The Stanley Cup Playoffs conclude with the last best-of-seven series of the National Hockey League season, a fittingly tough climax to a demanding season and postseason that confronts the Eastern and Western conference champions in a decisive test.
Welcome to the definitive guide to betting on the Stanley Cup! As the exciting NHL betting season finishes with the most prestigious prize in U.S. team sports, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, you’ll discover betting advice, guidelines, and news below.
Stanley Cup Odds and Betting Lines
Prominent NHL betting markets offer a variety of wagering options on the final, including team and individual wagers that provide ice hockey betting enthusiasts with more possibilities to utilize their handicapping skills. The option to wager on individual games as well as the series as a whole is an intriguing component of the Stanley Cup.
The moneylines provided by the leading NHL betting companies are based on positive and negative numbers and represent how much a bettor needs wager to win £100 or how much a £100 wager would win.
Negative numbers show the amount of wagers required to win £100.
If the moneyline for the Eastern Conference champion is -140, you must wager £140 to win £100. Positive numbers represent a £100 wager’s earnings.
Example: If the Eastern Conference champion has a moneyline of +160, a winning wager of £100 would return £160. Compute winnings for various wager amounts by scaling the figure proportionally up or down, keeping in mind whether the number is positive or negative. Puck lines are a way to enhance a moneyline wager and are comparable to point spreads. With this system, the favorite must win by a margin of 1.5 goals or the underdog must maintain a score within the same range.
If the Eastern Conference champion’s moneyline is -140, a +1.5 puck line wager needs them to win by at least two goals (the decimal assures no ties). If the Western Conference champion is a +160 underdog, a -1.5 puck line wager needs the Maple Leafs to keep the Eastern Conference champions inside that number of goals.
Totals wagering involves predicting how many goals will be scored by both teams in a particular game. If the Over/Under for a Stanley Cup Finals game is set at 6, the wager would be on whether both teams score at least six goals.
Futures wagers incorporate the season-long objectives of both clubs and players. It is possible to wager on whether a team will win the Stanley Cup, the Eastern or Western Conference Championship, their division title, or simply enough games to qualify for the playoffs.
If a fan bets on the ultimate Stanley Cup champion at one of the best online ice hockey sportsbooks and that team reaches the final, they will be entertained, anxious, and maybe quite a little wealthier, depending on whether they took a long shot.
In their inaugural 2017-2018 season, the Vegas Golden Knights were given 500-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup. Incredibly, they reached the playoffs, but the Washington Capitals defeated them in six games to win their first championship. In 2019, the St. Louis Blues upset preseason odds of 250-1 by winning the Stanley Cup.
Betting Tips You Should Read When wagering on NHL Playoffs, remember that upsets occur frequently.
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Tips for Betting on the Stanley Cup
A Stanley Cup finalist will have played three best-of-seven series following an 82-game regular season. That’s a minimum of 12 games and a maximum of 21 in a condensed period of time, assuming a perfect record. That is emotionally and physically taxing. Injury and exhaustion are consequently major factors in determining whether individuals and teams have a chance to win.
Schedule
In accordance with the 2-2-1-1-1 system, the team with the greatest regular-season record is granted four home games if the series runs to seven games. The team with the better record will host the first two games, followed by the other club. If necessary, single-game stands will be constructed for the remaining three games of the series. This arrangement permits each team to host a minimum of two games.
In-Game Betting
According to the NHL Rulebook, a hockey game consists of three 20-minute quarters, so betting within those constraints might be a fun way to wager, reevaluate, and attempt a different strategy. It is therefore advantageous to learn whether a team specializes in scoring during a given time or has a strong record when leading or trailing after a certain point in the game. Goaltenders will be heavily involved in this examination.
Few teams are able to score early and often and then clamp down for the remainder of the game. Examine their trends. The numbers will reveal mentalities and trends.
Making Stanley Cup Picks
In recent Stanley Cup Playoffs, conventional wisdom has been questioned. Home-ice advantage was traditionally a major factor in determining a team’s success, but road teams have begun to disprove this notion. The defending Stanley Cup champions, the Washington Capitals, dropped the first two games of their first-round series versus Columbus at home before advancing by winning the following four games.
In 2018, the Vegas Golden Knights became the first expansion team to reach the Stanley Cup final, falling to the Washington Capitals in six games. Seasoned teams were expected to have the necessary fortitude to endure the rigors of the postseason.
Twenty-eight teams have overcome 3-1 or 3-0 series deficits to win, with 26 of these comebacks occurring since 1987 and seven occurring since 2010. In that season, the Flyers became the first club to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Bruins. In 2014, the Kings duplicated the feat against the San Jose Sharks.
Even statistically being the greatest team in the league confers no discernible advantage in the NHL. Even teams that finish the regular season as the odds-on favorite have lost frequently and early in the postseason in recent years.
The team with the most points in both conferences wins the Presidents Trophy and is considered the regular-season “champion.” However, just two holders of this award have won the Stanley Cup since the 2002-2003 season.
From 2005-2006 to 2011-2012, the Presidents’ Trophy winner was eliminated in the first round four times. Since the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2012-2013, no hardware winner has moved past the second round (as of 2018).
Line Matchups
There are typically four offensive lines and three defensive pairings, and coaches frequently switch them throughout the season and playoffs to maximize their teams’ performance and capitalize on mismatches. Certain lines, known as checking lines, are designed to slow down a very dangerous line. These lines are subject to alter at any time based on the matchup, health, or performance.
Due to the impossibility of playing for a complete 60 minutes, there is no assurance that a team’s top scorers will all be on the same line. A coach may divide his most talented players in order to make his team stronger. Familiarity between linemates fosters vital chemistry throughout the season, as a line’s chemistry may make or break a season.
Special Groups
The percentages of a team’s power play and penalty kill are a category of statistics unique to hockey that frequently delivers different advantages. Depending on the severity of the rule violation, a player is sent to the penalty box for either two or five minutes.
This gives the opposing team a 5-on-4 advantage, known as a power play, while the opposing team’s shorthanded “penalty kill” unit attempts to defend against the opponent.
Skill in either field has a significant impact on the ebb and flow of a game, since scoring on a power play or getting a kill are frequently referred to as momentum-shifting moments.
Success Relies on the Specifics
Often, Stanley Cup wagering is more difficult than regular season wagering because players who were mediocre during the regular season become statistical oddities and folk heroes during the postseason. A lifetime journeyman, Washington Capitals right wing Devante Smith-Pelly scored seven goals in 75 games during the 2017-2018 regular season, but only seven games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including two game-winners.
Hope is not a strategy, and momentum and good energy do not appear to be reliable measurements for evaluating a matchup, but they are all part of the legend and reality of the Stanley Cup.