NHL Overtime and Shootout Betting Rules: What Your Bet Settles On
The 2026-27 NHL regular season starts on 29 September 2026, and every team now plays 84 games instead of 82. A regular-season game can end in three different places: after 60 minutes, after five minutes of overtime, or after a shootout. Which of the three your bet is settled on depends on the market, and one line in the NHL rulebook decides what a shootout does to the score. This guide takes both from the source: Rule 84 of the league’s 2026-27 Official Rules, and the published ice hockey rules of two UK-licensed operators. No tips, no prices, no picks.
The short version
- In the NHL, overtime and the shootout count unless the market says otherwise. Both operators we read state this as the default for NHL games. For most European leagues the default is the opposite.
- A shootout is worth exactly one goal. However it goes, the recorded score gives the winner one more goal than the score at the end of overtime. A 2-2 game becomes 3-2.
- Nobody scores that goal. The rulebook does not credit it to the shooter, so it never settles a goalscorer bet.
- Any game that goes past 60 minutes is won by one goal. That makes every -1.5 puck line a losing bet the moment regulation ends level.
- A 60-minute bet has a draw in it. It stops at the third-period siren, and a tie at that point is a result in its own right.
The 2026-27 season at a glance
From the NHL’s schedule announcement and statistics pack of 16 July 2026 and its 2026-27 Official Rules, read on 29 September 2026.
| Item | What the NHL says |
|---|---|
| Opening night | Tuesday 29 September 2026. The Canadian games that night are Montreal at Toronto (7pm ET) and Vancouver at Edmonton (10pm ET), both on Sportsnet. |
| Games per team | 84, up from 82. |
| How the 84 are split | 28 against division rivals, 24 against the rest of the same conference, 32 against the other conference. |
| Last day of the regular season | Saturday 10 April 2027, with all 32 teams in action. |
| Reigning champions | Carolina Hurricanes, who raise their Stanley Cup banner against Florida on opening night. |
| Overtime and shootout rules | Unchanged in substance: Rule 84 of the 2026-27 rulebook matches the 2025-26 text except for a new note on warming up a replacement goalkeeper. |
What the rulebook says happens after 60 minutes
Rule 84 of the NHL Official Rules covers overtime, and it treats the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as two different games. In the regular season a tie after three periods earns each team a point in the standings, then the teams play up to five minutes of three-on-three hockey, and the first goal wins the game and the extra point. If nobody scores, the game goes to a shootout. In the playoffs there is no shootout at all: the teams take a 15-minute intermission and play full 20-minute periods until someone scores.
| Stage | Regular season (Rules 84.1 and 84.4) | Stanley Cup Playoffs (Rule 84.5) |
|---|---|---|
| Score level after 60 minutes | Each team gets one standings point. Overtime follows about two minutes later. | 15-minute intermission, then overtime. |
| Overtime | One period of up to five minutes, three skaters and a goalkeeper a side, first goal wins. | Full 20-minute periods, repeated until a goal is scored. First goal wins. |
| Still level | Shootout: three shots each, then sudden death. | Not possible. Play continues. |
| Final score recorded | After a shootout, the score at the end of overtime plus one goal for the winner. | The score when the winning goal goes in. |
| Winning margin if it goes past 60 minutes | Always one goal. | Always one goal. |
The last row is not written in the rulebook as a sentence, but it follows from two rules that are. Overtime is sudden death, so the game ends with the first goal and the margin is one. A shootout, as the next section shows, adds one goal to the winner and nothing to the loser, so the margin is one again. Whatever the market, a game that is level after 60 minutes cannot be won by two.
The one-goal rule: how a shootout becomes a score
A shootout can produce any number of successful attempts: three shots a side, then sudden death, with nobody allowed a second attempt until every eligible player has shot. None of those attempts reach the final score. Rule 84.4 of the 2026-27 rulebook says:
“Regardless of the number of goals scored during the shootout portion of overtime, the final score recorded for the game will give the winning team one more goal than its opponent, based on the score at the end of overtime. The losing goalkeeper will not be charged with the extra goal against. The player scoring the game-winning goal in the shootout will not be credited with a goal scored in his personal statistics.”
Three consequences for a bet come straight out of that paragraph. First, a total that includes the shootout counts the goals scored in open play plus one, never the shootout attempts. Second, the extra goal belongs to the team and not to anyone on it, so it cannot settle an anytime or first goalscorer bet. Third, it does not count against the losing goalkeeper either. Operators write this in their own words: one of the two we read says that in the event of a shootout “the winning team will be credited with one goal” for all markets where applicable, and that shootout goals “do not apply” to goalscorer settlement.
A useful way to hold this in your head: the shootout decides who wins, and the rulebook then writes that decision into the score as a single goal. Football works differently: shoot-out penalties are never added to the score, the match stays level at the end of extra time, and the shoot-out only decides who goes through. That is covered in our guide to extra time and penalties.
Market by market: what counts
This is the pattern in the NHL rules of the two UK-licensed operators we read on 29 September 2026. It is common practice, not a guarantee: the market name on your bet slip and your own operator’s rules decide.
| Market | Overtime | Shootout | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moneyline (two-way match winner) | Included | Included: the shootout winner wins the game | No draw is possible, which is why it is a two-way market. |
| 60-minute or regulation-time result (three-way) | Excluded | Excluded | Level after three periods means the draw wins. |
| Puck line (handicap, usually ±1.5) | Included | Included, with the winner credited one goal | A game that goes past 60 minutes always ends with a one-goal margin. |
| Game total (over/under) | Included | Included, with the winner credited one goal | A shootout adds exactly one goal to the total, never more. |
| Period markets | Excluded | Excluded | Settled only on the named period. |
| Goalscorer markets | Included | Excluded | Shootout goals are not credited to any player under Rule 84.4. |
Some operators also label markets by length. One of the two uses “60 minute” for markets that exclude overtime and shootout goals and “65 minute” for markets that include them. The two labels can sit side by side on the same game, at different prices, so read the label before you compare them. Prices shown in American format, common in Canada, can be turned into decimal or fractional odds with our odds converter, and the bookmaker’s margin on a two-way or three-way market can be checked with the margin calculator.
Three worked examples
The games are invented and the lines are illustrations, not prices. Every market in these examples is assumed to include overtime and the shootout unless its name says 60 minutes.
1. Decided in overtime
Toronto and Montreal are 3-3 after 60 minutes. Montreal score two minutes into overtime. The game ends 4-3 to Montreal.
- Montreal moneyline: wins.
- 60-minute three-way: the draw wins. Both team selections lose.
- Over 6.5 goals: wins, with seven goals. On a 60-minute total the same bet would have lost, with six.
- Montreal -1.5: loses. The margin is one.
- Toronto +1.5: wins.
- The Montreal player who scored in overtime: his goal counts for an anytime goalscorer bet.
2. Decided in a shootout
Edmonton and Vancouver are 2-2 after 60 minutes and nobody scores in overtime. In the shootout Edmonton convert two attempts and Vancouver one. Under Rule 84.4 the game is recorded as 3-2 to Edmonton.
- Edmonton moneyline: wins.
- 60-minute three-way: the draw wins.
- Over 4.5 goals: wins, with five. Only four were scored in open play; the fifth is the shootout goal the rulebook adds.
- Over 5.5 goals: loses. The three successful shootout attempts do not make six, seven or eight.
- Edmonton -1.5: loses. Vancouver +1.5: wins.
- The two Edmonton players who scored in the shootout: neither is credited with a goal, so neither wins an anytime goalscorer bet on the strength of it.
On a 10-unit moneyline bet at decimal odds of 1.91, the return is 19.10 units, including the stake, whether Edmonton had won in regulation, in overtime or in the shootout.
3. A playoff game into a second overtime
A Stanley Cup Playoffs game is 1-1 after 60 minutes. The first overtime period is scoreless. The winning goal comes 12 minutes and 34 seconds into the second overtime, after 92 minutes and 34 seconds of play. The game ends 2-1.
- Moneyline on the winner: wins. There was never going to be a shootout.
- 60-minute three-way: the draw wins.
- Under 5.5 goals: wins, with three.
- Third-period markets: settled on the third period only.
- The scorer of the winning goal: counts for goalscorer markets.
If you combine several games in one bet, each leg settles on its own market rules first. The accumulator calculator shows what the combined return is once every leg has settled.
The NHL is the exception, not the rule
Both operators we read split ice hockey into two families. For the NHL, overtime and the shootout count unless a market says otherwise. For most other leagues, including the European ones, markets settle on the result after 60 minutes unless stated otherwise, and one of the two makes a single exception for the two-way moneyline, which includes overtime and the shootout. The same bet type can therefore settle on a different number of minutes depending on which league the game is in. If you bet on both, read the market name every time rather than relying on habit.
Postponed games are another place where operators differ. One of the two voids a postponed game outright. The other keeps bets standing if the game is played within 48 hours of its original start time and voids them after that. For how the same question works in football, see our guide to abandoned and postponed matches.
For readers in Canada
In Ontario, regulated online betting runs through iGaming Ontario. It states that you must be 19 or older to use any internet gaming product it conducts and manages, and that every fully registered and approved operator displays the iGaming Ontario and BetGuard logos. Operators serving Ontario publish their own house rules, and those are what settle your bet: the patterns on this page are the common ground, not a substitute for reading them. If you are new to how prices turn into returns, start with how betting odds work.
Frequently asked questions
Does overtime count in NHL betting?
For most NHL markets, yes. Operators settle the moneyline, the puck line and the game total on the official result, and the official result of a regular-season game includes the five-minute overtime and, if needed, the shootout. The exceptions are markets that say they are not included: a 60-minute or regulation-time market, and period markets, settle only on what happens in the stated time. Always check the market name and your operator's rules before you bet.
Do shootout goals count towards the over/under?
Not the shootout goals themselves, but the shootout does add one goal. NHL Rule 84.4 says that however many goals are scored in a shootout, the final score gives the winning team one more goal than its opponent, based on the score at the end of overtime. A game tied 2-2 after overtime and won in a shootout goes into the record as 3-2, so a total including overtime and shootout counts five goals, whatever the shootout itself looked like.
Can a -1.5 puck line bet win if the game goes to overtime?
Not in an NHL game. Overtime is sudden death, so the first goal ends the game, and a shootout adds exactly one goal to the winner. Either way, a game that goes past 60 minutes finishes with a one-goal margin. A -1.5 puck line on either side therefore loses as soon as the game reaches overtime, and a +1.5 on either side wins, on any market that includes overtime and the shootout.
Do shootout goals count for anytime goalscorer bets?
No. NHL Rule 84.4 says the player who scores the deciding goal in a shootout is not credited with a goal in his personal statistics, and the losing goalkeeper is not charged with it. The operators' rules we read say the same in their own words: goals in regulation and overtime count for goalscorer markets, shootout goals do not. An overtime goal is a real goal and does count.
What is a 60-minute or regulation-time bet?
A market settled on the score after the three twenty-minute periods only, with overtime and the shootout ignored. Because a tie is possible after 60 minutes, it is usually offered as a three-way bet: home win, draw or away win. If the game is level at the end of the third period, the draw wins, whoever goes on to win in overtime or the shootout.
Are Stanley Cup playoff games settled differently?
The settlement rules are the same, but the game is not. In the playoffs there is no three-on-three overtime and no shootout: after a 15-minute intermission the teams play full 20-minute periods until someone scores, under Rule 84.5. A playoff game can therefore run well past 80 minutes, and every overtime goal counts towards the total and towards goalscorer markets.
How old do you have to be to bet on NHL games online in Ontario?
Nineteen. iGaming Ontario states that you must be 19 or older to take part in any internet gaming product it conducts and manages, and every fully registered and approved operator in Ontario displays the iGaming Ontario and BetGuard logos. In the UK, Ireland and Malta the minimum age is 18.
Sources
Read on 29 September 2026. The overtime, shootout and playoff rules are quoted from Rule 84 of the NHL Official Rules 2026-2027, compared line by line with the 2025-2026 edition. Season dates, games per team, the schedule breakdown and the opening-night games are from the NHL’s schedule announcement and statistics pack of 16 July 2026. Market settlement is the common ground between the published ice hockey rules of two operators licensed by the Gambling Commission, which we do not name because this page is about the rules and not about where to bet. The age requirement and the logos are from iGaming Ontario’s player FAQs. Every figure in the worked examples was calculated independently.
- National Hockey League, Official Rules 2026-2027 — media.nhl.com
- NHL, NHL releases 2026-27 regular-season schedule — nhl.com
- NHL, 10 things to know about the 2026-27 NHL regular season — nhl.com
- iGaming Ontario, Player FAQs — igamingontario.ca
18+ (19+ in Ontario). An 84-game season means games almost every night, and late starts in the UK, Ireland and Malta make it easy to bet more than you planned. Decide what a week of hockey is worth to you before it starts. Deposit limits, time-outs and support are on our responsible gambling page.