The league’s current system of one five-minute overtime period followed by a shootout has been debated at great length since its adoption in 2005, with some likening deciding a game by shootout to determining the outcome of an NBA game with a 3-point contest.
Several options are reportedly on the table for discussion at the meetings, including extending the extra session to 10 minutes or even adding an additional five-minute period of 3-on-3 hockey after the currently used 4-on-4 session.
Bruins winger Milan Lucic played under a similar format during his time in the British Columbia Hockey League — which used the added wrinkle of adding a skater for penalties during the 3-on-3 period rather than removing one — and he said Wednesday that it would be a great fit for the NHL, as well.
?You feel like it?s almost fitting that it ends that way, rather in the shootout. It?s definitely something I would be in favor of,? Lucic said, according to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com. ?A five minute 4-on-4 and then a five minute 3-on-3 would be really exciting, and cool to watch. Hopefully they do something where we can get it done in overtime rather than a shootout.
?I remember that nobody ever came off the ice and was like ?that?s so stupid that we lost it 3-on-3? [when they got back to the dressing room]. Your chances were always pretty good to score. It was just a matter of who was going to score first.?
Playing hockey with only six total skaters on the ice has a tendency to yield wide-open scoring chances, making the 3-on-3 system something goalies, including B’s netminder Tuukka Rask, aren’t incredibly keen on. But as he has mentioned many times before, Rask is no fan of deciding a game on penalty shots.
?I wouldn?t mind [getting rid of the shootout,]” he said. “It doesn?t have anything to do with the game you just played. It?s just so dramatic when you lose. As a goalie it?s tough to accept that it?s not all your fault if you lose. I don?t know. As a viewer I?m a fan of the shootout, but when you?re in it, it?s not that cool, especially when you?re on the losing end. A five- or 10-minute overtime? I?d be OK with that. But going to 3-on-3 [in overtime] … that sounds a little crazy to me.
?They?re trying to make these new rules every year, it seems like. Whether it?s goalie pads or [smaller] nets, or whatever. I wouldn?t be surprised if we play 2-on-2. It?s not good for the fans if teams are playing it safe at the end of the game just to get to the shootout, so I?m all for overtime and going 4-on-4 to try and go for it.?
