NHL Hockey Betting: Winning Prop Bet Strategies for November

NHL Prop Betting Strategies for November 2026

The explosion of sports betting has made the NHL the fourth most viewed and bet on sport in the U.S. behind only football, baseball and basketball. Yet despite the popularity, many Americans don't bet on hockey betting and particularly hockey props. This article will identify some strategies to help maximize potential profits and hopefully turn the advantage from the house to the bettor when betting NHL hockey props.

NHL Overtime Betting Strategies

In the first installment of this series, I noted that more games than ever were going to overtime and betting on a game to reach overtime was a good strategy. So far in the 5 weeks of regular season hockey only 15% of games have finished in a tie after regulation. This is far lower than the 25% of games in 2025-2026 and also the approximately 21% of games in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, but it has been trending up slightly in the last couple of weeks.

For the first week only 11% of games went to OT, but this is comparable to other years where early on teams play for the regular time wins but then lay back once they have a better idea of their capabilities. And sportsbooks have adjusted the OT lines up this year due to the lower number of OT games. All games now seem to have odds exceeding +350 to reach OT which presents good betting opportunities. As the season progresses there’s no doubt the number of OT games will increase and like the stock market that underperforms this presents a great 'buying" opportunity.

Some teams clearly present better value due to the fact they play a more defensive style and value the guaranteed extra point for reaching overtime, thus playing more cautiously later in the third period in a tied game. Two teams in particular in this category are the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators, although Buffalo, Philadelphia, L.A. and Detroit also seem to go into defensive play late in the game. One should look for games involving these teams as well as Minnesota, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Montreal who all seem to be playing for OT at the end of the game. Avoid Columbus, Calgary, Utah, New Jersey and Washington, who have yet to record an overtime loss. It indicates a coaching style that wants to win or lose in regular time and avoid OT at all costs. This usually also indicates loss of faith in their goaltending should it reach a shootout.

NHL Anytime Goal Scorer and Player Points Props

I noted that anytime goal scorers can be risky bets because the number of times a player scores doesn’t justify the odds, but there is an even bigger reason not to place these bets - the odds this year are horrendous. Anytime goal scorer props on players like Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon, Macklin Celebrini and Kyle Connor are almost always lower than  even money (+100) when they play at home. In fact, the last game Colorado played, an anytime goal by Nathan MacKinnon was w massive 1.91 or -110 odds. So far this year MacKinnon has scored 9 goals in 14 games and when you eliminate multiple goal games, he has scored in seven games. So he has a goal every other game but the odds are lower than even money. Similarly, Celebrini has scored in four games out of 14 played yet his odds to score a goal vs. the L.A. Kings on the road is +150 when it should be close to +300.

The reason is obvious: bettors have favorite players they believe will score and play them almost every game. Books adjust to this and lower the odds accordingly. Add to that promotions that allow profit boosts on goalscorers and promotions like the one at BetMGM that offers a share of $10,000 for players who record a hat trick on a given day, and the better players are always overbet.

I noted a much better bet is to bet on a player to score a point and that stands. So far this season there have been about 6.4 goals per game through 246 games which is slightly higher than the same period last year and while some teams are very high scoring like Colorado, Edmonton, Toronto and Carolina, there are a few teams that have scored very little like Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. So the key is to find a high scoring team, especially if they are playing a team that lets in a lot of goals like Vancouver and Winnipeg and then parlaying players to score a goal that are on the first line or the first power play unit. The best place to check on that is dailyfaceoff.com.

Parlaying Auston Matthews, Jack Roslovic and William Nylander to get a point for Toronto playing teams that have given up at least 6 goals per game, as an example, has been very profitable. That combination has scored in 5 of the 7 games they played since John Tavares got injured, putting Roslovic on the first power play unit while yielding odds of about +175. As anyone can see that is great value and increases if a player can use a profit boost that is offered by most top betting sites.

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NHL Shots on Goal Prop Betting

Last month I suggested that betting players to get X shots on goal was a good bet and since the shots are way up this season over prior seasons it presents a massive betting opportunity. Certain players are proving to be far better at recording shots, yet the sportsbooks are slow at reacting and still have players like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Leon Draisaitl as the large favorites to record 3 or more shots on net. Yet, Matt Boldy from Minnesota, Tage Thompson from Buffalo, Kyle Connor from Winnipeg and Brendan Hagel from Tampa Bay are the four players this year averaging more than 4 shots on goal. Looking at games involving these players at the time of this writing, each player is more than even money to record four or more shots on goal and about 1.4 odds (-250) to get 3 or more shots. Parlaying those to get 3 shots or more and using a profit boost while the odds are still good represents great value. Eventually the sportsbooks will catch up and increase the odds a bit on traditional high shot players like McDavid, while lowering the odds-on players that are recording a lot of shots now, but since it is still very early in the season doing some research and betting the hot players can be quite profitable.

NHL Blocked Shots Betting Strategies

I mentioned that this is one of the best bets due to the high odds associated with blocking two or three shots per game and while Radko Gudas has had fewer blocked shots than usual, his numbers will go up. Until then it’s best to avoid betting him until the numbers increase. Moritz Seider as always is leading the league with three shots blocked per game and Tyler Kleeven from Ottawa, Chad Murphy from Edmonton, Mackenzie Weegar from Utah and Nick Seeler from Philadelphia have all blocked more than 40 shots this year, averaging well over two shots blocked per game. As with shots on net, the bookmakers are still slow adjusting since many of these players were not known as shot blockers in the past, so the key is to strike while the iron is hot and bet players who are getting in front of the puck now.

As mentioned in the previous NHL betting article, a blocked shot is anything stopped with the stick or body preventing the puck from reaching the goalie. So a player doesn’t need to sacrifice their body by falling to the ice to record a blocked shot, although that counts. It could simply be a player that intentionally puts out their stick and intercepts the shot. As always, the teams that tend to get the most blocked shots are those that also have the most penalty minutes since the majority of blocked shots occur on the power play. And parlaying several players to using a profit boost will also yield great returns.  

Additional NHL Player and Game Props

NHL Goalie Saves Prop Bets

The other suggested bets of betting on goalies to record 25 or more saves when playing poor defensive teams is proving a good bet too.

Teams are recording on average over 27 shots per game and some teams like Vancouver are giving up 32 shots per game. The 27 figure is a bit lower than the previous year, possibly due to the lower number of overtime games, but it still holds true that terrible defensive teams are giving up a tremendous number of shots when facing a good team. The leaders so far in giving up the most shots on goal this season are Vancouver at 32, San Jose at 30.5, Philadelphia at 29.5, Winnipeg at 29.7 and Toronto at 29.3. Five teams are averaging more than 30 shots per game including Carolina, Minnesota, New Jersey, Colorado, and Utah. And Detroit, Pittsburgh and Toronto are averaging over 28 shots per game. So naturally, if say Carolina is playing Vancouver, then betting the Vancouver goalie to get 25 or more saves is almost free money. The only concern is that Vancouver is such a bad team that if Carolina lights up the starter early they may take him out, so make sure to bet on team saves rather than specific goalie saves.

The last bet I said that was often profitable was betting no goal in the first 10 minutes with two defensive teams. While I don’t have exact figures it appears that about 40% of games are scoreless after 10 minutes and close to 25% of games are scoreless after the first period so this should still be a good wagering opportunity.

NHL Player Point Streaks and Betting Value

One trend that has been very noticeable is that players are going in streaks. Players like Logan Stankoven from Carolina, Arturi Lehkonen from Colorado, Brady Tkachuk from Florida, Alex Laferriere and Zach Benson from Buffalo are all recording points in streaks. They will have a point in three or 4 straight games, get nothing in the next two then get points in the next few games. Coaches notice these trends and will give them more ice time while they are playing well. If you see a player that seems to be scoring or assisting more often than usual, then it is a good strategy to ride those players to get a point, particularly if they are not usually high point getters since the bookmakers will underprice them while they are running hot.

Betting hockey props can be very profitable but they also evolve over the course of an 82 game season. The key is to find the right spots, know the teams who are on the power play a lot and most importantly taking advantage of best boosts whenever possible. Bookmark this for November and I'll be back in early December with an update.

Read more sports betting analysis and gambling industry insights from Hartley Henderson at OSGA. For more industry news, speculation and commentary, check out Hartley's Rumor Mill.