How to Bet on Hockey Games
Bet on Hockey Games
Hockey is the Canadian national pastime and national passion, and all newborns are given their first set of skates as they leave the hospital.
Yet America’s greatest sports moment was the Miracle on Ice – the win over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. The last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup was Montreal in 1993. An American team has won hockey’s biggest prize every year since.
And as good as Canada and the United States are at hockey, on the Olympic stage Russia, Germany, Sweden, and Finland have all won medals in the last two men’s tournaments.
Hockey is a worldwide passion, as seen by the 18 different nationalities represented in the NHL. And betting on hockey, and the Stanley Cup playoffs, is some of the best sports betting anywhere on the planet.
NHL Season Structure
The NHL drops the puck on an 82-game regular-season schedule in October. That’s 41 games on the road, 41 games at home, and a total of 1,271 games in the league each season.
The 31 NHL teams (going to 32 with the addition of the Seattle Kraken) play the majority of their games inside their division. Then outside the division but inside the conference. And finally, there is a home-and-home two-game series against each of the teams in the opposite conference. So every season, each of the NHL’s teams makes a visit to all of the league’s arenas.
A total of sixteen teams – eight from each conference – make the playoffs and the right to play for the Stanley Cup, the most prestigious trophy in sports. Each of the playoff series is a best-of-seven, meaning that it is possible for the two Stanley Cup Finalists to play an additional 28 playoff games on top of the 82 regular season games already played.
The season typically ends in mid-June.
Types of Single-Game Hockey Bets
The standard bet in hockey is a moneyline bet, which is just a straight win/loss bet and is the easiest of all bets to understand. The difference between the favorite and underdog is expressed in odds, and that’s what determines how much a winning bet pays.
Moneyline odds look like this:
- Colorado Avalanche (+115)
- Vegas Golden Knights (-135)
Vegas is the favorite in the game, and they will pay you $100 on a bet of $135. Broken down, you get 74 cents in winnings for every dollar wagered. However, Colorado is the underdog here, paying +115. That means that for a $100 bet, a win pays $115 in profit, or $1.15 for every dollar wagered.
There is no point spread in hockey, but there is a bet that does involve scoring margin. That is called the puck line. It works like a point spread in that the favorite must cover the spread, and the underdog is given the goals. Now it’s different in that the puck line is always 1.5 goals. And when adding in the 1.5 goals, either plus or minus, the odds paid out also change.
A puck line looks like this:
- Colorado Avalanche (+1.5, -225)
- Vegas Golden Knights (-1.5, +195)
Same game as above, but now that Colorado is getting 1.5 goals, they become the big favorite, only paying at -225. That means that in order to win $1, you must now wager $2.25. For the Golden Knights, since they must now win by at least two goals, a winning bet on them pays at +195. Thus, a $1 bet returns $1.95 in profit.
Just as with over/under bets in other sports, a totals bet on hockey is a bet on the total number of goals scored by both teams, and the winning team does not matter. You place a bet on whether the total number of goals will go over or under the posted line, and the odds on the board look like this:
- Colorado Avalanche (O 5.5, +100)
- Vegas Golden Knights (U 5.5, -120)
If you take the over on this game, it’s an even-money bet, and the magic number is six total goals. Once the goal tally hits six, you win your bet. On the other hand, if you take the under in this game, you’re playing -120 odds, and if the tally reaches six goals, you’ve lost your bet.
A couple of years ago, live betting was hard to find, even as it was becoming a more popular form of betting. However, today you can find it at almost every online sportsbook and betting app, as it has become the most exciting and interactive way to participate in sports betting.
Changing odds, newly offered bets, buyout options, and all at the speed of hockey – a sport where goals, penalties, and power plays can happen at any moment, giving you new individual and team bets to place as the game progresses.
Because of the changing bets and the speed at which odds are updated, live betting is exclusively for online and mobile betting. It also comes with some of the fairest odds you’ll ever play since they are adjusted by computer and not by human bias.
If you’ve never bet on hockey before, be warned. You are going to love it. So much so that you may want to bet several hockey games at once and combine them into one parlay bet. Go for it.
Unlike football and basketball, which pay parlays out on a fixed betting scale, hockey parlays are based on the odds of the bets that you play. That makes them a better bet than football and basketball parlays, which don’t adequately compensate you for the risk you’re taking.
When you bet a three-team hockey parlay, and the teams you are betting are all underdogs, your possible payout goes up. If those three teams are favorites, naturally, your payout goes down.
But always keep in mind that in order to win a parlay, all of the different legs of the parlay must also win. Lose even one game, and the entire bet is lost.
Prop betting isn’t just for Super Bowl Sunday anymore. You can find prop bets on all sports, on almost all games, and that includes all of the hockey games that are played from October through June each and every season.
Hockey props come in two main categories – team props and player props. For team propositions, you can wager on the first goal scored, goals by period, over/under on shots and penalties, and any kind of stat that can be compared head-to-head between the two teams.
Player props can ask if a specific player will score in a game, over/under on a player’s goals, assists, or points, and the over/under on saves by a goalie. You can also bet on player-vs-player prop bets, which will compare goalies and star goal-scorers in head-to-head matchups.
Futures betting is also big in hockey, and you can place a wager on the next Stanley Cup champion as soon as the current Stanley Cup champion is crowned. There are also team futures bets on winning the division, making the playoffs, and winning the President’s Trophy by finishing the season with the best record in the NHL.
Player futures bets involve the winner of certain trophies, like the Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP) and Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs). You can also wager on the winner of the Art Ross Trophy (most points scored), Vezina Trophy (best goalkeeper), and Calder Memorial Trophy (best rookie).
Hockey Betting Strategies
It’s important to know that in hockey, more than any other team sport, the difference between the best team in the league and the worst team in the league is small. It’s why a team like St. Louis could go from the worst team in the league in January 2019 to the Stanley Cup champions by June. A hot goalie, good health, and found chemistry can turn anyone in the league into a contender.
So take a look at underdogs when picking your bets. Hockey players are the toughest athletes on the planet, and almost every week, you hear about someone having his ear stitched in place so he can play in the third period. But injuries do take their toll, and especially on short rest. So know the injuries, and you have a betting edge.
Special teams are also a crucial part of hockey. Study each team’s power play and penalty-killing units, and know if any of those regular pieces are missing because of injury. A good penalty-killing unit combined with a hot goalie can be all it takes to win a game and win a series.
Where to Bet on Hockey
No matter where you are placing your bets, hockey is available. But not all sportsbooks will carry all of the available prop bets for the NHL, international hockey leagues, the Olympics, and the rest of the hockey being played around the world. So look around and make sure you find one that does before you commit your money to anyone.
And if you can, find more than one sportsbook that meets that need in variety. Of course, most of the odds you’ll play will be the same from sportsbook to sportsbook. But sometimes, there will be differences, and any advantage you can find is worth exploiting. For example, if you like playing a team at +125, you’ll really like them at +135.
Finally, shop around for the best bonus offer that is available. You will see sportsbooks that give sign-up bonus money. In addition, there will be risk-free bets, deposit match bonuses, and free bet offers. Dig into the details of each and see if the terms and conditions meet the type of betting you typically do.
If a sportsbook offers you $1,000 in deposit match bonuses but requires $5,000 in wagers over 30 days to unlock the bonus, and you bet $10 a day, that’s not a bonus offer for you. However, if you’re wagering $200-$300 a day, suddenly the potential to win that free $1,000 is in play, and that’s a sportsbook worth considering.
Bottom line, just as you will do before picking which hockey team to bet, research the many sportsbooks that are available to find that one that gets your business.
Sports Betting How To Guide
How Money Line Works?
Moneyline betting is by far the easiest way to place a sports wager. There are no point spreads to parse, no garbage-time free throws to ruin your betting day, and no last-minute meaningless touchdowns to take you from a winner to a loser.
How to Bet Odds
When we, as sports fans, learned our multiplication tables, we aced the number 7. Seven, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 were easy because we all watched football on the weekends. Multiplication by sevens, then add a three, a six after a missed PAT.
How to Bet on NFL Games
Baseball is America’s pastime, but football is America’s crazed passion, with its weekly schedule of games, millions of television viewers across the country and the world, and the billion-dollar stadiums that serve as Sunday cathedrals in 32 American cities.
What is the Spread?
If you are a golfer or have ever played on a bowling team, think of a point spread like a handicap. It is a way for two teams of differing abilities to play each other on equal footing. The better team, and the favorite in the game, gives a certain amount …
