Best and Worst OVER/UNDER Bets in the NHL

At the start of the year, OVER bets were cashing at a ridiculous rate. That trend has since been curved – hard. Goals scored per game went from well over six to 5.30 – a number that’s actually the lowest since 2003. If you got ahead of this slump and started betting UNDERs, it’s likely paid serious dividends as just eight teams of 30 have cashed more OVERs than they have UNDERs.

Here’s a look at the five best OVER teams and the five best UNDER teams in the NHL:

Best OVER teams

It’s starting to become more difficult to find good spots to bet on the OVER with goals starting to come way down but the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers just keep burning out light bulbs and giving puck fans like me hope that one day everyone will like hockey. For now, they are the only teams that have cashed OVERs in more than 60 percent of their games and everything is terrible.

Luck would have it that these teams play this afternoon against each other and the total at the time of writing was 5.5. The Rangers and Flyers have combined for an O/U record of 22-12 in games where the total has closed at that number. This game is screaming for goals and I may be taking advantage of some total props today.

Best Over teams
Team	O/U Record	Avg. Total GPP
Philadelphia Flyers	13-6-2	6.43
New York Rangers	13-7-1	6.38
Pittsburgh Penguins	10-6-4	5.70
Toronto Maple Leafs	11-9	6.35
Vancouver Canucks	10-8-2	5.25

Best UNDER teams

As I mentioned in my opener, the tide has turned for total bettors and 20 of the 30 NHL teams have now posted more UNDERs than OVERs. This is a trend that’s been great for sportbooks and probably not so great for your bankroll with the public money normally coming in on the side of the OVER.

With that in mind, let’s look at some teams that have been keeping the puck out of the net and that have been making responsible, forward-thinking bettors money – hand over fist.

No. 1 on the list is the San Jose Sharks, who have been far and away the best team in the league to bet totals on. If you’d bet the UNDER in every Sharks game this year, you’d have lost your money just twice in 20 bets and cashed out a profit 15 times. The California Fish have been one of the soundest defensive clubs in the league but have not quite figured out their offense and have one of the lowest totals in five-on-five goals scored.

San Jose started the season with an O/U record of 1-10 and has since gotten a total of 5.5 just once. Bookmakers have adjusted but can’t set totals low enough for the Sharks right now.