NHL Betting Guide

Ice hockey is widely played worldwide, but the most famous league is based in North America. The National Hockey League has 32 teams — 7 of which are located in Canada and the rest 25 in the United States.

Since the NHL is one of the highest-budget leagues in the world, it is also a renowned market for sports bettors.

Guide To NHL Betting

The most significant event that fans of the NHL look forward to every year is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 2022's post-season began on May 2 and is scheduled to finish before June 30, 2022. But before placing a bet on the National Hockey League, bettors should consider some essential factors.

First, to participate successfully in NHL betting, players should know the ins and outs of the game. If a bettor doesn't know how the sport works or who the strongest teams and players are, placing a bet is almost a guaranteed loss. Players should do some prior research and know everything about the NHL and hockey in general. They should take multiple looks at the stats and evaluate which teams and goalies are this season's favorites.

Another vital step bettors should take to get the most out of their betting experience is to choose wisely which sportsbook app to use. Not all bookies offer a great betting experience, so it's recommended that punters check online reviews before signing up for a gambling site. Some bookies offer better odds than others, so going after these sites is essential.

Fans should check all prestigious gambling sites, look at the odds they are offering, and choose the best possible ones. Better odds mean more money in case bettors win a wager. Sportsbooks provide the same odds on their app and mobile betting site so punters can place bets on their smartphones and desktop PCs.

How To Bet On The NHL

Every NHL match includes numerous wagering options, and some of the most basic bets a betting app should offer are moneyline, puck line, totals, 60-minute line, parlays, and grand salami. And as the best sportsbooks offer so many betting options, it's guaranteed that NHL fans have plenty of choices.

Bettors can place their bets before or during the game, but wagering while the game occurs has some advantages and offers more chances to win. Fans can place a wager two minutes after the game has started until the game's closing minutes.

The regular season contains a total of 1,271 matches, so bettors have many opportunities to win. The playoffs to end the season is where teams battle it out for The Stanley Cup, which is always a hugely popular wagering opportunity.

The 2022 Stanley Cup Finals averaged 4.6 million viewers, as the viewership rose a whopping 84% from the last year. With these kinds of numbers, it isn't any surprise that the league attracts a lot of bettors as well.

For a successful betting strategy, fans should be highly attentive during the season and read the teams' statistics beforehand. Learning the trends of a team is a great strategy too.

Step-by-step guide

Placing a bet in any sport is straightforward, and fans need to follow this step-by-step guide.

1. Bettors should pick a favorite sportsbook and create an account there. After signing up, they will make their first deposit.

2. Head to the hockey section of the bookie on sport and click 'NHL.'

3. Games will appear along with their betting options.

4. Choose the wager you want to make and the amount of money, and then click 'Bet.'

NHL Betting Types And Formats

Bettors have a variety of wagers to choose from, but the three most-used bets for wagering on the National Hockey League are moneyline bets, puck line bets, and total bets. In our NHL betting guide, we will explain each one of them.

However, the fans have even more betting types to choose from if they wish to. For example, they can place period bets, which means they can bet on each period of the game as if they were discrete matches. It doesn't matter what has happened before or what happens after, as the bet will be only for this particular 20-minute period.

Fans can also place future bets on which team or player will win a specific award at the end of the season. For example, fans can bet on who will be the Stanley Cup winner or which player will be the MVP of the playoffs or regular season. It is advised to place future bets at the beginning of the season because the odds are higher at this time.

Moneyline bets

The most famous bet in all types of sports is the moneyline bet, which includes hockey as well, as most wagers NHL fans lay are on the predicted winner of a match. A moneyline bet is one of the most straightforward bets to understand. How many goals a team has scored or how they win the game doesn't matter; if the team a bettor has chosen wins the game, they win the bet.

The odds of favored players are always lower than underdogs, and they are indicated by the minus sign, for example, (-120). The underdogs, on the contrary, are indicated by the plus sign (+).

Puck line bets

Spread bets are a popular wagering option, and an experienced bettor knows them well. They are called puck line bets in the NHL, and 2-way puck line odds are always -1.5 to +1.5.

Let's look at the classic Ontario rivalry: Ottawa Senators enter a match against the Toronto Maple Leafs as clear favorites. Puck line odds are Sens (-1.5) and Leafs (+1.5), handicapping the favored-to-wins. Placing a bet on the Sens means that after the score is adjusted (subtracting the odds), they must still be ahead for your wager to pay off. That means a margin of a minimum of two goals over the Leafs.

Meanwhile, the underdogs need only win after adjusting the final score (adding 1.5), meaning they can lose by 1 goal, and your bet pays off. A 3-way puck line counts in the possibility of a draw and changes odds by half a point on either side.

Total bets

Another popular bet is an over/under wager, as in other sports. Total bets mean betting on the sum of goals scored by both teams playing in an NHL game, and the sportsbook predicts a number equaling the total goals they think will be scored.

The bettor then needs to pick if the total of goals will be over or under that number. It doesn't matter which team scores these goals or who wins the game. Usually, the total bets are 5 ½, six, or 6 ½ goals, and other numbers are encountered on rare occasions.

How To Make NHL In-Game Bets

Lucky for fans, many sportsbooks offer live betting for NHL games. Not all bookies with odds have live betting as an option, but some high-profile ones allow it. Unibet, for example, is a highly prestigious sportsbook that offers in-game NHL betting online. Bettors even can live stream the games on their site and app and bet in-play. It offers betting options on the Stanley Cup and other earlier rounds of the playoffs.

Some other less-known bookies, like Betphoenix sportsbook, offer live betting too.

Live betting is more exciting than wagering before the game and involves more skill and strategy. Therefore, odds can change very quickly during a game. Sometimes, players may experience an injury or even be on an incredible streak during the middle of the game, which means that prop bets can constantly evolve. All this leads to a much more exciting betting experience.

Finding The Best NHL Betting Apps

Fans can find numerous sportsbooks that offer NHL odds. Most well-known bookies like BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, PointsBet, FanDuel Sportsbook, and more offer NHL bets. Before choosing a bookmaker to place odds on, players should look at several factors. Logically, many players may look for the bookies that offer them the best odds, but players should keep in mind other features, such as credibility or ease of use.

Bettors should avoid bookies with no license or those with a bad reputation as scammers. The best gambling operators are not only safe and secure but also have a variety of games and betting markets to choose from. They even let players place different kinds of bets and offer generous bonuses from time to time.

Their website or mobile app should be easy to use and organized, so users can find any section they want with just a few clicks. The customer support of a great bookie should be responsive and have many ways to contact them, such as phone numbers, email, and even live chat.

Offering a variety of deposit and withdrawal methods is also a great advantage. Players can read plenty of sportsbook comparison articles, check all their features, and decide which one to choose.

NHL Online Betting Offers

Almost all sportsbooks offer welcome bonuses for new users registering an account for the first time on their site. These bonuses are available in all sports, including the National Hockey League, and fans of this league can create an account and benefit from bounty offers.

It's crucial to find the bookies with the best welcome bonuses and make the most of them. Gambling sites also get many new players who may become loyal customers through welcome bonuses. You can take advantage of other promotions even after using their welcome bonus.

For example, the BetMGM sportsbook gives players a $1,000 risk-free bet on the NHL Playoffs that are played on Fridays. Because the bet is risk-free, a loss won't cost the bettor anything. Many sportsbooks offer weekly reload bonuses for deposits. Take Unibet; it gives a 100% deposit match-up bonus of up to $25.

Sportsbooks with NHL welcome bonuses

As a bonus for betting enthusiasts, many sportsbooks are gifting new users an enticing variety of generous welcome bonuses. Though the amounts vary, most of these fall under the risk-free bet category. For example, PointsBet offers two risk-free bets worth up to $2,100 together, whereas the same risk-free wager on both FanDuel's and BetMGM's books tops out at $1000.

Unibet gives its new registrants the same style wager worth $500, and FoxBet and Tipico sportsbooks provide $500 and $750, respectively. Meanwhile, Caesars Sportsbook stands out with its unique gift of $1,100 First Bet Insurance, and DraftKings' new users can get a $1,000 deposit bonus. All the above bookies offer NHL betting.