NHL Odds, Daily Betting Lines & Spreads

NHL Betting Odds Legend

Moneyline

The most popular way to bet on your favorite hockey team is moneyline betting and it replaces a point spread because the scores are so low. Your team has to win the game, not win by a certain number of goals. In NHL odds, negative and positive values are attached to favorites (-180) and underdogs (+160). Think of it as 100 sitting in the middle of these two values.

Example: If you want to bet a -180 favorite, you would risk $180 to win $100 (or for smaller players, $18 to win $10). When betting on the underdog at +160, you would bet $100 to win $160 if the underdog wins. Without a point spread, bettors have to risk a bit more to bet the favorite, but you earn a bigger payout if you back the underdog.

Moneyline bets are also terrific bets to place when live betting. Live NHL odds and lines can shift with the snap of a wrister, so get in on in-play betting and live NHL game lines for a chance at some big-time paydays.

Puckline (Canadian Line)

The puckline is a hybrid form of NHL odds betting that merges the moneyline and a point spread. It means a team has to win by two or more goals to win the wager, much like a runline in baseball. Negative values such as -1.5 indicate that team is favored by 1.5 goals. Positive values like +1.5 indicate that team is the underdog by 1.5 goals.

Betting on the NHL point spread means the team must win by at least two goals to cover the puckline hockey spread. The dog can lose by one goal and still cover the puckline. That’s right – a team can lose 3-2, but still win on the puckline if it is +1.5 goals. This means whether the underdog wins or loses, you have the chance to walk away victorious.

You may also see a -135 or +180 value associated with the puckline. This is the moneyline component and shows how much you need to risk and how much you will profit.

For example, when looking at NHL hockey lines today, if a team is -1.5, +180 and you wagered $100, that means you would profit $180 (+180) if the team wins by two goals or more. On the other side of hockey betting lines, for a team that is +1.5, -135, you would have to risk $135 (-135) to back the team. If they win the game or only lose by just one goal, you have a winning wager of $100.

NHL bettors frequently use these NHL spreads if they believe an underdog will win the game, but are still concerned that it might suffer a close loss. If you are ever in this situation and need a second opinion, try checking out our consensus picks page to see where the public betting trends are leaning. You can also utilize our expert computer picks to give you an unbiased analytical pick.

Total Score Or OVER/UNDER

Known more commonly as OVER/UNDER NHL odds, this is a number set by oddsmakers (usually 5 or 5.5 in hockey) and bettors must decide if the total number of goals scored in the game by both teams combined will be higher or lower. So when you see 5.5, you are hoping for six or more goals if you bet OVER and hoping for five or less if you bet UNDER.

Where you see a moneyline value linked to the 5.5, this is the risk-reward amounts for selecting the OVER or the UNDER. Example: 5.5, u-110 means the total is 5.5 goals and you have to risk $110 (-110) in order to bet UNDER the total.

If the final score is 2-1, the total is 3 and you profit $100. You will also see values for the OVER such as 5.5, o+105. In this case, you profit $105 by risking $100 if the game produces six or more total goals.

NHL Props

An exciting way to bet on NHL odds tonight, NHL prop bets allow sports bettors to expand their selection and bet on more specific events over the course of a game. Anytime goal scorer is a great example of this, where a bettor may wager on an individual player to register their name in the goal column.

Team props and hockey lines are also a great betting area. Team props work the same way that player props do, but are focused on the collective effort rather than individual success. Bets include winning margin and most goals scored on the day. Other prop bets include OVER/UNDER on saves made by a goaltender, shots on net from a player, and more.

Just like moneyline and puckline odds they will vary depending on matchups and skill of the players involved, so don't expect Connor McDavid to have as juicy odds as an AHL call-up.

NHL Futures

You don't need to have visions to bet on NHL futures, but it helps. In this betting you can wager on a future event or outcome within the NHL. This could be something as small as a teams win total, NHL division odds, all the way to who will win hoist the Stanley Cup.

You can find various NHL futures odds availble from the pre-season all the way through the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The NHL lines tonight, are gone tomorrow, with constant line movement as teams rise and fall down the standings throughout the NHL season, when you've got a good feeling about a team with good odds, don't wait, place your bets right away and maximize your wins.