NHL Hockey Betting 2019-2020: Top 'Over' Teams

We’re in the early part of the NHL hockey season with most teams having played 5 or 6 games.  We’ve looked at the teams that have made the most money for bettors and lost the most money for their ‘financial backers’ in a previous article.  Now we’ll turn our attention to totals. Records and stats are complete through the end of action on Sunday, October 13.

NHL HOCKEY BETTING TOP ‘OVER’ TEAMS AS OF OCTOBER 14, 2019

LOS ANGELES KINGS (5 OVER, 0 UNDER)

The Kings are scoring a decent amount of goals (4.00 per game) but giving up even more allowing 5.20 per game.  That’s the second worst team defense in the league mere fractions behind the Minnesota Wild.  Los Angeles still has a perception as a strong defensive team which usually means ½ goal lower totals than they probably should be dealt based on their statistical showing.  You have to think the Kings defense and goaltending will improve and their scoring will slow down a bit. This isn’t how the team is built to play.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS (5 OVER, 0 UNDER)

This isn’t how the Nashville Predators are built to play either but until Jusse Saros and Pekka Rinne round into form they’ve got enough offense to get away with it (somewhat) in the short term.   Preds are a downright shocking #28-T in scoring defense(4.20 GAA per game) after finishing 2018-2019 #3-T in that same category. The good news is that they’re leading the league in offensive goals per game output with 4.6 goals per game.  One of two things will happen—the goaltending will continue to struggle in which case the Predators will have to outscore their opponents to win or else the goaltending will come around in which case Nashville becomes a downright frightening team.

MONTREAL CANADIENS (4 OVER 1 UNDER 1 PUSH)

The Montreal Canadiens have a similar dynamic as the Nashville Predators only without as much hope of sustaining their offensive output.  The Habs are #4-T in goals per game (4.00) but #27 in team defense allowing 4 goals a game.  You don’t have to be a hockey expert to realize that scoring and giving up the exact same number of goals per game isn’t a good thing.  The defense and goaltending should improve assuming that Carey Price isn’t hiding an injury of some sort.  Habs are off to a 2-1-2 start so they’re just a couple of bounces away from being 4-1.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (4 OVER 1 UNDER)

To some extent this was expected though the Lightning will need to show some improvement on their middle of the pack team defense (3.40 goals against per game) if they’re going to be a serious contender this season.  The offense looks fine and they’re #4-T in goals scored per game at 4.00 along with a number of other teams.  Unlike some of the teams near the top of the scoring table, the Lightning can sustain this pace offensively.

CAROLINA HURRICANES (4 OVER 2 UNDER)
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (4 OVER 2 UNDER)

Similar situation for both teams.  Carolina could probably benefit from playing a more wide open style as last year they sometimes had trouble scoring goals.  This year, they’re #11 so far averaging 3.83 per game.  They’ve got the #11 scoring defense and assuming their goaltending holds out they should be able to improve upon that.  They’re fundamentally a team that would rather play at an ‘Under’ pace but they’re not going to complain about the improvement in offensive potency.

Toronto is just playing sloppy hockey.  They’re #4-T in goals per game scoring 4.00 per contest but got to improve upon their #20 team defense allowing 3.5 goals per game.  The pieces are all in place on both ends of the rink but they need to play a smarter, more focused game.