Betting Strategies: NHL Playoff Odds, Picks and Betting Lines
It is no secret that the American hockey season truly begins to heat up come the NHL playoffs. Some fans will even forgo most of the NHL regular season schedule and only begin to watch when the first-round of playoffs begin.
This strategy guide will give you the necessary information to make better bets on the NHL Playoffs.
NHL Standings for Teams with the Most Stanley Cups:
- Montreal Canadians 23
- Toronto Maple Leafs 13
- Detroit Red Wings 11
- Boston Bruins 6
- Chicago Blackhawks 6
- Edmonton Oilers 5
- Pittsburgh Penguins 5
- New York Islanders 4
- New York Rangers 4
- St. Louis Eagles 4
Betting on the NHL can provide the player with some difficulties, as the league itself is very competitive. In the NHL Playoffs, the competition becomes even tighter. However, due to this fact the player will also find high odds in the NHL, even on the favorites.
The playoffs are played in series of seven games. The odds in NHL Playoffs will almost always be over +100 for each team. Though it can be hard to predict these games, there are sites that do extensive research and offer picks resulting from their information.
One site that provides lots of good information for betting on the NHL is Oddsshark, where you can find NHL score predictions, public betting percentages and even computer-generated results for each game., among other information.
NHL Betting Lines
The betting lines in the NHL will be the exact same as the NFL betting lines. You will find three different markets, which represent the majority of all NHL bets made.
The markets that make up the NHL betting line:
NHL Moneyline: This is the go-to bet for many bettors as it is the simplest bet to place on NHL games. All the player needs to do to win this bet is correctly predict who will win the game. The odds will normally still be high for NHL moneyline bets, so you can make these bets even on the favored teams with a good potential payout. Starting lineups, where the game is played and past matchups between the teams are key stats to look for when betting on the NHL moneyline.
NHL moneyline betting on SugarHouse Sportsbook
Total Points Over/Under: This market gives the player a total number of goals for each NHL game. The player needs to correctly predict whether the actual number of goals scored will be higher or lower than the sportsbook's number. NHL scores have been increasing in recent years. The style of NHL games has changed with a smaller emphasis on strength and power, to a higher focus on speed and agility. The average in the first half of the 2018-19 season was 6.1 goals per game. Starting goalies and their save percentages are thekey thingsto look for.
NHL Puck Line: The puck line is the same as betting against the spread in the NFL. The main difference here is that the spread between two NHL teams will remain at 1.5 almost exclusively due to the league’s competition, even more so when the NHL playoffs arrive. The main premise of betting on the NHL puck line is that one team will have 1.5 added (the underdog) to its final score and one team will have 1.5 subtracted (the favorite) from its final score.
There are also markets allowing the player to combine two of these NHL betting line markets together. Obviously, you cannot combine the puck line and the moneyline, but you can take either one of them combined in the bet slip with the over/under.
There are usually also varying point totals and puck line with odds to match. For example, if you are given 5.5 on the betting line there will usually also be lines for 4.5, 6.5, 7.5 and so on. The safer that your bet appears, the lower the odds will be.
Trends for NHL Playoff betting:
Home teams in the Stanley Cup Finals have won 68% of games since 2006
Teams who win the first game in a playoff series will sweep the opponent 17.8% and will win in game five 20.5% of the time.
The Edmonton Oilers have the best series-winning records, advancing in 68.6% of playoff series
Teams playing at home in NHL playoffs have won 55% of the time since 2006
In the past four seasons leading up to 2018, teams win regular-season series against an opponent beat that same opponent in a playoff series 68% of the time.
Betting lines for the NHL also have many sites offering their free predictions on these markets. Making the best use of these sites is essential for winning bets on NHL games. However, much of the statistical and predictive information is available in our betting center.
Making the Best NHL Picks
Picking which team will win an NHL game is a very difficult task. Like other American sports leagues, there is so much talent that even the team that is last in the NHL standings can beat the first-place team.
We have previously mentioned oddsshark for NHL betting, however they are certainly not the only ones. There are dozens of sites that offer free NHL predictions including major sites like the NHL section at ESPN.
These sites will the list the NHL games to be played that night and give their full analysis on which bets you should make based on their own research and information.
Some of the things you should look for on NHL predictions sites:
Wide variety of games
Listed odds from multiple sports betting sites
List of meaningful trends for each game
Correct and relevant information
Strong picks and clear reasons for making them
Good records of experts giving the advice
Predictions and picks for multiple markets
Many NHL predictions sites will have some of these things but finding one who meets all the criteria on one site can be a difficult task. There are other things that these sites can offer as an added bonus for the player.
Things such as NHL schedules and standings, NHL scores and especially live NHL streams.
Many of these sites offer their information for free, however paid experts also exist. Make sure to do your own research on these experts (although most will happily boast their stats) to see if its worth the price they ask. The best advice would always be to start with free sites at first.
Some of the best handicappers for NHL picks (by ROI):
Jeff Hochman: W/L |235-148| ROI 18.34%
Alex Smart: W/L |230-170| ROI 13.38%
Frank Sawyer: W/L |142-99| ROI 11.99%
Cole Faxon: W/L |99-80| ROI +11.65%
Mark Wilson: W/L |133-107| ROI +9.68%
The more you bet on sports, the more that you will realize that winning is not really everything. Of course, you need to win to make money, but look at the records of the experts above. The best win-loss record sits at just over 60%, which is shockingly good for sports betting.
The most important thing for any player to remember is to find good value in the odds.
Be sure to look for games where the odds do not entirely match up with a team’s chances of winning. With NHL games this can be difficult but there are always opportunities to be found, these NHL experts are great examples of that.
