{"id":589833,"date":"2026-06-03T02:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T02:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/589833\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T02:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T02:33:28","slug":"nhl-playoff-overtime-longest-games-rules-2026-ot-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/589833\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL playoff overtime: Longest games, rules, 2026 OT results"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stanley Cup Final<\/a> is underway and if it’s like last year, there will be some overtimes.<\/p>\n

The Florida Panthers<\/a> and Edmonton Oilers<\/a> went to overtime three times in the first four games. The Oilers won Games 1 and 4 while the Panthers won Game 2 in double overtime. Games 5 and 6 were settled in regulation as the Panthers beat the Oilers for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n

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With the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights evenly matched<\/a>, we might have some overtimes in this year’s Final.<\/p>\n

Unlike\u00a0the Olympics<\/a> and world championships<\/a>, where\u00a03-on-3 overtime<\/a>\u00a0is played even in the\u00a0gold medal game<\/a>, the NHL switches things up in the postseason when the games matter more.<\/p>\n

There won’t be any more 3-on-3 play. It is 5-on-5 instead, just like in regulation play. There won’t be any more shootouts. There is sudden death, and it could last a very long time.<\/p>\n

This postseason, there have been 20 overtime games, including three double-overtime games.\u00a0Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals<\/a>\u00a0was the 20th.<\/p>\n

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Here’s what to know about playoff hockey overtime, including the format, longest games and 2026 results.<\/p>\n

1 \/ 6<\/p>\n

Golden Knights and Hurricanes skate for 2026 Stanley Cup glory<\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal (11) and Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) faceoff during the first period in game one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final<\/a> at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

1 \/ 6<\/p>\n

Golden Knights and Hurricanes skate for 2026 Stanley Cup glory<\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal (11) and Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) faceoff during the first period in game one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final<\/a> at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

2 \/ 6<\/p>\n

Golden Knights and Hurricanes skate for 2026 Stanley Cup glory<\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (27) celebrates scoring during the first period against the Vegas Golden Knights in game one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

3 \/ 6<\/p>\n

Golden Knights and Hurricanes skate for 2026 Stanley Cup glory<\/p>\n

Overview of the stadium prior to the game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights in game one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

4 \/ 6<\/p>\n

Golden Knights and Hurricanes skate for 2026 Stanley Cup glory<\/p>\n

General view of towels for fans on the seats prior to the game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights in game one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

5 \/ 6<\/p>\n

Golden Knights and Hurricanes skate for 2026 Stanley Cup glory<\/p>\n

Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart (79) stands in the hallway prior to entering the ice for warm up against the Carolina Hurricanes in game one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

(James Guillory, Imagn Images)\"\"<\/p>\n

6 \/ 6<\/p>\n

Golden Knights and Hurricanes skate for 2026 Stanley Cup glory<\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes right wing Seth Jarvis (24) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights in game one of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on June 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

(James Guillory, Imagn Images)How does OT work in NHL playoffs?<\/p>\n

If the score is tied after three periods, the teams go to the dressing rooms for 15 minutes while the ice is resurfaced. Overtime periods last 20 minutes or until someone scores. It’s 5-on-5 play (barring penalties). If no one scores in the first overtime, the process repeats and continues until someone scores. The teams change sides for each overtime period. The first overtime is the long change to get back to the bench.<\/p>\n

The NHL Situation Room reviews all goals to make sure they are legally scored, such as the goal that ended Game 4 of the Anaheim-Edmonton series or the\u00a0overturned goal<\/a>\u00a0in Game 4 of the Vegas-Utah series.<\/p>\n

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2026 NHL playoff overtime results<\/p>\n

May 25:\u00a0Hurricanes 3, Canadiens 2:<\/a>\u00a0Andrei Svechnikov<\/a>\u00a0scored the winner<\/a>\u00a0at 14:06 of the first overtime as Carolina took the series lead in Game 3.<\/p>\n

May 23:\u00a0Hurricanes 3, Canadiens 2.<\/a>\u00a0Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a>\u00a0scored the winner<\/a>\u00a0at 3:29 of the first overtime as Carolina tied the series in Game 2.<\/p>\n

May 18:\u00a0Canadiens 3, Sabres 2<\/a>. Alex Newhook<\/a>\u00a0scored the winner<\/a>\u00a0at 11:22 of the first overtime as Montreal<\/a> ousted Buffalo in Game 7.<\/p>\n

May 13:\u00a0Avalanche 4, Wild 3.<\/a>\u00a0Brett Kulak<\/a>\u00a0scored the winner<\/a>\u00a0at 3:52 of the first overtime as Colorado<\/a> ousted Minnesota<\/a> in Game 5.<\/p>\n

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May 12:\u00a0Golden Knights 3, Ducks 2<\/a>. Pavel Dorofeyev<\/a> scored the winning goal just over four minutes into the first overtime period to give Vegas a 3-2 series lead over Anaheim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

May 9:\u00a0Hurricanes 3, Flyers 2<\/a>. Jackson Blake<\/a> scored at 5:31 of the first overtime to\u00a0sweep the Flyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

May 4:\u00a0Hurricanes 3, Flyers 2<\/a>. Taylor Hall<\/a> scored at 18:54 of the first overtime for a 2-0 series lead.<\/p>\n

May 1:\u00a0Lightning 1, Canadiens 0<\/a>. Gage Goncalves<\/a> scored at 9:03 of the first overtime to tie the series.<\/p>\n

April 29:\u00a0Golden Knights 5, Mammoth 4.<\/a>\u00a0Brett Howden<\/a> scored at 5:28 of the second overtime as Vegas took a 3-2 lead on Utah.<\/p>\n

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April 29:\u00a0Flyers 1, Penguins 0<\/a>. Cam York<\/a> scored at 17:32 of the first overtime as the\u00a0Flyers ousted the Penguins<\/a>\u00a0in Game 6.<\/p>\n

April 28:\u00a0Bruins 2, Sabres 1.<\/a>\u00a0David Pastrnak<\/a> scored at 9:14 of the first overtime to cut the Bruins’ series deficit to 3-2.<\/p>\n

April 27:\u00a0Golden Knights 5, Mammoth 4.<\/a>\u00a0Shea Theodore<\/a> scored at 19:08 of the first overtime to tie the series at two games apiece.<\/p>\n

April 26:\u00a0Ducks 4, Oilers 3<\/a>. Ryan Poehling<\/a> scored 2:29 into the first overtime to give Anaheim a 3-1 series lead.<\/p>\n

April 25:\u00a0Wild 3, Stars 2<\/a>. Matt Boldy<\/a> scored at 19:31 of the first overtime as the Wild tied the series 2-2.<\/p>\n

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April 24:\u00a0Canadiens 3, Lightning 2<\/a>. Lane Hutson<\/a> scored at 2:09 of the first overtime, giving Montreal a 2-1 series lead.<\/p>\n

April 22:\u00a0Stars 4, Wild 3<\/a>. Wyatt Johnston<\/a> scored at 12:10 of the second overtime, giving Dallas<\/a> a 2-1 series lead.<\/p>\n

April 21:\u00a0Avalanche 2, Kings 1<\/a>. Nicolas Roy<\/a> scored the winning goal at the 12:16 mark of the first overtime, giving Colorado a 2-0 series lead.<\/p>\n

April 21:\u00a0Lightning 3, Canadiens 2<\/a>. J.J. Moser<\/a> scored at 7:12 in the first overtime to tie up the series at a game apiece. It was Moser’s first career NHL playoff goal.<\/p>\n

April 20:\u00a0Hurricanes 3, Senators 2<\/a>. Jordan Martinook<\/a> scored at 13:53 of the second overtime. He was stopped on a penalty shot in the first overtime.<\/p>\n

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April 19:\u00a0Canadiens 4, Lightning 3<\/a>. Juraj Slafkovsky<\/a> scored at 1:22 of the first overtime, completing a hat trick.<\/p>\n

Longest Stanley Cup Final games<\/p>\n

Eight Stanley Cup Final games have gone to the third overtime. The\u00a0Edmonton Oilers<\/a>\u00a0were part of the longest game when Petr Klima scored at 15:13 of the third overtime for a 3-2 win against the\u00a0Boston Bruins<\/a>\u00a0in the 1990 Final.<\/p>\n

What are the longest NHL playoff overtime games?<\/p>\n

1 – Six overtimes\u00a0(116 minutes, 30 seconds of overtime) in the 1936 semifinals. March 24, 1935. Detroit 1, Montreal Maroons 0.\u00a0Mud Bruneteau scored the winner.<\/p>\n

2 – Six overtimes\u00a0(104 minutes, 46 seconds of overtime) in the 1933 semifinals. April 3, 1933. Toronto<\/a> 1, Boston 0. Ken Doraty scored the winner.<\/p>\n

3 – Five overtimes\u00a0(92 minutes, 1 second of overtime) in the 2000 conference semifinals. May 4, 2000. Philadelphia<\/a> 2, Pittsburgh<\/a> 1. Keith Primeau scored the winner.<\/p>\n

4 – Five overtimes\u00a0(90 minutes, 27 seconds of overtime) in the 2020 first round. Aug. 11, 2020. Tampa Bay 3, Columbus 2. Brayden Point<\/a> scored the winner.<\/p>\n

5 – Five overtimes\u00a0(80 minutes, 48 seconds of overtime) in the 2003 conference semifinals. April 24, 2003. Anaheim 4, Dallas 3. Petr Sykora scored the winner.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NHL playoffs overtime rules, 2026 bracket results and longest games<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Stanley Cup Final is underway and if it’s like last year, there will be some overtimes. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[633,2210,1742,1332,1741,3592,530,4187,265,29,192,196,2178,1739,146,57,3309,149,5,6714,510,1448,976,186,502,189,3153,799,94,161,264,4,1337,794,1164,2880,118,1467,1469,13110,1108,9,1110,66,1531],"class_list":["post-589833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-alex-newhook","tag-anaheim","tag-andrei-svechnikov","tag-brayden-point","tag-brett-howden","tag-brett-kulak","tag-bruins","tag-cam-york","tag-canadiens","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-colorado","tag-dallas","tag-david-pastrnak","tag-ducks","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-florida-panthers","tag-gage-goncalves","tag-golden-knights","tag-hockey","tag-j-j-moser","tag-jackson-blake","tag-jordan-martinook","tag-juraj-slafkovsky","tag-kings","tag-lane-hutson","tag-lightning","tag-mammoth","tag-matt-boldy","tag-matthew-tkachuk","tag-minnesota","tag-montreal","tag-nhl","tag-nicolas-roy","tag-nikolaj-ehlers","tag-overtime","tag-pavel-dorofeyev","tag-penguins","tag-philadelphia","tag-pittsburgh","tag-ryan-poehling","tag-sabres","tag-shea-theodore","tag-taylor-hall","tag-toronto","tag-wyatt-johnston"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}