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Betting Guide
In this article I’m going to cover a very simple topic – where to bet NHL Games.
There are a lot of options when it comes to betting on NHL games and a lot of decisions to be made when deciding where to bet on games in the NHL.
It can range from basic bets to advanced bets and there can be a variety of different prop bet options as well.
I’m going to focus on the more basic options while covering some advanced NHL game betting options, then let you know the most trustworthy online sportsbooks to bet at.
Where To Bet NHL Games:
If you’re looking to bet NHL games, I’m going to make the assumption you haven’t really bet online before as it’s a basic request. Therefore I’m going to suggest books for you based on:
– Ease of depositing and withdrawing. That way you don’t have to worry about getting money in and out of the site.
– Trustworthy. Sportsbooks who have been around forever and who I’d personally trust with my life savings.
– Variety of bets. Ones that cover the basic bets as mentioned above but also offer a bit of variety.
With that said I’ll break it down by country:
America: The best American sportsbook is Bovada who hit all that criteria. They were formerly known as Bodog and have been around forever.
Canada: Sports Interaction are exclusively Canadian and as legit as they come. They sponsor the National Lacross League in Canada as well as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. These guys are LEGIT, offer a good variety of bets including futures and player props, and are extremely trustworthy.
Everywhere Else: I would personally suggest Bet365 Sportsbook.
What is betting on NHL games?
So betting on NHL games is pretty simple – you’re wagering money that one particular outcome will occur.
The most common bets for NHL games are the following:
Who Will Win: This is actually known as an NHL Money Line bet and is a very simple one – you’re betting on who will win the game. It won’t be 50/50 odds however – there will be favourites and underdogs and the amount you bet will differ based on who you bet.
These will include overtime and a shootout(unless specified otherwise) and standard odds may be something like $100 to profit $50 on a heavy favourite like the Washington Capitals, or $100 to profit $130 on an underdog such as the Arizona Coyotes. These bets are the simple ones – bet a team to win and if they do, you win.
Total Amount Of Goals: Known as the Over/Under – this is a common bet where you bet on the total amount of goals in a game. The average over/under line will be 5.5 goals but it can be as low as 4.5 goals or as high as 7 goals. You bet whether the game will go over or under the posted total and you win your bet if it’s correct.
If you bet over 6 goals and the final score is 4-2 then this is exactly 6 goals. It’s known as a “push” and you get your bet back and neither you or the sportsbook win. That’s not good for either of you which is why the online sportsbook will often do lines such as 5.5 goals so there has to be a winner – as there can’t be 5 and a half goals!
Over/under bets will include overtime/shootout unless specified otherwise.
Handicap Bets: Known as the NHL Puck Line this is similar to point spreads in NFL or NBA. However it’s a bit different in hockey due to how close games normally are. The puck line or handicap will be 1.5 goals most of the time and the underdog will be getting 1.5 goals while the favourite will be negative 1.5 goals.
Let’s say you take the favourite to win at -1.5 goals. That means the team needs to win by at LEAST 2 goals for you to win the bet. If you bet the Washington Capitals -1.5 vs the Arizona Coyotes and they won 3-2, then when you take the 1.5 away from the Capitals scoreline, they’ve only scored 1.5 goals(as 3-1.5=1.5) so you would have list your bet.
Variants On The Above: All of the above bets have common variants that you can make if you want to do a riskier or safer bet for different odds. These include:
3-Way Betting: Also known as regulation betting, you can bet that the Capitals will win in regulation as opposed to needing the overtime/shootout. If the game goes to overtime in that scenario, even if the Capitals win you lose your bet.
Alternative Puck Line: I mentioned the handicaps above but you can do various different handicap betting. For example in a random game I picked, the Leafs were -1.5 at 2.85 odds against the Flames at +1.5 at 1.44 odds. Maybe you think the Flames keep it close but are worried about an empty net so for worse odds – 1.21 – you could bet them +2.5.
Or maybe you think the Leafs will blow the Flames away. In that case you could bet them at -2.5 or -3.5 or as high as -5.5.
Alternative Totals: Similar to the puck line you can move the over/under line around. You can go as low as 2.5 goals and bet over or under 2.5 goals or go as high as 9.5 goals at most sportsbooks and bet whether it will be over or under that.
There are numerous other bets you can make in the NHL such as time of first goal, highest scoring period and player props but the above are the most common bets and are what you should begin with when betting on the NHL.
Common NHL Game Betting Questions:
What is the NHL puck line / handicap?
It’s similar to the NFL and NBA where you get a point spread. Unfortunately due to how close NHL games usually are, the odds are not the same. With NFL and NBA if you bet a point spread it’s usually at -110 or 1.90 odds either side. With NHL it will be something like -225 for the +1.5 and +185 for the -1.5 goals or 1.44 vs 2.85.
How to Bet on NHL Games:
Bovada: In the sportsbook section click “Hockey” on the sidebar. This will bring up all of the hockey games that day with NHL at the top. You can filter it to just NHL by clicking “All Hockey” in the top bar and choosing “NHL”. This lists all of the games and basic lines such as the puck line, money line and game totals. On the right side will be a “+17 bets” or “+22 bets” or whatever section for each game. Click that to see the full list of bets available on that particular game.
Sports Interaction: Click on “Hockey” on the left sidebar then on “NHL”. This lists all the NHL games that day with the basic puck line, money line and over/under odds. At the bottom right of each game will be a plus sign then a number ie: +29. Click on that and it will bring up all of the bets available for that particular game.
Bet365 Sportsbook: Click “Hockey” on left sidebar and then the NHL section is there listing game lines, 3 way, 1st period and all of the various props such as Highest Scoring Period or Time of 1st Score.
It’s most common to click on “Game Lines” and that will list all the NHL games that day and the basic lines available. Then on the right side will be a number and arrow key such as “33 >” and you would just click that to see all of the bets for that particular game.
NHL Game Betting Strategy:
I’ll quickly cover the three most common ones:
Money Line: Betting on a team to win. Make your mind up on this before seeing the odds, and then set a price that you’d bet it at. Then look at the odds and see if that is in line with what you thought. This’ll stop you from taking bets at low odds. I personally don’t bet on a team that is lower than 1.65 for example. You can think “I’d bet $100 to win $130 on the Coyotes” then look at the odds, see it’s only $100 to win $90 and decide not to bet.
Over/Under: So much goes into this but generally offense trumps all. Look for teams with hot offenses no matter the goalie and look carefully at the home/away split.
Puck Line: Never bet this. Seriously. More often than not you’re basically betting on an empty net goal or not and it’ll just send you crying to the bathroom more often than not.
NHL Betting Guide / Where to Bet NHL
All Hockey League Betting Guides
