The National Hockey League (NHL) is the cream of the crop when it comes to ice hockey anywhere in the world. Originally started up North, the sport has spread like wildfire…or more like something cold that spreads fast. The NHL now has fans in all corners of the US as well as all corners of the globe. With this popularity, you can understand why the NHL is a favorite amongst sports bettors. The action is fast-paced, and if you know what you’re doing, you can stand to make a lot of money.

Hockey betting in the United States is far from the most popular sport in the land, but ever since the gambling capital of the country – Las Vegas – got a team in, the Golden Knights, in 2017, interest in hockey betting markets has picked up. Betting on hockey is similar in concept to that of baseball lines, as hockey is predominantly a money line based sport with standardized point spread prices of -1.5 goals – like baseball is with -1.5 runs.

In this guide, we’re going to walk you through the ins and outs of NHL betting strategy. We’ll give you the tips and the tools that you need to dominate the books. With some hard work, research, and our strategies, you’re going to be well on your way to cashing in big if you can put it all together. Without any further delay, let’s get into the strategy.

• Totals in Hockey Betting As with other sports, you also have the option on betting on the total number of goals scored by both teams during the game. Most games offer the option of betting that the total number of goals will be OVER 5.5, or UNDER 5.5, but some game totals are 5.0 or 6.0.
• Some sports handicappers consider hockey a hard sport to bet on. For those who follow NHL wagering closely, you understand that tracking player injuries, goaltender play and travel schedules, is an important part of your NHL betting strategy.

The Importance of Travel Schedules

Often overlooked in most sports are the travel schedules of each team. While this is important in all sports, it becomes much more important in a physically demanding sport like ice hockey. It’s a game where your body is beaten up, bruised, and pounded night after night. If you don’t think this is going to have a toll on performance, you’re living in a fantasy world.

Obviously, all teams go through the same punishment. If that’s the case, then is it just a wash because everyone goes through it? The answer might seem like a yes, but in reality, it’s a no. Imagine if you played two home games in a week versus playing four road games in a week? Which team is going to be the freshest for that next game? You can bet your bottom dollar that the team with fewer games and at home is going to be much more physically prepared for the next game.

So, what should you be looking for and how do you apply this? Well, you should be looking for teams that you think are going to be suffering from excessive fatigue and look to see if there is a good line to bet against them. Remember, just because a team is tired or on a long road trip does not mean they are destined to lose. All it means is that they are not going to be as fresh which could impact speed, power, focus, and overall performance.

You also want to make sure that you look at how far teams have to travel. If they’re bouncing all over the country, you can bet that their sleep and recovery are going to be hindered. They may be professional athletes, but they’re also still human.

The best advice we can give you with this is to take it into account but don’t let it dominate your strategy too aggressively. It’s important, but it doesn’t mean that just because a team has had a lot of travel, they are suddenly going to turn into lame ducks. We like to use this when a line is close, and we’re on the fence about a bet. If this backs up our bet, it makes us a lot more confident with what we’re betting on. If it’s contradictory, we may shy away from the bet that we were on the fence on.

Overvaluing Statistics

Serious sports bettors savor statistics. However, the problem with savoring something too much is you start to salivate and look like a fool. What are we trying to say so mystically? We’re trying to say that statistics are extremely important when making your picks, but you need to be careful that you don’t overvalue the wrong statistics. Let’s break this down into a few individual things to look for.

Accuracy of Statistics

The absolute most important thing that you have to check when working with statistics is whether or not they are accurate. Now, we are not saying that every number you get off the web you have to take out your calculator and check it out. What you can do instead is make sure to get your data from a reputable source. There are plenty of data sites out there that you can use that pride themselves on their accuracy.

We highly recommend using one of these sites or using something like ESPN for your numbers. Even then, you should still spot check a few of the numbers just in case. Make sure that someone somewhere isn’t about to lose their job for making a terrible stats error. You won’t be able to get your bets reversed by a sportsbook by telling them that you accidentally used bad stats.

Stats that Matter

You’ve got to use your noggin and make sure that you are only using statistics that mean something. There are a lot of stats that sound great on Sportscenter, but don’t mean much when it comes to betting. It’s entertaining to hear that a certain team hasn’t beaten the other team when they play on Thursdays for the last 12 years.

Does this actually have anything to do with how good either team is? It certainly does not. Unless they were the exact same teams every year and there is something special about Thursdays (like they make them play in different types of skates), then this stat is worthless. You’d be amazed at how many bettors love to latch onto these “fun facts” and end up convincing themselves to make a bet they otherwise wouldn’t.

Make sure that a stat is useful before you try and use it. How do you know if it’s useful? Ask yourself if the stat will have a direct effect on the game. How many goals the goalie has allowed on average that year? Great stat. How the teams did in their last five meetings right before they got a bunch of new players? Probably not so great. We know you’re smart kids. You just have to take a few minutes and assess the stat and decide how to proceed.

Line Matchups

Ice hockey is a game that is played in lines. A line is a group of players that are sent onto the ice together at the same time. The lines can be changed throughout the game and will match up against the different lines of the opposing team. Why is this important? Well, to understand how well a team is going to perform, you need to understand how their different lines work together. You also need to understand how their lines are going to match up against the opposing team’s lines.

You’re looking for line matchups that are going to create favorable scoring opportunities. This sort of analysis allows you to go deeper into the team’s roster and find the situations where potential goals are possible.

Looking for Value

While the rest of these strategies and tips are important, they all pale in comparison to this tip. Calling this a tip might even be doing it an injustice. This is actually the basis of all successful sports betting. The secret to winning long-term is being able to identify bets that have value. Sometimes this will mean betting on teams that you think are going to lose and sometimes it means passing on betting on teams that you think are going to win.

The concept can be tough to wrap your head around initially but once you do you will officially be on another level. Sports betting and NHL betting have nothing to do with what your win-loss record is. They have everything to do with what your return on investment in. Basically, you can have a “losing” record and still be crushing your bets and making a ton of money. On the flip side, you could have a “winning” record and be losing money and be a terrible sports bettor.

This is a concept that you MUST understand before you plan to go any further. To help you out, we’ve put together a fully dedicated sports betting guide on how to find value in your bets. It’s intensive, but it’s crucial to your success in the industry.

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Putting it All Together

You’ve now got all of the tools you need to get started building out your winning NHL betting strategy. Are these all the things you should be looking at when you bet? No. What we were aiming to do here is give you an idea of where your mind should be going when you’re looking to place an NHL bet. These are the same things that our team of experts uses on a daily basis to make their picks. Mix these strategies with hard work and effective research, and you’re on your way to being a profitable NHL bettor.

Remember, at the end of the day that all of these strategies revolve around finding value in all of your bets. If you can successfully find value, you’re going to be making a lot of money every NHL season.

How to Bet on Hockey

Hockey betting in the United States is far from the most popular sport in the land, but ever since the gambling capital of the country – Las Vegas – got a team in, the Golden Knights, in 2017, interest in hockey betting markets has picked up.

Betting on hockey is similar in concept to that of baseball lines, as hockey is predominantly a money line based sport with standardized point spread prices of -1.5 goals – like baseball is with -1.5 runs. Hockey betting odds are offered at every sportsbook, so finding the game you like is never tough, and if money lines aren't your thing, over-under totals in hockey are offered on every game as well, among other wagering potential.

Understanding Hockey Odds

As a money line based sport with so many similarities to baseball betting, understanding hockey odds follows a similar format. For example, you can have a game between the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins where the Penguins would be listed as a -165 favorite on the money line. That means that a bettor would have to put up $165 to win $100 if they were to back Pittsburgh, and the total for that game would be somewhere in the range of 5.5 to 6.5 goals.

One key difference from baseball betting does focus on the point spread – otherwise known as the “puck line” in hockey odds – as the -1.5 number still offers juicy plus-money odds if it connects. That same Pittsburgh line might be +150 range on the -1.5 puck line, but the key difference comes with a fundamental strategical way in which hockey is played. A team that's losing a game late in the 3^rd period will pull their goalie at some point with a minute or two left, giving the team that's leading an easy shot at adding another goal. That suggests that puck line bets do hit more often then run line bets do in baseball as it's not like the fielders come off the field in baseball late in games. Something to definitely consider when you are learning how to understand all the nuances with hockey odds.

NHL Future Wagers

Future wagers in NHL betting exist in a similar format to that of other professional sports offered at sportsbooks, as outcomes like who will win it all, who will win their division/conference, and season point totals are offered for hockey. Season point total wagers are essentially what other sports would classify as season wins – over-under props – but with the point system in the standings for hockey being a little different, a point-based system is just an all around better way to do things on the ice.

Stanley Cup futures odds are the ones that are posted the earliest leading up to an upcoming season, and the ones that are discussed frequently. However, with hockey being a sport where numerous upsets happen each year during a playoff campaign, and random luck being more of a factor in the sport then in other professional sports, staying away from the favored teams in the futures market isn't necessarily a bad idea in hockey. It's not like the favorites don't win, but considering the team that wins the President's Trophy – awarded to the team that finishes the regular season with the most points in the league, ie the best team – eight times in a 33-year existence, and only twice from 2002-03 through 2018-19, going a bit down the odds board in the futures market can be lucrative.

How to Bet the Stanley Cup Final

Stanley Cup Finals betting is one where bettors can treat the final series like that of the World Series or NBA Finals whereas they can look towards taking action on the series price – which team will hoist the trophy – and/or a game-by-game approach too. Stanley Cup Finals odds for the series price will change after each game is completed, so bettors should keep that in mind as well should their desired team fall short in Game 1 of the series. More of an underdog price on said team will be posted then, but there is always the fear of said team winning Game 1 and missing out on the pre-series line if you are to wait. It's a delicate balance that gets easier with experience.

NHL playoff odds throughout the spring are ones that offer plenty of wagering opportunities, and ones that culminate in the Stanley Cup Final line getting posted. Bettors with future wagers still live at that point have a question about “hedging or not” at that point – hedging would be to take the St Louis Blues to win the Finals when a bettor already has a previously placed bet on their opponent in the Finals – to assure themselves profit, but again, that's another situation that can be more easily addressed with betting experience.

How to Bet the NHL Playoffs

Betting the NHL playoffs can be done on a game-by-game or series price basis, and there are even prop wagers related to which team will win in how many games, and how many games a series will have.

With a full season of regular season data already in the stable by the time the NHL betting lines are released for the playoffs, bettors have to be aware that these numbers that the oddsmakers put out for their hockey betting lines during the postseason are theoretically as sharp as they've been all year. Sure, there are still things like luck and bounces to consider that seemingly derail at least one of the NHL's best teams early on in the playoffs, but NHL hockey odds during the playoffs need to be dissected thoroughly if success is to be had.

And for those bettors that live for the underdogs pulling off upsets, going for bigger scores on the hockey point spreads in the alternative lines and other variations of hockey odds that are offered during that time of year can prove to be bankroll boosters as well. Below are some of the best betting sites to begin your NHL betting career.

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Popular Hockey Wagers

Given that it is the least bet North American professional sports league in the general US betting market, NHL odds tend to have limited popularity outside of the normal money line and total wagers. Puck lines are an extension of money lines in theory, so that's another popular betting option, but in a general sense, hockey bettors prefer to stick the staples of who will win the game (money lines) and how many total goals will be scored (totals) with their wagers on a given night in the NHL schedule.

NHL Money Line

Exactly as it sounds as it's a wager on who a NHL bettor believes will win the game outright. Money line prices are listed in the normal odds range that they are in any other sport where you'll see a team listed as a -140 favorite going up against a team that's listed as a +120 underdog. No spreads are needed to be worried about here as you just want to be backing the team that gets the win in the regular sense of the word.

NHL Over-Under

For years hockey totals were consistently released as a 5.5 number, but as scoring increased league-wide in the latter half of the 2010's, totals numbers have found a more consistent home at 6 and 6.5 for games on a nightly basis. All that means is whether or not you believed the combined score between the two teams will be over or under the posted total, it's as simple as that. For example, a game between Washington and Philadelphia that finishes 4-3 would cash an 'over' ticket on a total of 6.5, while a final score of 4-2 would see 'under' bettors smiling.

NHL Puck Line

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The puck line has already been mentioned here, as it's a point spread for a hockey game that is almost always marked as a +/- 1.5 for the game. All that means is whether or not you believe the favorite on the money line will win the game by two goals or more (-1.5), or if the underdog will keep it a one-goal contest or even potentially win (+1.5). With the way goalies get pulled late in games for teams trailing, puck line bets can be a bit tricky to have consistency with – especially if you are backing the underdog at +1.5 – but at the same time, the underdog price (plus money) that's offered on the favorite to win by 2+ goals can be very rewarding.

NHL Grand Salami

The Grand Salami in hockey wagering is really simple and it's a great way to have action on every single game on a given night. Simply put, the “salami” is an over-under number posted on the total goals scored in all the games for a particular day. These numbers are based on how many games are being played that day and what the individual totals are for those contests. On a night where you've got six NHL games going all with individual totals of 6.5, the Grand Salami number would be somewhere around 40 total goals (6.5 X6 is 39).

2020 Grand Salami Betting Results

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Bettors decide whether or not to go over or under that number and individual over-under results for those games don't matter, just the total number of goals scored across the league.

How do I Bet Hockey Parlays

Hockey parlays are the same as parlays in any other sport, as bettors combine at least two selections on the money line, total, puck line, or any combination of that and potentially other wagers, to try and score on a bigger payout. Perhaps there are two huge favorites listed at -265 or higher on the money line and bettors who are confident those particular teams will win but don't want to risk nearly $265 to win just $100 can parlay the two options together to get a price something much closer to even money to mitigate their risk or dollar value put up.

Again, all selections within a parlay have to be graded as winners (or pushes) for a parlay to be considered a winner – ones with pushes are graded at a reduced price as if that game wasn't even there – and that's the trade off with using this form of a wager.

What are NHL Prop Bets

Proposition bets in hockey can include a wide range of topics, from team results in a particular game/season to individual player statistical results in a specific game. For instance, every game will have individual prop bets available for the bigger names on the teams involved for things like goals scored, assists earned, points earned, and even combination bets of statistical categories like that.

Fantasy players that live and die by these individual statistical outputs with their fantasy teams each day/week will likely naturally gravitate towards these plays, but they can be a tough nut to crack long term given the randomness that the game of hockey brings overall.

NHL Live Betting and In-Game Wagering

In-game wagering for hockey is another betting avenue that's gained plenty of traffic in recent years and rightfully so. More and more live betting options are being offered on a wider scale at sportsbooks all across the country no matter what shop you use, and hockey betting is no different. From the first game of the season to the NHL playoffs, and all the way through the Stanley Cup Finals, in-game wagering can be an important tool in the tool box of a hockey bettor.

All sorts of in-game odds are offered for pretty much any particular hockey game, so if it's a Saturday Night with the featured Hockey Night in Canada games on, or those novelty outdoor games like the Winter Classic or Stadium Series rivalry games, there is never a shortage of live betting opportunities for hockey bettors to sink there teeth into. Heck, with the explosion of in-game wagering in the industry on the whole, even big time amateur hockey events like the Frozen Four or IIHF World Junior Championships offer plenty of in-game betting opportunities for hockey fans and bettors alike.

NHL Period Betting

Breaking down an individual hockey game through period betting is another betting avenue in the hockey marketplace that has gained plenty of traction in recent years, especially with the 1^st period betting odds on the money line and total getting more and more time devoted to content pieces.

All those are are individual money line prices for the 1^st period and the first period only, with over-under total numbers for the opening 20 minutes of play typically being set at 1.5 goals. If you believe a particular team is in a great spot to get off to a fast start, looking at backing them on the 1^st period ML and/or 'over' 1.5 1^st period goals is another way to diversify your portfolio on a particular game too.