When it comes to betting on the four major professional sports leagues in America, the NHL might generate the least action from sports bettors. However, at the same time it just might offer the most value when it comes to cashing-in on the games. The first step to get in on all the action is opening a betting account at one of the featured sportsbooks on the SportsBettingStats.com home page. The next step is understanding all the different ways you can bet on NHL games.
The most basic bet when it comes to hockey is the “money line”. Oddsmakers even-out NHL games by creating a betting line for the favorite that requires you to risk more than you win, while at the same time creating a betting line for the underdog where you can win more than your initial bet. When a sportsbook posts a money line for a NHL game it appears as follows:
Chicago Blackhawks +135 St. Louis Blues -150
In this scenario, the Blues are the favored team at home and you would have to risk losing $150 to collect $100 picking them to win. If you bet on Chicago as the underdog, you would stand to collect $135 on that same $100 wager if the Blackhawks win the game. The higher the money line the more lopsided the matchup, but in reality the favorite over the course of an 82-game NHL regular season only wins around 60 percent of the time. This in turn creates quite a few opportunities to cash-in on the favorable betting odds for underdogs.
The next most common bet on hockey is the “total line”. This is where you wager on the total combined score of a game staying “under” or going “over” a set betting line. One of the most unique aspects of the total line in hockey is that it is usually limited to being set at “5” or “5.5” especially when it comes to NHL games. This tends to simply things quite a bit when it comes to handicapping matchups based on the total line, but you also have to keep in mind that quite a few NHL games go to overtime which adds a goal to the final score.
An interesting combination of a point spread and money line when it comes to betting on hockey is the “puck line”. This is where the favored team gives the underdog 1.5 goals in what could be thought of as a point spread. The money line is then set accordingly and most times you can make more on your initial bet by going with the favored team. Using the same example above, the puck line for that game would read:
Chicago (+1.5) -215 St. Louis (-1.5) +185
These can be very lucrative bets if you have a very high confidence level that the favorite is going to win by two or more goals. The puck line also adds quite a bit of risk to picking underdogs plus the goal and a half.
One bet that is completely unique to hockey and more specifically the NHL is the Grand Salami. This type of hockey bet is a total line that is based on all the goals scored on that particular day’s schedule. Most times the Oddsmakers will simply add-up the all the total lines to set the number so for example if there were four games each having a total line of 5.5 that day’s Grand Salami would be 22. Sometimes it may be “shaded” one way or the other (21.5 or 22.5) to try and influence the betting public.
Just like the other major sports, you can also bet on “futures” when it comes to the NHL. These can be set for things such as winning the Stanley Cup title, winning a conference title and winning a division. Sportsbooks will also release series price futures once the playoffs get underway. In every one of these betting scenarios, you are wagering on a particular team to win that set future event based on its current betting odds.
SportsBettingStats.com is a great starting point when it comes to betting on hockey with a number of different articles covering some insider tips and strategies on how to generate a positive return on your investment.
