NHL Betting: How to Wager on the National Hockey League

by Kurt Boyer
Updated: March 7, 2024

NHL Betting Update: Edmonton Surges in Points, Not Bets Placed

Don't look now, but the Edmonton Oilers have another winning streak going. Edmonton goes into Thursday night's faceoff in Columbus as a heavy betting favorite to win for a 6th straight time, having dismissed the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 on home ice before starting March's maiden road trip with an impressive 2-1 overtime triumph in Boston. With Connor McDavid's team already having won over the top spot in FanDuel's Stanley Cup betting odds over the Colorado Avalanche, it feels like time for the Oilers to become everyone's favorite pick over the rest of the NHL, in a bid to restore Canada's glory on the pond. 

Instead, an interloper has arrived. Edmonton, after leading in Stanley Cup odds for less than a full week, has new company atop the ice hockey betting totem pole. The Florida Panthers have blossomed into 8-to-1 Stanley Cup picks of their own, having run away in the standings from almost all of a powerful 2023-24 Atlantic Division, eclipsing Boston's win-loss-OT record with 6 straight victories and a monumental +61 goal differential. 

Our "shark" investors on the 'Cats like that Florida's upcoming schedule doesn't look as bad as it would have when opponents' reputations ran high before the season, with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nashville Predators, and this Saturday's opposing Calgary Flames ailing. There's more to appreciate for the long-term in Florida's goaltending stats, which finally allow Panthers media to report on something other than Sergei Bobrovsky's excellence. 

Backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz is not exactly an NHL up-and-comer at age 30. But he's gone 11-5-2 in 20 starts for the Panthers this season, posting an excellent 2.07 GAA so far and taking pressure off of Florida's aging superstar in the starting role. The late-career uptick from Stolarz mirrors the career years of forwards at the helm of the Panthers' elite offense, with Sam Reinhart on pace to score 60+ goals, and Aleksander Barkov set to surpass his career-best mark in assists. Speculators are fond of Reinhart's stamina and durability for a sub-200-pound sniper. Reinhart's never been seriously injured at any juncture in the last 2 seasons, and the cement stones of the 'Cats top-6 lineup have consequentially reduced skaters like the former Nashville standout Nick Cousins to a role-playing supporting cast. With opposing teams focused on stopping the club's indomitable rushes, the presence of D-men like Aaron Ekblad is almost unfair. 

Bobrovsky is still the anchoring force behind Florida's short odds to lift Lord Stanley's grail. Florida would not be an (+800) or 8-to-1 pick to win the 2023-24 Stanley Cup, or even to return to the Stanley Cup Finals if Stolarz was the club's starter between the pipes. However, the NHL's playoff history is littered with talented teams that lost out because of injury-based or circumstantial issues that took a great GK out of the mix. For bettors to enjoy the "safety valve" of Florida potentially making out okay if something happens to Bobrovsky is among the chief reasons Florida Panthers picks feel warm and fuzzy now. Florida's snipers also beat the New York Rangers 4-2 on March 4th, with Reinhart scoring twice, quieting any talk of the Rangers becoming FanDuel's hottest NHL futures bet. 

The defending NHL champion Vegas Golden Knights are benefiting from depth in goal. GK Adin Hill is 15-7-2 this season after taking some time off to deal with an injury, and was the Golden Knights' biggest key in stopping the Edmonton Oilers' historic win streak at a heartstopping 16 games. But the Knights are trapped in a difficult playoff seeding scenario, brought upon by yet another slump in late winter. 2024's L.A. Kings have largely been a disappointment after starting nuclear-hot, but Vegas can't seem to pass them up. The sportsbook's betting odds on Vegas to repeat are laboring at a cheap (+1300) price. 

Canadian teams are having a better NHL regular season than any in recent memory, leading multiple divisions and threatening to take both #1 conference seeds in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Only the 2023-24 Montreal Canadians have joined clubs like Arizona, Anaheim, and San Jose as dregs of their divisions. It shouldn't be long before an Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, or Winnipeg claws back to the Stanley Cup Finals, especially when considering that the NHL's dealing with huge pockets of weakness in the USA.

What To Look For in 2024's International Hockey Odds 

The NHL’s recent announcement that clubs would allow their players to take part in 2026's Winter Olympics in Italy, paired with a "Four Nations" exhibition less than a calendar year away, becomes yet another boost to the season. However, there's one big wrinkle that could cause worry, at least if the league foresees an Olympic ice hockey event of 5-4 nail-biters. 

In 2024 and 2025, the IIHF World Championship and IIHF World Juniors lineups will start to beef up, while the top-name goaltenders and snipers save themselves up for the Four Nations event and the Olympics. This is an ideal scenario for general managers who've probably worried way too much about costly player injuries in an international hockey landscape of light checking and tough rules. There are upcoming versions of the Winter Olympics that could feature as many as 11 world-class teams in the Men's Ice Hockey event, contrasting 2026's host Italian lineup coached by Mike Keenan, the NHL icon. 

What exactly is the big wrinkle, then? It's that due to the ongoing Ukraine War, and Russia and Belarus' further suspensions from international hockey, highlight the disparity of an IIHF pond on which Russia or Belarus cannot be replaced by teams with anywhere near the same talent. It potentially could pain NHL bosses to know that some of the Men's Ice Hockey scores in 2026's Olympic cycle could be as lopsided as women's scores often are. 

Think about summer's Final Olympic Qualification, which would have featured showdown games between combined NHL + European lineups like Denmark versus Belarus in Group F. Russia could still potentially play ice hockey in the 2026 Winter Olympics if the war ends soon. Still, Team Belarus has essentially been ruled out of the Olympics already, and with it dozens of talented snipers from the NHL and KHL. 

In the Belarussians' place goes Japan, in Group F with its fellow long-shot hopefuls Great Britain and Norway, giving the Danes a chance to romp 3-0-0 behind a lineup led by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Lars Eller. Team Slovakia should likewise coast to another Games of the Olympiad appearance in which the youthful Slovaks will be a spoiler threat, leaving only Latvia's group as the tightest qualifying round, which includes France, Slovenia, and host-on-the-road fan favorite Ukraine. 

Then there's the Four Nations Faceoff, in which the National Hockey League’s attempt to recreate the intense 3rd periods of Canada Cup games may again be foiled by a weird setup. The selections of Team USA, Team Canada, and Sweden make perfect sense given the scenario of an in-season tournament that can't invite professionals from Europe, any more than the NHL skaters playing in a Stanley Cup Final can stop what they're doing, and go overseas to play in the annual IIHF World Championship. USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, and Tre-Kronor would all choose 100% NHL lineups in any best-on-best tournament. Therefore, next February's all-NHL rosters at the Four Nations Faceoff won't impede them at all. In the meantime, though, Team Finland had to be invited to the NHL's international event thanks to having won so many World Championship medals in the 2010s and 2020s. It was mostly Finland's overseas pros who achieved all of that, strangely enough. 

Finland should be considered a betting underdog at the Four Nations Faceoff, since an all-NHL team led by forward Sebastian Aho will be in such uncharted waters. Suomi skaters, who mostly turned down invitations to play for Finland in the IIHF World Championships will be under pressure to prevail. If they do not, many fans back home will be found pressuring their hockey federation to include more of Finland's typical team of "Liiga" professionals in the 2026 Olympic lineup. That's the team that's won gold medals on numerous occasions, whether they were matched up against top NHL talent or not. 

The culminating event in Italy could be full of blow-outs too, at least if Team Russia joins with Team Belarus watching from the sidelines. Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, and Latvia are underrated nations who will probably arrive in full force to challenge the NHL All-Star rosters of Milan, but no Men's Ice Hockey field in which pesky Great Britain can approach the top 12 stands to be called "deep" with medal contenders. Team Italy has no hopes of winning a single contest in a round-robin bid with Team USA, Sweden, and Switzerland, and a very pedestrian Austria could wind up taking Belarus' spot. 

Speculators have more than enough time to react to the hype and changes, with this season's men's and women's World Championship cycles not beginning for another few weeks. Team USA, Canada, and other programs whose best-on-best tournament rosters always include plenty of NHL superstars will enjoy boosts in Men's Worlds odds this spring. FanDuel users anticipate more players saying yes to going overseas in May, potentially to impress scouts who are working to form the Four Nations Faceoff and Olympics roster depth charts already. The question for game-by-game sportsbook gamblers is how to adjust from preparing for close-call predictions to making picks on lopsided ice hockey. 

It is helpful to know the culture of the favored teams, who will have different styles of dealing with big leads in a game. Just about everyone who skates at the 2024-25 Four Nations Faceoff will be friendly acquaintances from the National Hockey League community. If the transition for Team Finland is as hard as we think it might be, then gamblers can anticipate Team USA or Team Canada taking it easy on Suomi. 

At the 2024 Worlds and Final Olympic Qualification, no such friendly outcomes should be anticipated, as the favored teams' goal spreads could be covered by 3-4 tallies routinely. Young snipers at this year's World Championship in Czechia will compete to lead the tournament in point scoring and give national team general managers no option other than to green-light them for even more prestigious gigs as the 2026 Olympics showdown looms. 

The qualifying rounds in August and September could be even wilder in final scores, given that teams like Slovakia and Latvia will be desperate to qualify in as high standing as possible and avoid having to play in a Milan group with 2 or 3 elite teams in it. 

We expect that Team Denmark's experienced lineup will be the "goal-spread winner" hero of the summer, with younger rosters straining just to qualify for the Winter Olympics.

NHL Betting: Gambling Odds on the Good Old Hockey Game  

NHL betting odds were hard to manage prior to the advent of legal sportsbooks. After all, it was a lot easier for bookies to spy on a football field or soccer pitch in California than to lurk outside an icy arena in Calgary, hoping for a glimpse of a Flames morning skate.

Things have changed for the better since then. NHL games are now televised and tracked around the world, with legal betting markets available for every faceoff at FanDuel Sportsbook and other websites where fans bet on the National Hockey League.

However, many hockey fans remain unfamiliar with the odds, lines, options, and tactics at NHL betting sites. If you’re among those who need a crash-course or a refresher on National Hockey League odds, you’ve come to the right place.

Read onward for a complete run-down of NHL and international hockey betting lines at FanDuel.

How to Bet on NHL Games: Get to Know the Main Markets

Want to bet on hockey? Great, but it’s not always as easy as picking a team and cheering for your wager to win with a scoreboard victory. Puck lines, “Over/Under” goal totals, prop bets, and the moneyline add variety to the NHL betting landscape. It’s important to understand what each sportsbook market entails before throwing real money at the pond.

Let’s start with the 2 simplest ways to bet on hockey - moneylines and totals.

Betting on the NHL Moneyline

NHL moneyline odds promise payoffs when clubs win the game straight-up.

Favorites’ odds to win are labeled with a minus symbol, as in (-200). An underdog’s line is marked with a plus symbol, as in (+400). Favorite’s odds of (-200) mean that for every $200 bet on a team, the house will pay out $100 on a winning bet. Underdog or “plus” moneyline odds represent the amount paid on a $100 bet if the team wins. “Plus” moneylines of (+500) indicate a 5-to-1 payoff-to-risk ratio in online betting.

A typical bet on NHL hockey is a 2-way street - clients choose between the favorite and underdog’s odds. There are no regulation-draw markets for pro hockey. Clubs tied after 3 periods decide a winner in overtime, or in a shoot-out. But betting sites must adapt when IIHF and Olympic ice hockey bring unfamiliar scenarios into the mix.

Scroll to the “International” section below for more on national-team hockey odds.

Goal Total Lines: The Simplest Wager in Sports Betting

Over/Under or “O/U'' goal-total lines are the simplest sports betting market available on any game. Hockey betting sites combine both clubs into a single category and ask whether the total amount of goals scored in a contest will exceed or fall short of the O/U number. Over/Under goal total lines are often displayed as a halved fraction, like (5.5) or (6.5) goals, preventing a “push” outcome caused by total goals in the game matching the O/U bet.

If the goal total bet is simple, handicapping it is not. Speculators must be alert for any number of weird scenarios that can cause a wide-open game to finish with a low total score, or a cautious, checking game to finish with a higher score.

For instance, some NHL goaltenders are capable of shutting out an opponent when facing 30+ shots-on-goal over the course of 3 periods, but struggle from “cold legs” when opposing snipers are hemmed in their own zone and unable to muster 20+ shots during the game. When a hockey club is saddled with a goalie who goes cold easily, it becomes a strange disadvantage for the team to dominate a period and hold the puck 60% or 70% of the time. That opens the door for savvy bettors to win on underdog bets and high-side O/U picks alike, as a highly-touted GK gives up 3 or more goals on a small number of shots.

The potential for empty-net goals is also a factor which can affect the outcome of an Over/Under bet on ice hockey. But it’s NHL puck line gamblers who must devote the most time and attention to the specter of an empty net at the end of a game.

How to Bet on Hockey with the Puck Line

An NHL puck line bet involves a margin of 1.5 goals taken from the favorite point-spread style. If the (+1.5) puck line underdog wins the game outright, or loses by only 1 goal, the underdog puck line bet wins. Favorites - spelled “favourites” above the border - must win NHL games by at least 2 goals to win any bet for gamblers on the puck line.

Underdog puck line gamblers are usually found cheering for OT. Once a game reaches the end of regulation with a tie score, there is no chance of the favorites’ (-1.5) puck line winning and paying off the bet on the flip side of the market. NHL rules only award a single scoreboard goal for any shoot-out victory following a scoreless OT period, so there’s no such thing as a lopsided shoot-out turning a 1-1 regulation score into a 5-2 blowout.

NHL puck line bet outcomes often hinge on empty-net scenarios. An empty-net goal can be the easiest of all goals to score in hockey, but it’s not automatic. Pulling the goaltender is a “chaos agent” move by a coach whose club is losing by 1 or even 2 goals late in the 3rd period. The head coach knows that an empty-net goal could end the team’s chances at any moment. But the extra attacker gives the team’s skaters just enough of an “artificial” power play that the chances of a tying goal will increase as well.

Needless to say, an empty net can also wreak havoc with the total number of goals scored, causing surprise wins and losses for O/U gamblers at online sportsbooks. No NHL bet based on “1.5 goals” is safe from the stressor of empty nets.

How Empty-Net Scenarios Affect NHL Puck Line Outcomes

Empty-net scenarios at the end of NHL games create a “casino”-like atmosphere at the sportsbook. Bettors holding puck-line tickets on a (-1.5) favorite are hoping that an underdog will remove its goaltender for an extra attacking skater when losing by 1 or even 2 goals, making it slightly more possible that the underdogs will score, but also a lot more likely that the favorites will score a “goodnight” goal in the empty twine.

To avoid the empty-net puck line blues, look to bet on (+1.5) underdogs with solid puck-handling defensemen, or (-1.5) favorites with explosive offenses who don’t mind playing wide-open hockey, even when winning by 2 goals. Colorado’s snipers of the early 2020s are known to light the lamp at will when leading a game, as shown by the “Avalanche” of an 8-4 win over stingy Anaheim in March of 2021.

Analysis of empty-net scenarios can be deceptive. For example, you might think a better NHL team is likely to score more empty-net goals. They often are – but for the same kind of reason a great passing offense in the NFL is likely to have a running back with a bunch of yards. Opponents must try to pull goaltenders more often against clubs who are often winning. Dominating forward lines make it hard to pull the goalie in the first place, by tying-up attackers in their own end along the boards, and pressuring the goal just enough that the netminder is too anxious to take off for the bench.

The gamble of pulling a goalie is a play that has to be executed, not a button for an NHL coach to push. His team must win possession of the puck, advance over the blue line (or at least dump the puck in successfully) and prevent a quick clearing effort. At that point, the club’s netminder can bolt for the boards. While a weaker team might indeed be more likely to give up an empty-net goal once its goaltender is not on the ice, the same club might have a devil of a time pulling the goalie against a superior NHL club. The better an opponent is relative to the trailing club, the harder time the underdog might have even finding a scenario in which the netminder can leave his crease.

Futures Bets on the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Odds on the next Stanley Cup winner appear soon after the trophy is awarded in summer, and usually reappear at FanDuel Sportsbook throughout the regular season. Ice hockey betting sites on the North American side of the pond list futures odds as “moneylines” of (+400) or (+700) like you might find for an underdog when placing a bet on an every-day line for an NHL team to win the game at an online sportsbook. However, it’s much more likely that a futures “moneyline” bet will be set at low risk and high reward.

Sports betting enthusiasts know that it’s easy to find 10-to-1 odds on a potential champion with every bit as much talent as other contenders. But since the team is competing with about 30 other teams (and bets) for a single winner, to bet on NHL hockey futures is like taking a very low-percentage investment opportunity. The good news is that you’ll probably just lose a few dollars, and the other good news is that a jackpot can be won.

The St. Louis Blues of 2018-19 paid off a fortune for gamblers who purchased STL’s long futures bet when the Blue Note was languishing in the cellar. Sparked by a coaching change and an intense, physical style of play, the Blues shot up the NHL standings and went on to win a championship. There was no “taking back” the nearly 100-to-1 price sportsbooks had offered on St. Louis in late 2018. Every betting site had to pay off the wager, though no NHL betting site booked much action on the Blues until March.

Betting Lines on Canadian Teams: Bargain or Bad Idea?

Sports betting has its controversies, but there are few such debates as whether Canadian teams stand a chance in the modern NHL playoffs. NHL betting sites give Canadian clubs optimistic championship odds like 10-to-1 or 15-to-1. Yet the W/L statistics from years of postseason series are starting to pile up, and many hockey experts now pontificate that there’s no real money in any long-term bet on a club north of the border.

No Canadian club has won a Stanley Cup since 1993, a streak of futility spanning 4 decades. Montreal’s triumph over Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings wasn’t a foregone conclusion, as was the league’s title when the Canadiens led a pack of northern NHL clubs with a stranglehold on the game. Edmonton, Montreal, and Calgary combined to win every championship from 1984 to 1990, but the 1993 Habs winning their last battle marked the end of an era as high-budget American teams began to take over.

Is the syndrome getting worse? No one has placed a bet on a Canadian club in the final series since Vancouver fought eventual Cup-winner Boston in 2011. The periodic regular-season success of Toronto, Edmonton and other Canadian teams indicates that talent is not lacking on northern rosters. Instead, MVP-level goaltending and superior depth are the missing ingredients when playoff series become survival tests.

Look for the next Canadian club to reach the finals after a so-so regular season, not a President’s Cup, utilizing short-term momentum much like St. Louis in 2019.

A Gambler’s Tip for NHL Prop Bets

There are many betting options for “fast” action at FanDuel Sportsbook, like making bets on 3-on-3 basketball, or live betting French Open tennis in the final set of a match. But for a short time interval prior to a payoff, you can’t beat prop bets on “1st period” goal totals.

NHL proposition or “prop” bets include “1st Period O/U” which shortens the usual Over/Under pick to the total goals scored in an opening frame of a game. Or, to streamline the cheering experience even further, pick a prop bet on a single team’s goal total in the period or in a game. Careful, you might wind up rooting for the opposing club’s attack as well as your team’s, just to open up the game before the ticking clock runs out.

When speculating on crucial hockey games, look for specialized prop bet lines such as “First Player to Score a Goal,” or proposition lines on “Over/Under Number of Saves” for popular goaltenders like Marc-Andre Fleury.

How Betting Lines Differ for International Hockey

Moneyline bets on a single game have 2 potential outcomes - the favorite to win can earn a “short” payoff for clients at the online sportsbook, or the final score can surprise and the underdogs then pay off a “long” moneyline. With puck line bets and 2-way moneylines throughout an NHL season, or when betting on the NHL playoffs, approximately half of FanDuel’s clients in each market will win straight-up and half will lose straight-up.

But when betting on hockey in the international arena, that can change. IIHF and Olympic hockey betting is still based on predicting the Good Old Hockey Game, but has more in common with soccer and pigskin gambling odds.

National teams often play for regulation ties in round-robin events. Sportsbooks will sometimes handicap a separate regulation-draw “moneyline” for international betting, not simply 2 moneylines as in NHL bets. Puck lines also disappear for the Winter Olympics and similar hockey venues, as national teams can be wagered on against “goal spreads” like (-2), (+4), or (even) goal spreads, known as a “pick’em” scenario. Whole numbers as spreads and Over/Under lines mean “pushes,” the sports betting lingo for “returned bets,” more often.

When the medal round begins at a Winter Olympics, moneylines typically return to the usual format, as every team goes all-out to win its elimination games. Puck lines still remain variable, and totals bets do not always fit the usual “(5.5), (6.5)” pattern. Talent and style disparity causes bookmakers to treat the IIHF differently than pro hockey.

Clients can find odds on the next Men’s and Women’s gold medal teams when the World Championships draw near in spring, or when the Winter Olympics is preparing to drop the puck on network TV. While some pundits claim that few National Hockey League stars care to participate in IIHF games, the 2019 Ice Hockey World Championship featured many more of the NHL’s scoring leaders than the Stanley Cup Finals of the same year.

NHL Hockey Betting FAQ

Where Can I Bet on the NHL at FanDuel Sportsbook?

Click the “NHL” tab on the upper left menu, or on “Hockey” further down the page.

What are the Options for NHL Playoffs Betting?

FanDuel clients can bet on moneylines, totals, puck lines, futures, and an assortment of prop bets on Stanley Cup action.

What is Live Betting on Ice Hockey Games?

Live betting or in-play betting takes place during the game itself. Find updated odds (and scores) anytime after the opening faceoff on FanDuel’s live betting page.

How Do I Parlay Bets on NHL Games?

Hockey games can be included in “parlay” bets across multiple faceoffs, or multiple sports! Read our Parlay Betting Guide for more on parlays as an online gambling tactic.

Is Sports Betting Legal in My Location?

Quite possibly! Check out FanDuel’s Interactive Legal Sports Betting map for updates on the status of legal gambling in your state.