Las Vegas: National Hockey League team general managers recommended on Tuesday that owners reduce the number of players on the ice for regular-season overtime periods in order to reduce the number of shoot-outs.
The NHL Board of Governors is expected to vote on a plan for 3-on-3 skaters plus a goaltender for each team rather than the current 4-on-4 plus goalie format used now, a drop from the 5-on-5 used in regulation time.
The move would begin with the upcoming 2015-16 season that starts in October.
Games in the NHL’s top developmental circuit, the American Hockey League, used the 3-on-3 overtime format for the first time this season and 75 per cent of games were decided without going to a shoot-out, up from 35.3 per cent the season before.
General managers had pondered stretching overtime to seven minutes, with 4-on-4 for the first three minutes and then dropping to 3-on-3, but the NHL competition committee was divided on that idea.
— AFP
