NHL Daily Predictions & Expert Picks

NHL Picks For Monday, December 18, 2023

NHL Parlay Predictions

• Anaheim Ducks at Detroit Red Wings – Under 6.5 Goals
• Minnesota Wild at Pittsburgh Penguins – Penguins To Win
• Florida Panthers at Calgary Flames – Flames To Win
• Seattle Kraken at Dallas Stars – Over 6.5 Goals

A $10 stake on this parlay will return $129 with BetMGM US Sportsbook.

Claim BetMGM’s First Bet Offer and get up to $1,500 refunded as bonus bets if your first bet loses.

How To Get NHL Expert Picks For The Season 2023/24?

Welcome to our NHL Expert Picks and Predictions page, where our icy insights come completely free and are up for grabs for everyone. Don’t forget to bookmark this spot and swing by daily for a fresh scoop of NHL picks, served throughout the entire season 2023/24. Things you can expect to see daily are Parlay of the Day, Same Game Parlays and Anytime Goalscorer wagers. We will also keep track of all winning parlays and let you know how we did in 2023!

NHL Daily Predictions

A thrilling pace and fast gameplay make ice hockey one of the most popular sports in the world. The National Hockey League (NHL) is the strongest professional league on the planet, allowing the best players from around the globe to showcase their skills on the biggest stage.

As such, the NHL keeps attracting more attention in the sports betting community, especially now that the niche has become more available to US bettors. Three US states have launched legal sports betting in 2023 so far, with three more set to go live in the next few months. Online sports betting has never been more accessible, and more people than ever will be keen to get in on the NHL betting action this season.

Whether you are an avid hockey enthusiast or just seeking to add options to your betting portfolio, this page, bringing you the best NHL picks and predictions, is an ideal place for you.

We will cover all significant markets to help you best understand ice hockey odds and cover you with NHL expert picks throughout the entire 82-game regular season as well as the playoffs. Free NHL predictions will be posted on this page daily, so make sure to bookmark it and check back for fresh picks and odds.

How to Bet on the NHL 2023/24

Moneyline, spread, and totals betting are three of the most common markets in NHL betting. Some slight nuances come from your standard NFL or NBA markets, but we will help you fully understand them in the paragraphs below.

The range of wagering options by no means stops there, as sportsbooks offer a plethora of additional lines, including team and player props, futures, in-play bets, parlays, etc.

NHL Puck Line Picks

The puck line represents spread betting in the NHL. It makes up a big portion of our NHL picks and predictions section. In essence, it is identical to spreads from all other sports, but the big difference is that the spread line remains the same for all games while odds change. It is the vice versa in the NFL or the NBA betting.

The spread evens the playing field and adds excitement, particularly to the games featuring strong favorites. Let’s say you have the Boston Bruins taking on the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden. The home win is paid at the -280 odds, meaning you’d need to wager $280 for a $100 profit. The puck line comes in quite handy in this case, opening up the odds in the following fashion:

• Chicago Blackhawks +1.5 (-110)
• Boston Bruins -1.5 (-110)

Instead of taking the Bruins at the -280 odds, you can back them to win by a margin of two or more goals at the much more favorable -110 price tag. Similarly, if you trust Chicago to produce a strong effort in this match but are afraid to go for their win on the road (a big upset), you can back them to cover the 1.5 spread and get the -110 odds. If you back the Blackhawks in this case, you need them to either win the game or lose by a margin of one goal.

NHL Moneyline Bets

Moneyline is the most straightforward market — you simply pick a team to win the game. However, it is very important to distinguish the standard moneyline pick with two possible options (home and away win) and a three-way moneyline where you bet on the winner in the regular 60 minutes. In the latter variant, the option of a tie is introduced. Obviously, a tie is very hard to predict in ice hockey games, and as tempting as the odds might be, you will never see it as an option in our NHL expert predictions.

Standard Moneyline (with overtime and penalty shootout included):

• Winnipeg Jets (+120)
• Calgary Flames (-145)

Three-way Moneyline (only 60 minutes in the regular time)

• Winnipeg Jets (+185)
• Tie (+360)
• Calgary Flames (+100)

As you can see, you will often be able to back both teams to win in regulation at plus odds, but neither of these picks would land if the game goes overtime.

The three-way moneyline is a great fit for our NHL picks and parlays. It serves the purpose when you want to back a certain team at higher odds but are not too confident of going for the -1.5 spread.

NHL Over/Under Bets

This is another very popular market for our free NHL picks because of the nature of the sport. It is very easy to recognize teams that favor fast pace and have a lot of firepower on display in the final third. These sides impose a quick tempo, and their games are usually packed with goals, especially when they face a similarly talented opposition.

Other teams heavily rely on defense, and goaltenders are the main catalysts for their successes. You will want to chase them for the Under picks in this market.

In general, the main Over/Under line for the NHL games tends to vary from 5 to 7 goals, depending on the matchup, but the sportsbooks also give you an option to select the alternate lines anywhere from 3 to 8 goals, offering the adequate odds for each Over/Under betting option.

Example: Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks

• Over 6.5 (-130)
• Under 6.5 (+105)

Sports betting operators can sometimes make mistakes with the Over/Under lines or the odds. We investigate these daily, and you will frequently find high-value lines among our free NHL expert picks. In the example above, the Oilers and the Canucks are both offensive-minded outfits; hence the sportsbooks give the minus odds for the Over 6.5 pick in their matchup.

NHL Team and Player Prop Bets

On top of the three main markets, sportsbooks offer a wide variety of options to bet on for all sorts of happenings on the ice. We can find value from these alternative markets for our NHL predictions but also limit the stakes due to high variance. Here are some of the most interesting ones:

• Player to Score Anytime
• Player to Score Two or More Goals
• Player Assist
• Player Points (Goals and Assists)
• 1st Period Lines (Moneyline, Totals, Spreads)
• 1st 10 Minute Lines (Moneyline, Totals, Spreads)
• Team Total Goals
• Team to Score First
• Race to X Goals (2, 3, 4, 5, etc.)
• Time of 1st Score
• Goaltender saves
• Shots on Goal
• Power-Play Goals

Remember that these options are available for all NHL games, as the range of possibilities usually gets wider during the playoffs. The story is different with the NHL preseason picks, though, as you will usually only be able to back the main markets for the offseason affairs.

NHL Futures Bets

Those who like the season-long bets will have an abundance of reasons to love NHL betting. The operators give us a chance to place wagers well ahead of time. Make sure to check our NHL expert preseason articles on all sorts of individual awards for players, as well as the Stanley Cup predictions. Here are the most popular future bets for this season and where you can place the wager:

NHL Parlay Picks

During the regular season, we can enjoy hockey games every night, which opens up space for all sorts of picks and parlays the NHL has to offer.

You should drastically reduce the stakes for parlays because they are much harder to land than singles. As you know, for a parlay to be a winner, you must land all of the games on it. You can thus theoretically put four winning picks to waste if you place a five-leg parlay and one game lets you down.

Single game parlays (SGP) have recently become increasingly popular among US bettors. Nowadays, all big sportsbooks will allow you to combine several markets from one game into a parlay. Make sure to check this page for our single-game picks and parlays as well since we will create some fun wagers for the most exciting clashes in both the regular season and playoffs.

NHL In-Play Betting

Live betting is yet another very popular option for NHL bettors, allowing them to place wagers during the game. You can thus take advantage of momentum shifts by being fast and catching the right odds in a sport whose tempo changes in a matter of seconds. The entertainment is guaranteed.

Best Tips for NHL Betting

To provide their expert sports picks, analysts dedicate a lot of time to tracking key data, trends, statistics, and the latest news for each game. We understand you may not have enough time for such a deep investigation, but we can at least help you by sharing several important tips and tricks on how to tackle the NHL daily lines:

*many teams have extended road trips or back-to-back games during the regular season. You want to track those down and factor these things in when placing your bets. *Stick to the teams you know best. Whether it is a team from your state or a team you like to watch, you’ll have more knowledge about its roster and the latest news related to that outfit. *Always check multiple sportsbooks before placing a bet. The odds are different from one operator to another, and you always want to get the longest out there.sda