Check out these 5 NHL betting Strategies on Unibet Canada
Every fan looks to find a “hack” to help them win their wagers.
Below are some of the best NHL betting strategies that you can take to help you win when you're betting on the NHL.
If you’re new to online betting we recommend you to check out our guide on how to bet on the NHL first.
Strategy #1 Check Who's in Net
One of the basic NHL betting strategies is to check which goalies will be playing that night for each team before making a bet. There used to be a time in the NHL when the top goaltenders in the league would play more than 70 games out of the 82-game season. That simply doesn't happen anymore.
This past season, the leading goaltender in terms of games played was Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators, who played in 67 games. Only five goalies played in at least 60 games this past season. Only 17 played in at least 50 games.
That means nearly half of all teams in the NHL had a second goalie who played roughly 30 games last year. That's a significant amount.
This doesn’t mean that all backup goaltenders are bad, but you might want to bet on teams differently depending on who's tending net. So, before you fully analyze a game and make your final betting decision, check to see who's going to be in goal for that game after the lineups are announced.
Strategy #2 Find Value with Road Teams
Sometimes, sportsbooks can overvalue home teams. There's no denying that home-ice advantage is a real thing. Unlike in other sports, there is an actual on-ice advantage to playing at home -- it means the team gets the last change, which allows them to set advantageous matchups with their lines before every faceoff.
Home-ice advantage really comes into play in the playoffs. But, in the regular season, it's not as strong. As such, you can find some really great value at time by betting on road teams.
Sportsbooks may set odds higher than normal for a team playing on the road versus playing at home. This is common in all sports, of course.
There are times, though, when the sportsbook may adjust the odds too much, giving you the opportunity to pounce on advantageous odds that are posted for a road team.
Remember, maximizing your odds helps you maximize the potential payout of all your bets, which is why this is among the best NHL betting strategies to follow.
Strategy #3 Look at Recent Performance
The first thing many bettors do when they analyze NHL games is look at each team's overall record. And while the overall record is a decent indicator of how good a team is, it doesn’t really tell you how well they might play in an individual upcoming game.
The better analysis to do is to look at each team's recent performance. NHL teams go hot and cold throughout the season, which is very demanding. Even the worst teams in the league go on hot streaks at times, and even the best teams go on cold streaks.
What you want to do is get in on the action when a team is either on a hot streak (and bet on them) or on a cold streak (and bet against them). By doing this analysis, you may be able to get some advantageous odds by betting on a subpar team that's just playing good hockey at that particular moment.
Strategy #3 Repeat Bets
Along these lines, don't be afraid to keep placing the same bet over and over again until it loses. Using this NHL betting strategy, you might place a bet on the over for a game that involves the Nashville Predators. For their next game, you might do the same -- and for the next few games after that.
NHL teams tend to be very trendy and streaky throughout the NHL season, just because of how rigorous, long and demanding it is. In other words, it's not all that out of the ordinary for a particular outcome to be repeated many times over in a row.
So, just because the Predators went over the total in their previous game, for instance, doesn’t mean they'll play in a lower-scoring game ahead. The same thing goes for a team that's on a winning streak or a losing streak. You can take advantage of a string of wins this way by repeating your bet during these types of streaks.
Strategy #5 Analyze the Schedule
One of the most effective NHL betting strategies is to analyze the team's schedule throughout the year. What you are looking for are three things:
- A period of time when the team has to face tough travel
- A period of time when the team won't get a lot of rest
- A period of time when the team will face a lot of other good teams
Each of these three situations can provide you opportunities to bet against the teams that face them. For example, a team may be forced to travel multiple thousands of miles while going on a road trip over a five-day period. This could cause them to be jet lagged, tired and not perform as well as they usually do.
The same thing goes for a period of time when they'll play a lot of games in a short period of time. If a team plays five games over an eight-day stretch, that's certainly not a lot of time to rest and recover. A lot of injuries can happen in these situations, and players may just not have their normal energy level.
You can use this information to bet against teams who are in any of these three situations. And you can also do the exact reverse. If a team is going on a road trip with not a lot of travel, if they're going to get a lot of rest, or if they're playing a bunch of bad teams in a row, you could win money by betting on them.
The NHL season is long and brutal at times, and the nature of the schedule itself provides betting opportunities.
If you liked our NHL betting strategies check out these 10 free NHL betting tips.