Just one goal can dramatically change the NHL live betting odds. (Photo credit: © Bridget Samuels)
NHL live betting allows you to keep betting on the hockey action after the puck and fists have started flying.
Sportsbooks offer NHL live betting in different ways. Pinnacle Sports accepts NHL live betting during the first and second intermissions, offering live NHL betting odds on the moneyline, puckline and total. Sports Interaction offer NHL live betting odds during play, but use a slight delay before accepting your bet in case the odds change dramatically. Bodog offers a lot of in-play props in addition to the regular live NHL betting odds.
Pinnacle Sports generally offers the best live NHL betting odds, but if you want to be able to bet between intermissions, you’ll need to do your NHL live betting at Sports Interaction, or Bodog.
NHL Live betting strategy
Betting on an NHL game as it progresses can simply add an extra interest to watching the action unfold.
Ice hockey is fast, furious and adrenalin packed, so what better way to match that excitement than by trying to interpret the ebb-and-flow of the game with a live bet?
Here are three reasons to do NHL live betting:
1. You can watch before you bet
Your basis for making a pre-game bet – such as teams’ abilities, strengths and recent play – can quickly unravel once a game begins to unfold. NHL live betting enables you to wait to confirm your pre-game ideas about how things will pan out.
2. NHL live betting provides hedging opportunities
Should you bet pre-game on the Leafs to win in regular time against the Kings, and they take a 2-0 lead in the first period, you can hedge this bet using updated intermission odds by taking the expanded price on the Kings. This kind of basic hedging can work across handicaps, money lines and totals, guaranteeing yourself a profit or even giving you a chance to “win twice” (middle the game) without risk.
3. You can take advantage of each team’s mentality
Understanding team mentality is vital for live NHL betting. For instance, a team trailing by one goal towards the end of the game will always pull their goalie and replace him with an additional attacker. However, this often leads to the winning team scoring again, rather than a game-tying goal, which could pay off if you took a team -1.5 on the puckline during the second intermission of a close game.
For more expert bettors, live NHL odds can enable correlated betting based on perceived relationships between the three main markets offered. In other words, if you think a team might tie the game late in the third period, you could bet on the over instead and win with either a tying goal or an empty-netter.