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The Schedule Got Kinder. The Second Night Didn’t.
In the Original Six era about a third of NHL games were a team’s second night in a row, and one goalie played both. In 2025-26 it was about one in six, and rarely the same goalie. The busiest year, 1958-59, had 29 back-to-backs per team for every 82 games; the 2026-27 schedule, the first with 84 games, has about 12. Tired teams still win about 4 fewer games in 100 against rested ones, as they have since expansion; before that, the old records are murkier.
By Edgehalla ResearchPublished 9 min read
One weekend in 1950, as Stan Fischler tells it, the Rangers played the Red Wings on a Saturday night in Detroit and followed with a Sunday game at Madison Square Garden. Both teams rode the 20th Century Limited east. A blizzard had hit upstate New York between Buffalo and Rochester.
“We got word late Sunday afternoon at the Garden that the train would be late,” said Tom Lockhart, the Rangers’ business manager. At 8:30, with neither team in the building, he sent amateur players from the Met League onto the ice to keep a near-sellout crowd in its seats.
Teams now fly, rest their goalie and play about half as many back-to-backs. So has the second night got easier? Since expansion, at least, it hasn’t.
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In the Original Six, a third of games were a second night
That train ride was ordinary. The NHL began with no back-to-backs at all: through 1924-25 no team played on consecutive nights, and games came about twice a week. By the six-team era the weekend double was the spine of the calendar. In every Original Six season, 72 to 97% of back-to-backs were a Saturday followed by a Sunday, and 15 to 44% were home-and-homes against the same opponent, with the train trip in between. By the late 1950s about a third of the league’s games were a team’s second night in a row, and the NHL has spent the six decades since undoing it.
Seasons ran 70 games in the 1950s and run 84 now, so we count back-to-backs for every 82 games a team played. The busiest year was 1958-59, with 29 per team. Toronto had the most back-to-backs in the league, or shared the lead, in at least 17 of the 25 Original Six seasons, as many as 27 in a 70-game season. Boston’s 28 back-to-backs in 70 games in 1964-65 are the most of any team for the length of its season. The most ever in one season is 30, by Pittsburgh and Detroit in 1978-79, in an 80-game schedule.
Back-to-backs peaked in the late 1950s and are less than half that now
Back-to-backs per team for every 82 games played, every regular season since 1917-18, plus the published 2026-27 schedule
per team
Show data
| Season | Seasons played | 2026-27 published schedule |
|---|---|---|
| 1917-18 | 0 per team | – |
| 1918-19 | 0 per team | – |
| 1919-20 | 0 per team | – |
| 1920-21 | 0 per team | – |
| 1921-22 | 0 per team | – |
| 1922-23 | 0 per team | – |
| 1923-24 | 0 per team | – |
| 1924-25 | 0 per team | – |
| 1925-26 | 4 per team | – |
| 1926-27 | 2 per team | – |
| 1927-28 | 4 per team | – |
| 1928-29 | 4 per team | – |
| 1929-30 | 5 per team | – |
| 1930-31 | 1 per team | – |
| 1931-32 | 3 per team | – |
| 1932-33 | 2 per team | – |
| 1933-34 | 4 per team | – |
| 1934-35 | 7 per team | – |
| 1935-36 | 7 per team | – |
| 1936-37 | 9 per team | – |
| 1937-38 | 11 per team | – |
| 1938-39 | 10 per team | – |
| 1939-40 | 11 per team | – |
| 1940-41 | 14 per team | – |
| 1941-42 | 16 per team | – |
| 1942-43 | 19 per team | – |
| 1943-44 | 19 per team | – |
| 1944-45 | 20 per team | – |
| 1945-46 | 23 per team | – |
| 1946-47 | 23 per team | – |
| 1947-48 | 23 per team | – |
| 1948-49 | 23 per team | – |
| 1949-50 | 26 per team | – |
| 1950-51 | 25 per team | – |
| 1951-52 | 24 per team | – |
| 1952-53 | 26 per team | – |
| 1953-54 | 27 per team | – |
| 1954-55 | 27 per team | – |
| 1955-56 | 26 per team | – |
| 1956-57 | 26 per team | – |
| 1957-58 | 28 per team | – |
| 1958-59 | 29 per team | – |
| 1959-60 | 28 per team | – |
| 1960-61 | 26 per team | – |
| 1961-62 | 27 per team | – |
| 1962-63 | 26 per team | – |
| 1963-64 | 26 per team | – |
| 1964-65 | 28 per team | – |
| 1965-66 | 29 per team | – |
| 1966-67 | 27 per team | – |
| 1967-68 | 25 per team | – |
| 1968-69 | 26 per team | – |
| 1969-70 | 25 per team | – |
| 1970-71 | 24 per team | – |
| 1971-72 | 24 per team | – |
| 1972-73 | 24 per team | – |
| 1973-74 | 21 per team | – |
| 1974-75 | 22 per team | – |
| 1975-76 | 22 per team | – |
| 1976-77 | 21 per team | – |
| 1977-78 | 23 per team | – |
| 1978-79 | 24 per team | – |
| 1979-80 | 21 per team | – |
| 1980-81 | 21 per team | – |
| 1981-82 | 21 per team | – |
| 1982-83 | 19 per team | – |
| 1983-84 | 18 per team | – |
| 1984-85 | 19 per team | – |
| 1985-86 | 19 per team | – |
| 1986-87 | 19 per team | – |
| 1987-88 | 18 per team | – |
| 1988-89 | 17 per team | – |
| 1989-90 | 16 per team | – |
| 1990-91 | 17 per team | – |
| 1991-92 | 15 per team | – |
| 1992-93 | 15 per team | – |
| 1993-94 | 16 per team | – |
| 1994-95 | 16 per team | – |
| 1995-96 | 16 per team | – |
| 1996-97 | 15 per team | – |
| 1997-98 | 16 per team | – |
| 1998-99 | 15 per team | – |
| 1999-00 | 16 per team | – |
| 2000-01 | 17 per team | – |
| 2001-02 | 14 per team | – |
| 2002-03 | 15 per team | – |
| 2003-04 | 16 per team | – |
| 2004-05 | – | – |
| 2005-06 | 15 per team | – |
| 2006-07 | 15 per team | – |
| 2007-08 | 15 per team | – |
| 2008-09 | 15 per team | – |
| 2009-10 | 15 per team | – |
| 2010-11 | 16 per team | – |
| 2011-12 | 14 per team | – |
| 2012-13 | 15 per team | – |
| 2013-14 | 15 per team | – |
| 2014-15 | 14 per team | – |
| 2015-16 | 14 per team | – |
| 2016-17 | 15 per team | – |
| 2017-18 | 14 per team | – |
| 2018-19 | 13 per team | – |
| 2019-20 | 13 per team | – |
| 2020-21 | 14 per team | – |
| 2021-22 | 14 per team | – |
| 2022-23 | 13 per team | – |
| 2023-24 | 11 per team | – |
| 2024-25 | 12 per team | – |
| 2025-26 | 13 per team | 13 per team |
| 2026-27 | – | 12 per team |
- 1942-43: Six teams
- 1967-68: Expansion to 12
- 2026-27: 84 games
On most of those weekends nobody had an edge, because both teams were tired. In 1950-51 there were 50 games with both teams on their second night and 28 with only one. The games this story is about, a tired team against a rested one, were rare in the old league for all its back-to-backs: only 890 in 25 seasons.
Then the league kept the rest and spread it out
The NHL didn’t cut them by adding days off. A team in 1955-56 played a game every 2.4 days and averaged 1.4 rest days between games. In 2025-26 the figures were 2.3 and 1.3. Teams got about as much rest as before. They got it in a completely different shape.
In 1955-56, 32% of the gaps between a team’s games were zero days, 27% were one day and 21% were three days or more: doubles on the weekend, long breaks in the week. In 2025-26, 62% of gaps were a single day off, 17% were zero and only 5% three or more. The NHL turned a schedule of clumps into one of every other night.
Same rest, new shape: one day off became the normal gap
Share of the gaps between a team’s games that were 0, 1, or 3+ days off, every regular season since 1917-18
Show data
| Season | No day off (back-to-back) | One day off | Three or more days off |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1917-18 | 0% | 28% | 43% |
| 1918-19 | 0% | 39% | 41% |
| 1919-20 | 0% | 14% | 46% |
| 1920-21 | 0% | 22% | 39% |
| 1921-22 | 0% | 0% | 52% |
| 1922-23 | 0% | 4% | 48% |
| 1923-24 | 0% | 7% | 50% |
| 1924-25 | 0% | 15% | 47% |
| 1925-26 | 5% | 32% | 32% |
| 1926-27 | 2% | 43% | 27% |
| 1927-28 | 5% | 39% | 30% |
| 1928-29 | 4% | 49% | 22% |
| 1929-30 | 6% | 41% | 25% |
| 1930-31 | 2% | 45% | 27% |
| 1931-32 | 3% | 48% | 18% |
| 1932-33 | 2% | 51% | 20% |
| 1933-34 | 5% | 49% | 18% |
| 1934-35 | 9% | 47% | 23% |
| 1935-36 | 9% | 44% | 26% |
| 1936-37 | 11% | 44% | 27% |
| 1937-38 | 13% | 40% | 29% |
| 1938-39 | 12% | 40% | 27% |
| 1939-40 | 14% | 42% | 28% |
| 1940-41 | 18% | 39% | 29% |
| 1941-42 | 20% | 38% | 33% |
| 1942-43 | 24% | 34% | 34% |
| 1943-44 | 23% | 27% | 35% |
| 1944-45 | 25% | 27% | 30% |
| 1945-46 | 29% | 12% | 29% |
| 1946-47 | 29% | 9% | 20% |
| 1947-48 | 29% | 12% | 19% |
| 1948-49 | 29% | 12% | 21% |
| 1949-50 | 32% | 13% | 12% |
| 1950-51 | 31% | 21% | 16% |
| 1951-52 | 29% | 29% | 19% |
| 1952-53 | 32% | 23% | 20% |
| 1953-54 | 34% | 24% | 20% |
| 1954-55 | 34% | 24% | 17% |
| 1955-56 | 32% | 27% | 21% |
| 1956-57 | 32% | 27% | 21% |
| 1957-58 | 35% | 23% | 19% |
| 1958-59 | 36% | 19% | 18% |
| 1959-60 | 35% | 20% | 18% |
| 1960-61 | 33% | 19% | 17% |
| 1961-62 | 34% | 23% | 18% |
| 1962-63 | 32% | 22% | 18% |
| 1963-64 | 32% | 18% | 15% |
| 1964-65 | 35% | 16% | 17% |
| 1965-66 | 35% | 15% | 13% |
| 1966-67 | 33% | 16% | 13% |
| 1967-68 | 31% | 20% | 14% |
| 1968-69 | 32% | 25% | 13% |
| 1969-70 | 30% | 22% | 14% |
| 1970-71 | 30% | 28% | 13% |
| 1971-72 | 30% | 26% | 12% |
| 1972-73 | 29% | 26% | 11% |
| 1973-74 | 26% | 31% | 13% |
| 1974-75 | 28% | 33% | 12% |
| 1975-76 | 27% | 35% | 12% |
| 1976-77 | 26% | 37% | 11% |
| 1977-78 | 29% | 32% | 12% |
| 1978-79 | 30% | 34% | 11% |
| 1979-80 | 26% | 36% | 10% |
| 1980-81 | 26% | 38% | 10% |
| 1981-82 | 26% | 35% | 11% |
| 1982-83 | 23% | 40% | 10% |
| 1983-84 | 22% | 41% | 10% |
| 1984-85 | 23% | 42% | 11% |
| 1985-86 | 23% | 42% | 9% |
| 1986-87 | 24% | 43% | 9% |
| 1987-88 | 22% | 45% | 10% |
| 1988-89 | 20% | 47% | 9% |
| 1989-90 | 20% | 48% | 11% |
| 1990-91 | 21% | 48% | 11% |
| 1991-92 | 18% | 49% | 13% |
| 1992-93 | 19% | 51% | 12% |
| 1993-94 | 20% | 47% | 11% |
| 1994-95 | 19% | 55% | 8% |
| 1995-96 | 19% | 47% | 12% |
| 1996-97 | 19% | 48% | 12% |
| 1997-98 | 19% | 50% | 11% |
| 1998-99 | 19% | 48% | 13% |
| 1999-00 | 19% | 48% | 14% |
| 2000-01 | 21% | 47% | 11% |
| 2001-02 | 18% | 54% | 9% |
| 2002-03 | 18% | 55% | 7% |
| 2003-04 | 19% | 55% | 8% |
| 2004-05 | – | – | – |
| 2005-06 | 19% | 52% | 9% |
| 2006-07 | 18% | 51% | 9% |
| 2007-08 | 19% | 51% | 11% |
| 2008-09 | 19% | 52% | 9% |
| 2009-10 | 19% | 56% | 9% |
| 2010-11 | 20% | 51% | 10% |
| 2011-12 | 17% | 54% | 8% |
| 2012-13 | 19% | 60% | 4% |
| 2013-14 | 18% | 55% | 8% |
| 2014-15 | 17% | 54% | 9% |
| 2015-16 | 17% | 54% | 8% |
| 2016-17 | 18% | 57% | 7% |
| 2017-18 | 17% | 54% | 9% |
| 2018-19 | 16% | 58% | 8% |
| 2019-20 | 17% | 55% | 8% |
| 2020-21 | 18% | 67% | 6% |
| 2021-22 | 17% | 54% | 10% |
| 2022-23 | 16% | 59% | 7% |
| 2023-24 | 14% | 58% | 8% |
| 2024-25 | 15% | 58% | 7% |
| 2025-26 | 17% | 62% | 5% |
- 1967-68: Expansion to 12
The worst stretches went first. In 1958-59 a team played four games in five days about three times a season. Since 2011-12 it has happened no more than two times in the whole league in any season, and in many seasons not at all. The 2026-27 schedule adds two games, for 84, and still cuts back-to-backs. “The NHL will play 84 games this season, two more than it did a year ago, but teams will actually play fewer back-to-backs,” The Hockey News reported in September: 377 back-to-back appearances, against 430 the year before. That is 11.5 a team for every 82 games. Only one season since 1939-40 had fewer: 2023-24.
The goalie got the second night off
The league also changed who played the second night, starting in goal. In the Original Six era, the man who played Saturday played Sunday. Harry Lumley started both nights of 26 back-to-backs for Toronto in 1954-55, the most in a season since at least 1942-43. In 2023-24, nobody in the league did it more than twice.
The goalie who played Saturday used to play Sunday. Now he rarely does
Share of back-to-back second nights started by the goalie who started the night before, every regular season since 1942-43
Show data
| Season | Same goalie both nights |
|---|---|
| 1942-43 | 100% |
| 1943-44 | 96% |
| 1944-45 | 96% |
| 1945-46 | 93% |
| 1946-47 | 98% |
| 1947-48 | 97% |
| 1948-49 | 97% |
| 1949-50 | 97% |
| 1950-51 | 95% |
| 1951-52 | 98% |
| 1952-53 | 100% |
| 1953-54 | 98% |
| 1954-55 | 94% |
| 1955-56 | 98% |
| 1956-57 | 99% |
| 1957-58 | 98% |
| 1958-59 | 97% |
| 1959-60 | 95% |
| 1960-61 | 93% |
| 1961-62 | 94% |
| 1962-63 | 90% |
| 1963-64 | 87% |
| 1964-65 | 81% |
| 1965-66 | 79% |
| 1966-67 | 63% |
| 1967-68 | 68% |
| 1968-69 | 66% |
| 1969-70 | 57% |
| 1970-71 | 36% |
| 1971-72 | 35% |
| 1972-73 | 41% |
| 1973-74 | 52% |
| 1974-75 | 46% |
| 1975-76 | 46% |
| 1976-77 | 47% |
| 1977-78 | 45% |
| 1978-79 | 42% |
| 1979-80 | 39% |
| 1980-81 | 37% |
| 1981-82 | 44% |
| 1982-83 | 41% |
| 1983-84 | 36% |
| 1984-85 | 38% |
| 1985-86 | 33% |
| 1986-87 | 36% |
| 1987-88 | 44% |
| 1988-89 | 40% |
| 1989-90 | 37% |
| 1990-91 | 41% |
| 1991-92 | 47% |
| 1992-93 | 47% |
| 1993-94 | 43% |
| 1994-95 | 54% |
| 1995-96 | 51% |
| 1996-97 | 48% |
| 1997-98 | 43% |
| 1998-99 | 45% |
| 1999-00 | 46% |
| 2000-01 | 48% |
| 2001-02 | 41% |
| 2002-03 | 46% |
| 2003-04 | 44% |
| 2004-05 | – |
| 2005-06 | 49% |
| 2006-07 | 43% |
| 2007-08 | 48% |
| 2008-09 | 47% |
| 2009-10 | 41% |
| 2010-11 | 44% |
| 2011-12 | 40% |
| 2012-13 | 44% |
| 2013-14 | 32% |
| 2014-15 | 32% |
| 2015-16 | 28% |
| 2016-17 | 28% |
| 2017-18 | 22% |
| 2018-19 | 19% |
| 2019-20 | 12% |
| 2020-21 | 15% |
| 2021-22 | 15% |
| 2022-23 | 11% |
| 2023-24 | 5% |
| 2024-25 | 7% |
| 2025-26 | 8% |
- 1965-66: Two goalies dressed
- 2013-14: Second drop
It fell in two steps. The first came with the two-goalie rule of the mid-1960s, which our goalie workload story tells: from 87% in 1963-64 to 36% in 1970-71. For the next four decades the starter took roughly a third to a half of second nights. Then, from 2013-14, it fell again, to 22% in 2017-18 and single digits by 2023-24.
Martin Brodeur started both nights of 174 back-to-backs from 1967-68 on, the most of anyone, two ahead of Tony Esposito’s 172. Cam Ward did it 18 times in 2010-11 alone. Nobody now does it more than a handful of times. Our Prop Lab study of goalies and their teams tested whether the fresh goalie explains how tired teams do; this story asks only what the tired team loses.
But night two still costs about four wins in every 100 games
So the schedule thinned out, the trains became charters and the goalie got the night off. The second night should have become cheaper. It did not. Since 1917-18 there have been 14,876 games in which a team on the second night of a back-to-back met an opponent that had at least a day off. For each one, we worked out what should have happened from the two teams’ records over the rest of that season, plus home ice. The tired team won about 4 fewer games in every 100 than that.
A game still tied after regulation counts as half a win. A 2-2 tie in the 1950s and a shootout loss today count the same, so every era is measured with one ruler. A game that should have been a coin flip became roughly 46-54 against the tired team. It won 42% of these games outright.
The second-night cost has barely moved from era to era
A tired team’s wins per 100 games against a rested opponent, minus what both teams’ records and home ice predict
The cost ran from −3.4 to −5.5 wins per 100 games in every era, −4.3 overall.
Every era lands within a couple of wins per 100 of the overall figure. Tired teams in the 1970s gave up 4.0 wins per 100. In the 2010s they gave up 3.5.
Slice the century any way and the price comes out the same
If those four wins were a fluke of a few odd seasons, they would vanish when the seasons are sliced another way. They don’t. Draw a straight line through the decades and it is flat: the cost moves −0.08 wins per 100 a decade. Nine times in ten, the true slope sits somewhere from −0.35 to +0.20 a decade. Even the steep end of that would move the price by only about 2 wins per 100 over the six decades since expansion.
Now split the seasons in half by the calendar. Put 1983-84 in one pile and 1984-85 in the other, and keep going for 108 seasons, as if two leagues had played them. The odd-year pile gives −4.4 and the even-year pile −4.3. Cut it into three instead: the league before 1967-68 gives −4.2, the expansion years to 1991-92 −4.2, and everything since −4.4.
Two stretches are less certain. In the 890 Original Six games, the answer depends on how you allow for team quality: about 4 fewer wins per 100 if you account for how good each team was, and about none if you account only for home ice. So that era is uncertain. Before 1942 there are only 305 such games, about one modern season’s worth: 2025-26 alone had 282. Nine times in ten the true cost for those early years sits somewhere from −7.7 to +0.3, so no cost at all can’t be ruled out.
At the other end, the most recent seasons look a little worse than the long-run figure: −4.8 from 2017-18 to 2020-21 and −6.0 since. That comes right after the mildest of our eras, −3.4 from 2005-06 to 2016-17. One season on its own swings further than that. Tired teams in 2024-25 came out −8.3; a year later, −4.0. That could be luck until it repeats. For what the modern cost means for betting, see our back-to-back betting study.
It’s the zero-rest night, not the grind
If the cost hasn’t moved, what is it made of? Coaches tend to blame what surrounds a back-to-back. “It’s not so much the back-to-back. It’s what goes on around the back-to-back,” Florida’s Paul Maurice told ESPN in 2024. “A back-to-back is not that difficult.” The data says close to the opposite.
Start with the grind. If wear piled up, a third game in four nights should hurt more than a plain back-to-back. It doesn’t. It costs −4.6 wins per 100, against −4.3 for all back-to-backs together, too close to tell apart. Next, rest as a dial. If more rest kept helping, a team with two days off should beat a team with one. It doesn’t: the team with one day off came out +0.2, which is nothing. Travel looks small too. Tired teams that played both nights in the same building lost about 3 wins per 100. Those that changed cities lost about 4. That gap could be luck. What costs a team is the night with no day off in front of it.
Only the night with no rest costs a team
Wins per 100 games compared with what both teams’ records and home ice predict, 1917-18 to 2025-26
Only the zero-rest night costs: −4.3 for a plain back-to-back and −4.6 for a third game in four nights, against +0.2 for one day off versus two and 0.0 on the night before a back-to-back.
We also checked the yardstick. Take a team that is rested tonight but plays again tomorrow, against a rested opponent that doesn’t. Nothing about tonight is tiring. If our predictions were simply unfair to teams with busy schedules, those games would still show a cost. Across 12,323 of them they come out 0.0. When both teams are on a second night, the home team does about what its record and home ice predict: +0.3 over 5,578 games.
Fourteen games from home, and a holiday curse that didn’t last
Travel left no clear mark on those numbers. Players remember the road differently. Vancouver once played 14 straight road games over 40 days in 2010, from Jan. 30 to March 10, with the Olympics in its building and a 15-day break in the middle, and went 8-5-1. “(It was also) which day it is, what time it is, where am I really,” Alex Burrows said when it was over. Arizona matched the 14 games in 2022-23, from Nov. 5 to Dec. 7, 2022. “I don’t know if my kids will remember me when I walk in the door,” Zack Kassian said. Our numbers can’t weigh a trip like that. They have game dates, not flight times.
Two teams have gone 14 games without a home game
The longest road trips are 14 games (Vancouver 2010, Arizona 2022); next is the 2021-22 New York Islanders’ 13.
A bad trip can also look like a curse. Philadelphia shares its arena with the 76ers, Disney on Ice and, the Inquirer counted, 59 or so concerts. “It’s got to be Flyers first, whether its the family shows, the concerts and Sixers,” the team’s chairman, Dave Scott, told the Philadelphia Inquirer in January 2020, as the Flyers prepared to take their schedule to the league. They had gone 3-15-4 on their last five holiday road trips, that season’s included, the Inquirer reported, and our records give the same 3-15-4. That is 23% of the available points, against 53% in their other 176 road games those seasons. Pick 22 of those other road games at random, and a set that bad turns up less than 1% of the time.
It looked like a curse. It was a bad run, picked out because it was bad. In the five holiday trips since, the Flyers went 10-11-4, 48% of the points, close to their usual road rate. In 2005-06, a decade before the bad run, the same holiday trip ran eleven games, from Dec. 23 to Jan. 12, and they went 8-2-1. The recent back-to-back seasons get the same test. A bad stretch counts only if it comes back.
Some teams draw more second nights, but it costs them little
If every second night costs the same, the teams that draw the most of them should pay the most. Players notice who drew the short straw. Pittsburgh has 15 back-to-backs in 2026-27; Calgary and Vegas have eight. “Some teams have way more back-to-backs than others, which I don’t understand how that works,” Nick Foligno told ESPN in 2024. Aaron Ekblad, the Florida defenceman, had a simpler plan: “Abolish them. Get rid of them.”
The bill is smaller than the complaint. A typical team in 2025-26 played tired against a rested opponent about 9 times, which at the long-run cost comes to about 0.8 standings points over the season. But every one of those games has a rested team on the other side, so a typical team is also the rested side about as often and wins back about as much. What a schedule can cost is the difference. In each full season since 2005-06, the team with the hardest schedule had 9 to 21 more of those tired nights, net, than the team with the easiest. That gap is worth about 1.4 standings points. The widest ever was 1971-72, between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres: about 2.1 points.
The heaviest back-to-back schedules ever, and the lightest since 1942-43
The most back-to-backs for a schedule’s length is Boston’s 28 in 70 games in 1964-65; the most in one season is 30, by Pittsburgh and Detroit in 1978-79; the fewest for a schedule’s length since 1942-43 is Winnipeg’s 5 in 80 games in 1991-92.
Fewer second nights, at the same price
- Measured per team, the back-to-back load is less than half what it was in the six-team league (11.5 for every 82 games on the 2026-27 schedule, against 29.1 in 1958-59).
- Each second night against a rested team still costs about what it has since expansion. The schedule makers have delivered fewer of them, at the same price.
- Over a season that adds up to a point or two between the luckiest and unluckiest schedules: enough to argue about, rarely enough to decide a playoff spot.
Lumley played both nights. Almost nobody does now
The 2026-27 schedule has 377 back-to-back appearances in 84 games. Each one that meets a rested opponent should cost about what a second night has cost since expansion. Whether it cost the same in 1950, the winter the Rangers and Red Wings rode a late train east while amateurs held the Garden ice, the old records can’t quite say.
Harry Lumley started both nights 26 times in one season. The league leader in 2023-24 did it twice. The goalie got his night off. The schedule got kinder. The second night still costs the tired team about four wins in every 100.
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- Not in advance (exploratory)
- Results computed
Every regular-season game from 1917-18 to 2025-26 from the NHL’s game list (date, teams, final score, last period), and the published 2026-27 schedule for its shape only. Rest days = calendar days since the team’s previous game, minus one; a season opener has no rest value and is left out. A back-to-back second night = no day off. The main comparison takes every game where one team had no day off and the other had at least one (14,876 team-games). Result: regulation win 1, level after regulation 0.5, regulation loss 0. Expected: both teams’ season results without this game, combined on the log-odds scale with the season’s home edge. Intervals are 90%, from game-level standard errors. Starting goalies come from the NHL’s per-game goalie records. Win share is reported in points per 100 games: 4.3 points means about 4 fewer wins in every 100. Not pre-registered: the eras, the placebo and the robustness splits were chosen after the first look at the data, and are all reported.
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Tired team vs rested opponent, all seasons | −4.3 (90% range −4.9 to −3.8), n 14,876; win % 42.3; home-only baseline −3.9 | Real |
More tests below
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| The cost changed over time | Slope −0.08 per decade (90% −0.35 to +0.20); eras −3.4 to −5.5 | No trend |
| Holdout: odd vs even seasons | −4.4 (n 7,972) vs −4.3 (n 6,904) | Repeats |
| Holdout: before 1967-68 / 1967-92 / 1992-2026 | −4.2 / −4.2 / −4.4 (n 1,195 / 4,185 / 9,496) | Repeats |
| Original Six era (1942-43 to 1966-67) | −4.4 (90% range −6.8 to −2.0), n 890; home-only baseline 0.0 | Uncertain: depends on the adjustment |
| The cost grew in the 2020s | 2017-21 −4.8 (90% range −7.1 to −2.4) (n 897); 2021-26 −6.0 (90% range −7.9 to −4.1) (n 1,400); 2017-26 −5.5 | Noise so far |
Continues below
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Placebo: the night before a back-to-back | 0.0 (90% range −0.7 to +0.6), n 12,323 | Passes (no cost) |
| Both teams tired: home side vs home edge | +0.3, n 5,578 | Passes |
| A second day off helps | +0.2 (90% range −0.4 to +0.7), n 15,520 | No |
| A third game in four nights costs more | −4.6 (90% range −5.4 to −3.8), n 7,738 | No |
| Travel adds to the cost | Same building −3.1 (90% range −5.6 to −0.7) (n 808) vs changed city −4.4 (90% range −5.0 to −3.8) (n 14,068) | Can’t tell |
| Matches our Prop Lab win rates (2021-22, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26) | 38.5% (n 317), 43.3% (n 247), 37.7% (n 281), 43.3% (n 282) | Agrees with the published Prop Lab rates within half a point each season |
Continues below
| Test | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Flyers holiday trips 2015-16 to 2019-20 were unusually bad | 3-15-4, 22.7% of points vs 53.4% other road games; random 22-game sets that bad 0.09% of 20,000; next five trips 10-11-4 (48.0%) | One run, chosen after the fact; did not repeat |
| What the cost means in standings points | About 8.8 tired-vs-rested games per team in 2025-26 × 0.086 points per game (2 × the all-era cost) ≈ 0.8 standings points a season | Small |
| Schedule luck between teams | Net tired-vs-rested games, most minus fewest: 9 to 21 a season since 2005-06 (full seasons), about 1.4 standings points | Real but small |
Frequently asked questions
How many back-to-backs does an NHL team play in a season?
About 13 in 2025-26 (430 across the league), and 11.8 on average on the 84-game 2026-27 schedule (377). Pittsburgh has the most in 2026-27 with 15; Calgary and Vegas the fewest with 8. In 1958-59 teams averaged 24.8 in a 70-game season.
Do NHL teams lose more on the second night of a back-to-back?
Yes. Across 14,876 games since 1917-18 against a rested opponent, tired teams won about 4 fewer games in every 100 than their records and home ice predicted (4.3 per 100, counting a game level after regulation as half a win), and won 42% outright. The cost is about the same in every era since 1967; the earlier estimates are less certain.
What is the longest road trip in NHL history?
Fourteen games, shared by the 2009-10 Vancouver Canucks (Jan. 30, 2010 to March 10, 2010, around the Vancouver Olympics, 8-5-1) and the 2022-23 Arizona Coyotes (Nov. 5, 2022 to Dec. 7, 2022). The 2021-22 New York Islanders played 13 straight on the road.
Has the NHL reduced back-to-backs?
Yes, for decades. Back-to-backs per team, for every 82 games played, peaked at 29.1 in 1958-59 and fell to 11.2 in 2023-24 and 11.5 on the 2026-27 schedule. Average rest between games barely changed; the league spread the same rest more evenly.
Do NHL goalies play both games of a back-to-back?
Rarely now. The same goalie started both nights 4.5% of the time in 2023-24 and 8.1% in 2025-26, against more than 90% in the 1950s. Martin Brodeur did it 174 times from 1967-68 on, the most of anyone.
Does a third game in four nights hurt NHL teams more?
Not measurably. Against a rested opponent, a third game in four nights cost −4.6 wins per 100 games compared with expectation, about the same as a plain back-to-back (−4.3). An extra day off beyond the first made no difference (+0.2).
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Vegas Had the Best First Season of Any NHL Expansion Team
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Does Scoring Depth Win Stanley Cups?
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Same Goals, Half the Blowouts
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Home Ice Lost Almost Half Its Edge in 1992. The Power Plays Didn’t Budge.
Sources and method
- NHL stats (NHL.com), every season since 1917-18
- NHL stats API: every regular-season game since 1917-18 (date, teams, score)
- NHL stats API: goalie results by game (starting goalies)
- The Hockey News, Stan Fischler: The Met Leaguers who saved a Rangers game (Dec. 25, 2024)
- ESPN, Ryan S. Clark: How NHL players and teams deal with the grind of back-to-back games (Feb. 14, 2024)
- The Hockey News, Tytan Durgan: Which NHL team has the toughest schedule? A deep dive into back-to-backs (Sept. 29, 2026)
- Philadelphia Inquirer, Sam Carchidi: Flyers will meet with NHL in effort to reduce back-to-back games (Jan. 28, 2020)
- The Hockey News (The Canadian Press): Canucks finally home after epic 14-game road trip (Mar. 12, 2010)
- The Hockey News, Avry Lewis-McDougall: Arizona Coyotes are back home after 14-game road trip (Dec. 9, 2022)
- Associated Press, Stephen Whyno, via Boston.com: An 84-game season is among the changes coming to the NHL (June 27, 2025)
- 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.