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How NHL Standings Work: The Loser Point, Regulation Wins and the Wild Card

How NHL standings work: two points for a win, one for an overtime loss, the official tiebreak order, points percentage, and how the wild card sets the bracket.

By Published 6 min read

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Key takeaways

  • Read an NHL record as wins, regulation losses and overtime losses, and compute points as two per win plus one per overtime or shootout loss.
  • When two teams have played different numbers of games, compare points percentage — points divided by the maximum available — rather than raw points.
  • Regulation wins are the first tiebreaker after games played, so a team level on points with a rival is better off having won more games in 60 minutes.
  • Every game that reaches overtime puts three points into the standings instead of two, so check regulation wins before trusting a points total.
  • The playoff line is not the same as a division line: the top three in each division qualify, then two wild cards per conference regardless of division.

NHL teams earn two points for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and nothing for losing in regulation; the standings rank teams by points. When teams are level, the league's tiebreakers start with games played and regulation wins. And the playoff field is set by division and by conference: the top three in each division qualify, plus two wild cards in each conference.

The sections below take those pieces one at a time, using the NHL's 2026-27 rulebook and its published standings procedures.

The points table

Result Points What the record column shows
Win in regulation 2 W, and counts as RW and ROW
Win in overtime 2 W, and counts as ROW
Win in a shootout 2 W only
Loss in overtime or a shootout 1 OTL
Loss in regulation 0 L

Rule 78.1 gives the winner two points and, when a regular-season game is decided in overtime or a shootout, gives the loser one. Rule 84.1 explains how that loser point is earned: both teams get a point the moment regulation ends tied, and the winner of the overtime or shootout gets a second.

A record is written wins–losses–overtime losses. Points follow directly: two per win plus one per overtime loss. A team at 45-27-12 after 84 games has 2 × 45 + 12 = 102 points.

The three-point game

The loser point changes the arithmetic of the whole league. A game settled in regulation puts two points into the standings. A game that reaches overtime puts in three — two for the winner, one for the loser.

That has two consequences worth keeping in mind:

  • League-wide totals depend on how many games go past regulation. Across a season, the total number of points handed out equals twice the number of games plus one for every game that went to overtime. More overtime means more points for everyone, without anyone getting better.
  • A points total can flatter a team. A side that loses a lot of games in overtime collects points without winning. The tiebreakers lean the other way, rewarding regulation wins before anything else except games played.

Hockey-Reference, the statistics site, publishes a "real points percentage" that counts nothing for an overtime loss and treats any shootout game as a tie — in its own words, the pre-2000 situation. It is a quick way to see how much of a team's position rests on the loser point.

Points or points percentage?

Standings are ordered by points, but on any given night teams have played different numbers of games. A team with "games in hand" has played fewer, and could still pass a rival above it.

Points percentage fixes that: points divided by the maximum available, which is two per game played. Hockey-Reference defines it exactly that way. Worked example, with invented numbers:

Team Games Points Points percentage
Team A 40 50 50 ÷ 80 = .625
Team B 42 51 51 ÷ 84 = .607

Team B is ahead on points tonight, but Team A has earned a larger share of what was available. The league agrees: when teams finish level on points, its first tiebreaker is fewer games played — which, as its procedure notes, means a superior points percentage.

Points percentage matters even more this season. With the schedule at 84 games in 2026-27, a team will finish with more points than it would have at the same rate over 82, so comparing this season's totals with earlier seasons only makes sense as a percentage. The hockey points percentage calculator turns any record into points, points percentage and a pace over 84 or 82 games.

The tiebreakers, in order

When two or more teams finish level on points, the NHL separates them in this order:

  1. Fewer games played — that is, a higher points percentage.
  2. Regulation wins (RW) — wins that were not decided in overtime or a shootout.
  3. Regulation plus overtime wins (ROW) — every win except shootout wins.
  4. Total wins, however they were earned.
  5. Points in games between the tied teams. If the teams did not play an even number of games against each other, the first game played in the city that had the extra game — the "odd game" — is left out. With more than two teams tied, the league uses the percentage of available points each earned against the others.
  6. Goal differential for the whole season, including overtime goals and shootout results.
  7. Goals scored for the whole season.

Note the last two. In the standings, a shootout win counts as one goal for and a shootout loss as one goal against — a small artificial goal that can decide a race that reaches step six.

The order is a statement of values. A league that ranked shootout wins equally with regulation wins would put RW and ROW nowhere; instead the first two tiebreakers after games played both discount the shootout. The same instinct appears in soccer's use of goal difference, covered in goal difference and league tiebreakers explained.

From standings to a playoff bracket

The NHL's playoff format turns the standings into a fixed bracket:

  • Sixteen teams qualify. The top three teams in each division take the first twelve places.
  • Four wild cards go to the next two highest-placed teams in each conference, regardless of division — so one division can send five teams and the other three.
  • First-round pairings: the division winner with the better record in each conference plays the wild card with the weaker record; the other division winner plays the other wild card; second and third place in each division meet each other.
  • Later rounds stay inside each bracket until the conference finals, and in the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final, home ice goes to the team with the better regular-season record.

The practical effect is that the race a team is in depends on where it sits. A team third in its division is competing with its division rivals; a team fourth or lower is competing with every team in the conference for a wild card. Head-to-head games inside a division count twice over in either race: a win moves you up and a rival down.

How the points system got here

The loser point has not always existed. Hockey-Reference's "real points percentage" is built to undo it — no point for an overtime loss, and any shootout game scored as a tie — and the site calls that arrangement "the pre-2000 situation". Ties themselves are gone: under today's Rule 84.4, a regular-season game still level after overtime goes to a shootout, so every game ends with a winner, and reaching overtime is the only way a losing team earns a point. From 2026-27 the schedule behind the table is longer too: 84 games per team.

Reading standings like a GM

Four habits make the table more honest:

  1. Compute points percentage whenever games played differ.
  2. Look at regulation wins next to points. A team high in the points column but low in RW has been living off overtime.
  3. Count games in hand against the right rival. Inside the top three, that is a division opponent; outside it, it is the wild-card pack.
  4. Treat a single overtime loss as half a result. It is worth one point, but it gave a rival two.

The soccer equivalent — a single points system with three for a win — is explained in how soccer league tables work, and the contrast is instructive: soccer rewards winning over drawing much more steeply than hockey rewards winning over reaching overtime.

Standings in our games

84-0 Hockey Draft & GM Manager projects a complete 84-game regular-season record for a drafted starting six and a coach, and its Franchise GM Mode carries a club across multiple seasons. That record is the game's own model judging the roster you built, using a player pool drawn from real players' careers and rated by the game; it predicts nothing about any real standings. The hockey draft simulator guide explains how to read it. In Hockey Career Sim 2026, a single player's career runs through schedules, standings, awards and playoffs in a fictional league. Neither game is connected with the NHL. Our other rules explainers are collected on the hockey hub, and every sports title is under sports GM.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

How are points awarded in the NHL standings?
A win is worth two points, whether it comes in regulation, overtime or a shootout. A loss in overtime or a shootout is worth one point, and a loss in regulation is worth none. The rulebook sets this out in Rule 78.1 and Rule 84.1.
What is the loser point?
It is the single point a team earns for losing in overtime or a shootout. Under Rule 84.1, both teams receive a point the moment regulation ends tied, and the winner of overtime or the shootout receives a second. Hockey-Reference describes the old arrangement, with no point for an overtime loss and ties instead of shootouts, as "the pre-2000 situation".
What is the NHL's tiebreaker order?
When teams are level on points, the league looks first at games played (fewer is better, which means a higher points percentage), then regulation wins, then wins excluding shootout wins, then total wins. After that come points in games between the tied teams, then goal differential, then goals scored. In the standings, a shootout win counts as one goal for and a shootout loss as one goal against.
How does the NHL wild card work?
Sixteen teams make the playoffs. The top three teams in each division take twelve places, and the remaining four go to the next two best teams in each conference, regardless of division. The division winner with the best record in each conference plays the wild card with the weaker record.
What does ROW mean in the standings?
ROW is regulation plus overtime wins: every win except those decided by a shootout. It is the third step in the league's tiebreak order, after games played and regulation wins (RW). Between teams level on points, that makes a shootout win the least valuable kind of win.

Sources

  1. National Hockey League Official Rules 2026-2027 (Rules 78.1 and 84.1) (opens in a new tab)National Hockey League — accessed
  2. Tie-Breaking Procedure (opens in a new tab)NHL.com — accessed
  3. Playoff Format (opens in a new tab)NHL.com — accessed
  4. NHL releases 2026-27 regular-season schedule (opens in a new tab)NHL.com — accessed
  5. NHL Stats Glossary (opens in a new tab)Hockey-Reference.com (Sports Reference) — accessed

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