NHL Standings and Playoff Format Explained: Points, Wild Cards and the Stanley Cup
Why a loss can still earn a point, what regulation wins have to do with tiebreakers, and how 16 teams start the long road to the Stanley Cup.
NHL standings are ranked by points, not by winning percentage, and that one detail changes how every game is played in the final minutes. Here is how the points system, the tiebreakers and the playoff format fit together.
How teams earn points
- Win (in regulation, overtime or a shootout): 2 points
- Loss in overtime or a shootout: 1 point
- Loss in regulation: 0 points
A team's record is written wins-losses-overtime losses, so 45-28-9 means 45 wins, 28 regulation losses and 9 losses after regulation, for 99 points. Because reaching overtime guarantees a point, tied teams late in the third period often play more cautiously than you might expect.
Overtime in the regular season
A regular-season game tied after 60 minutes goes to five minutes of three-on-three sudden-death overtime. If nobody scores, a shootout decides the winner. In the playoffs there are no shootouts: overtime is played in full 20-minute periods at five-on-five until someone scores.
Breaking ties in the standings
When teams finish level on points, the NHL applies these steps in order:
- Points percentage (relevant when teams have played a different number of games)
- Regulation wins
- Regulation plus overtime wins, excluding shootout wins
- Total wins
- Points earned in head-to-head games
Putting regulation wins near the top means a team that keeps winning in shootouts can lose a tiebreaker to a team that does its work in 60 minutes.
Who makes the playoffs
Sixteen of the 32 teams qualify, eight per conference. In each conference, the top three teams in each of the two divisions are in. The final two spots are wild cards, given to the next two best teams by points regardless of division.
How the first round is set
The division winner with the most points in the conference plays the second wild card, and the other division winner plays the first wild card. The teams that finished second and third in each division meet each other. Every round is a best-of-seven series, and four rounds of them lead to the Stanley Cup Final.
Track the race on the NHL standings page, follow tonight's games on the NHL scoreboard and catch up on the latest NHL news.
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