A puck line bet gives the favourite a 1.5-goal handicap and the underdog a 1.5-goal start: -1.5 needs a win by two goals or more, while +1.5 pays if the underdog wins or loses by one. An NHL puck line is usually 1.5 whatever the matchup, so the price does the adjusting, and a favourite's -1.5 price sits above its head to head price.
Overtime and empty nets settle many of these bets: overtime always ends one goal apart, and empty-net goals stretch one-goal leads into two. In the 2025-26 regular season, 567 of the 1,312 games (43.2%) finished one goal apart. The NHL betting guide covers hockey's other markets.
How -1.5 and +1.5 settle: six final scores
The test is the final margin: a favourite that wins by two goals or more covers -1.5, and any other result, a one-goal win included, pays +1.5. With illustrative prices of $2.60 on the favourite at -1.5 and $1.52 on the underdog at +1.5, $25 on each side settles like this:
| Final score, favourite first | How it ended | Favourite -1.5 at $2.60 | Underdog +1.5 at $1.52 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-2 | Regulation | Returns $65.00 | Loses $25 |
| 3-1, last goal into an empty net | Regulation | Returns $65.00 | Loses $25 |
| 2-1 | Regulation | Loses $25 | Returns $38.00 |
| 3-2 | Overtime | Loses $25 | Returns $38.00 |
| 4-3, from 3-3 after overtime | Shootout | Loses $25 | Returns $38.00 |
| 1-4 | Regulation | Loses $25 | Returns $38.00 |
Example: Illustrative prices only. On the favourite's side 25 x 2.60 = $65.00 comes back, $40.00 of it profit; on the underdog's, 25 x 1.52 = $38.00, a $13.00 profit. Together the prices imply 1 / 2.60 + 1 / 1.52 = 0.3846 + 0.6579 = 104.3%, a 4.3% overround.
Only two of the six rows pay the favourite, and the second needed an empty net. US coverage keeps the name puck line and quotes it in American odds, which the US sports betting guide converts. In Australian terms it is hockey line betting, and the .5 in 1.5 means it can never push; line betting explained covers the idea across sports.
Why overtime and shootouts go to +1.5
Regular-season overtime is sudden death: up to five minutes of three-on-three, ended by the first goal (Rule 84.1 of the NHL's 2026-27 rules). If nobody scores, a shootout follows, and however many shootout goals go in, the NHL records the winner as one goal ahead of its score after overtime (Rule 84.4). Playoff overtime is sudden death too, in full 20-minute periods (Rule 84.5). A game level after 60 minutes therefore finishes exactly one goal apart.
In 2025-26 that covered 326 games, 207 settled in overtime and 119 in shootouts, all of them +1.5 wins. For -1.5 to win, the favourite needs a two-goal margin before the 60 minutes are up: 745 of the 1,312 games (56.8%) were won by two goals or more, every one of them in regulation.
At 1.5 goals it also makes no difference whether a bookmaker settles the puck line on 60 minutes or on the final result. A level score at 60 minutes is a margin of 0 and an overtime or shootout win is a margin of 1, so +1.5 wins on either and -1.5 loses on either. The difference appears only at 0.5 goals, covered below.
Pulled goalies and empty-net goals
A team trailing late can pull its goaltender for an extra skater, and the leader then shoots at an empty net. In 2025-26, NHL teams scored 508 empty-net goals, 448 of them in the last three minutes of the third period, and 218 came when the scoring team led by one. That makes the final minutes the part of the game where many -1.5 bets are settled:
| 2025-26 regular season | Games | How the winner's empty-net goals figured |
|---|---|---|
| Won by exactly two goals | 230 | 169 would have been one-goal wins without them |
| Won by exactly three goals | 303 | 208 included at least one empty-net goal by the winner |
| Won by two goals or more | 745 | 211 would have finished one goal apart, or level, without them |
Empty nets also explain an oddity in the margins. Take every empty-net goal out of the season and two-goal wins outnumber three-goal wins by 233 to 154; put them back and it is 230 to 303.
For a -1.5 backer, a one-goal lead with two minutes left is not yet a lost bet. For a +1.5 backer, trailing by one late is not safe. The extra skater works both ways, though: if the trailing team scores with its net empty, the game goes to overtime and +1.5 wins.
Puck line or head to head: what the price asks
A -1.5 bet wins only when the team wins and the margin is two or more, so its chance is your win chance times the share of those wins you expect by two goals or more. Across 2025-26, 56.8% of all games were won by two or more. Hockey showed little home effect: 57.7% of home wins and 55.8% of away wins came by two or more. Baseball is different, because the walk-off rule shrinks home margins, as the MLB run line shows. The share for any one team depends on the matchup, so treat the league figure as a starting point.
Turn it round to read a price. For a team you rate a 64% chance to win, the share of its wins that must come by two or more before -1.5 breaks even is 1 / (0.64 x price):
| -1.5 price | Working | Share of wins by two or more needed |
|---|---|---|
| $2.20 | 1 / (0.64 x 2.20) | 71.0% |
| $2.50 | 1 / (0.64 x 2.50) | 62.5% |
| $2.80 | 1 / (0.64 x 2.80) | 55.8% |
| $3.10 | 1 / (0.64 x 3.10) | 50.4% |
Now add illustrative prices of $1.50 on the head to head and $2.50 at -1.5, and your estimate that 60% of the team's wins come by two or more. The two bets are then worth the same: 0.64 x 1.50 - 1 = -4.0c per $1, and 0.64 x 0.60 x 2.50 - 1 = -4.0c. The -1.5 bet is the better of the two only when your share is above 1.50 / 2.50 = 60%.
On the other side, +1.5 on the underdog wins 1 - 0.384 = 61.6% of the time on those numbers, a fair price of 1 / 0.616 = $1.62. At $1.56 it is worth 0.616 x 1.56 - 1 = -3.9c per $1. To see the bookmaker's own view without its margin, run both prices through the fair odds calculator.
Risk: Betting involves risk. The 64% win chance and the 60% two-goal share are made-up inputs for the sums, and even a fairly priced -1.5 at $2.50 loses three times in five. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
Alternative lines from -0.5 to -3.5, and the reverse
Where a bookmaker offers alternative puck lines, a harder line pays a longer price and an easier one a shorter price. The 2025-26 margins give the scale:
| Line on the team that won | It clears the line when | 2025-26 games where the winner cleared it |
|---|---|---|
| -1.5 | It wins by 2 or more | 745 (56.8%) |
| -2.5 | It wins by 3 or more | 515 (39.3%) |
| -3.5 | It wins by 4 or more | 212 (16.2%) |
These shares are for whichever team won, so a favourite's chance of clearing each line is lower: it does not always win. The fair price of each comes from your own estimates. For the same team at 64%, with 35% of its wins by three goals or more, -2.5 is 0.64 x 0.35 = 22.4%, a fair price of 1 / 0.224 = $4.46.
The reverse puck line swaps the sides. If the underdog wins 36% of the time and half its wins come by two or more, its -1.5 is 0.36 x 0.50 = 18.0%, a fair 1 / 0.18 = $5.56. The favourite's +1.5 is then 1 - 0.18 = 82.0%, a fair 1 / 0.82 = $1.22.
Lines at 0.5 goals are where overtime matters. Settled on the final result, -0.5 is the head to head by another name; settled on 60 minutes, -0.5 needs a regulation win, and +0.5 also wins on a level score after regulation. Check which one your bookmaker means. Pick your own line explains how bookmakers price lines away from the main one.
Edge cases: overtime empty nets, postponements and goalie changes
- Pulled goalies in overtime. A team may pull its goaltender in regular-season overtime (Rule 84.2), but any goal still ends the game one goal apart, so the puck line result stays the same.
- Postponed games. If a postponed game cannot be replayed within three calendar days of when it was due to finish, the NSW rule book (read October 2026), which binds bookmakers authorised in NSW, treats it as abandoned and refunds bets (clause 5.1.6). Other bookmakers set their own window.
- Goaltender changes. The NSW default is all-in, so a bet stands whoever takes part (clause 5.1.1): at a bookmaker bound by it, a puck line bet placed before the line-up rides on whichever goaltender starts. Elsewhere the bookmaker's own terms decide, so check yours.
Where -1.5 and +1.5 bets go wrong
Using the season's numbers and the illustrative prices above:
| Mistake | What it costs | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Backing -1.5 for the bigger price on a team you expect to win | All 567 one-goal finals in 2025-26 were -1.5 losses, overtime and shootout wins included | Estimate how often the team wins by two before comparing prices |
| Treating +1.5 as safe when the underdog trails by one late | An empty-net goal makes it two: 169 of the 230 two-goal wins would have been one-goal wins without the winner's empty-net goals | Treat the bet as undecided until time runs out |
| Assuming a 0.5 line settles like 1.5 | On a 60-minute -0.5, an overtime win loses | Check whether the line uses 60 minutes or the final result |
| Paying a short +1.5 price without the sums | +1.5 at $1.30 needs 1 / 1.30 = 76.9% to break even | Compare it with your own chance |
Comparing hockey lines like for like
When you compare puck line prices across bookmakers, compare like with like: a longer price on -2.5 is not a better price on -1.5. On B337's Terminal, line markets sit beside head to head and totals, one column per bookmaker, with the best available price on each selection picked out. Leagues on the sports board include AFL, NRL, NBA, soccer and tennis whenever bookmakers have markets up. The Terminal carries 40+ bookmakers across racing and sports, not all of which price every game.
It reads prices on a repeating cycle rather than tick by tick, so a quote on screen can trail the bookmaker's own: check the line and the price in your account before you bet. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds.
Risk: Betting involves risk. One late goal at either end can decide a -1.5 bet, and no price tells you which way the last three minutes will go. See responsible gambling for limits and support.