing ground last week. Sister Serena Williams will also not be a part of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open. As of last week, Serena had skidded to No. 11, while Venus was ranked No.8.

With Venus and Serena out due to injury, it has permitted other competitors to show the world their strengths, especially players such as Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters, who are in the limelight. At 30, fourth-ranked Italian Francesca Schiavone has displayed some engrossing tennis recently.

TV commentator Mary Carillo said that the tennis fraternity has lost three of the most mentally strong athletes in the game. He was pointing at Justine Henin’s retirement and William sisters’ absence. He added that he would miss these three players a lot, as they have a mental supremacy on the court and they have the ability to figure out a way to win even if they are not at their level best.

For the latest Tennis Betting Odds for all the matchups check online sports betting sites.

Some of the top American tennis players will once again return to Memphis, this year. For the fast paced and big hitting game of U.S.A.’s top guns Andy Roddick, Sam Querrey, Mardy Fish, and James Blake, the hard indoor surface suits.

From Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and Frenchman Gael Monfils, there are also somewhat surprising appearances. Instead of the other scheduled events at Marseille, France and Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is puzzling why they prefer the North American tournament.

Sam Querrey, who took out fellow American John Isner in last year’s final, the Memphis crowd, will be eager to greet the defending Champion. As John Isner withdrew from the recent tournament in Rotterdam, Holland, it looks like he will not compete at the event this year. In 2011, the big serving American Sam Querrey, has played only two matches, both of which he lost in Australia so his prospects of repeating last year’s performance are not as promising.

Because of Andy Roddick’s current 8th world ranking, he comes in good shape and will probably be the first seed at Memphis. From his pleasant memories in 2002 and 2009, Roddick is familiar with holding the trophy at the event. Of this year’s Australian Open, the number one American will be eager to bounce back from his straight loss in the round of 16.

This year Fernando Verdasco probably take the second seed spot, and he will be one of the strong contenders, who is ranked 9th in the world. Contrast to his first round exit here last year, the hard hitting lefty will strive for better results.

In recent weeks, the NFL and its players have been throwing verbal barbs at each other as they try to work out a new labor agreement. However, the players union appears to have lost at least one megaphone.

For Saturday’s Texas-America All-Star game, which is sponsored by the union, CBS College Sports Network has refused to air a commercial produced by the NFL Players Association. The union says it was promised two minutes of free airtime with no content restrictions, as a part of their nearly year-old agreement with the hosts of the event and College Sports Network.

According to George Atallah, a spokesman for the players union, it produced a 30-second and a one-minute commercial, the first cuts of which were given to the network in mid-January. He added that the network did not want to get in the middle of the dispute over the collective bargaining agreement hence rejected them late last week.

The players’ union has initiated a public relations onslaught to state its case, backed by the national AFL-CIO union coalition. Asking owners not to lock out the players, the spot closes by asking viewers to sign an online petition.

Labeled as a “Super Bowl ad”, the advertisement was released on the Internet last week, though the union was attempting to buy time during the NFLPA high school all-star game.

According to the NY Post, the games’ TV rights deal is said to be in the high six figures and was agreed to by CBS College Sports and the game’s promoter, Overtime Sports Southeast and the players’ union.

To break the union, Atallah claims that team owners are using the $4 billion earned from broadcast deals. Of distributing revenue evenly among its 32 teams, a lockout would endanger the league’s business model.