Overtime changes by competition and stage.

How to read the format

1. Identify the competition: NHL, IIHF, NCAA, youth, or another league.
2. Check whether the game is regular season, tournament group play, knockout, or playoffs.
3. Apply the overtime strength and period length for that stage.
4. If the format allows a shootout, use it only after the overtime period fails to decide the game.
5. If it is playoff sudden death, continue full overtime periods until a legal goal is scored.

3-on-3, then shootout

The NHL regular season uses a short 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime. If no one scores, the game goes to a shootout. The winner gets the extra standings point, while the overtime or shootout loser still earns one point.

No shootouts

Playoff overtime is sudden death at full strength, played in full overtime periods until someone scores. There is no shootout, and there are no ties.

Not the same as penalty shots

• Format device: a shootout is used to decide a tied game after overtime in competitions that allow it.
• Scoring: the shootout winner gets the game result, but individual shootout goals are not treated like normal game goals for every statistical purpose.
• Order and eligibility: shooter rules depend on the competition's shootout procedure.

"Why no shootout in the playoffs?"

Playoff hockey is designed to be decided by normal team play, not a skills contest. That is why postseason games continue through additional overtime periods until a goal is scored.

Source material

• NHL Overtime Format
• NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Format
• NHL Video Rulebook

Start with the competition, not a generic “hockey” format

The worked professional example on this page uses the National Hockey League Official Rules 2025-2026. It does not claim that every hockey competition uses the same overtime length, manpower, points table, shootout order, or playoff procedure. IIHF tournaments, NCAA games, USA Hockey competitions, and domestic leagues publish separate formats, and a tournament regulation can supplement its main rulebook. Confirm the competition and whether the game is regular season, pool play, elimination play, or a playoff before building the ending.

Keep the game result and competition points separate

First record the score at the end of regulation. Next write the overtime format and the number of skaters permitted by the applicable rules. If overtime does not decide the game, record the shootout attempts in order and apply that code's procedure for additional attempts. The shootout determines the game winner; it is not a collection of ordinary game goals added one by one to player scoring totals.

After the winner is known, apply the competition's standings system as a separate step. A league may distinguish regulation wins, overtime results, and shootout results when awarding table points or using tiebreakers. That standings treatment does not change what happened on the ice. Keeping a game sheet and a standings ledger separate prevents common mistakes such as importing NHL regular-season points into an international group or applying a regular-season shootout to a playoff game that requires continuing sudden-death overtime.