Does Overtime Count in Hockey Bets? OT and Shootout Rules

Nothing ruins a winning ticket quite like discovering after the fact that your bet settled differently than you expected. And in hockey, where overtime and shootout rules create a layer of complexity that doesn’t exist in most other sports, settlement surprises happen more often than they should. The question “does overtime count?” seems simple, but the answer depends entirely on which type of bet you placed, which sportsbook you’re using, and whether the game is a regular-season contest or a playoff series game. Get this wrong, and you could think you’ve won a bet that actually lost, or worse, avoid a profitable market because you misunderstand how it settles.

This confusion isn’t a sign of ignorance — it’s a sign of genuinely convoluted rules that the industry hasn’t standardized. Different sportsbooks occasionally handle the same bet type differently, and the fine print in terms and conditions is where these discrepancies live. Understanding exactly how overtime and shootout results affect your bets is foundational knowledge that every hockey bettor needs before placing a single wager.

See also NHL period betting.

The Moneyline: OT and Shootouts Always Count

The standard NHL moneyline is straightforward: overtime and shootouts are included. You’re betting on which team wins the game, period. If the game goes to overtime and one team scores in the extra frame, your moneyline bet settles based on that result. If it goes to a shootout, the shootout winner is the winner for moneyline purposes. There are no exceptions to this rule in the standard moneyline market at virtually every major sportsbook.

This inclusion is critical because it changes the probability distribution in ways that casual bettors sometimes overlook. Roughly 23-27% of NHL regular-season games go to overtime or a shootout, depending on the season. In those games, each team has close to a 50/50 chance of winning, regardless of which team was favored in regulation. The overtime/shootout period compresses the probability — a team that was 60% likely to win in regulation might only be 52% likely to win in overtime, because the extra period introduces randomness through three-on-three play and the inherently unpredictable shootout format.

What this means for moneyline betting is that favorites are slightly more likely to win in regulation than their moneyline price alone suggests, while their edge shrinks in games that reach overtime. Conversely, underdogs get a structural boost from the overtime/shootout format because they survive to a phase of the game where the talent gap narrows. This is one of the reasons NHL moneyline underdogs perform better historically than underdogs in the NBA or NFL — the overtime mechanism gives them a second chance that doesn’t exist in other leagues’ regular-season formats.

Regulation Time Bets: The Three-Way Moneyline

Some sportsbooks offer a three-way moneyline that settles based on regulation time only — 60 minutes of play, with overtime and shootouts excluded. This market includes three possible outcomes: Team A wins, Team B wins, or the game is tied at the end of regulation. The draw option is what distinguishes this from the standard two-way moneyline.

Three-way moneylines are common in European sportsbooks and increasingly available at North American operators. The draw typically sits at odds of +260 to +320, reflecting the roughly 23-27% chance that a game is tied after 60 minutes. Each team’s win odds in the three-way market are longer than in the two-way market because some of the probability mass is allocated to the draw.

For bettors, the three-way moneyline opens up strategic opportunities that don’t exist in the standard market. If you believe a game is closely matched and likely to be tight, backing the draw at +280 might offer better expected value than either team’s moneyline. Alternatively, if you like a heavy favorite but think their two-way moneyline price of -200 is too steep, their three-way regulation price at -130 might provide a more efficient entry point, since you only need them to be ahead after 60 minutes.

The risk, of course, is that your team leads 2-1 with three minutes left, concedes a tying goal, and the game goes to overtime — which means you lose a three-way regulation bet on the favorite even though they eventually win the game. This scenario is frustrating but predictable in frequency. If you’re going to bet three-way moneylines, you need to accept that late equalizers will cost you roughly 8-12% of the time and factor that into your pricing model.

Puck Line and Overtime: Where It Gets Complicated

Here’s where the rules start to diverge and confusion genuinely thrives. The standard puck line — the -1.5/+1.5 spread — includes overtime and shootout results at most North American sportsbooks. This means a team that wins 3-2 in overtime covers -1.5 because the final score is a one-goal margin… except it’s not a two-goal win. Wait. Let me clarify, because this trips up even experienced bettors.

In the NHL, a game that goes to overtime is officially scored as a one-goal game. The winning team gets two points in the standings, the losing team gets one. The final score might read 3-2 OT, but for puck line purposes, the margin is one goal. This means the -1.5 favorite does not cover in an overtime win — they won by exactly one. The +1.5 underdog loses the game but covers the puck line, because the final margin is within 1.5 goals.

Shootout results are even more specific. A game that ends in a shootout is officially recorded as a one-goal victory (the winning team gets one additional goal added to the score). So a game tied 2-2 after overtime that goes to a shootout ends 3-2 in the official score. Again, the -1.5 favorite doesn’t cover, and the +1.5 underdog does.

The practical takeaway is this: the +1.5 puck line underdog wins every time the game goes to overtime or a shootout, regardless of which team ultimately wins. Since roughly a quarter of NHL games reach OT, the underdog puck line has a built-in floor of about 25% just from the overtime mechanism alone. Add in the underdog’s outright wins in regulation and close regulation losses, and the +1.5 underdog covers well over 55% of the time in a typical season. The price reflects this — +1.5 underdogs are usually around -180 to -220 — but the dynamic is worth understanding deeply.

Some sportsbooks, particularly European operators, offer puck line bets that settle in regulation only. These “regulation puck line” or “regulation spread” markets exclude overtime entirely, and the +1.5 underdog loses if the game ends in a tie after regulation. Always check whether the puck line includes overtime before placing the bet. The difference is material.

Totals and Overtime: The Fine Print

Game totals — the over/under on combined goals — include overtime at virtually every sportsbook. If the total is set at 5.5 and the game finishes 3-2 in regulation, the under wins. If it goes to overtime and the winning team scores to make it 4-2 (or the shootout pushes it to 3-3 plus a shootout goal), the total might push or go over depending on the number.

Shootout goals are where the wrinkle appears. Most major sportsbooks do not count shootout goals toward the game total. Only goals scored during regulation and the five-minute overtime period count. A game that ends 2-2 after overtime and goes to a shootout will be scored as a 3-2 final for moneyline purposes, but the total usually settles based on the 2-2 score (or sometimes 3-2 — this varies by book). This inconsistency between how moneyline and totals treat shootout goals is the single most common source of settlement disputes in NHL betting.

Period totals are unaffected by overtime entirely, since periods one through three are all completed within regulation. Third-period totals settle based on third-period scoring only. If you’re betting period totals to avoid overtime ambiguity, that’s a valid approach — though you should bet them for their own merits, not just as an escape from confusing settlement rules.

Playoff Hockey: A Different Animal

NHL playoff games cannot end in a shootout. If the game is tied after regulation, teams play a full 20-minute overtime period at five-on-five (not three-on-three, as in the regular season). If nobody scores, they play another overtime period. And another. Until someone scores. Games have been known to stretch into triple and quadruple overtime, lasting five or six hours.

For betting purposes, this changes everything. Moneyline bets in the playoffs still include overtime, so you’re backing a team to win no matter how long it takes. Puck line bets include overtime as well, but the dynamics shift because marathon overtime games always end with a one-goal margin, meaning the +1.5 underdog covers in every overtime playoff game. Totals in the playoffs also include overtime goals, which means that games going to double or triple overtime can produce six, seven, or eight total goals — enough to push even a 6.5 total over.

The Rule Book Nobody Reads

The uncomfortable truth about overtime rules in hockey betting is that there is no universal standard. Every sportsbook publishes a terms-and-conditions document — sometimes called the “house rules” — that specifies exactly how each bet type is settled in overtime and shootout scenarios. These documents are long, dry, and written in the kind of legalese that actively discourages reading. Most bettors never open them.

That’s a mistake with a dollar sign attached to it. The ten minutes you spend reading your sportsbook’s settlement rules for NHL bets will prevent settlement surprises that can cost you real money. You’ll learn whether your book treats shootout goals as counting toward totals, whether their puck line includes overtime, and how they handle obscure edge cases like suspended games or contests shortened by weather or safety issues. Nobody reads the rule book until a bet settles wrong, and by then the discovery is expensive. Read it first. Your future self, the one staring at a confusing puck line settlement at midnight, will be grateful.

Overtime rules in hockey bets at ice hockey bets.