National Hockey League Rules - Penalties

Penalties

A penalty is a punishment for infractions of the rules. A referee makes most penalty calls while the linesmen may call only obvious technical infractions such as too many men on the ice. In the NHL, the linesman may also call major intent-to-injure penalties that the referee may have missed.

During a penalty, the player who committed the infraction is sent to the penalty box. Small infractions are deemed minor penalties, and the player is kept off the ice for two minutes of gameplay. More dangerous infractions, such as fighting, are deemed major penalties and have a duration of five minutes. The penalized team cannot replace the player on the ice and is thus shorthanded for the duration of the penalty. Normally, hockey teams have five skaters (plus the goaltender) on the ice. If a minor or major penalty is called, play becomes "five-on-four" - five skaters versus four skaters.

This situation is called a power play for the non-penalized team and a penalty kill for the penalized team. A team is far more likely to score on a power play than during normal play. If the penalized team is scored on during a minor penalty, the penalty immediately terminates. Unlike minor penalties, major penalties must be served to their full completion, regardless of number of goals scored during the power play. When a penalty is about to be called, an official will raise his arm to signal what is referred to as a "delayed penalty". Play will continue until the offending team touches the puck, at which point, the official will blow the play dead and assess the penalty. If the team committing a penalty yields a goal and is already shorthanded because of a minor penalty, the penalty will be called when the goal is scored, and the team scoring a goal will be awarded a fresh power play. Furthermore, when goals are scored, penalties come off the board in the order in which they were called (if multiple penalties have been called).

The offending team cannot score a goal themselves during a delayed penalty. This usually results in the opposing team replacing their goalie with an extra forward until the offending team touches the puck, since the offending team cannot score on the empty net by touching the puck. This situation, however, can result in an own goal. For example:

• In the November 24, 2008 New York Islanders - Montreal Canadiens game, when the referee was about to call a penalty against New York, Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price headed back to the bench for an extra forward. At that moment, Canadiens defenseman Ryan O'Byrne, not noticing the delayed penalty and the empty net, attempted to pass the puck to his (now-missing) goaltender. Instead, the puck landed in the net and a goal was awarded to the Islanders.
• In the March 21, 2009 game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Phoenix Coyotes, Phoenix scored an empty-net goal during a delayed penalty against the Coyotes' Viktor Tikhonov. In an attempt to take possession and thus stop play, Tikhonov poke-checked Vancouver's Henrik Sedin near the Vancouver blue line. Since Tikhonov only ever touched Sedin's stick, and not the puck, play continued, even though the puck was now headed straight for Vancouver's goal. Sedin's teammate Shane O'Brien skated after the errant puck, but to no avail. Both the puck and O'Brien landed in the net, and Tikhonov was credited with the goal.
• In the March 21, 2013 game between the New Jersey Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes, when the referee was about to call a 2:00 minor penalty against the Devils' Marek Zidlicky for hooking, Carolina goaltender Dan Ellis was about to head to the bench for an extra attacker, when he discovered that Jordan Staal's pass to Tim Gleason was unsuccessful and, as a result, made the puck bounce off the boards and into the empty net. Ellis tried to chase after it, but he was too slow, and, because Carolina's Alex Semin was already in the penalty box at that time, a power play goal was awarded to the Devils; its goaltender, Martin Brodeur -- the last Devil to touch the puck -- was credited with the goal.

There are exceptions to the rule where a team cannot replace a player on the ice after a penalty: mutual majors for fighting, where there are two participants in a fight, will result in each person receiving five minutes, but the penalties will not affect the on-ice strength of either team (play remains five-on-five), unless a player is deemed to be the instigator of the fight, in which case that player will receive an additional two-minute minor. There are also "coincidental" minors in which the penalties called against both teams are simultaneous and equal in length, so that neither team receives a power play, with teams skating four-on-four.

After the 2004–05 NHL lockout, a new rule was instituted that imposes a minor delay-of-game penalty on any defensive player who directs the puck out of bounds (e.g., over the glass into the stands or into the safety netting). When the puck is shot into either of the players’ benches, the penalty will not apply.

There are also game- and 10-minute-misconduct penalties which are reserved for infractions such as continued disputing of a call with an official or for intent-to-injure penalties. A player receiving a misconduct penalty does not cause his team to play short-handed unless he also receives a minor, major or match penalty in addition to the misconduct penalty.

Various combinations of penalties may also result in match-ups such as 5-on-3, 4-on-3, 4-on-4 or even 3-on-3. A team, however, may not have fewer than 4 players (including the goaltender) on the ice at any point in the game.

After a penalty is assessed, play resumes with a face-off in the offending team's defensive zone under most circumstances.