NHL Regular Season Overtime Rules Explained

Each season in the NHL includes a couple of overtime games here and there. One prime and exciting example for Colorado Avalanche fans occurred recently, when they beat the Nashville Predators in a game that ended up being a 3-2 Avs win that included extra minutes.

There’s a reason I chose Sam Girard for the article’s image: He was the hero of the game with an insane steal-and-score sequence.

On October 18th, the Avalanche went into overtime with the Anaheim Ducks and came out with a 4-3 victory. According to StatMuse, in the format of Wins-Losses-Ties-Overtime Losses, the Avalanche’s overtime record all-time is 233-34-201-163. It’s a total of 631 overtime matchups for the team.

Living in Central Canada, I’m an hour ahead of Colorado, so any time the game starts late and ends up going to overtime, it’s a struggle to stay awake since the Avalanche play in the evening more times than not. Either way, extra time also means that even if you lose, you still receive a single point. If you win, you get two—one for pushing the game into OT, and one for winning in the very end. It’s a huge bonus and provides a bigger drive to win, despite the NHL’s 82-game season.

More to know about NHL Overtime periods in the NHL

The NHL’s overtime is quite simple, unlike the newish rules created in the NFL. In hockey, it is sudden death. Whoever scores first wins. It’s one of those things that makes it a lot more fun. In football, a team wins if they score the first touchdown in overtime. If they kicked a field goal, the other team gets a chance to score a touchdown. If they fail and turn the ball over, it’s game over.

Personally, I really enjoy the NHL’s version quite a bit more.

In the regular season version of overtime, it is a series of 3-on-3 faceoffs, plus each team’s goaltender. This version of hockey opens up the ice a lot more, and increases the chances for more shots on goal and more exciting plays in open ice, rather than the ice being very crowded.

Another difference is that overtime in the preseason and regular season is played in 5-minute periods, rather than the regulation duration of 20 minutes. For more information about overtime rules in the postseason, check out this article.