Section 5: Rules of Play
Game Duration
An NHL regular season game consists of three 20-minute periods of play with two intermissions of 18 minutes each. Each team plays 82 regular season games (the final season at this number before the planned expansion to 84 games beginning in 2026-27). The game clock runs continuously except during stoppages of play. If the score is tied at the end of regulation, a 5-minute sudden-death overtime period is played with teams skating 3-on-3. If the game remains tied after overtime, a shootout determines the winner.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, overtime periods are 20 minutes of sudden-death 5-on-5 play with no shootout. Overtime periods continue until a goal is scored.
Face-offs
Play begins at the start of each period and resumes after each stoppage with a face-off. The visiting team's center places their stick on the ice first. Both players must be square to the face-off spot. Violations of face-off procedures result in the offending player being replaced by a teammate.
Offside
A play is offside when an attacking player precedes the puck into the attacking zone (crosses the blue line before the puck). The resulting face-off takes place at the nearest neutral zone face-off spot. If a player in the attacking zone intentionally causes an offside (delayed offside is not corrected by players clearing the zone), the face-off is held in the defending zone.
Icing
Icing occurs when a team shoots the puck from their side of the center red line across the opposing team's goal line without the puck being touched. When icing is called, the face-off is held in the offending team's defensive zone, and that team is not permitted to make a line change. Icing is nullified if the defending team could have played the puck before it crossed the goal line (hybrid icing). Icing is not called against a team that is shorthanded.
Goals
A goal is scored when the puck fully crosses the goal line between the goal posts and beneath the crossbar, having been legally directed there by an attacking player's stick. Goals may also be scored by deflection off any part of a player's body other than a distinct kicking motion. Goals scored by a hand pass, a high stick (above the crossbar), or by a puck kicked into the goal are disallowed. All goals are subject to video review.
Hand Pass
A player may not direct the puck to a teammate using their hand in any zone. In the defensive zone, a player may bat the puck along the ice with an open hand, but the puck must be touched by another player before a goal can be scored. A hand pass violation results in a face-off at the location of the pass.