The National Hockey League is an ice hockey league played in North America. It is the highest-ranked ice hockey league in the world. The league consists of thirty-one teams. Seven of these teams are from Canada while the other twenty-four are from the United States.
About the Game
The game is played for a period of sixty minutes. The sixty minutes are divided into three periods consisting of twenty minutes each. Obviously, the winner of the game is the team that has the most goals after the regulation period is over. Ties are not allowed in the game as they were eliminated in 2005. A game moves to overtime whenever the outcome is a tie after the regulation period. Overtime takes five minutes when it is the regular season.
Overtime is a three on three match in which the first team to score wins the match. If overtime fails to decide the game, the players have no choice other than to engage in a penalty shootout. If there is no winner after the official three rounds, the shootout will go on though it will be sudden death.
How Points are Issued
There are only wins and losses in this game. The rules of the game do not allow ties. This rule brought about some changes in issuing of points. You might get a little bit confused to see a team lose and yet gain a point. Two points are rewarded to a team that wins the game within the regulation period, during overtime or a penalty shootout.
The team that loses a match during the regulation period is not awarded any point. However, the losers of a match after the regulation are awarded a point. A lot of weak teams in the league struggle to end the game as a draw so as to gain a point by going to overtime.