Learning about Ice hockey odds can feel like stepping onto the ice without skates. It’s slippery, fast, and a little chaotic. Between decimals, fractions, and moneylines, numbers spin around faster than a Zamboni between periods. If you’ve watched a game and wondered, “What on Earth do those +150 and -200 numbers mean?”, you’re in the right place.
What Are Ice Hockey Odds Anyway?
Ice hockey odds (or odds on any sport, for that matter) are simply a means of sportsbooks communicating to you how probable something is to occur and how much you’re going to get paid if it does.
You can think of odds as jersey numbers: they identify who the player (or in this instance, the likelihood of an outcome) is and therefore suggest the level of performance. In other words, the skill of the player is reflected in the odds! If you go to Sportsbet.io‘s ice hockey page, you will notice various formats of odds, American (e.g., +150), Decimal (e.g., 2.50), or Fractional (e.g., 3/2).
Types of Ice Hockey Bets (and Why They Matter)
There are several standard “bet types” in ice hockey wagers that track nearly everything fans are concerned about. All of these bets may be stated in any number of various forms of odds, but they all reduce to looking for a result and allowing mathematics to handle the rest in the book.
Even if you’ve never placed a sports bet before, you’ve probably heard of a moneyline or an over/under. But the puck line, that’s where hockey-specific excitement really takes off. Unlike basketball or football, where spreads can be just a few points, hockey’s low-scoring nature means spreads often involve “give” or “take” a goal and a half. If you bet on the favorite at -1.5 they must win by 2 or more goals for you to win. If you bet on the underdog at +1.5 you win the bet if they win the game, lose by 1 goal or the game goes to overtime.
How to Read Moneyline, Puck Line, and Totals
Moneyline
Moneyline odds are the backbone of sports wagering. A negative figure (i.e., -180) indicates that the team is the favorite, and you have to wager that amount to win $100. A positive figure (i.e., +150) indicates that the team is the underdog, and a $100 wager wins you that, in this example, $150, if they can pull the upset.
If you’re handling Decimal odds, a -180 moneyline is about 1.56, where a $1 wager will yield $1.56 (your $1 + $0.56 gain). A +150 moneyline is 2.50 in Decimal odds: wager $1, get $2.50 (your $1 + $1.50 gain).
Why do books post odds such as this? They must balance the book so that they get people to bet on each side roughly equally. If too much money is on one side, they will move the odds to encourage the other side to bet. Odds will shift up to puck drop that you can see, if surprising news does happen to be released (like a star player to injure himself), you might find you see the favorite’s -200 shift to -220, indicating a perceived drop in their percentage chance to win.
Puck Line
Puck line bets are more of a basketball or football-type wagering experience, but with an added twist. The standard puck line is 1.5 goals: the favorite will usually be -1.5 and the underdog +1.5. The bookmakers will mess around with those a little based on the matchups; a team that is going to likely blow somebody out will be -2.5 at times, or a huge underdog will be +2.5. The lines are typically -110 on both sides so you risk $110 to win $100 (plus your original stake back).
If the Chicago Blackhawks are hosting the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago is the favorite at -2.5 goals (-115), meaning they need to win by at least 3 goals for your bet to pay off. No pressure, right? Detroit is the underdog at +2.5 goals (-105), so if you bet on them, they can lose by 2 goals or fewer, win outright, or even lose in overtime, and you still win the bet. Basically, Chicago needs to dominate, while Detroit just needs to keep it close.
Totals (Over/Under)
Totals, or “over/under,” bets are where you’re being asked to bet whether the total number of goals scored by both teams will be over or under a certain number. On Sportsbet.io, you would see a game bet as “Over/Under 5.5 (-110).” Betting the “Over” is expecting the teams to score 6 or more goals. Betting the “Under” is expecting 5 or fewer goals. Odds of -110 are a standard figure to bet on $110 in order to win $100; +100 or -105 will also show up from time to time, depending on the action on both sides.
Totals are great when you can’t pick a winner. Kind of like betting on how spicy your food will be when you’re not sure what dish to order. They give you a sneak peek at how fast and furious the game might be, without stressing over who actually takes the win. When two high-scoring teams meet and both goalies are questionable, you can safely bet “Over.” When both defenses are sturdy or goalies are on fire, “Under” could be your best bet. Practice report injuries: if your best defenceman is out, that could boost goals. If you’ve got a backup goalie in the crease, that’s a bet to consider the “Over.”