An extremely busy NHL season, with more than 2,500 games overall, implies a good opportunity to make money in the long term for sports bettors. The betting options are numerous, too: you can choose from traditional Moneylines, Totals, and Spreads, called Puck Line in hockey betting, while some bookies can offer you a range of Props that you can find lucrative, too.
In this guide, we will reveal five working strategies that can help you to boost your bankroll and know how to find the most efficient solutions for wagering on NHL. No tactic is universal so your job is to determine which method or their combination will be the wisest for a particular situation.
Mind the exhaustion
Every hockey game requires much stamina from every participant. The rules involve shifting the lines regularly, but all team members invest a significant amount of energy, and the weariness piles up as the season progresses. Besides, the schedules are very tight, so it is a pretty typical situation when the same team is supposed to play twice on the same or two consecutive days.
It is one of the things sports bettors must pay attention to: even though the team’s stats are superior and they show their best in one game, the following match might go less smoothly for them, so before making any wagering decision, take your time to check the schedule. There can also be a series of road games, when a team has to travel to participate in an away match which also involves weariness from flights.
So, don’t rely much on teams that have the busiest schedules and do not have enough spare time, and don’t invest in them even if they typically tend to perform as big favorites.
Puckline thoughts
A spread point number given in hockey is a flat 1,5 goals, which makes it easier to predict the bet’s outcome than, for instance, in football betting. Unlike the Moneyline, Puck Line usually offers you much better odds on favorites, but you must not bet mindlessly on -1,5 Puck Line, unless a team is a heavy favorite. Puck Line betting is usually profitable when one team is a heavy favorite, which is not a regular thing for hockey and the wager might work out if you bet on underdogs in this case.
One the other hand, empty netters are quite typical in hockey matches, so if they count in your bet (check your bookmaker’s conditions beforehand), you risk losing your +1,5 Puck Line wager if favorites manage to make this goal in the last minutes of the game.
Thus, before wagering on spread, you must take into account several factors: the weariness of teams we have mentioned before; if the underdog is capable of avoiding a late goal, and if a favorite is not significantly stronger.
Totals statistics
One of the most popular NHL betting options is Totals, so you have plenty of variants to make money on Over/Under bets. NHL is special in terms of their matches results because there are no obvious favorites and severe underdogs, so it is often easier to predict the total number of goals scored, than to determine which opponent is more superior.
One of the simplest working strategies in terms of Totals is a wager on Total over 5,5. If we look at statistics, we will find out that a typical NHL game includes about 5-6 roll-ins; to be precise, the average number is approximately 5,8. If you find the odds of at least -125 for a Total Over 5,5, your strategy will work out in long distance run: this will be a good combination of decreased risks, bankroll management and gradually increasing winnings. However, you must analyze the scoring statistics of both opponents: mind at least recent five games and don’t rush to make big wagers in the beginning of the season before you can estimate the players.
Betting on Totals in Live mode
Sports betting experts claim live betting is more profitable and the strategies appear to be more precise when you are aware of the events on the field and can monitor every little change in real time mode. Here we offer two betting strategies, for the second and the third periods.
To make a right bet on Total Over 1,5 in the second period, you must make sure the game qualifies for the following criteria: there were less than two goals in the first period, and more than nineteen shots on goal. It would be perfect if both teams tend to score the most of their goals in the second period. In this case, you have a big chance to win your bet and if you apply such a strategy regularly, it will bring big profit at the end of the season.
Wagering on Totals in the third period is more intriguing, as the underdogs will try to at least even the score and the overall performance might become more aggressive and resultative, especially if the score difference does not exceed two goals.
Pick the team wisely
The more popular a team is, the less juice sportsbooks offer for wagering on it. Betting trends always adjust to the crowds, because they compile the majority of income for a sportsbook. Well-known squads and particular players attract most beginning bettors and people who take part in sports wagering occasionally and for fun exclusively.
One of the strategies, approved by multiple handicappers, including such big names in the betting industry like Jeff Hochman implies betting against the crowd in some sense: a bettor must find an unpopular team with competitive odds, but with high chances to perform better than oddsmakers and most fans expect. If you rely on a couple of such teams, you might fulfill your bankroll pretty fast, but remember to analyse if the risk is worth it. It is not a strategy you must stick to if you just begin to get acquainted with the betting industry and it is more about luck than any other tactic.