Betting on the NHL at the last week of the regular season can at times be an ill-advised adventure and it is one cluttered with hidden landmines. Trainers give AHL goalies you have never heard of shock begins and superstars get scratched — sometimes minutes before puck drop. Almost every group has differing motivation down the stretch and sportsbook lines are not to be trusted.
So, how do we go about gambling the last few games of the NHL’s regular slate? Very cautiously. Wait late as you can to put a wager, unless there’s a line that you know will proceed in the wrong direction if you wait patiently, and track injury reports and Twitter closely.
One of the most essential things to keep in mind is whether or not a team has clinched. Should they have, and they’ve nothing left to perform , they are more likely to bench stars and provide their No. 1 netminder a rest. The Minnesota Wild group of this year is one of the best examples of this. They have had a playoff spot locked up for quite a while and also with Devan Dubnyk struggling after a heavy workload this season, Minny brass decided to phone up Alex Stalock to give their starting goalie some recuperation time.
With that information, you are probably thinking I’m telling you to evaporate the group that is clinched but it’s not that simple. These may be snare games as goal-stoppers being called up from the AHL are usually auditioning for future jobs in the big series and while they generally crap their pants under the pressure, every once in a while, they perform lights out like Stalock (.944 save percentage) has because his call-up. This makes moneyline betting extremely difficult and that I tend to avoid it entirely in the dwindling daylight of this regular season.
What I do recommend, however, is to wager the OVER.
Last year, the OVER went 27-18-3 in games where at least one group had fewer or three games remaining on its schedule. Not bad. That which I attribute mostly to the tendency for late-season matches to go OVER their complete is teams napping top-four blue-liners and we’ve seen more than enough incidences of that this year.
Take the Montreal Canadiens, for example. The Habs recently clinched the Atlantic Division and really have nothing left to play for. They now have scrappy D-men Shea Weber and Jordie Benn both listed as questionable with assorted bumps and lumps and if they are indeed scratched on a given night, whichever team they are playing that evening is going to have a far freer path to the Habs internet, leading to more scoring chances and can you imagine what else? Yup, more targets.
To recap, check to make sure intact a team’s blue line is and wait until at least a half hour before puck drop to make your wager once you’ve picked a spot. If a few essential men are missing along with also a backup goalie — or two — is playing, pound the OVER.
Keep these items at the front of your mind when browsing your sportsbooks along with your Twitter timeline and you need to be able to remain complete and enhance your bankroll heading to the postseason.
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