How Hockey ChangedThe Clock

With Both Goalies In, NHL Third Periods Now Score 13% Less Than Second Periods

For its first three decades the third was hockey’s loudest period. Empty nets aside, it now trails the second. The second has outscored the first for a century, since before teams had a long skate to the bench to blame it on.

Verdict: Data story

By Edgehalla ResearchPublished 13 min read

Post on X

Late in a playoff game in Boston on March 26, 1931, with his Bruins down 1-0 to Montreal, Art Ross called his goaltender, Tiny Thompson, to the bench and sent out another skater. Boston still lost 1-0. Montreal’s goal had come back in the first period, from Georges Mantha.

The next January, back in Boston, the Rangers’ Cecil Dillon scored at 9:24 of overtime, and the NHL’s play-by-play shows no goalie in Boston’s net.

In 2025-26, 354 goals went into empty nets in the last two minutes of regulation alone. That is where the late goals come from now. Set them aside and the third period, the loudest 20 minutes in hockey in the 1930s, scores less than the second.

Use the toolNHL empty-net goalsWho scores into and gives up empty nets, season by season.
On this page

The third period used to own the game

Count every NHL goal by the minute it was scored and the biggest change in a century shows up at the end of the game. Our record has the period and the clock time of about 384,000 regulation goals from about 64,000 regular-season games, in every season from 1918-19 to 2008-09 and 2010-11 to 2025-26.

In the 1930s nothing in hockey scored like the third. Teams scored 1.87 goals a game in the third, against 1.33 in the first and 1.53 in the second, about 41% more than in the first period. Recorded empty-net goals were almost nonexistent. The third was the highest-scoring period in 27 of the 33 seasons from 1918-19 to 1950-51. Leave out empty-net goals and it was last on top in 1962-63.

The third period’s ordinary minutes sank; only its last two still spike

Goals per 100 games in each minute of regulation, regular season, four decades

Show data
In the 1930s goals piled up through the third period with almost no empty nets; by 2020-21 to 2025-26 the third period’s ordinary minutes had flattened and the empty net owned the final two.
1930s: All goals1960s: All goals1960s: Into an empty net1990s: All goals1990s: Into an empty net2020-21 to 2025-26: All goals2020-21 to 2025-26: Into an empty net
13 goals per 100 games6 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games7 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games6 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
26 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
36 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
47 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
56 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
66 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
77 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
87 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
95 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
106 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
117 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
128 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
136 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
147 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
159 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
167 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
177 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
188 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
197 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
208 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
213 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
226 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
237 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
247 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
257 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games12 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
267 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
277 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
287 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
298 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
308 goals per 100 games12 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
319 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
329 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
338 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
349 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
359 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
368 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
379 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
388 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
399 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
408 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
415 goals per 100 games7 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games7 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
427 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
438 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
447 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
458 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
467 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
479 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
489 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
497 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
509 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
518 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
529 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
5310 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
549 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
5510 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games
5611 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games1 goals per 100 games
5711 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games8 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games2 goals per 100 games
5813 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games9 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games13 goals per 100 games5 goals per 100 games
5912 goals per 100 games10 goals per 100 games0 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games2 goals per 100 games19 goals per 100 games11 goals per 100 games
6016 goals per 100 games16 goals per 100 games6 goals per 100 games23 goals per 100 games13 goals per 100 games24 goals per 100 games15 goals per 100 games
Minute 1 is 0:00 to 0:59 of the first period; 21 and 41 start the second and third. The dashed line is goals into an empty net, which the play-by-play records from 1933-34; it is left off the 1930s panel because 1930-31 to 1932-33 have no record. 2020s = 2020-21 to 2025-26. Goal times before about 1937-38 are often rounded, which moves goals within a minute but rarely across one.

Read the panels left to right, top to bottom, and the right-hand third of each line sinks. In the 1930s it rode well above the first period’s minutes. Today it sits level with them, and the only spike left is the final two minutes, most of it the dashed empty-net line.

With both goalies in, the third now scores 13% less than the second

The chart mixes two kinds of goals, so pull them apart. Stop the clock at 15:00 of each period. That cuts out the end of the third, where a trailing coach pulls his goalie and the leader shoots at an empty net. In the 1930s the third period’s first 15 minutes beat the second’s by 12% and the first’s by 29%. In 2020-21 to 2025-26 they score about 13% less than the second’s. They beat the first’s by only about 5%. With both goalies in, the third now plays a lot like the first.

The fall came in one long slide. The third lost ground on the second in every decade from the 1950s to the 1990s. Since then it has barely moved: about 11% behind in the 1990s, 11% in the 2000s and 13% now.

With both goalies in, the third fell behind the second and stayed there

Goals in the first 15 minutes of the third period per goal in the first 15 minutes of the second and of the first, regular season, by decade

The third period’s first 15 minutes scored 1.12 times the second’s in the 1930s and 0.87 times in 2020-21 to 2025-26.

1918-30
1 times
1.1 times
1930s
1.1 times
1.3 times
1940s
1 times
1.2 times
1950s
1 times
1.1 times
1960s
1 times
1.1 times
1970s
0.9 times
1 times
1980s
0.9 times
1 times
1990s
0.9 times
1 times
2000-01 to 2008-09
0.9 times
1.1 times
2010s
0.9 times
1.1 times
2020-21 to 2025-26
0.9 times
1.1 times
  • Third vs second
  • Third vs first
1.0 = the same scoring rate. Leaving out the last five minutes of each period removes nearly every empty-net and pulled-goalie goal. Decades: 1918-30, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000-01 to 2008-09, 2010s, 2020-21 to 2025-26. How far luck alone could move the third-vs-second figure, 19 times in 20 (the 95% range): 1918-30 0.90-1.04; 1930s 1.05-1.18; 1940s 0.98-1.09; 1950s 0.94-1.05; 1960s 0.91-0.99; 1970s 0.91-0.96; 1980s 0.88-0.92; 1990s 0.87-0.91; 2000-01 to 2008-09 0.87-0.91; 2010s 0.86-0.90; 2020-21 to 2025-26 0.85-0.90.

Watch the dark bars. They sit above the 1.0 line in the 1930s and 1940s, drop below it from the 1950s on, and sink a little lower each decade until they flatten out.

The gap shows up every season

The 13% gap rests on a lot of hockey. Since 2020-21 there have been 10,154 goals in the early third against 11,643 in the early second, across 7,428 games. Every one of the last six seasons shows the gap, at between 10% and 15%. Now sort each decade’s seasons into two piles, odd years and even years. A fluke tends to show up in one pile and not the other. From the 1970s on, both piles show the third behind the second in every decade. (In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the two piles pointed different ways.) A gap that steady is too big to be luck. Count the whole third period, minus its empty-net goals, and it trails by about 15%.

Our numbers can’t say why the goals stopped coming. Teams sitting on third-period leads would do it. So would coaches changing tired players more often than they did in the 1930s. We measured neither.

The second period has led for a century

The third fell behind the second, and the second has its own long record. The second period outscored the first in 102 of 106 seasons. The four exceptions were 1920-21, 1958-59, 1963-64 and 1969-70, and it has outscored the first in all 54 seasons we have counted since. In every decade it beat the first by between 10% and 19%.

The usual explanation is the long change. Here is the kind of shift coaches mean, an imagined one rather than a real game. A defenceman is 45 seconds into a shift and pinned in his own end in the second period. Teams switch ends after every period, so in the second his bench sits on the far side of centre ice. Getting off means skating half the rink with the puck still live. Until he makes it, a tired man is defending. “The middle 20 minutes of any hockey game present unique challenges,” Alison Lukan wrote for the Seattle Kraken in 2021. “The ‘long change’ means you may have to sacrifice precious seconds of play to get back to your bench, or risk getting caught on the ice longer than is ideal.” The long change shows up in shift lengths, and the second period also stops play most often.

The second period has outscored the first almost every season since 1918

Second-period goals per first-period goal, regular season; the shaded band is how far luck alone could move each season

Show data
The second period outscored the first in 102 of 106 covered seasons, by 10% to 19% a decade.
SeasonSecond-period goals per first-period goalSecond-period goals per first-period goal (range)Same, 2005-06 to 2008-09Same, 2005-06 to 2008-09 (range)Same, 2010-11 to 2025-26Same, 2010-11 to 2025-26 (range)
1918-191.05 ×0.75 × to 1.46 ×––––
1919-201.24 ×0.99 × to 1.56 ×––––
1920-210.96 ×0.76 × to 1.22 ×––––
1921-221.12 ×0.87 × to 1.43 ×––––
1922-231.19 ×0.90 × to 1.57 ×––––
1923-241.20 ×0.88 × to 1.64 ×––––
1924-251.09 ×0.86 × to 1.37 ×––––
1925-261.10 ×0.89 × to 1.34 ×––––
1926-271.00 ×0.85 × to 1.19 ×––––
1927-281.15 ×0.97 × to 1.36 ×––––
1928-291.16 ×0.95 × to 1.42 ×––––
1929-301.20 ×1.04 × to 1.38 ×––––
1930-311.02 ×0.87 × to 1.19 ×––––
1931-321.18 ×1.00 × to 1.39 ×––––
1932-331.11 ×0.94 × to 1.30 ×––––
1933-341.12 ×0.96 × to 1.31 ×––––
1934-351.11 ×0.95 × to 1.30 ×––––
1935-361.06 ×0.89 × to 1.26 ×––––
1936-371.23 ×1.04 × to 1.46 ×––––
1937-381.18 ×1.00 × to 1.40 ×––––
1938-391.32 ×1.11 × to 1.59 ×––––
1939-401.28 ×1.07 × to 1.53 ×––––
1940-411.11 ×0.94 × to 1.32 ×––––
1941-421.27 ×1.08 × to 1.48 ×––––
1942-431.22 ×1.05 × to 1.42 ×––––
1943-441.25 ×1.09 × to 1.45 ×––––
1944-451.24 ×1.07 × to 1.44 ×––––
1945-461.10 ×0.94 × to 1.29 ×––––
1946-471.08 ×0.93 × to 1.25 ×––––
1947-481.12 ×0.97 × to 1.31 ×––––
1948-491.08 ×0.93 × to 1.26 ×––––
1949-501.30 ×1.13 × to 1.50 ×––––
1950-511.11 ×0.96 × to 1.28 ×––––
1951-521.11 ×0.96 × to 1.29 ×––––
1952-531.15 ×0.99 × to 1.35 ×––––
1953-541.12 ×0.96 × to 1.31 ×––––
1954-551.28 ×1.11 × to 1.49 ×––––
1955-561.09 ×0.94 × to 1.27 ×––––
1956-571.15 ×0.99 × to 1.32 ×––––
1957-581.05 ×0.91 × to 1.21 ×––––
1958-591.00 ×0.87 × to 1.15 ×––––
1959-601.25 ×1.09 × to 1.44 ×––––
1960-611.08 ×0.94 × to 1.24 ×––––
1961-621.13 ×0.98 × to 1.30 ×––––
1962-631.23 ×1.07 × to 1.41 ×––––
1963-640.92 ×0.80 × to 1.06 ×––––
1964-651.30 ×1.14 × to 1.50 ×––––
1965-661.17 ×1.02 × to 1.34 ×––––
1966-671.02 ×0.89 × to 1.17 ×––––
1967-681.12 ×1.02 × to 1.24 ×––––
1968-691.23 ×1.12 × to 1.34 ×––––
1969-700.94 ×0.85 × to 1.03 ×––––
1970-711.15 ×1.06 × to 1.25 ×––––
1971-721.12 ×1.03 × to 1.22 ×––––
1972-731.06 ×0.98 × to 1.14 ×––––
1973-741.11 ×1.03 × to 1.20 ×––––
1974-751.15 ×1.08 × to 1.24 ×––––
1975-761.16 ×1.08 × to 1.24 ×––––
1976-771.05 ×0.98 × to 1.12 ×––––
1977-781.12 ×1.05 × to 1.20 ×––––
1978-791.12 ×1.04 × to 1.20 ×––––
1979-801.14 ×1.07 × to 1.21 ×––––
1980-811.09 ×1.03 × to 1.16 ×––––
1981-821.14 ×1.07 × to 1.21 ×––––
1982-831.10 ×1.04 × to 1.17 ×––––
1983-841.14 ×1.08 × to 1.21 ×––––
1984-851.07 ×1.01 × to 1.14 ×––––
1985-861.11 ×1.05 × to 1.18 ×––––
1986-871.07 ×1.00 × to 1.14 ×––––
1987-881.08 ×1.02 × to 1.15 ×––––
1988-891.15 ×1.08 × to 1.22 ×––––
1989-901.14 ×1.07 × to 1.21 ×––––
1990-911.12 ×1.05 × to 1.20 ×––––
1991-921.09 ×1.02 × to 1.16 ×––––
1992-931.08 ×1.02 × to 1.14 ×––––
1993-941.11 ×1.05 × to 1.17 ×––––
1994-951.16 ×1.07 × to 1.25 ×––––
1995-961.11 ×1.04 × to 1.17 ×––––
1996-971.14 ×1.07 × to 1.22 ×––––
1997-981.12 ×1.05 × to 1.20 ×––––
1998-991.11 ×1.04 × to 1.18 ×––––
1999-001.11 ×1.04 × to 1.18 ×––––
2000-011.21 ×1.14 × to 1.28 ×––––
2001-021.15 ×1.08 × to 1.22 ×––––
2002-031.17 ×1.10 × to 1.25 ×––––
2003-041.23 ×1.15 × to 1.31 ×––––
2005-06––1.16 ×1.10 × to 1.23 ×––
2006-07––1.17 ×1.10 × to 1.24 ×––
2007-08––1.21 ×1.14 × to 1.29 ×––
2008-09––1.16 ×1.09 × to 1.22 ×––
2010-11––––1.15 ×1.09 × to 1.23 ×
2011-12––––1.17 ×1.10 × to 1.25 ×
2012-13––––1.18 ×1.09 × to 1.28 ×
2013-14––––1.21 ×1.14 × to 1.29 ×
2014-15––––1.20 ×1.13 × to 1.28 ×
2015-16––––1.26 ×1.19 × to 1.34 ×
2016-17––––1.22 ×1.15 × to 1.30 ×
2017-18––––1.19 ×1.13 × to 1.27 ×
2018-19––––1.14 ×1.08 × to 1.21 ×
2019-20––––1.16 ×1.09 × to 1.23 ×
2020-21––––1.17 ×1.09 × to 1.26 ×
2021-22––––1.19 ×1.13 × to 1.26 ×
2022-23––––1.22 ×1.16 × to 1.29 ×
2023-24––––1.17 ×1.11 × to 1.24 ×
2024-25––––1.15 ×1.09 × to 1.22 ×
2025-26––––1.19 ×1.13 × to 1.26 ×
  • 1927-28: Teams change ends; changes on the fly
  • 2000-01: Two referees every game
  • Reference: Same as the first period (1.00 ×)
Seasons covered: 1918-19 to 2008-09 and 2010-11 to 2025-26. 1.0 = the two periods score at the same rate. Early seasons have wide ranges because they had few games.

The line almost never dips under 1.0, and it sits a notch higher from about 2000 on. From one season to the next it wobbles about as much as plain luck explains. The six-team 1960s are the exception. In that small league, single seasons swung about 1.9 times as widely as luck alone would make them.

The loudest period in NHL history was a second

The second period’s lead shows up on its wildest nights too. On March 19, 1981, Buffalo scored nine times in the second period against Toronto at Memorial Auditorium, 12 goals in all with the Leafs’ three. Gilbert Perreault scored at 4:27, 11:12 and 17:42. “The Maple Leafs scored three goals in the period as the teams set a record of 12 goals in one period,” Guinness World Records notes; the final was 14-4.

It was not a one-off. Of the ten periods in our record in which one team scored eight or more, six were second periods. Ten periods can’t prove anything by themselves. They point the same way as the rest of the century.

It was ahead before the long change existed

If the long change made the second period louder, the second should have pulled ahead the year the long change arrived. The long change needs two things: teams that defend the far end in the second period, and players who change on the fly. Both arrived in the same season. For 1927-28, a history of NHL rule changes compiled by Scouting the Refs lists “Teams to change ends after each period” and “Teams permitted to change on the fly; previously, players could only be substituted during a stoppage.”

The second period was already ahead. In the nine seasons from 1918-19 to 1926-27, over 703 games, it scored about 9% more than the first. That edge is small and rests on few games, but it is probably real. In the ten seasons after the rule it was about 13%, a little higher and well within what luck does.

Luck alone makes jumps as big as 1927’s

How big a jump does luck make on its own? Pretend the rules changed in 1950. Compare the ten seasons before with the ten after, and note the jump. Then pretend it was 1951, then 1952, and so on. We did that for every year we could, 99 pretend rule changes in all. Most show some jump, just from luck. The real 1927 change ranks 48th of the 99, right in the middle. Only the years around 2000 stand well clear of the rest.

The 1927 rules left no mark; the one clear break came around 2000

Each point is one pretend rule change: how big the jump in second-vs-first scoring is between the 10 covered seasons before and after that year, sized against what luck usually does. Past the dashed lines is rare by luck for any one year.

Show data
The 1927-28 rule change scores 0.84, 48th of 99 break years; 2000-01 scores 4.19, the largest.
SeasonChange at this break yearRare by luck, up (+1.96)Rare by luck, down (−1.96)
1923-240.12.0−2.0
1924-25−0.12.0−2.0
1925-260.02.0−2.0
1926-270.02.0−2.0
1927-280.82.0−2.0
1928-290.82.0−2.0
1929-300.82.0−2.0
1930-310.72.0−2.0
1931-321.22.0−2.0
1932-331.22.0−2.0
1933-341.62.0−2.0
1934-352.02.0−2.0
1935-362.32.0−2.0
1936-372.52.0−2.0
1937-381.62.0−2.0
1938-391.32.0−2.0
1939-400.62.0−2.0
1940-410.62.0−2.0
1941-420.32.0−2.0
1942-43−0.32.0−2.0
1943-44−0.82.0−2.0
1944-45−1.52.0−2.0
1945-46−1.72.0−2.0
1946-47−1.82.0−2.0
1947-48−1.12.0−2.0
1948-49−1.22.0−2.0
1949-50−1.02.0−2.0
1950-51−1.32.0−2.0
1951-52−1.42.0−2.0
1952-53−0.92.0−2.0
1953-54−0.62.0−2.0
1954-55−0.82.0−2.0
1955-56−0.82.0−2.0
1956-57−0.62.0−2.0
1957-58−1.22.0−2.0
1958-59−0.72.0−2.0
1959-600.52.0−2.0
1960-61−0.72.0−2.0
1961-62−0.32.0−2.0
1962-63−0.42.0−2.0
1963-64−1.12.0−2.0
1964-65−0.12.0−2.0
1965-66−0.22.0−2.0
1966-67−0.32.0−2.0
1967-68−0.12.0−2.0
1968-69−0.32.0−2.0
1969-70−1.72.0−2.0
1970-710.62.0−2.0
1971-72−0.12.0−2.0
1972-730.12.0−2.0
1973-740.92.0−2.0
1974-750.62.0−2.0
1975-760.22.0−2.0
1976-77−0.32.0−2.0
1977-780.02.0−2.0
1978-79−0.22.0−2.0
1979-800.32.0−2.0
1980-81−0.62.0−2.0
1981-820.02.0−2.0
1982-83−0.52.0−2.0
1983-84−0.92.0−2.0
1984-85−1.32.0−2.0
1985-86−0.42.0−2.0
1986-87−0.12.0−2.0
1987-880.32.0−2.0
1988-890.82.0−2.0
1989-900.42.0−2.0
1990-910.12.0−2.0
1991-920.52.0−2.0
1992-931.32.0−2.0
1993-942.22.0−2.0
1994-953.22.0−2.0
1995-962.62.0−2.0
1996-973.12.0−2.0
1997-982.82.0−2.0
1998-993.12.0−2.0
1999-003.62.0−2.0
2000-014.22.0−2.0
2001-023.32.0−2.0
2002-033.02.0−2.0
2003-042.42.0−2.0
2004-051.52.0−2.0
2005-061.72.0−2.0
2006-072.02.0−2.0
2007-082.12.0−2.0
2008-091.52.0−2.0
2009-101.12.0−2.0
2010-110.42.0−2.0
2011-121.02.0−2.0
2012-130.92.0−2.0
2013-141.12.0−2.0
2014-150.92.0−2.0
2015-160.52.0−2.0
2016-17−0.52.0−2.0
2017-18−1.12.0−2.0
2018-19−1.12.0−2.0
2019-20−0.72.0−2.0
2020-21−0.32.0−2.0
2021-22−0.32.0−2.0
  • 1927-28: Teams change ends; changes on the fly
  • 2000-01: Two referees every game
  • Reference: No change (0.0)
The score is a z-score: the jump divided by the size of jump luck usually makes, so 1 is an everyday luck-sized jump and 2 is a big one. For one chosen year, luck alone lands beyond ±1.96 less than one time in 20; across 99 overlapping years a few are expected to get near ±2 by chance, and 2000-01, at 4.19, is beyond that. A year needs at least five covered seasons on each side. 2005-06, when the red line came out for two-line passes, scores 1.74 (18th).

Each point on the line is one pretend rule change. The dashed lines mark how far luck rarely reaches for any single year. For most of the century the line wanders between them, and at 1927 it barely moves. It pokes just outside in the mid-1930s. With 99 pretend years to try, luck’s biggest jump usually lands about that far out. Around 2000 the line climbs well clear.

Overtime got the long change, and its goals didn’t speed up

So the second period was ahead before the long change existed, and the rule that brought it in left no mark we can find. The long change may still add something. The NHL handed us a way to check: put the long change somewhere new and see if goals follow. In 2014-15 teams began switching ends for overtime, which, as Allan Muir wrote in Sports Illustrated, would “put the second period ‘long change’ into effect.”

Overtime barely changed. In the seasons from 1999-00 to 2013-14, 44.1% of overtime games ended in overtime. In 2014-15 it was 44.4%, from 306 overtime games. If overtime had picked up the second period’s edge over the first, it would have been about 47.7%. Overtime was 4-on-4 from 1999-00 on, so there are 14 jumps from one season to the next to set beside 2014-15. Its jump ranks 7th of the 14 in size. One season is too few games to tell a small lift from none at all. (The overtime story has what 3-on-3 did next.)

Playoff overtime gives a second look. If teams change ends after every overtime period too, as the 1927 rule implies, the first, third and fifth overtimes are played with the long change. Winning goals came about 17% faster in those, from 1,008 overtime winners. That leans the same way as the second period. It could also be luck.

The second period’s lead grew around 2000

Something did make the second period’s lead bigger, much later. The pretend years that stood clear of luck bunch around 2000, and the biggest jump of all is at 2000-01. Take the ten seasons before it: the second period outscored the first by about 11%. In the 2000s the gap was about 18%. In the 2010s it was 19%. Since 2020-21 it has been 18%. Both piles of seasons, odd and even, show the jump. It is too big to be luck.

Most of it came from the first period getting quieter. Scoring fell across the board from the 1990s to the 2000s. The first period lost about 15% of its goals a game. The second lost only about 10%. The jump came before 2005-06, when the league took out the red line for two-line passes. Run the pretend-year test at 2005-06 and it ranks 18th of the 99 years, a jump luck could make, because the second period was already higher by then.

The timing lines up with one rule. For 2000-01 the same history lists “All games to be played using the two-referee, two-linesman system.” Several other rules changed in those years too, and the record can’t say whether any of them is the reason. The third period rode along. Its gap to the second held steady through the jump, because the third gained on the first by about as much as the second did.

There are no second-period teams

If the second period is special, some teams might own it. The 2006-07 Chicago Blackhawks scored only 24.3% of their goals in the second period, where the league scored 36.5%, the furthest below the league of any team in any season in our record. The next season they were at 28.6%, fourth-lowest. Two straight years that low looks like a habit. Then they were at 34.9%, close to the league, and in 2010-11 at 37.4%, above it.

The Philadelphia Flyers did the same thing 16 years earlier: 28.2% in 1990-91 and 27.3% in 1991-92, the third- and second-lowest. Then 31.8%, and in 1993-94 41.6%, well above the league. At the top, the 2015-16 Pittsburgh Penguins scored 47.5% of their goals in the second, the most of anyone. The next season it was 38.9%, near the league, and the season after 33.2%, below it.

We checked 1,717 team-seasons, each one team over one season, like those Blackhawks. A team’s second-period share one year tells you almost nothing about the next. The ten most second-period-heavy teams were close to average the following season. Imagine every team had the same shot at a second-period goal. Luck alone would still push about 5% of team-seasons two luck-sized steps or more from the league (the z column in the table below). The real figure is about 3%. No team owns the second period. The table lists the five team-seasons furthest above the league and the five furthest below.

The most and least second-period-heavy team-seasons (regulation goals, empty-net goals out; z = how far from the league that season, in luck-sized steps; beyond 2 is rare)
TeamSeasonGoalsIn the 2ndLeaguez
Pittsburgh Penguins2015-1622347.5%37.4%3.13

Continues below

Rows 2–10 of 10
TeamSeasonGoalsIn the 2ndLeaguez
Florida Panthers2014-1519047.4%36.7%3.04
Florida Panthers2005-0621945.7%36.1%2.94
Washington Capitals1977-7819545.6%35.8%2.86
Washington Capitals2000-0122546.2%37.3%2.78
Chicago Blackhawks2006-0718124.3%36.5%-3.40
Philadelphia Flyers1991-9224227.3%35.2%-2.58
Philadelphia Flyers1990-9124828.2%35.8%-2.49
Chicago Blackhawks2007-0822028.6%36.5%-2.43
Los Angeles Kings2019-2016327.6%36.8%-2.42

The ten run from the 1970s to the 2010s. Even the back-to-back lows, Chicago and Philadelphia, never made it to a third season. A real habit would have.

A first-minute goal still comes about once every 17 games

While the third period lost its goals and the second pulled further ahead, the opening minute changed far less. In 2020-21 to 2025-26, 450 of 7,428 games had a goal in the first 60 seconds, about 6.1%. The peak decade was the high-scoring 1980s, at 8.7%; the 1930s managed 3.1%. The opening minute is still one of the quietest of the game. For every 100 goals in an average minute now, it gets about 63.

First-minute goals rose into the high-scoring 1980s and fell back with scoring

Share of regular-season games with a goal in the first 60 seconds

Show data
6.1% of games in 2020-21 to 2025-26 had a first-minute goal, against 8.7% in the 1980s.
SeasonGames with a first-minute goal
1918-197%
1919-204%
1920-214%
1921-226%
1922-236%
1923-242%
1924-257%
1925-262%
1926-276%
1927-282%
1928-290%
1929-304%
1930-315%
1931-325%
1932-333%
1933-343%
1934-353%
1935-363%
1936-374%
1937-381%
1938-394%
1939-401%
1940-416%
1941-421%
1942-436%
1943-4410%
1944-455%
1945-467%
1946-474%
1947-484%
1948-494%
1949-503%
1950-519%
1951-526%
1952-535%
1953-542%
1954-552%
1955-565%
1956-577%
1957-586%
1958-596%
1959-603%
1960-617%
1961-626%
1962-634%
1963-647%
1964-656%
1965-667%
1966-678%
1967-685%
1968-695%
1969-707%
1970-716%
1971-726%
1972-738%
1973-747%
1974-757%
1975-768%
1976-776%
1977-786%
1978-797%
1979-807%
1980-818%
1981-829%
1982-8310%
1983-848%
1984-8510%
1985-869%
1986-8710%
1987-888%
1988-898%
1989-908%
1990-917%
1991-926%
1992-939%
1993-947%
1994-955%
1995-966%
1996-977%
1997-986%
1998-996%
1999-006%
2000-016%
2001-024%
2002-035%
2003-044%
2004-05–
2005-066%
2006-075%
2007-085%
2008-096%
2009-10–
2010-115%
2011-126%
2012-136%
2013-144%
2014-155%
2015-165%
2016-175%
2017-187%
2018-196%
2019-207%
2020-217%
2021-225%
2022-236%
2023-246%
2024-255%
2025-267%
Seasons covered: 1918-19 to 2008-09 and 2010-11 to 2025-26. Single seasons before expansion in 1967 rest on few games, so they swing by several points. Three games, each replayed after a player collapsed in the original game, start with goals logged at 0:00 that were carried over from that first night; they are counted as the record has them.

Apart from a spike in 1943-44, a wartime season of few games, the line climbs into the 1980s, when teams scored the most, and comes back down with scoring.

The fastest goals of all have come at the start of a later period. On March 12, 2025, Brandon Montour scored four seconds into overtime for Seattle against Montreal. The AP’s report, which misspelled his name, began: “Brandon Mountour had the fastest goal in NHL overtime history, scoring his second goal of the game four seconds into overtime to give the Seattle Kraken a 5-4 comeback victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.” It went on: “The goal matches the fastest to start any period in NHL history, with three players doing it in regulation.” All three are in our record at 0:04: Claude Provost of Montreal, in the second period against Boston on Nov. 9, 1957; Denis Savard of Chicago, in the third against Hartford on Jan. 12, 1986; and James van Riemsdyk of Toronto, in the second against Philadelphia on March 28, 2014.

The fastest start in NHL history may have been rounded

Every time in this story was written down by a timekeeper, and the early ones rounded. Take the fastest start of all. On Dec. 29, 1926, Merlyn Phillips of the Montreal Maroons scored five seconds into a game in Chicago. Nobody has beaten it. “There have been four goals scored five seconds into games,” the Associated Press noted in 2025: Phillips’s, Doug Smail’s in 1981, Bryan Trottier’s in 1984 and Alexander Mogilny’s in 1991. Our data has all four at 0:05, and no faster first goal of a game.

Phillips’s may not be what it looks like. In 1926-27, 63% of goal times in the NHL’s record end in 0 or 5 seconds, where chance would give 20%. In 1918-19 it was 100%, and 48% of goals were logged on the exact minute. The timekeepers were rounding. The same rule history lists, for 1933-34, “Visible time clocks required in each rink.” That season 42% of times still ended in 0 or 5, 26% by 1937-38, and from about 1943-44 the share sits close to chance (19.7% in 2025-26). Phillips’s five seconds could have been three or seven. Nobody can check now.

Goal times were rounded until the late 1930s

Share of goal times ending in 0 or 5 seconds, regular season (20% by chance)

Show data
63% of goal times ended in 0 or 5 in 1926-27, 22% in 1950-51 and 20% in 2025-26.
SeasonTimes ending in 0 or 5 seconds
1918-19100%
1919-2090%
1920-2193%
1921-2297%
1922-2394%
1923-2498%
1924-2583%
1925-2673%
1926-2763%
1927-2859%
1928-2955%
1929-3055%
1930-3158%
1931-3245%
1932-3346%
1933-3442%
1934-3538%
1935-3638%
1936-3736%
1937-3826%
1938-3925%
1939-4024%
1940-4128%
1941-4225%
1942-4326%
1943-4422%
1944-4523%
1945-4625%
1946-4721%
1947-4823%
1948-4926%
1949-5025%
1950-5122%
1951-5224%
1952-5322%
1953-5423%
1954-5525%
1955-5623%
1956-5722%
1957-5822%
1958-5923%
1959-6022%
1960-6123%
1961-6220%
1962-6320%
1963-6422%
1964-6524%
1965-6621%
1966-6720%
1967-6820%
1968-6919%
1969-7022%
1970-7119%
1971-7220%
1972-7319%
1973-7420%
1974-7520%
1975-7621%
1976-7719%
1977-7820%
1978-7920%
1979-8020%
1980-8121%
1981-8220%
1982-8320%
1983-8420%
1984-8520%
1985-8620%
1986-8721%
1987-8820%
1988-8920%
1989-9021%
1990-9119%
1991-9220%
1992-9320%
1993-9420%
1994-9521%
1995-9621%
1996-9719%
1997-9820%
1998-9920%
1999-0020%
2000-0120%
2001-0220%
2002-0320%
2003-0420%
2004-05–
2005-0619%
2006-0720%
2007-0820%
2008-0920%
2009-10–
2010-1120%
2011-1220%
2012-1320%
2013-1420%
2014-1520%
2015-1619%
2016-1720%
2017-1820%
2018-1921%
2019-2020%
2020-2120%
2021-2219%
2022-2320%
2023-2420%
2024-2519%
2025-2620%
  • 1933-34: Visible clocks required
  • Reference: Chance (20%)
Seasons covered: 1918-19 to 2008-09 and 2010-11 to 2025-26. Rounding moves a goal by a few seconds, so it matters for second-level records and barely for minute-level counts.

The line starts near 100% and falls to the chance line by the 1940s. Rounding shifts a goal by a few seconds, not a few minutes, so the minute-by-minute counts in this story stand. Only the second-by-second records from the early years are shaky.

The last minute is still the loudest, but not against a goalie

Back to the end of the game, where the third period’s goals went. The last minute of regulation has been the busiest minute of all in every decade since 1930. In 2020-21 to 2025-26 it produced 2.4 times as many goals as an average minute. Take out the goals into an empty net and the same minute falls to 0.89 of an average minute, a shade below normal.

Widen it to the last two minutes and the change is plain. They hold 7.2% of all regulation goals now, against 4.5% to 5.0% from the 1950s to the 1980s. Empty nets are 61% of them, against 22% in the 1950s; in 2025-26 it was 354 of 599.

Without empty nets, the last minute is now an ordinary minute

Goals per 100 games in the final minute of regulation and in an average minute, regular season, by decade

In 2020-21 to 2025-26 the final minute had 23.9 goals per 100 games, 8.9 of them not into an empty net, against 10.0 in an average minute.

1918-30
10.9 goals per 100 games
n/a
8.1 goals per 100 games
1930s
16.5 goals per 100 games
n/a
7.9 goals per 100 games
1940s
17.5 goals per 100 games
17.3 goals per 100 games
10.5 goals per 100 games
1950s
15.7 goals per 100 games
10.6 goals per 100 games
8.8 goals per 100 games
1960s
16.2 goals per 100 games
9.9 goals per 100 games
9.7 goals per 100 games
1970s
20.1 goals per 100 games
11 goals per 100 games
11.1 goals per 100 games
1980s
25.6 goals per 100 games
13 goals per 100 games
12.7 goals per 100 games
1990s
22.9 goals per 100 games
10.2 goals per 100 games
10.1 goals per 100 games
2000-01 to 2008-09
22.7 goals per 100 games
9.4 goals per 100 games
9 goals per 100 games
2010s
22.6 goals per 100 games
8.5 goals per 100 games
9 goals per 100 games
2020-21 to 2025-26
24 goals per 100 games
8.9 goals per 100 games
10 goals per 100 games
  • Final minute, all goals
  • Final minute, not into an empty net
  • Average minute
Empty-net goals are recorded from 1933-34, so the split is missing before the 1940s. 2000s = 2000-01 to 2008-09; 2020s = 2020-21 to 2025-26.

Compare the second and third bars in each decade. From the 1960s on they are about the same height, and lately the last minute is a little lower: once you take out the empty nets, it scores like any other minute.

The empty net has started to spill out of the last two minutes, too. Only 70% of 2025-26’s empty-net goals came in them, against at least 82% in every season from 1950-51 to 2013-14, because coaches now pull earlier (our goalie-pull story has the timing).

The surge is older than the empty net. In the 1930s, when the record marks almost none, the last minute already scored 2.1 times an average minute, and in the 1940s 1.6 times without the few empty nets it records. Until the 1950s, as far as the record shows, those late goals beat a goalie. Now most of them roll into an empty net, and the rest come at an ordinary minute’s pace.

For years the record barely saw the empty net

Ross’s move in 1931 did not stay a curiosity. The technique, “known as ‘open net’, caught on with the rest of the league,” Wikipedia’s entry on Thompson says. The record took longer. From 1933-34, the first season in which a missing goalie in the NHL’s play-by-play reliably means an empty net, to 1949-50, it marks just 12 goals into an empty net in 17 seasons, playoffs included. In 1950-51 there were 6 in the regular season alone, and they have kept coming.

Recorded empty-net goals were rare until 1950-51, then kept climbing

Goals into an empty net per game (both teams), regular season, from 1933-34

Show data
Recorded empty-net goals were near zero until 1950-51, then rose to 0.39 a game in 2025-26.
SeasonEmpty-net goals a game
1933-340.01 goals a game
1934-350.00 goals a game
1935-360.00 goals a game
1936-370.00 goals a game
1937-380.00 goals a game
1938-390.02 goals a game
1939-400.01 goals a game
1940-410.00 goals a game
1941-420.00 goals a game
1942-430.00 goals a game
1943-440.00 goals a game
1944-450.01 goals a game
1945-460.01 goals a game
1946-470.00 goals a game
1947-480.01 goals a game
1948-490.00 goals a game
1949-500.00 goals a game
1950-510.03 goals a game
1951-520.06 goals a game
1952-530.05 goals a game
1953-540.06 goals a game
1954-550.03 goals a game
1955-560.09 goals a game
1956-570.08 goals a game
1957-580.04 goals a game
1958-590.06 goals a game
1959-600.06 goals a game
1960-610.08 goals a game
1961-620.07 goals a game
1962-630.09 goals a game
1963-640.06 goals a game
1964-650.06 goals a game
1965-660.05 goals a game
1966-670.05 goals a game
1967-680.08 goals a game
1968-690.07 goals a game
1969-700.06 goals a game
1970-710.08 goals a game
1971-720.10 goals a game
1972-730.09 goals a game
1973-740.08 goals a game
1974-750.10 goals a game
1975-760.09 goals a game
1976-770.09 goals a game
1977-780.09 goals a game
1978-790.10 goals a game
1979-800.13 goals a game
1980-810.15 goals a game
1981-820.13 goals a game
1982-830.13 goals a game
1983-840.15 goals a game
1984-850.12 goals a game
1985-860.14 goals a game
1986-870.14 goals a game
1987-880.11 goals a game
1988-890.16 goals a game
1989-900.17 goals a game
1990-910.13 goals a game
1991-920.15 goals a game
1992-930.14 goals a game
1993-940.14 goals a game
1994-950.15 goals a game
1995-960.15 goals a game
1996-970.17 goals a game
1997-980.16 goals a game
1998-990.14 goals a game
1999-000.16 goals a game
2000-010.17 goals a game
2001-020.16 goals a game
2002-030.15 goals a game
2003-040.15 goals a game
2004-05–
2005-060.15 goals a game
2006-070.17 goals a game
2007-080.17 goals a game
2008-090.18 goals a game
2009-10–
2010-110.19 goals a game
2011-120.19 goals a game
2012-130.19 goals a game
2013-140.18 goals a game
2014-150.24 goals a game
2015-160.30 goals a game
2016-170.24 goals a game
2017-180.28 goals a game
2018-190.32 goals a game
2019-200.31 goals a game
2020-210.30 goals a game
2021-220.36 goals a game
2022-230.33 goals a game
2023-240.34 goals a game
2024-250.40 goals a game
2025-260.39 goals a game
  • 1950-51: Flags become routine
A goal counts as empty-net when the play-by-play has no goalie in the net. Before 1933-34 a missing goalie is a recording gap, so those seasons are left out. Seasons covered: 1918-19 to 2008-09 and 2010-11 to 2025-26.

The line is flat on the floor until 1950-51, steps up, and then climbs for 70 years, steepest since the mid-2010s, when coaches started pulling earlier.

Something was going on in those last minutes before 1950. In the 1930s, the team already leading scored 62% of last-minute goals, and in the 1940s 57%, against 45% and 47% early in the third. Leaders scored 10.2 and 10.0 last-minute goals per 100 games, about what they scored in the 1950s (10.4), when half of those goals were marked as empty nets. Maybe goalies were being pulled before the scorers wrote it down. Maybe a desperate team just left gaps without pulling anyone. The scoresheets don’t say which.

Dillon’s goal on Jan. 12, 1932 is even harder to read. It came before 1933-34, when a missing goalie in the play-by-play can still be a gap in the record. The game went to overtime, which was then 10 minutes and played to the end rather than to the first goal. Dillon scored twice in it for a 5-3 Rangers win, the second with no goalie listed in Boston’s net.

The end of the game changed; the middle kept its lead

  • The second period has beaten the first in almost every season since 1918-19, and by a bit more since about 2000.
  • The third period was the game’s big finish in the 1930s and 1940s. Now only its last two minutes are. With both goalies in, it now scores about 13% less than the second, close to the first.
  • A goal in the final minute is now usually a leading team shooting at an empty net. Against a goalie, it is an ordinary minute.

Ross’s idea took the last minute

When Art Ross waved Tiny Thompson off the ice in 1931, the third period was the loudest in hockey, and the goals in its last minute came against goalies. Ross lost that night by a goal.

In 2025-26, 354 goals went into empty nets in the last two minutes. That is Ross’s trick at work. Set them aside, and the final minute of an NHL game, with a goalie in the crease, scores less than an ordinary one.

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Show the work

Tests written down
Not in advance (exploratory)
Results computed

Every goal with its period and clock time, from the NHL’s play-by-play for 1918-19 to 2008-09 and 2010-11 to 2025-26 (our database from 2017-18). A season counts when its goals match the official final in at least 99% of finished regular-season games; only matching games are used. A goal is empty-net when no goalie is in the net, from 1933-34. Shootout goals are out. Ratios are rate ratios of goal counts with 95% Poisson ranges; the holdout splits each decade into odd and even start years. The break-year check compares second-vs-first scoring in the 10 covered seasons before and after each start year (five or more each side) and scores the change as a z (change over its standard error). Rates are per game or per minute, so league size and short seasons don’t tilt them. Team-seasons need 60 regulation goals; z is the second-period share’s distance from the league’s, in binomial units.

Every test we graded (About 20 headline comparisons plus 99 break years; no formal correction. We lean only on patterns that hold in both odd and even seasons and call the rest noise. The 2000-01 break, at z 4.19, clears what the largest of 99 overlapping tests reaches by chance. The first-15-minute comparison was chosen to remove empty nets before the results were read.)
TestResultVerdict
With both goalies in, the third scores less than the secondFirst 15 minutes: 0.87 (0.85 to 0.90), 10,154 vs 11,643 goals, 2020-21 to 2025-26; odd/even 0.87 / 0.87; each season 10-15% less; whole period without empty nets 0.85; 1930s 1.12Holds

More tests below

Rows 2–5 of 12
TestResultVerdict
The third fell steadily1950s 0.99, 1960s 0.95, 1970s 0.93, 1980s 0.90, 1990s 0.89; then 0.89 (2000s), 0.88 (2010s), 0.87; both halves below 1 from the 1970sHolds to the 1990s; flat since
The second period outscores the first102 of 106 seasons; 1.10 to 1.19 by decade; both halves above 1 in every decadeHolds
It began with the long change (1927-28 rules)1918-27: 1.09 (1.01 to 1.18), 703 games; 1927-43: 1.17; break z 0.84, rank 48 of 99No: already ahead; the rule is noise
The premium stepped up around 2000-01Break z 4.19, rank 1 of 99 (1.11 to 1.18); next largest before 1990: 1936-37 z 2.51; 2005-06 z 1.74, rank 18; 1980-2005 1.12 (1.11 to 1.14) vs 2005-26 1.18 (1.17 to 1.20); 1990s halves 1.10 / 1.12, 2000s 1.19 / 1.18Real; cause unknown

Continues below

Rows 6–9 of 12
TestResultVerdict
Season-to-season wobble of the second-period shareDispersion 0.43 to 1.07 (1 = chance), 1960s 3.66Chance-sized, except the six-team 1960s
Switching ends for overtime (2014-15) raised OT scoringDecided in OT 44.4% (136 of 306; 39.0 to 50.0) vs 44.1% (1,729 of 3,916); z 0.1; the step ranks 7 of 14; a second-period-sized lift would give about 47.7%No sign; too small to rule out
Playoff overtimes at second-period ends score moreRate ratio 1.17 (0.99 to 1.39), 1,008 overtime winners (845 long, 163 short)Noise; leans the same way
The last minute is hot only because of empty nets2.4× an average minute; 0.89× without empty nets (2020-21 to 2025-26); 1940s 1.65×Holds now; not before the 1950s

Continues below

Rows 10–12 of 12
TestResultVerdict
Unrecorded empty nets in the 1930s-40sLeaders scored 62% / 57% of last-minute goals (n 325 / 295) vs 45% / 47% early in the thirdConsistent, not proven
Goal times were rounded63% on a multiple of 5 s in 1926-27; 26% in 1937-38; chance 20%Holds (recording)
Some teams are second-period teamsr 0.02 (-0.029 to 0.069, n 1,591 pairs); z spread 0.937 (chance 1); 3.44% beyond 1.96 (chance 5%); top 10 next season z 0.39 (n 10)No: luck

Frequently asked questions

Which period has the most goals in the NHL?

Today, against a goalie, the second. It has outscored the first period in 102 of 106 seasons we counted (1918-19 to 2008-09 and 2010-11 to 2025-26), by 10% to 19% a decade. Counting empty-net goals, the third now edges it (2.14 goals a game to 2.08 since 2020-21), but with both goalies in the third now scores about 13% less than the second.

Why are there more goals in the second period?

The usual answer is the long change: teams defend the end farther from their bench, so line changes are slower. But the second period already outscored the first from 1918-19 to 1926-27, by about 9%, before teams changed ends each period and changed on the fly, and the 1927-28 rule left no mark. The lead grew around 2000-01, for reasons the record doesn’t show. The long change may add something; it is not the whole story.

What is the fastest goal from the start of an NHL game?

Five seconds, four times: Merlyn Phillips (Dec. 29, 1926), Doug Smail (Dec. 20, 1981), Bryan Trottier (March 22, 1984) and Alexander Mogilny (Dec. 21, 1991). Goal times in 1926-27 were often rounded to five seconds, so Phillips’s is the least certain.

What is the fastest overtime goal in NHL history?

Brandon Montour’s, four seconds into overtime for Seattle against Montreal on March 12, 2025. It ties the fastest goal from the start of any period, with Claude Provost (1957), Denis Savard (1986) and James van Riemsdyk (2014).

When did NHL teams start pulling the goalie?

Boston’s Art Ross pulled Tiny Thompson for an extra skater in a playoff game against Montreal in March 1931. The NHL’s play-by-play rarely marks an empty-net goal until 1950-51: 12 from 1933-34 to 1949-50.

Do NHL teams switch ends for overtime?

In the regular season, since 2014-15, so overtime is played with the long change. The share of overtime games decided in overtime barely moved that season (44.1% before, 44.4%). The big change came with 3-on-3 a year later.

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All How Hockey Changed research

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Sources and method

  1. NHL stats (NHL.com), every season since 1917-18
  2. NHL stats API: game list with final scores, every season since 1917-18
  3. Scouting the Refs: NHL historical rule changes
  4. Wikipedia: 1927-28 NHL season (substitution on the fly)
  5. NHL.com (Seattle Kraken), Alison Lukan: Analytics with Alison, controlling second periods (Nov. 17, 2021)
  6. Guinness World Records: most goals scored by a team in a regular-season NHL period
  7. Sports Illustrated, Allan Muir: What to make of NHL’s rule changes for 2014-15 (Sept. 11, 2014)
  8. Wikipedia: Tiny Thompson (the 1931 playoff pull)
  9. AP via NBC Chicago, Tim Reynolds: Landon Slaggert sets Blackhawks record with goal 7 seconds into game (Feb. 1, 2025)
  10. AP via CBS Sports: Montour has fastest goal in NHL overtime history (March 13, 2025)
  11. NHL API reference (community documentation of the stats endpoints)

Research and analysis, not betting advice. Past results do not guarantee future returns; bet only what you can afford to lose.