Overtime

Overtime, in ice hockey, is a method of determining the winner and loser of ice hockey matches should a game be tied after regulation. Two main methods include the overtime period (commonly referred to as overtime), and the shootout.

Overtime periods
Overtime periods are extra periods beyond the third regulation period during a game, where normal hockey rules apply. Although in the past, full-length overtime periods were played, overtimes today are sudden death, meaning that the game ends immediately when a player scores a goal.

For the 1983-84 season, the NHL introduced a regular season overtime period of five minutes, compared to the twenty minutes of regulation periods. If the five minute overtime period ended with no scoring, the game was a tie. Note: The World Hockey Association had used a 10-minute regular season overtime period, as had the NHL prior to World War II.

In 1998, the American Hockey League introduced a rule where teams will play the five minute overtime period with four skaters and a goaltender, rather than at full strength (five skaters), except in two-man advantage situations. In a two-man advantage situation, the team with the advantage will play with five players. The rule was popular and adopted by the NHL and ECHL the next season.

Should the overtime period end with neither side scoring, the teams then take part in a "shootout", which goes to sudden death if tied after the third or fifth round, depending on the league.

Mats Sundin holds the record for most regular season overtime goals with 15.

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, overtime periods are identical to regulation periods, except that teams continue to play overtime periods until a goal is scored, as a winner and a loser must be determined. This can result in games having multiple overtime periods - a recent game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars in the 2006-2007 playoffs had four overtime periods before Vancouver scored. Joe Sakic has the record for most career playoff overtime goals with seven. Interestingly, three of the game's legendary players, Mark Messier (109 playoff games), Mario Lemieux (77 games), and Gordie Howe (68 games) never scored a playoff overtime goal. Overtime periods are played without commercial breaks.

Shootout
Most lower minor leagues (ECHL, Central, UHL) have featured a shootout where, at the end of regulation, a shootout similar to the international tournament format is used.

However, in 2000, the ECHL adopted the AHL's four-on-four overtime before the shootout.

For the 2004-05 AHL season, the AHL followed the ECHL's lead and adopted a five-player shootout. The standard five-man shootout is used after four-on-four overtime for all minor leagues in North America.

Following the lead of minor leagues, as of the 2005-06 season, the NHL ends exhibition and regular season games tied after the five minute overtime period by a shootout. Three skaters per team take shots on the opposing goalies, as opposed to the five in international and minor-league competition. The team with the most goals during their three shots is declared the winner. However, if the same number of goals are scored by both teams during the shootout, a sudden death shootout is begun, as in international competition. The teams alternate taking penalty shots, until one team scores and the other does not, thus producing a winner. All players (except goalies) on a team's roster must shoot before any player can shoot twice.

The shootout is not used in the playoffs for any North American minor league. Instead, 20 minute overtime periods are used until a single goal is scored.

In the National Hockey League All-Star Skills Competition, the competition ends in a penalty shootout known as the Breakaway Relay.

Strategy
Strategy is considered to be very important during penalty shots and overtime shootouts for both the shooter and the goalie. Both shooters and goalies commonly consult their teammates and coaches for advice on the opposing player's style of play. Shooters often consider the goalie's strengths and weaknesses (such as a fast glove or stick save), preferred goaltending style (such as butterfly or stand-up) and method of challenging the shooter. Goaltenders often consider the shooter's shot preference, expected angle of attack, a patented move a shooter commonly uses and even handedness of the shooter.

Most shooters attempt to out-deke the goalie in order to create a better scoring chance. Minnesota Wild forward Mikko Koivu and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Martin St. Louis are examples of players who commonly use this strategy. However, it is not uncommon for a shooter to simply shoot for an opening without deking. This is commonly referred to as sniping. This is most commonly performed when a goalie challenges a shooter by giving them an open hole (by keeping a glove, pad or stick out of position or being out of sound goaltending position all-together to tempt the shooter to aim for the given opening). Vancouver Canuck forward Markus Naslund and former NHL forward Brett Hull are commonly referred to as snipers. Very rarely a shooter may take a slapshot or wrist shot from the point or top of the slot. This is almost exclusively performed when a shooter either has a high level of confidence in their shot or they attempt to catch the goalie by surprise. Minnesota Wild forward Brian Rolston and Anaheim Mighty Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger have both used this strategy with success. In fact, Pronger succeeded in using this strategy in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals on a penalty shot against Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward.

Selected playoff overtime contests

 * March 24, 1936 - Detroit's Mud Bruneteau ends the longest Stanley Cup playoff game ever, scoring the game's only goal in a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Maroons. The goal came 16:30 into the sixth overtime period for a total of 116:30 of overtime.  The game was a mere 3:30 short of the equivalent of playing three games back-to-back-to-back.


 * April 23, 1950 - Pete Babando scores at 28:31 of overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 4-3 win in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals over the New York Rangers. It was the first time that a seventh game of a Final series went to overtime.


 * April 21, 1951 - Bill Barilko scores at 2:53 of overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 win in the fifth game of the Stanley Cup Finals over the Montreal Canadiens. All five games in the series needed overtime to be decided.


 * April 16, 1954 - Tony Leswick scores at 4:20 of overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 win in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals over the Montreal Canadiens. No seventh game of a Final series has gone to overtime since.


 * April 23, 1964 - Bobby Baun of the Toronto Maple Leafs nets a game winner against Detroit 1:43 into overtime in Game 6 of the Finals. The goal is notable because Baun had broken his ankle earlier in the game.  It was frozen and taped, and Baun returned to the ice to score the winning goal.


 * May 10, 1970 - One of the most indelible moments in sports history is the sight of Bobby Orr's "in flight" goal that gave the Boston Bruins a 4-3 win and a four game sweep of the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Finals.


 * May 14, 1977 - Jacques Lemaire scored his 2nd of 3 career playoff overtime goals to defeat the Boston Bruins 2-1, allowing the Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup Final series 4-0.


 * May 24, 1980 - Bob Nystrom of the New York Islanders scores the Stanley Cup clinching goal at 7:11 of overtime, eliminating the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.


 * April 10, 1982 - "Miracle on Manchester" - Rookie Daryl Evans gives the Los Angeles Kings a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Oilers at 2:35 of overtime. The Kings trailed the Oilers 5-0 after the second period of Game 3 of the Smythe Division Semifinals. This still remains the largest single game playoff comeback in NHL history.


 * May 12, 1986 - Doug Wickenheiser's overtime goal gives the St. Louis Blues a 6-5 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 6 of the Campbell Conference Finals. The goal, known as the "Monday Night Miracle", capped a 5-1 comeback, made all the more impressive that all four comeback goals were scored in the last ten minutes of the third period.


 * May 18, 1986 - A Brian Skrudland goal ends the shortest overtime in NHL history at just 9 seconds. The winning goal gave the Montreal Canadiens a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.


 * April 18, 1987 - Pat LaFontaine of New York Islanders scores a goal against Washington Capitals at 68:47 of overtime which ends longest game seven in NHL playoff history. Islanders goaltender Kelly Hrudey makes a record 73 saves. See Easter Epic.


 * May 15, 1990 - After hardly playing in overtime, Petr Klima came off the bench late in triple overtime and scored almost immediately to end the longest overtime in NHL Finals history. The goal gave the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, setting the stage for the Oilers' fifth cup in seven years.


 * 1993 - After losing in overtime of game 1 of the Adams division semi-final to the Quebec Nordiques, the Montreal Canadiens go on to win 10 consecutive overtime games on route to winning the Stanley Cup.


 * April 30, 1994 - Pavel Bure scores 2:20 into the second overtime of the seventh game of the opening round of Vancouver's playoff series with Calgary. The win gave the Vancouver Canucks three consecutive overtime wins over the favored Calgary Flames, who squandered a 3-1 series lead.


 * May 27, 1994 - Stephane Matteau ends the Eastern Conference Finals with a wrap-around goal on New Jersey's rookie goaltender Martin Brodeur. It was Matteau's second overtime goal of the series and propelled the New York Rangers to their first Finals appearance in fifteen years.


 * June 10, 1996 - Uwe Krupp became the 12th player in NHL history to end the Stanley Cup Finals with an overtime tally giving the Colorado Avalanche a 1-0 win and a sweep of the Florida Panthers.


 * June 19, 1999 - Brett Hull scores with 5:09 left in the third OT in game six to win the Stanley Cup for the Dallas Stars over the Buffalo Sabres.


 * June 10, 2000 - Jason Arnott scores on Dallas Stars goalie Ed Belfour in the second overtime period of game 6 to give the New Jersey Devils their second Stanley Cup.


 * April 11, 2007 - Roberto Luongo, goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks, plays and wins his first career playoff game while making 72 saves, one shy of Kelly Hrudey's record; the game would be the 6th longest ever, going into quadruple overtime. Henrik Sedin scored the winning goal.

Longest NHL overtime games
This is a list of the longest National Hockey League (NHL) overtime games.


 * * Stanley Cup Finals game
 * ** Stanley Cup winning goal
 * † Series-clinching goal
 * †† Game 7

AHL
Five AHL games have run into a fourth overtime period.

CIS - OUA Men
York Lions and Lakehead Thunderwolves went to a fourth overtime (50:47 minutes of Overtime) on Februray 15, 2007 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. to decide a winner in OUA men’s playoff hockey action. Lakehead won the game at the 13-second mark of the fourth overtime period when Michael Wehrstedt beat Lions goaltender Kevin Druce with the winner in a 3-2 marathon. Both goaltenders shone for their teams, as Druce made a remarkable 82 saves, while Chris Whitley made 54 for Lakehead.

ECHL
A May 5, 2000 game between the Louisiana IceGators and Greenville (SC) Grrrowl lasted 61:24 of overtime, with the Grrrowl winning, 3-2.