PLAYOFF PUSHNHL Standings Explained: Points, Overtime Losses and the Wild Card Race
Hockey standings look like every other league's until you notice the third column. That OTL, the overtime loss, is what makes the NHL race behave differently from any other: teams that lose still collect points, gaps close slowly, and a team can go 1-2-3 in a week and gain ground. Here is how the standings work, how the playoff spots are handed out, and what breaks the ties.
The points system
Every NHL game awards points as follows:
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win, in regulation or overtime or shootout | 2 |
| Loss in overtime or the shootout | 1 |
| Loss in regulation | 0 |
There are no ties; every game goes to a five-minute three-on-three overtime and then a shootout if needed. So a game decided in regulation hands out two points in total, while a game decided after regulation hands out three. Across a season that extra point matters. Roughly a quarter of NHL games go past regulation, which inflates every team's point total and is why "100 points" is a meaningful milestone rather than a fluke.
The standings record is written wins-losses-overtime losses, W-L-OTL. A 40-30-12 team has 92 points from 82 games: 80 for the wins and 12 for the overtime losses.
Who makes the playoffs
Sixteen teams qualify, eight per conference:
- The top three teams in each division, ranked by points, qualify automatically. That is six per conference.
- The two best remaining teams in the conference, again by points, take the two Wild Card spots. Both Wild Cards can come from the same division.
The first round pairs the division winner with the higher seed against the Wild Card with fewer points, and the other division winner against the other Wild Card, while the second- and third-place teams in each division play each other. The bracket is division-based from there, so a Wild Card team can end up playing in the other division's bracket.
There are no byes. The Presidents' Trophy for the best regular-season record earns home ice, nothing more.
Why games back is the wrong lens
Baseball fans instinctively read "games back," but in hockey the currency is points, and the right question is points back with games in hand. A team two points behind the last Wild Card spot with two games in hand is effectively ahead: win both and it leads by two. A team two points behind having played two more games is in real trouble.
That is why Playoff Push's NHL pages show the race in points, list games played alongside, and give a "points to clinch" number rather than a magic number in wins. The playoff odds behind them simulate the remaining schedule with about 23% of games going past regulation, so the loser-point is baked into every projection.
The tiebreakers
When two teams finish with the same points, the NHL applies these in order:
- Fewer games played. This only arises mid-season, when schedules are uneven; at the end of the year everyone has played 82. It is the reason standings tables often show points percentage in March.
- Regulation wins (RW). Wins in 60 minutes. Introduced as the first real tiebreaker in 2019-20, replacing the old ROW.
- Regulation plus overtime wins (ROW). Wins in regulation or in the five-minute overtime, but not the shootout.
- Total wins. Including shootout wins.
- Head-to-head points. Points earned in games between the tied clubs. If the clubs played an odd number of games, the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded.
- Goal differential.
- Goals for.
The regulation-wins rule was designed to make shootout wins the least valuable kind of win, and it has teeth. A team that racks up shootout victories can find itself behind a team with the same points and fewer shootout wins. In our standings tables the seed column follows ESPN's ordering, which applies these tiebreakers, so the order you see is the league's order.
Reading an NHL race in March
Because the loser-point keeps everyone within reach, the NHL race looks tighter than it is. A useful rule of thumb: a lead of two points per game remaining is close to safe, because the chaser needs to win every game while the leader takes nothing. A lead of one point per game remaining is a live race.
Look at the games-in-hand column before the points column. Then look at regulation wins, because if the two teams finish level, that is the number that decides it. Then look at the schedule: how many head-to-heads are left, and how many games each team has against playoff opposition. The Path panel on each team page lists exactly those.
The Wild Card ripple
One quirk worth knowing: because the top three in each division qualify, a strong division can push a good team into the Wild Card race while a weaker division sends its third-place club through automatically. Fans of the fourth-best team in a stacked division are competing not with their own division but with the fourth- and fifth-place teams in the other one. Our division tables show the third-place cut with a dashed line, and the Wild Card table shows who is actually in the pool.
Quick reference
- Win 2 points, overtime or shootout loss 1, regulation loss 0.
- Top three in each division plus two Wild Cards per conference; sixteen teams in all; no byes.
- Race in points and games in hand, not games back.
- Tiebreakers: fewer games played, regulation wins, ROW, total wins, head-to-head points, goal differential, goals for.
- Roughly one game in four goes past regulation, so the loser-point is a real force in the standings.
The puck drops September 29. Until then the NHL page shows last season's final standings, and it switches to the live race with the first games.
Frequently asked questions
- How many points is a win in the NHL?
- Two. An overtime or shootout loss is worth one point, and a regulation loss is worth zero. That is why a game between two teams can hand out two or three points in total.
- How do NHL Wild Cards work?
- The top three teams in each division qualify automatically. The two best remaining teams in the conference, by points, take the two Wild Card spots, regardless of division.
- What is the first NHL tiebreaker?
- Regulation wins. If teams are tied on points, the one with more wins in regulation time ranks higher, followed by regulation plus overtime wins, then total wins, then head-to-head points.
- What does points percentage mean in the NHL?
- Points earned divided by points available. It is used to compare teams that have played a different number of games, and it is a tiebreaker only when teams have played unequal schedules.