The National Hockey League's season runs from October until early June, when the eventual Champions of the NHL are awarded the Stanley Cup. The puckline is the most popular form of hockey bet, which is itself hockey’s version of pointspread betting. Hockey betting also offers the "Grand Salami" bet, a totals bet where players bet on the total number of goals scored by all teams on that particular day. NHL games must go to the second period to be considered "action". To understand puckline betting, consider the example below:
In the example above, Montreal is the underdog, as indicated by the plus (+) sign in the puckline. These figures mean that anyone betting on Montreal wins if Montreal either wins the game or doesn't lose to Dallas by more than 1.5 goals. The second number, 1.37, is the price – this means that if Montreal wins or doesn't lose by more than 1.5 goals, the bettor wins $1.37 for every $1.00 bet.
If you bet on Dallas, they must win by more than 1.5 goals for the bet to win. In this event, the bettor wins $3.20 for every $1.00 bet.