posted February 29, 2008 at 13:52 in NHL Betting Trends

The San Jose Sharks and the Buffalo Sabres made one of the biggest deals on trade deadline day, and if you did some NHL betting on either of those clubs in their first post-deadline game Wednesday night you would’ve added some extra cash to your wallet.

The Sharks acquired star defenseman Brian Campbell from the Sabres on Tuesday, sending young forward Steve Bernier and a first-round draft pick off to Western New York. Buffalo was poised to lose Campbell as an unrestricted free agent in the summer, so they decided to cash him in at the deadline instead of getting nothing after the year.

That move was expected to put a dent in Buffalo’s offense, but instead the Sabres rolled to an 8-4 home win over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. Bernier scored the first two goals in that contest, and also added an assist for a three-point night in his Sabres debut. Ales Kotalik had a goal and two assists, and Toni Lydman picked up four assists.

Not to be outdone, the Sharks doubled up on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night in their first game with Campbell leading their defense corps. Campbell pitched in with an assist in the contest and logged over 24 minutes of ice time. Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski each picked up two points in that Western battle.

Both of those teams will be looking for another victory when they take to the ice on Friday night. The Sabres will stay at home for a game against the Montreal Canadiens, who traded away starting goaltender Cristobal Huet to let rookie Carey Price take over between the pipes. Price made 26 saves to get a victory vs. the Thrashers on Tuesday.

The Sharks, meanwhile, will head to Detroit to take on the Red Wings. Detroit made a deadline move to add defenseman Brad Stuart to the mix, and he’ll be asked to play a large role until the rest of the team’s injured blueline corps is ready to return to the ice.

There are five other games on the NHL’s schedule for Friday night, including Washington at New Jersey, Minnesota at Florida, Columbus at Vancouver, and Calgary at Anaheim. As well, the Tampa Bay Lightning, who dealt away forward Brad Richards to the Dallas Stars for goaltender Mike Smith, will play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Richards and the Stars will return to action on Saturday night, when they get a visit from the Predators. Dallas is hoping that the addition of Richards will help them win the Pacific Division title, and maybe give them enough of a boost to pass the Red Wings for top spot in the Western Conference. Jeff Halpern and Jussi Jokinen also went to Tampa.

There are three afternoon games on the schedule for Saturday, with Atlanta at Boston, Philadelphia at the New York Islanders, and Pittsburgh at Ottawa. The Penguins made a huge move on deadline day to pick up star forward Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers (who left his Pens debut on Thursday night after banging knees with Boston’s Glen Murray), while the Sens made a big move Wednesday by firing coach John Paddock, then went out and lost 3-1 in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Saturday night features New Jersey at Montreal, Toronto at Washington, Tampa Bay at Carolina, San Jose at St. Louis, and Calgary at Phoenix. As well, the Los Angeles Kings will be in Colorado to take on the Avalanche, who traded for defensemen Ruslan Salei and Adam Foote. The Avs also added Peter Forsberg to their roster earlier this week.

Sunday sees the Sabres back in action, as they’ll play a home game against the Red Wings. Also on tap for Sunday are Atlanta at Pittsburgh, Vancouver at Chicago, Florida at the New York Islanders, Los Angeles at Minnesota, and Columbus at Edmonton. As well, the Flyers will head to Madison Square Garden for an afternoon game against the Rangers. Check the BetUS NHL betting lines section for all of the latest odds for this weekend.

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