If you are getting into NHL betting you are going to come across the term puck line pretty quickly.
We had a few people message us about it during the playoffs last year so here is what it means.
The short version
A puck line bet is the NHL version of a point spread. The line is almost always set at 1.5 goals.
If you bet on the favorite at -1.5 they need to win the game by two or more goals for your bet to cash.
If you bet on the underdog at +1.5 they can lose by one goal and you still win. They can also win the game outright and you obviously collect on that too.
It works the same way a run line does in baseball if you are familiar with that. The 1.5 number stays fixed for almost every game.
What changes is the odds on each side. A heavy favorite might be -1.5 at -120 while the underdog is +1.5 at even money.
In a closer game the favorite might be -1.5 at +160 and the underdog +1.5 at -190. The sportsbook adjusts the price rather than moving the line.
Why the line is always 1.5
Hockey is a low scoring sport. Most NHL games are decided by one or two goals and a three goal margin is a pretty comfortable win.
Because the scoring is so tight there is not much point in moving the line to 2.5 or 3.5 like you would in football or basketball.
The 1.5 goal spread covers the majority of close games and the sportsbook just adjusts the juice on each side to balance things out.
When we bet the puck line
We like taking favorites on the puck line when we think a game is going to be lopsided.
If a team is priced at -250 on the moneyline that is a terrible price to lay on a hockey game.
But that same team at -1.5 on the puck line might be sitting at +130 or +140 which is a much better return if you think they are going to win comfortably.
We have found it is a good way to get value on heavy favorites without laying huge moneyline prices.
The flip side is taking underdogs at +1.5 on the puck line.
We do this a lot when a decent team is on the road against a slightly better team and the moneyline on the underdog is around +130 or +140.
Taking them at +1.5 means they just need to keep it within a goal and you are still in the money even if they lose 3-2.
