Latest News About Stanley Cup Overtime Rules

Here’s the latest on Stanley Cup overtime rules.

• Overtime in the playoffs remains until a goal is scored, with five-on-five play for 20-minute periods, repeated as needed (sudden death). There is no shootout in the playoffs.[1][5]
• If a penalty occurs during playoff overtime, the power-play team can field an extra skater, creating a temporary six-skater/three-on-three dynamic, then returns to the standard setup when the penalty expires.[1]
• Regular-season overtime is five-on-five for 20 minutes and can end in a shootout, but that shootout format does not apply in the playoffs.[4][1]
• Historical context: playoff overtime can extend for multiple periods, with some series famously reaching six overtimes in rare instances; the format is designed to maximize chances of a decisive goal rather than a shootout.[5]

Illustration: In the Stanley Cup Final, if the game is tied after the first 20-minute overtime, a new 20-minute overtime period begins under the same five-on-five, sudden-death rules, with no shootout unless the game is decided earlier.[4]

If you’d like, I can pull a few current examples from the latest finals to show how often overtime has occurred this season and compare playoff overtime lengths across recent years.