The National Hockey League (NHL) is the best ice hockey competition in the world, contested by teams from Canada and the United States. As you’ve come to expect, ice hockey is a very physical sport, and that adds to the overall hype of every contest. Betting on hockey games has crossed over to several countries around the world largely due to the entertainment value each game brings along with the winning potential. The NHL features 31 hockey teams from six conferences around North America. Every team competes to qualify for the opportunity to make it to the playoffs and play in the Stanley Cup Final. Go through our comprehensive guide to find out how to win with NHL betting. Our experienced expert tipsters have combined he latest NHL betting lines, odds and stats from previous championships.
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How Do You Bet on Hockey?
Get your blood boiling with NHL bets, where anything can happen. The most important thing for punters to remember about NHL sports betting is that nothing is ever guaranteed. You can study the playbook and take advice from internet tipsters. However, without knowing the basics, all of that will be for nothing. We’ve collected the most popular NHL hockey betting lines that you can use throughout preseason games, the regular season and all the way through to the Stanley Cup Championship.
- NHL Futures – you can place an NHL bet on a hockey team with the best odds of winning the Stanley Cup before the competition even begins. This bet should be supported by the team’s previous performance in last season’s competition.
- Moneyline Explained – for wagers on specific NHL matches, you can pick the team with the strongest squad to win.
- NHL Picks and Parlays – every bookie online will promote betting odds of the most competitive matches of the round. Choose more than one hockey match to bet on in a single ticket and see your payout rise.
- Puck Lines – this is the version of hockey handicapping in which oddsmakers try to balance the scales by predicting the winner of the match as well as the score. Punters need to choose the correct winner of the match to beat the handicap and win.
- Hockey Point Spread – this bet is based on how well or poor you predict a match will be. You will bet on the overall score of the match to be higher or lower than what the bookmaker predicts.
- NHL Live Odds – punters will get the opportunity to bet on live hockey matches in order to change their minds about the result if the performance of the favourites changes.
NHL Betting Tips
The National Hockey League runs from October to June every single year. Players will have enough time to make amends for failed bets. The benefits of ice hockey online betting are that you can get a general impression of how other punters are betting. This is due to multiple NHL betting forums that are dedicated to debunking NHL bets daily and offering advice on how to bet on hockey. Our expert tipsters have figured out certain bets are prone to coming out correct and provide free hockey predictions today.
- To start things off, punters should concentrate on a single conference and build up their knowledge of the different teams in the competition.
- NHL point spread bets are the most popular of all bets you will find. Bet on the NHL scores and watch your stake multiply.
- Punters have to understand the different periods in the game. Ice hockey games have three periods of 20 minutes. Players can bet on each period separately or collectively.
- Keep in mind the NHL fixture list when you bet. Some teams have found it hard to perform on the road while others use home court to their advantage.
NHL Betting Odds
Hockey betting online has been proven to be much more desirable than at land-based betting establishments. NHL bettors will naturally find decimal odds at top United Kingdom betting sites. If you are not familiar with how these are calculated, here’s an example below.
Pittsburgh Penguins (2.00) vs. Los Angeles Kings (1.50)
This means that oddsmakers have pegged the Kings as favourites to win the tie against the Penguins. If your stake was £10, you would multiply it by the odds to get your potential payout. You can start placing NHL bets from September when the NHL regular season begins all the way to June.
Here’s a full list of the hockey NHL divisions you will come across at NHL online sports betting sites:
- Eastern Conference
- Eastern Conference Metropolitan
- Western Conference Pacific
- Western Conference
- Eastern Conference Atlantic
- Western Conference Central
Past Stanley Cup Winners
Here’s a list of the most recent winners of the Stanley Cup Championship:
| Season | Winner | Conference |
| 2022 | Colorado Avalanche | Western Conference |
| 2021 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Eastern Conference |
| 2020 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Eastern Conference |
| 2019 | St. Louis Blues | Western Conference |
| 2018 | Washington Capitals | Eastern Conference Metropolitan |
| 2017 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Eastern Conference |
| 2016 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Eastern Conference |
| 2015 | Chicago Blackhawks | Western Conference Central |
| 2014 | Los Angeles Kings | Western Conference Pacific |
| 2013 | Chicago Blackhawks | Western Conference Central |
| 2012 | Los Angeles Kings | Western Conference Pacific |
| 2011 | Boston Bruins | Eastern Conference Atlantic |
| 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks | Western Conference Central |
| 2009 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Eastern Conference |
| 2008 | Detroit Red Wings | Eastern Conference Atlantic |