NHL Wednesday Games Scores Recap

On a night when the public was slammed because of outright wins by the Detroit Red Wings (+200) and Arizona Coyotes (+210), there were plenty of bright spots starting with the Buffalo Sabres puck line (+105) 7-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks.

98% of the wagers were on Buffalo and 99% on the over, sending bettors home from the book with some cash in their pocket. The biggest moneyline loss for the public was getting in on the Blackhawks (+437). This was a matter of trying to catch a big plus money winner more than it was thinking the hawks were the right side. Let’s go through NHL scores from last night to give you the full breakdown of the winners and losers.

Books More Happy to See Dog Money, Bites Them In the End

NHL moneyline movement from Wednesday showed the public getting the better of the moves, finishing with a 3-2 record, but the books made out because those two losses (Tampa -255, Edmonton -250) were enough to earn our friends behind the counter 205 units of profit on a $100 wager. There was six games total, but the Colorado Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild matchup opened and closed at -125.

Books Take a Stance on Games, Public Takes Advantage

Now, let’s break down Wednesday’s games by dollars wagered. This is where we find the public having far more success with plus-money winners’ wagers on the Coyotes and Redwings. Overall higher bet percentage (actual dollars wagered) was 4-2 (+385 units).

You may ask how the majority of the money was on one team but the line moved the other way. 87% of the moneyline cash was on the Coyotes, but that doesn’t mean there was a significant amount wagered, which seems likely in games involving the ‘Yotes. Among the books monitored, only Chicago and Toronto had fewer tickets written overall.

To give it perspective, the Sabres/Ducks had almost 10,000 more tickets written. It also could mean that the books were taking a stance on the game and made an in-house wager themselves, meaning they were more than happy to see Blackhawks and Red Wings money roll in.

Public Wins Early, Books Grab Last Two Puck Line Decisions

Ask any bookmaker and they’ll tell you that they’d much rather deal with spreads than moneylines. That mostly applies to the NFL and NBA, even baseball and the NHL gives books headaches because they’re left rooting for dogs to win outright.

Last night, bookmakers were blasted through four games on the puck line before the Blackhawks +2.5 (-105) and Redwings +1.5 (-120) failed to cover. Overall, the public finished 4-2 with a nice profit of 222 units.

Public Finishes Off Bookies With Win on Totals

The NHL Wednesday game scores show a night of high-scoring affairs that worked out for the players. Although there was much more money wagered on the moneyline and pucklines, of the four games that received 90% or more of the money, the betting public won all four games. On the night, bettors were 4-2 on the totals for a profit of 171 units.

2023 NHL History Lesson

Now that we’ve looked at Wednesday’s NHL game scores, let’s give a quick breakdown of how bettors have been stacking up against the books this season. Moneyline dollars wagered have favored the public from a wins/losses standpoint (429-412) but that has cost bettors 4284 units overall (-5.1 ROI) when a team is getting more than 50% of the action. So far, puckline bettors have suffered a -4.1% ROI with a 372-439 (45.87%) -3,337 units.

Totals are a little harder to measure when it comes to the money bet because the information is not available. We can get an idea of how the public does against the number from the ticket count where the players are 414-421 (-6.6% ROI) -5673 units in 2023.

No matter how you slice it, the guys behind the counter have had a profitable season, but it was nice to see the ‘Joes’ get some of that back last night. That concludes our look back at Wednesday’s NHL game scores, we wish all the best with tonight’s 8-game card.

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