A Look at How The Puck Line and Money Line Differ

Published on January 4th, 2020 2:05 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


When it comes to betting on NHL games (or hockey games in general), there are generally three lines that people will bet on:

1) Money Line
2) Puck Line
3) Over/Under

The over/under line is self-explanatory, so we'll leave that alone.

Let's take a look at the money line and puck line, and the key differences between them.

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With the money line, you are simply betting on who you think will win the game (including overtime and the shootout).

For instance, a money line might look like this:

Winnipeg Jets, 2.15
Minnesota Wild, 1.74

So, in this case, if you took the Jets money line, you would win your bet if the Jets won the game. You'd win whether the Jets won 5-0 or 5-4 in the shootout. It doesn't matter - a Jets win would be a win for you.

In this case, a successful $100 Jets' money line wager would return a total profit of $115 (plus you'd get your original $100 bet back).

Now, the puck line is quite different.

Let's take a look at the puck line for the Jets/Wild game:

Winnipeg Jets, +1.5, 1.45
Minnesota Wild, -1.5, 2.80

With the puck line, the favourite will have 1.5 goals removed from their total, while the underdog will have 1.5 goals added to their total.

So - let's say that you decide to bet $100 on the Jets, +1.5 goals.

This means that if the Jets lost by one goal, you would still win your bet, as you are getting the Jets plus 1 1/2 goals.

The payout would be quite a bit smaller though - in this case, you would walk away with a profit of just $45.

Now, let's say that you believe that the Wild are going to blow out the Jets. Maybe the Jets are just finishing up a long road trip and they have several key injuries.

Well, in this case, you would probably want to take the Wild minus 1.5 goals.

Let's say that the Wild win 5-2. In this case, your puck line bet would pay off, as the 1.5 goals you are giving up would easily be covered by the Wild.

The payout in this situation would be quite nice, as your $100 bet would return a total profit of $180.

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In short - a "money line" wager is a straight up bet on a hockey game, while a "puck bet" bet involves getting or giving up 1.5 goals, depending on if you are betting on the favourite or underdog.