How to bet on hockey

Anyone new to betting on hockey may be slightly confused when they look at NHL betting lines because they are different from the standard point spreads they know from football and basketball.

But the main way to bet on hockey (same as betting on baseball) is via the moneyline. It makes betting your favorite NHL picks easier in that your team only needs to win, not cover any type of spread.

But calculating what it means takes a bit of explanation. As with the spread, a negative value on the moneyline indicates the favorite. So when you see NHL lines like below:

Montreal Canadiens +110

Toronto Maple Leafs -130

It means the Leafs are favored and the Canadiens are underdogs and the easiest way to understand the moneyline is to place the number 100 between the two values. -130 100 +110

On the Leafs, you have to risk a bit more because they are favored. So in their case, you risk $13 (-13) in order to turn a $10 profit. So if you win, you get your $13 back and the profit of $10. On the Habs, you get a bigger potential payout for risking less money because they are underdogs.

So in their case, you risk $10 in order to turn a $11 profit. So if you win, you get your $10 back and the $11 profit. As you can see, you risk less money and win more if you can successfully predict underdog winners.

So it pays to find a sportsbook that specializes in NHL underdog lines if you decide to handicap and make NHL picks based on this theory.

PuckLine or Canadian Line

Betting If you bet runlines in baseball, you’ll know exactly how a puck line works when making your NHL picks this season. If you don’t, this is how the puckline works.

It merges the moneyline with a point spread to create an interesting hockey betting opportunity. You are betting that a team will not only win the game, but they will win by two or more goals because the puckline traditionally includes a -1.5 value. So if you think the Leafs will beat the Habs by two goals, the puckline could be the way to go because your payout will be larger for taking on the added risk.

A puck line may look like below:

Vancouver Canucks +1.5 (-270)

Winnipeg Jets -1.5 (+230)

Again, placing the number 100 between the values is helpful in seeing how much you have to risk and how much you can make. For the Canucks, they are +1.5 goals, which means 1.5 goals will be added to their final total.

In this case, you have to risk $27 (-270) to win $10, but you have the added cushion of those 1.5 goals. So if Vancouver wins, you win. If they lose by one goal, you still win (because a 4-3 turns into a 4.5-4 win after the point spread is added). On the Jets, they are -1.5 goals meaning 1.5 goals will come off their total. That is risky, so you are rewarded with risking less $10 in order to win $23 (+230).

But to win, Winnipeg needs to win the game by two goals. A 4-3 win is not good enough, because it turns into 3-2.5 after 1.5 goals are taken away from the Jets. If they win 5-3 or 6-3, they have won by two or more goals and you win big! Over under odds Over under or NHL total betting is the same as football, baseball and basketball wagering.

The oddsmaker sets a total number of goals (often it’s 5.5) and you bet whether the total number of goals scored in the game will be more than or less than 5.5 Again, a 3-2 game goes UNDER the total of 5.5. A 4-2 game goes OVER the total of 5.5.

Also check out articles on Stanley Cup odds betting and other types of NHL future odds, as well as hockey prop betting and one of the coolest and most exciting new ways to bet the NHL, live hockey betting.