lyers captain went to his knees as he one-timed it high over Howar

LAS VEGAS -- The Friday Football Showdown -- the $2,000 buy-in contest at the Golden Nugget which is in competition with the more-established Westgate SuperContest and includes college games and over/unders -- is back for a second season and open to the public.Before last year, the Friday Football Showdown, which is hosted by The Las Vegas Sportsline radio show on local ESPN affiliate AM 1100 and has roots dating back to the old Stardust Invitational and Leroys Money Talks Invitational radio contests (which had 16-player fields in a single-elimination tournament format) was open mostly to professional handicappers and touts. Last year, the Golden Nugget and Sportsline crews decided to make it an open contest, with the top eight handicappers from the first half of the season qualifying for the head-to-head tournament to determine the champion.Registration opens at 12 p.m. PT Friday, to coincide with the release of the Golden Nuggets College Football Games of the Year.The Friday Football Showdown attracted an 87-player field in its first open year, which organizers were happy with, and Jonathan Rice took home $118,500 (the $115,500 champions prize, plus $2,000 for making the playoffs and $1,000 for his quarterfinal win) after beating the team of Frank Betti and Anthony Curtis (who collected $38,500 for second plus the $3,000 in prior winnings) in the finals. This year, the goal is to get closer to 200 entries.After we made it open to the public for the first time last year, we went over the rules and wanted to make it more exciting and more fair, said Golden Nugget race and sports book director Tony Miller.Miller said the more exciting rule changes were mostly developed by him and his staff, including his right-hand man Aaron Kessler, along with The Las Vegas Sportsline host Matt Youmans, and include a wild-card chase in Weeks 9 and 10 for those who dont qualify in the first eight weeks, plus a mini-contest over Weeks 15-17. The more fair rules were suggested by contestants last year; those include moving the day that contest lines become available from noon Wednesday to noon Thursday and increasing the money for making the playoffs from $2,000 to $3,000.The moving of the lines from Wednesday to Thursday was because we saw a lot of lines, especially college totals, move a lot, and some players would just be playing the biggest moves, Miller said. Now, you still have 26 hours from noon Thursday until 2 p.m. Friday to put in your plays.Also, last year, if you made the playoffs and got eliminated in the first round, you would only break even, so we agreed that those qualifiers should at least make a profit.Full rules, including tie-breaking procedures that make NFL tie-breaking protocols look simple, are posted on The Las Vegas Sportsline website, but here are the basics:Theres one entry per person and local players or out-of-towners can designate a proxy to put in their weekly plays.All contestants make seven plays against the Golden Nuggets contest lines (again, the full slate of college and pro sides and totals are available, unless a game is off the board and left off of the contest card) during Weeks 1 through 8 of the NFL season (the opening weekend of college games arent included). Each win is worth one point per win, with a half-point per push (there are no 2-point best bets this season).The top-seven records from the first eight weeks advance to the playoffs. The wild-card chase is held in Weeks 9-10, with contestants making nine plays those weeks and the wild-card winner making the playoffs as the No. 8 seed.Playoff contestants will receive $3,000 each and must appear on The Las Vegas Sportsline radio show (2-3 p.m. PT on those Fridays) to announce their plays or designate someone to appear for them. The quarterfinals will be Nov. 18, Nov. 25, Dec. 2 and Dec. 9 (winners get an additional $2,000) with the semifinals on Dec. 16 and 23 and the championship match on Dec. 30. A total of $32,000 will be paid out to the winners of the qualifiers and the quarterfinal winners, the remaining prize pool will be split up with 60 percent going to the champion, 25 percent to the second-place finisher and 5 percent each to the semifinal losers.All entrants are eligible to compete in the mini contest in Weeks 15-17 (playing along with the semifinalists and finalists), making seven selections each week. The winner will receive 5 percent of the remaining prize pool (or split among all mini-contest ties).One change the Golden Nugget didnt make is that its returning 100 percent of entry fees as prizes. The Westgate SuperContest has instituted an 8 percent administrative fee off the top of its prize pool this season, and only time will tell if that hurts their number of entries. The South Point has also been working on a 100 percent payback high-end football contest of its own, but no details have been announced as of this time.Keep an eye on ESPN Chalk as we give you the latest news from the Las Vegas football contest scene all the way through the champions being crowned. Mike Gartner Rangers Jersey . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Mike Richter Jersey . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. http://www.rangershockeyonlineshop.com/mika-zibanejad-hockey-jersey/ . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Chris Kreider Jersey . LOUIS -- St. Vladislav Namestnikov Jersey . -- Quarterback Will Finch threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns, and Yannick Harou rushed in two scores as the No. PHILADELPHIA -- The Detroit Red Wings ended a couple lengthy skids Tuesday night.One was nearly 20 years old. Thats not the one that mattered to coach Jeff Blashill, though.Andreas Athanasiou tied it midway through the third period and had the only score in the shootout, helping the Red Wings snap a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.Tomas Tatar also scored for Detroit, which ended a 12-game regular season losing streak in Philadelphia dating to Jan. 25, 1997. The Red Wings did win the first two games of the 1997 Stanley Cup Final in Philadelphia on their way to a four-game sweep.Id focus more on this year, Blashill said. The other one has not a whole lot to do with this team.The Red Wings had lost three contests during their skid by one goal.I thought we played well at times in those five games, but we werent getting results, Blashill said. You play good, you have to find a way to get results. And we found a way tonight.Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux scored and Jakub Voracek had a pair of assists for the Flyers.In the shootout, all three Philadelphia skaters -- Travis Konecny, Giroux and Voracek -- missed.Its a valuable point (lost), Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said.After Gustav Nyquist and Frans Nielsen misfired for Detroit, Athanasiou beat Steve Mason on the backhand. Athanasiou pumped his fist along the side boards as his teammates came out to congratulate him.Its definitely a good feeling to end the losing slump and get back on the right track, Athanasiou said. You can see the spirits are already high.Couturier made it 2-1 off a setup by Voracek 6:51 into the third period. After his wraparound attempt was denied by Jimmy Howard, Voracek sent the puck back in front of the net and Couturier poked it home for his fourth goal of the season but first in 11 games.Athanasiou tied it with 8:47 left when hee raced past Flyers defensemen Brandon Manning and Radko Gudas before deking around Mason with a forehand shot.dddddddddddd.I saw a little space, Athanasiou said. Fortunately enough, I got through.Said Hakstol: The pace and speed he attacks with is hard to handle.Mason, making his first start since Oct. 29, made 33 saves.I thought (Mason) was excellent, Hakstol said.Howard made consecutive starts for the first time this season after making 26 stops in Detroits 2-1 home loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. He stopped 23 shots.The Flyers recorded a 4-3 overtime win over Detroit last Tuesday in Philadelphia.Giroux gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 6 1/2 minutes in. Voracek sent a cross-ice pass to Giroux and the Flyers captain went to his knees as he one-timed it high over Howards left shoulder.The Red Wings answered just over two minutes later when Tatar netted his second goal of the season after a Flyers miscue. Philadelphias Brandon Manning attempted to clear the puck from next to his own goal but it was blocked by Henrik Zetterberg, who set up Tatar from behind the net for the point-blank shot.Game notes Red Wings D Tyler Bertuzzi made his NHL debut in place of Thomas Vanek, who missed his seventh game with a lower body injury. Vanek is on longterm IR and is out until at least Nov. 20. Bertuzzi is the nephew of former NHL player Todd Bertuzzi. ... Flyers F Wayne Simmonds got a knockout of Jonathan Ericsson with a left hook during a second-period fight. ... The teams wrap their three-game season series on Dec. 11 in Detroit. ... Konecny delivered big second-period hits to Justin Abdelkader and Steve Ott.UP NEXTFlyers: At Maple Leafs on Friday night.Red Wings: Host Vancouver on Thursday night. ' ' '