How to Watch NHL Online for Free using Kodi or other Streaming Apps
This article aims to teach you the ways to watch the NHL online and for free so you can cut the cord and knock out that pesky cable subscription. I’ll also teach you how to stop your ISP from slowing your connection down and causing latency issues.
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For any fan of sports watching the NHL online would be a dream come true. No more pesky cable subscription. Unfortunately, it would seem that it is harder for some and simpler for others. This article aims to teach you the ways to watch the NHL online and for free so you can cut the cord and knock out that pesky cable subscription. I’ll also teach you how to stop your ISP from slowing your connection down and causing latency issues.
Let’s face facts, services like Netflix and Hulu Plus are replacing the need to watch your common TV drama shows with a cable subscription. It’s only natural more people are cutting the cord and moving on from getting their entertainment via cable. Why not try and do the same with sports? Sounds like a swell idea doesn’t it? Unfortunately, in most cases, cord cutting is simple for entertainment but quite a bit more difficult for live TV and news.
If we take into account the average American or Canadian, they might still be bound to the box to watch the NHL. But stay tuned and I’ll let you in on some better ways to watch hockey and cut out that cable subscription.
Chose your Poison
Now if you’re old-fashioned and hate the new trends of apps and things like Instagram, it might not be such a bad idea to buy an antenna for your house. This does require that you be located in a country or region where NHL is being broadcast over the air of course!
If it is though, then for a small price and some elbow grease, you can get a decent setup for not just sports but other entertainment content. Just be sure to upkeep that antenna from the elements, living in places like Canada and U.S.A. the weather can get dicey.
However, this all depends on what kind of device you want to watch hockey on. If you want to watch it on a computer then you will take a different route from watching it on a TV.
Streaming Over the Internet
If you’re not in an area with a decent reception for an antenna, or you want more than the 15-20 channels that you get over the air, you’re probably going to want to go with some sort of streaming solution. If that’s the case, the one thing that you need to invest in is a good quality VPN service.
A VPN connection helps stop strangers from either discovering or sharing your device’s information and it also blocks your ISP from monitoring your activity online. This means that while they know you are using the service, they do not know what you are using the service on and won’t throttle or slow down your internet connection. We always recommend IPVanish to keep your IP address hidden, it’ll be sure to stop hackers and criminals while you’re watching your home team kickass.
Using a VPN connection that way you can watch NHL games from as far away as Germany or Brazil. VPNs not only provide you with security by creating an impasse between your device and the server you are connected to, they also help you bypass geographic restrictions. By masking your IP address, VPNs make it appear as if you are in a different location.
We’ve actually negotiated an exclusive deal with IPVanish to give our readers a 60% discount! You can read our complete guide on installing a VPN on Fire Stick for more information as well as installation instructions.
Official Kodi Add-ons for NHL
Kodi is one of the best media players you can get for your computer or smart TV. And there are quite a few apps and add-ons you can integrate into it to watch the NHL online.
NHL.TV & NHL GameCenter
Logging into your NHL.tv account directly on Kodi is really easy. Once you’ve set up a paid subscription simply follow the steps below to get it set up on your system. To install it you simply need to to go to the Kodi Add-on Repository (you can find this in the package installer section) and select NHL.TV. Once it’s installed you’ll find it available in the Video Add-ons section.
Please note that an NHL.tv subscription is free for the first 7 days. So if you do want to bypass paying $100 per year be sure to cancel before the first billing cycle. That way you can still see the game but not have to pay for it continuously after the playoffs are over.
GameCenter is another official add-on that that works with your NHL.tv account. GameCenter does take location into account, so local games might be blocked. If this is the case, simply log into your VPN account (if you don’t have a VPN, check here the best VPN services for Kodi) and connect from a different country! By masking your location to a country like Sweden you can bypass the red tape that telecommunications companies impose on people.
NBC Sports Live Extra
While not specific to the NHL, NBC has lots of sports-related content available and if you already have a US cable subscription it’s free! Sports Live Extra is available from the official Kodi Add-on Repository and you simply need your login information to access the high-quality streams available.
USTV Now
A fourth add-on for you to play with is USTVNow. Again, this add-on has more than just the NHL and in fact, offers more than sports in general. It is quite a good overall app if you want to cut the cord though and should be part of your arsenal! Once again, this add-on is available in the official Kodi Add-on Repository.
Unofficial Kodi Add-ons for the NHL (No subscription required)
If the options offered above do not work for you, don’t despair, there are still ways and means to get access to those games as we’ll detail below.
Unofficial kodi add-ons contains copyrighted content, so you should ALWAYS use a VPN when streaming using Unofficial Kodi Addons. A VPN will keep you anonymous ensuring your privacy and security. If you don’t have a VPN, I recommend IPVanish.
SportsDevil
This app scrapes other websites for streams (similar to Terrarium but for Sports). As such none of the streams are actually hosted by SportsDevil so the quality might not be the best, however, SportsDevil is made for sports and you will probably find everything on it.
Check out our guide for instructions on installing SportsDevil. Since Sportsdevil searches random sports websites for streams be sure to have your firewall enabled so that you don’t pick up any malware from foreign websites.
When using SportsDevil and in fact any “unofficial” streaming app, in general, it is a necessity to have a VPN in place so please ensure that you have done this.
Android Apps for the NHL
If you’re the proud owner of an Android box or Amazon Firestick (or Fire TV for that matter), you have some other options in addition to the Kodi ones mentioned previously. Two really good all-purpose apps are:
These apps contains copyrighted content, so you should ALWAYS use a VPN when streaming using these apps. A VPN will keep you anonymous ensuring your privacy and security. If you don’t have a VPN, I recommend IPVanish.
Mobdro App
Mobdro is a fairly good app with a large selection of live channels to pick and choose from. The streams are of a reasonable quality and while they are not specific to the NHL you do get a large selection of channels including sports. Check out our install guide for Mobdro here. Since it’s an Android app it’s powered by Google which means you can link up your other social media accounts to it.
Live NetTV App
The final app on our list is Live NetTV. Similar to Mobdro this app also is not just for the NHL. However, unlike Mobdro, Live NetTV categorizes everything for you so finding NHL content is really easy. They currently have over 700 channels of content (and the list keeps growing) and if you’re ever stuck without a game to watch, Live NetTV is guaranteed to have something else to keep you occupied!
Check out our install guide for Live NetTV to get it all set up on your system and also take a look at our review. In my opinion, this might be your best option to get the job done.
I hope I’ve provided all the information you’ll need to stop doing business with your unfair cable company. If there are any tech geeks reading this share with the newbies anything we missed in the comments below.
