Your Complete Guide to NHL Betting
Sep 28, 2022
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Hockey is an interesting sport to bet on. It's fast-paced, unpredictable, and full of personality. The NHL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America and offers a wide variety of team and player options for their bettors. But before you make your first wager, it's essential to understand how hockey betting works to maximize your profit potential over time! In this guide, we'll cover everything from money line bets to proposition bets so you can get started betting on NHL games right away:
Betting the Money Line
The money line is a relatively simple NHL betting type to understand, so long as you’re familiar with the standard sports betting terminology. The money line is a measurement of how much a team must win to earn your bet. This can be either positive or negative: if you think that the Boston Bruins will win their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but not by more than two goals, you will wager on them at -120 (a $100 bet returns $80).
If it sounds like everything is pretty straightforward here—you just put down your hard-earned cash and wait for results—some nuances aren’t always so obvious. For example, there might be some late scratches from one side or another due to injury; this could affect whether they win by more than two goals after all. Or maybe there’s an injury on one of their players who was already struggling in his own right—that could swing things in favour of his opponent! Also, remember that these odds can vary depending on where you place your bet and what sportsbook site offers them best; one site may set different prices based on market demand, while another might simply be trying to attract new customers with more favourable odds (or vice versa).
Puck Line Bets
Puck line bets are another popular option, as they offer a high degree of flexibility.
As the name suggests, puck line bets allow you to wager on the spread in games where it's unavailable. If your favourite team is playing an opponent you feel will beat by one or more goals, then you can place a puck line bet on them to cover various spreads (1-2 goals, 2-3 goals).
The odds for each of these spreads are calculated based on how far away from zero the game's current score is, so if Team A leads by one goal in their game against Team B and Team C is up two goals against Team D with 10 minutes left in regulation time, then according to our formula above we would have:
1 goal difference between Teams A and B -105/-115 (these numbers represent what you would pay per $100 wager)
2 goal difference between Teams C and D -130/+110
If any of these numbers look unfamiliar to you, it may be helpful to know that values over 100 represent an underdog (-110 means 10/11) while values below 100 represent favourites (+100 means 1/1). In other words: If a team has a value greater than 100 (in this case +110), then they're expected to lose; if they have a value less than 100 (in this case -115), then they're expected/predicted to win.
Totals and Over/Under Bets
A total, or over/under bet, is a wager on the total number of goals scored in a game. These bets are often made before the start of the match, with most sportsbooks offering totals from 2.5 to 5.0 goals per team.
For example: If you believe that two teams will combine for four goals (2+2), you would wager “Over 4” and place your bet accordingly. Similarly, if you think there will only be three goals scored and no more than 3, then “Under 3” would be your choice here as well.
Propositions, Outrights, and Future Bets
Propositions are the most common type of bet and are referred to as "puck line" or "moneyline" bets. The premise is simple: you're betting on the outcome of a game. For example, if you think that San Jose will beat Columbus in their next matchup, you can place a straight-up bet on them to win (and then cash out your ticket when they do).
Outright wagers are similar to props in that they're bets on specific events within a game or series (for example: "Will there be more than 3 goals scored by either team?"), but there are some critical differences between them. Outrights allow players to make more complex wagers based on multiple factors—like what happens over several periods—instead of just one outcome, like with props.
Future Bets allow players who don't want everything riding on one particular event still have ways at play here; instead of betting whether something will happen or not happen now, these sportsbooks offer odds for future events that won't occur until sometime after today's games have ended.
Learn how to bet on hockey before you place your first wager.
The trick to winning at sports betting is understanding the odds, which means you'll need to learn how to read them and place a wager. If you're new to the world of NHL betting, here's how it works:
Odds are expressed as a percentage. For example, -150 indicates that for every $1 you bet on one team, you'll win $1.50 if they win (and lose $0 if they lose). The minus sign separates the two numbers—the first indicates how much money will be won or lost per dollar wagered, while the second shows what kind of risk exists in terms of odds.* The line (or “line”) refers to both sides' predicted margin of victory in any game.* Oddities such as PK shootout wins & losses can be found beneath each team's total score in parentheses after their respective totals.* The plus/minus column shows what teams have been giving up (or scoring) compared with other teams at a specific venue—this is used when trying to determine value based on where teams played before being matched up against each other.* A percentage next to either side in the spread means that one side has better odds than another; this could mean anything from 5% better up to 100% better!
Conclusion
We hope we've helped you better understand how to bet on hockey. If you have any questions, ask us in the comments below!
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