Not every week can be a blowout performance by the ScoresandStats handicappers. Last week, the NHL handicappers struggled to keep their heads above water in terms of win rate, but still managed around $1,800 in profit. Despite being the weakest week in a while, they had some interesting picks. 

See what happened last week and get the inside scoop on upcoming NHL picks. 

Top NHL Handicappers Last Week

Last week, the top 5 handicappers went 66-52, with a 55.9% win rate. However, the top five did manage to walk away with $1,824 in profit. Even though they were in the green, this was one of the worst weeks we’ve seen since we started doing the weekly recaps. 

This week was definitely about volume instead of precision betting. Lombardi clocked in almost 60 wagers, and Kuchman went 19-19, just barely skating into the positive win rate. 

But, we also have a few handicappers who are patient and methodical. Lewis and Garcia placed 5 wagers between them, but they won over $600 on those 5 wagers. 

At least this week sees a full roster of real handicappers, as opposed to the picks models that dominated the previous week’s leaderboard. 

Sal Lombardi Casts a Wide Net

Sal Lombardi is no stranger to the NHL leaderboard. He’s been in the top five a few times this past season, and every time he’s got some kind of new strategy for his picks. 

This past week he cast a fairly wide net with his wagers. He placed 10 spreads, 26 moneylines, and 23 spreads. Even though he placed the lowest number of spreads, he won the most from them, with $470 in profit. 

Funnily enough, every spread he placed was at -1.5 points. Some wagers were an unfortunate loss, like the +185 on the Louis Blues, but others were pretty successful. Lombardi won a +140 on the Jets as well as a few wagers at +110 to +120. 

When it comes to moneylines, Lombardi bet pretty evenly between underdogs and favorites. My favorite moneylines of his last week were the back-to-back dogs bets on the Sabres and Canadiens, which he managed to make a pretty penny on. 

Kuchman Reaps a Total Loss…

Like Mr. Lombardi, Sean Kuchman has made his fair share of appearances in the top 5 leaderboard. 

Last week, he was on the verge of clocking in a loss, with a 50% win rate for the week and only $310 in profit. 

I want to look at his totals wagers, in particular. 

He placed 15 totals bets, going 7-8 and losing $195. As you can see, he almost exclusively bet the over or under around 6 or 6.5 points. In some scenarios, this was really in his favor, such as the Lightning and Islanders game, or the Sabres and Flyers. 

But, betting so rigidly across the board has its drawbacks, which I think Kuchman has come to realize. When you’re placing totals wagers, you want to look back at historic performance. For example, how have the two teams played against one another earlier in the season, or even last season? What were the game totals? 

While betting along these kinds of trends isn’t always successful, (upsets happen and team dynamics change) they tend to be more reliable than what Kuchman did. Betting one kind of wager across multiple teams is risky because it doesn’t account for individual matchup considerations. 

Where Our Money’s at This Week

This upcoming week has some good matchups to watch. Tonight, the Capitals play the Hurricanes and Ovechkin continues his pursuit of the goal record. He’s sitting at 891 right now, and needs 4 more to beat out Gretzky. Will it happen tonight? And it probably won’t happen this week. The Capitals only play the Blackhawks Friday, and it seems unlikely Ovechkin scores 4 goals across 2 games. But, who knows!

We’ll also watch the Jets and the Golden Knights tomorrow, as two of the top teams in the West, it’s going to be an interesting matchup. 

If you want to see some picks for this week’s upcoming NHL games, be sure to sign up at ScoreasandStats.com. 

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