The National Hockey League is the most popular professional ice hockey league in the world. Not so long ago, the league was an association dominated by Canadian born athletes. Presently, there’s an increase of Hockey players born in Europe and America entering the sport, which has caused a growth in the popularity of the league in the world. As a result, we have an increase in bets placed on NHL games.
The Montreal Canadiens have won 24 Stanley cups, which makes them the most successful franchise in the NHL. The Toronto Maple Leaf comes up next with a total of 13 Stanley Cups and the Detroit Red Wings franchise with 11 Stanley Cup championships to their name.
Best NHL Bets for the Playoffs
League Series Betting
This means betting on the series winner in a unique bet that you can make during the NHL Playoffs.
Betting on the series winner is more preferable to most bettors than betting on individual games because you get more wager value out of each bet, and you can also more easily predict a series winner than who will win each game.
Betting On Individual Games
From the NHL Playoffs team lineups, you can bet on any individual game. The key bets are in the money line (to win), over/under, and puck lines, but in the playoffs, there are far more options for prop betting than in the regular season. Although, it should be noted that as the playoffs continue, the number of bets offered usually increases.
The types of betting you can participate in for individual games include:
Moneyline
In money line betting, a bettor is required to choose the team he/she believes will win the game and stake his/her money on them. It’s one of the most straightforward bets one can make on a sportsbook. A bettor wins this bet if the chosen team wins the game.
Over/Under
Over/Under bets are based on the combined points of both teams in a game. Here, a bettor places a bet on a specific point total and on whether the final score will go over that total or go under it. Hence, the term, Over/Under. The bettor wins if his pick is true and loses if it’s false.
Puck Line
The puck line involves the combination of the money line with a point spread that requires a team to win by two or more goals for a bettor to win the wager. With a negative value of -1.5, translating to the team being favored by 1.5 goals, and the positive value of +1.5, translating to the team being the underdog by 1.5 goals. The puck line provides a typical point spread like -1.5 on the favorite and +1.5 on the underdog. This form of betting provides the bettor with a potentially better payoff than usual, even with the high-risk considered.
Point Spread
A point spread is a scoring difference between the two teams involved. Although standard puck line spreads of -1.5/+1.5 are provided, point spreads of 2.5 and 3.5 are often offered to bettors as well. Due to the low-scoring style of ice hockey games, these spreads tend to have much lower bet payouts, but they have payouts all the same.
Betting During Regulation Time
In regulation time betting, bettors place wagers on spreads on half a puck, -0.5 on their favorites, and +0.5 on underdogs.
The favorite bettors win their wager when the favorite team wins in regulation time, and the underdog bettors succeed if the underdog team wins in regulation.
Our Suggestions for the Best Sportsbook Picks
Live Betting
Bettors want to control their gaming experience, and this includes being able to place a bet based on occurrences happening in a live game. So, the best sportsbooks would typically allow live betting. Live betting is a feature on sportsbooks that enables the player to place a bet on a game even while the game is still ongoing. This feature is also known as in-play.
Promotions
Promotions have overtime been seen as a big determinant in getting bettors to use a sportsbook. There are various promotions available on sportsbooks like a sign-up bonus, referral bonus, deposit bonus. Bonuses are not exclusive and can differ widely according to the sportsbook and brand. There are several types, and they boost your desire to play. When choosing a sportsbook, bettors are to consider the promotions.
Reputation
Make sure the sportsbook you choose is highly rated. It’s like choosing a restaurant; you should get to know what other users think of it. Consider reviews, news, and ratings. Consider whether the sportsbook has outstanding qualities, average, or poor, then decide whether you can deal with that. From terrible customer service to quick payouts, find out what the betting public thinks of that sportsbook before you choose to bet with them. Check out our best sportsbook picks.
NHL Strategy and Betting Tips
Know How to Read Odds
One of the best NHL betting tips, like in other sports, is learning to read the odds. Odds may seem like just numbers to sports betting newbies, but these numbers mean a lot because they can give you an idea of your betting return.
Let us take the odds below as an example:
Pittsburgh Penguins -150
Philadelphia Flyers +130
The odds here indicate that the favorite of the match is the Penguins, as depicted by the minus sign (-). In the same game, as indicated by the plus sign (+), the Flyers are the underdog. If a bettor stakes $100 on the Penguins and they win, the bettor will get a net return of $50. On the other hand, if the bettor stakes on the Flyers and they win, the bettor earns $130 from the wager of $100.
Follow all our NHL 2022 predictions for up to date information and odds for each game.
Be Disciplined
This might be the most crucial NHL betting tip, particularly if you are new to it. Big wins are thrilling, but you can’t play for a big win ALL the time. As a strategy, try not to stake more than 2% of your deposit. As a way to make up for your losses, you should also be cautious of progressive betting. If you can bet big, then do that by all means. However, if you cannot, leave the high stakes to the real high stake players. Bet responsibly.