

But in a sport with so much parity, a near 0.05 jump in win percentage is huge.įind The Right Sportsbook For You Good Start 538 win percentage that home teams enjoy on average. 587 win percentage is a marginal advantage over the. But the home team’s advantage is at its peak with two days’ rest with a. Win Probabilities in various travel situations SituationĪgain, you can see that the home team is always more likely to win, regardless of the situation. *Note B2B in the table refers to the second leg of a back-to-back. If traveling has a negative impact on a team’s performance, playing the night before certainly could do the same, no?Ī study showed the following win percentages for teams playing a back-to-back and, well, let’s just say the win probability for the team on the second leg of a back-to-back isn’t good: Now check the schedule to see if any team played the previous night. You’ve checked on who the home team is and you’ve looked at who’s traveling and where they’re coming from. The impact of the Florida Panthers traveling to Vancouver to play the Canucks (3,400 miles) is obviously greater than when the New York Islanders face the New York Rangers at MSG (14 miles). But that didn’t factor in how far the away team had to travel. We already know the away team is less likely to win. Add the physical impacts of travel to an away team. Now consider the previous point about the home team. If a team is coming in from the road, there could very well be physical issues to deal with. When you take an airplane from Miami to Vancouver, how jet-lagged are you going to be? Even though NHL players are hyper-fit athletes, they still suffer from jet lag. Knowing who’s at home is a great way to start handicapping NHL games.

Of course, then you have the obvious advantage like having the backing of the thousands in the stands and the comforts of sleeping in your own bed in your own home. When the Toronto Maple Leafs are at home at TD Garden, head coach Sheldon Keefe can send out Auston Matthews against the opponent’s fourth line instead of their better players. Home teams get to see what opponent is out on the ice and decide who goes out to play. That allows the home team to dictate matchups. That’s important not only because of the backing of the home fans, but because home teams get a significant advantage in the sport of hockey. Step 1 in placing any NHL bet is knowing who the home team is. To find the sportsbook that’s right for you to get some money down on the ice, head over to our Sportsbook Review page. We have a great NHL betting tutorial to assist you in placing a wager on Stanley Cup futures. But we’ve got you covered with a few keys to add to your NHL betting strategy when you bet on hockey this season. It makes handicapping NHL games incredibly difficult. That’s obviously good news for hard-core and casual fans alike, but it spells disaster for bettors. Any team should be able to win the NHL Stanley Cup in any given year. It’s been the driving message from NHL head office for years now.
