Hockey Betting Guide: Moneyline, Puck Line and Totals

Hockey betting comes down to three main markets: the moneyline on who wins, the puck line at 1.5 goals, and the total on how many goals are scored. The 2026-27 NHL regular season opens on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, with five games, starting with the Florida Panthers at the Carolina Hurricanes, the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

This guide explains each market with the arithmetic behind it. Our game-by-game calls are on the NHL predictions hub.

How hockey odds work

Most US books show American odds. A minus number is what you stake to win $100, so -150 means $150 to win $100. A plus number is what $100 wins, so +200 turns $100 into a $200 profit.

Every price is also a chance. For a favorite, divide the price by itself plus 100: -150 is 150 divided by 250, or 60%. For an underdog, divide 100 by the price plus 100: +200 is 33.3%. A bet is worth making only when you rate the chance higher than the price does.

Decimal odds, common outside the US, include your stake: 2.50 returns $2.50 for every $1, which is the same as +150. Fractional odds show profit over stake, so 3/1 is the same as +300.

The moneyline

The moneyline is a bet on who wins the game. In the NHL that usually includes overtime and the shootout, so a team that wins in a shootout pays the same as one that wins in regulation. Check your book’s house rules, because some also post a separate line for regulation only.

That regulation-only bet is often called the 60-minute line or three-way line. It has three outcomes, home, away and tie, and the tie pays because a game level after 60 minutes is a real result for that market.

The puck line

The puck line is hockey’s point spread, and it is almost always 1.5 goals. The favorite at -1.5 has to win by two or more; the underdog at +1.5 wins the bet if it wins or loses by one.

Because one-goal games are common, the prices move a long way from the moneyline. A favorite at -200 on the moneyline can be an underdog on the puck line, and an underdog at +150 can be a heavy favorite at +1.5. Empty-net goals late in a game decide a lot of these bets, since a trailing team pulls its goalie and the leader can score into an open net.

Some books also post alternate puck lines, such as -2.5 for a bigger payout or +2.5 for a safer one.

Totals, period bets and the Grand Salami

A total is a bet on combined goals, over or under a number the book sets, such as 5.5 or 6.5. Read the confirmed starting goalies before you bet one, because the total is set with them in mind.

Period markets cut the game into 20-minute pieces. A first-period total is often 1.5, and a first-period moneyline can end in a tie. The Grand Salami is a total on every goal scored across a full day’s slate, which on opening night means all five games on September 29.

Props

Props are bets on something inside a game: a player’s goals, points or shots on goal, a goalie’s saves, the first team to score. An anytime goalscorer bet wins if the player scores at any point, and a first goalscorer bet pays more because only one player can score first.

Save props depend on how many shots the other team takes, so a goalie facing a high-volume offense has more chances to go over his number and more chances to let one in.

Futures

Futures are bets on the season: the Stanley Cup, a division, an award. The Hart Trophy market for 2026-27 has Connor McDavid at +300, Nathan MacKinnon at +350 and Macklin Celebrini at +450 on DraftKings, as ESPN listed it on September 25, 2026. At +300, McDavid has to win it 25% of the time to pay back what the bet costs.

A futures bet ties up your money for months, and the price already includes the book’s margin. Our Hart Trophy odds page, NHL playoffs page and division odds pages cover those markets.

Live betting and parlays

Live betting prices a game while it is being played, and the numbers move after every goal and penalty. A power play is two minutes, so a price taken during one can look very different a few minutes later.

A parlay joins several bets into one, and every leg has to win. Two legs at -110 each pay about +264, which needs a 27.5% chance to break even. If each leg is a true coin flip, both win only 25% of the time.

Doing the homework

The NHL’s own stats site has team and player numbers, and our NHL team pages collect each club’s schedule and results. Goalies and back-to-back games are worth checking before any bet, because one player faces every shot.

Prices differ from book to book, and on a puck line a few cents of juice add up over a season. Compare them first with our sportsbook reviews, and set a budget before the season starts: with 32 teams, one night can hold up to 16 games, and nobody needs a bet on all of them.