Ice Hockey Betting Guide | Sites, Tips and Types of Bets Explained

Betting Strategy

The biggest ice hockey leagues in the world are the NHL (teams from the United States and Canada) and the KHL (Kontinental Hockey League with teams from Russia, China, Belarus, Finland, Kazakhstan, and Latvia). As a general rule of thumb for bettors, these two hockey leagues will offer the best-betting markets.

The best way to bet on ice hockey is to follow two universal rules of betting that apply across all sports and markets: statistical research and a staking plan.

Statistical Research

When you look at a team’s most recent matches and head-to-head results against a current opponent, you might see some trends show up. For example, in NHL the stats for the number of total goals per game are pretty consistent. This gives a bettor some good opportunities to use the stats of a hockey team that is either high or low scoring, and back a bet accordingly. Even more opportunities are in the live in-play markets. If you see two high scoring teams with high scoring head-to-head stats, who are playing now and it’s 0-0 after the first period, it’s likely the goals will start flowing.

Staking Plan

The staking plan is the very foundation to be successful in betting long-term. The idea is to use your funds wisely and turn them into long term profit. It takes discipline and hard work but it is all worth it. Ice hockey is a fast, intense and very physical sport which makes it highly unpredictable at times. A staking plan is necessary to turn betting on ice hockey profitable in the long run.

The idea of a staking plan is to always only use a percentage of your funds to back a bet. That percentage depends on your level of confidence in the bet and it is set in your staking plan and does not change from bet to bet. It sounds easy but it is challenging, especially for the get-rich-quick bettor. There are many staking plans suggestions with the most common and recommended figures as follows:

Taking those figures and putting them in a practical example, if your betting balance is £100, your stake on the most confident bet should be £5.00. That may seem a small amount to back a bet you are very confident will win. That is also the main reason most staking plans fail, lack of discipline and not looking at the long-term picture.

How to bet on ice hockey

Money Line

The money line is the most popular market when betting on ice hockey. It means you bet on a team to win the match, whether in the regular time, overtime or a penalty shootout.

Puck Line

Similar to handicap betting, puck lines even out the playing field between underdogs and favourites in ice hockey. They are usually listed as +/- 1.5. For example, if you back Chicago Blackhawks at -1.5 puck line against Columbus Blue Jackets at +1.5, they would need to win by 2 or more goals difference. Alternatively, if you backed the Columbus Blue Jackets, they could lose and still make you money, as long as they don’t lose by more than one goal.

Over / Under Goals

In this market you select how many goals will be in a hockey match. You can back the two-way line by selecting either over 5.5 or under 5.5 goals for example. This is pretty identical with the football over/under line. Alternatively, you can back a score line within a bracket, such as 3-4 goals, 4-5 goals, etc. If you bet on 4-5 goals, to win the bet the hockey match has to end with either 4 or 5 goals scored. Lastly, there is the over/under/ exactly market where you have three different selections such as: over 5 goals, under 5 goals, exactly 5 goals.

Markets by Period

Most bookmakers will offer markets to bet on by the end of each period of a hockey match. You can bet on puck lines or over/under goals per period. For example, Boston Bruins -1.5 first period puck line means they would have to win by 2 goals or more at the end of the first period for the bet to be settled a winner.

Team Goals

This is the over/under goals market separated individually between the two teams. You could have a line for the home team to score over 3.5 goals in a match for example.

Both Teams to Score

This hugely popular football betting market is also available for ice hockey with a slight difference. As ice hockey is a much higher scoring sport than football,  both teams to score market reflects that. Instead of a Yes or No as in football, bookmakers will list different lines in hockey, such as Both Teams to Score 2 or more goals, 3 or more goals, etc.

Race to Markets

This is betting on which team will get to a certain milestone first. Most common milestone is goals. For example, you can back the away team to race to 2 goals and they would have to score 2 goals first in order for the bet to win. It doesn’t matter if they lose the match in the end, as long as they are the first team to score 2 goals, the bet is a winner. This market usually has 3 lines: one for the home team, one for the away team, one for “neither”.

To Score First or Last

Another straightforward line, betting on which team will score first in a match or even period, or which team will score last.

Player Performance

These bets cover the individual performance of a player and the markets differ from bookmaker to bookmaker. Some common ones would be to bet if a player will score goals, and how many, or if the player will get penalties, and how many.