Empty-Net Lab
NHL Empty-Net Goals & Goalie Pull Tracker 2025-26
When does each coach pull the goalie, how often does the extra attacker score, and who is on the ice for it at both ends? Every number comes from the NHL shift charts, so a pull is timed to the second and delayed-penalty pulls are left out.
When NHL teams pull the goalie, 2025-26
Share of trailing teams with the goalie pulled, by time left in the 3rd period
When NHL teams pull the goalie, 2025-26. Down 1: half pulled by 2:00 remaining, 51% pulled with 2:00 left (831 trailing spells); Down 2: half pulled by 3:23 remaining, 94% pulled with 2:00 left (688 trailing spells).
Goalie pulls and empty-net goals by team, 2025-26
| Team | Median pull, down 1 | Pulled by 2:00 | Median pull, down 2 | 6v5 time | GF pulled | ENG against | ENG for | GA vs extra attacker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Stars | 2:41 (18) | 84% | 3:40 (21) | 41:23 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 6 |
| Florida Panthers | 2:38 (32) | 86% | 3:55 (32) | 51:53 | 9 | 23 | 14 | 5 |
| New York Islanders | 2:27 (27) | 81% | 4:07 (20) | 85:46 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 6 |
| Colorado Avalanche | 2:19 (23) | 90% | 3:38 (12) | 36:06 | 6 | 13 | 23 | 2 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 2:16 (24) | 78% | 3:17 (16) | 48:44 | 4 | 15 | 23 | 5 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 2:15 (26) | 81% | 3:35 (23) | 42:05 | 6 | 17 | 21 | 6 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 2:15 (19) | 58% | 3:13 (17) | 33:47 | 4 | 13 | 21 | 4 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 2:14 (22) | 60% | 3:35 (13) | 48:58 | 8 | 15 | 16 | 6 |
| San Jose Sharks | 2:14 (25) | 66% | 3:44 (21) | 39:11 | 5 | 18 | 12 | 8 |
| Nashville Predators | 2:10 (28) | 61% | 4:03 (27) | 46:08 | 5 | 19 | 16 | 6 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 2:09 (20) | 56% | 2:38 (19) | 35:03 | 6 | 13 | 17 | 6 |
| New Jersey Devils | 2:08 (31) | 65% | 3:34 (24) | 49:27 | 8 | 15 | 18 | 4 |
| Minnesota Wild | 2:07 (18) | 71% | 2:46 (20) | 34:33 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 6 |
| Ottawa Senators | 2:06 (23) | 66% | 3:23 (14) | 48:27 | 5 | 9 | 19 | 4 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 2:06 (28) | 50% | 4:00 (33) | 75:23 | 6 | 24 | 8 | 6 |
| Anaheim Ducks | 2:03 (31) | 60% | 3:00 (28) | 52:27 | 12 | 19 | 15 | 7 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 2:00 (20) | 58% | 2:40 (21) | 28:30 | 2 | 19 | 27 | 9 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 2:00 (35) | 54% | 3:18 (22) | 37:53 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| St. Louis Blues | 1:56 (22) | 44% | 3:44 (20) | 36:34 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 3 |
| Utah Mammoth | 1:56 (27) | 47% | 2:58 (19) | 40:32 | 1 | 12 | 19 | 5 |
| Boston Bruins | 1:55 (24) | 31% | 2:53 (21) | 30:29 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 4 |
| Seattle Kraken | 1:54 (28) | 47% | 2:55 (29) | 47:22 | 5 | 23 | 17 | 1 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 1:54 (27) | 25% | 3:14 (27) | 53:52 | 4 | 23 | 19 | 3 |
| Washington Capitals | 1:52 (26) | 39% | 3:04 (21) | 39:03 | 4 | 17 | 25 | 6 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 1:51 (27) | 44% | 3:41 (17) | 42:39 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 11 |
| New York Rangers | 1:51 (36) | 41% | 2:57 (29) | 50:45 | 5 | 25 | 12 | 2 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 1:51 (27) | 23% | 3:14 (20) | 44:49 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 5 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 1:48 (26) | 28% | 3:47 (19) | 41:56 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 1 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 1:47 (29) | 44% | 3:31 (17) | 42:47 | 3 | 14 | 16 | 9 |
| Calgary Flames | 1:44 (29) | 25% | 3:10 (25) | 39:27 | 2 | 20 | 13 | 4 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 1:38 (29) | 19% | 2:39 (19) | 46:56 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 8 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 1:33 (24) | 32% | 2:30 (22) | 37:03 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 6 |
Sorted by median pull time, earliest first, for teams with 10+ late one-goal deficits; smaller samples follow, unranked. In brackets: late deficits behind the median (trailing by one or two in the last 10:00); team-season samples are small (split-half r = 0.30), so treat gaps of 15-20 seconds as noise. "Pulled by 2:00" is the share of late one-goal deficits with the goalie out with 2:00 or more left. GF / ENG against: goals for and empty-net goals against while this team had its goalie pulled. ENG for / GA vs extra attacker: the same when the opponent pulled.
Goalie pull timing by coach, 2025-26
| Coach | Team | Median pull, down 1 | Pulled by 2:00 | Median pull, down 2 | Tied it, down 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Gulutzan | Dallas Stars | 2:41 (18) | 84% | 3:40 (21) | 1 / 14 |
| Paul Maurice | Florida Panthers | 2:38 (32) | 86% | 3:55 (32) | 5 / 20 |
| Patrick Roy | New York Islanders | 2:26 (25) | 80% | 4:07 (18) | 4 / 18 |
| Jared Bednar | Colorado Avalanche | 2:19 (23) | 90% | 3:38 (12) | 3 / 13 |
| Jon Cooper | Tampa Bay Lightning | 2:16 (24) | 78% | 3:17 (16) | 2 / 18 |
| Rick Tocchet | Philadelphia Flyers | 2:15 (19) | 58% | 3:13 (17) | 2 / 11 |
| Todd McLellan | Detroit Red Wings | 2:15 (26) | 81% | 3:35 (23) | 2 / 13 |
| Dan Muse | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2:14 (22) | 60% | 3:35 (13) | 5 / 15 |
| Ryan Warsofsky | San Jose Sharks | 2:14 (25) | 66% | 3:44 (21) | 4 / 16 |
| Dean Evason | Columbus Blue Jackets | 2:13 (17) | 60% | 3:31 (11) | 1 / 12 |
| Andrew Brunette | Nashville Predators | 2:10 (28) | 61% | 4:03 (27) | 2 / 18 |
| Rod Brind'Amour | Carolina Hurricanes | 2:09 (20) | 56% | 2:38 (19) | 3 / 12 |
| Sheldon Keefe | New Jersey Devils | 2:08 (31) | 65% | 3:34 (24) | 3 / 17 |
| John Hynes | Minnesota Wild | 2:07 (18) | 71% | 2:46 (20) | 2 / 12 |
| Adam Foote | Vancouver Canucks | 2:06 (28) | 50% | 4:00 (33) | 1 / 19 |
| Travis Green | Ottawa Senators | 2:06 (23) | 66% | 3:23 (14) | 2 / 17 |
| Joel Quenneville | Anaheim Ducks | 2:03 (31) | 60% | 3:00 (28) | 8 / 23 |
| Jim Hiller | Los Angeles Kings | 2:00 (26) | 55% | 3:43 (18) | 4 / 15 |
| Lindy Ruff | Buffalo Sabres | 2:00 (20) | 58% | 2:40 (21) | 0 / 11 |
| André Tourigny | Utah Mammoth | 1:56 (27) | 47% | 2:58 (19) | 1 / 17 |
| Jim Montgomery | St. Louis Blues | 1:56 (22) | 44% | 3:44 (20) | 1 / 16 |
| Marco Sturm | Boston Bruins | 1:55 (24) | 31% | 2:53 (21) | 2 / 16 |
| Craig Berube | Toronto Maple Leafs | 1:54 (27) | 25% | 3:14 (27) | 0 / 10 |
| Lane Lambert | Seattle Kraken | 1:54 (28) | 47% | 2:55 (29) | 3 / 20 |
| Spencer Carbery | Washington Capitals | 1:52 (26) | 39% | 3:04 (21) | 1 / 16 |
| Bruce Cassidy | Vegas Golden Knights | 1:51 (27) | 23% | 3:14 (20) | 5 / 19 |
| Martin St. Louis | Montreal Canadiens | 1:51 (27) | 44% | 3:41 (17) | 5 / 17 |
| Mike Sullivan | New York Rangers | 1:51 (36) | 41% | 2:57 (29) | 2 / 25 |
| Kris Knoblauch | Edmonton Oilers | 1:48 (26) | 28% | 3:47 (19) | 4 / 20 |
| Ryan Huska | Calgary Flames | 1:44 (29) | 25% | 3:10 (25) | 1 / 19 |
| Scott Arniel | Winnipeg Jets | 1:38 (29) | 19% | 2:39 (19) | 4 / 20 |
| Jeff Blashill | Chicago Blackhawks | 1:33 (24) | 32% | 2:30 (22) | 1 / 19 |
| Rick Bowness | Columbus Blue Jackets | 1:27 (12) | 25% | 3:47 (6) | 1 / 8 |
| Not ranked: fewer than 10 late one-goal deficits (coach), most deficits first | |||||
| D.J. Smith | Los Angeles Kings | 2:08 (9) | 50% | 3:18 (4) | 0 / 4 |
| Peter DeBoer | New York Islanders | 2:45 (2) | 100% | 5:18 (2) | 0 / 1 |
Head coach behind the bench in each game, from the NHL game center. Interim coaches get their own row. Coaches with fewer than 10 late one-goal deficits are listed after the ranked ones.
Who is on the ice: extra attacker and empty-net defense, 2025-26
Empty-net goals
- 1Nathan MacKinnonCOL8 G, 5 A
- 2Nikita KucherovTBL7 G, 5 A
- 3Brandon HagelTBL7 G, 2 A
- 4Alex OvechkinWSH7 G, 1 A
- 5Connor McDavidEDM6 G, 7 A
- 6Aliaksei ProtasWSH6 G, 4 A
- 7Kirill KaprizovMIN6 G, 3 A
- 8Dawson MercerNJD6 G, 0 A
- 9Jordan EberleSEA6 G, 0 A
- 10Steven StamkosNSH6 G, 0 A
Goals and assists into an empty net while the other team had really pulled its goalie.
Most 6-on-5 ice time
- 1Mathew BarzalNYI69:30 · 81%
- 2Matthew SchaeferNYI68:08 · 79%
- 3Anders LeeNYI63:15 · 74%
- 4Elias PetterssonVAN56:13 · 79%
- 5Brock BoeserVAN55:30 · 74%
- 6Filip HronekVAN54:08 · 72%
- 7Bo HorvatNYI53:07 · 81%
- 8Quinn HughesVAN/MIN49:41 · 96%
- 9Mika ZibanejadNYR47:15 · 95%
- 10Artemi PanarinNYR/LAK46:14 · 99%
Time on the ice as the extra-attacker unit; % = share of his team's pulled time in games he dressed.
Most empty-net defense time
- 1Mike MathesonMTL45:10 · 78%
- 2Artem ZubOTT40:18 · 81%
- 3Mattias SamuelssonBUF39:48 · 61%
- 4Philip BrobergSTL37:43 · 73%
- 5Esa LindellDAL36:30 · 85%
- 6Ryan PulockNYI35:03 · 63%
- 7Moritz SeiderDET34:30 · 64%
- 8Nikita ZadorovBOS32:51 · 65%
- 9Michael AmadioOTT32:46 · 69%
- 10Kevin BahlCGY32:37 · 64%
Time on the ice protecting a lead against an empty net: the players a coach trusts to close, and who get the empty-net chances.
Extra-attacker points
- 1Mathew BarzalNYI1 G, 7 A
- 2Matthew SchaeferNYI2 G, 5 A
- 3Jesper BrattNJD1 G, 5 A
- 4Jack HughesNJD0 G, 6 A
- 5Anders LeeNYI5 G, 0 A
- 6Bryan RustPIT3 G, 2 A
- 7Macklin CelebriniSJS3 G, 2 A
- 8Mason McTavishANA3 G, 2 A
- 9Tomas HertlVGK3 G, 2 A
- 10Adrian KempeLAK2 G, 3 A
Goals and assists with his own goalie pulled.
How we measure it
- We find every goalie pull in the 3rd period from the NHL shift charts: the stretches in which a trailing team had no goalie on the ice.
- Delayed-penalty pulls are removed. If the play-by-play shows a delayed penalty called on the other team as the goalie left, the time before the whistle does not count; a pull of 90 seconds or less that ends at a penalty on the other team with more than 5:00 left is treated the same way even when the delayed-penalty event is missing.
- Pull timing is measured as a survival curve (Kaplan-Meier). Every stretch in which a team trails by one (or two) enters the curve when it starts, or at 10:00 left if it started earlier, and leaves when the coach pulls the goalie or the score changes. "Median pull" is the time left at which half of teams in that spot have pulled. A deficit that starts with the goalie already out (he stayed on the bench through a goal) is left out of the curve: that pull was decided at the earlier score.
- That matters: averaging pull times only over the games that reached a pull favors late pulls, because a deficit that is erased early never shows one.
- Empty-net goals for and against are counted only while a goalie is really pulled, per 60 minutes of 6-on-5 (or 6-on-4) time. Rates need at least 10 minutes of pulled time before we show them.
- Player shares: a skater’s ice time in his team’s pulls, divided by the team’s total pulled time in the games he dressed. Empty-net defense is the same with the opponent pulling.
- Rankings of teams and coaches by pull time need at least 10 late one-goal deficits; smaller samples are listed after the ranked ones. Team pages cover the whole franchise (the Arizona Coyotes and Utah Hockey Club seasons are on the Utah Mammoth page).
- Coaches come from the NHL game center (head coach behind each bench). Seasons start in 2017-18, the first season of full shift data in our engine. Regular season only on these pages.
What repeats and what does not
- League trend: coaches pull earlier every year. The median pull down one moved from 1:40 left in 2017-18 to 2:00 in 2025-26, and down two from 2:30 to 3:23. Pulling down one ties the game about 14-16% of the time in every season.
- Team pull timing repeats, but only moderately. Splitting each team-season into odd and even games, the two halves’ median pull times correlate at r = 0.30 (284 team-seasons). Season to season it is r = 0.43 when the coach stays and 0.22 after a coaching change, which is why the coach tables matter. Read gaps of 15-20 seconds between teams as noise.
- Player roles are the stable part. A skater’s share of his team’s 6-on-5 time correlates r = 0.88 from one season to the next (same team, 2,683 pairs), and his share of empty-net defense time r = 0.75. Empty-net defense share tracks empty-net points (r = 0.47 within a season).
- Team empty-net goals per game do not repeat well (split-half r = 0.19): they depend on game states nobody controls. So we do not publish a nightly "empty-net goal odds" by team; the player shares are the signal to use.
FAQ
When do NHL coaches pull the goalie when down by one?
In 2025-26, half of NHL teams trailing by one had pulled their goalie with 2:00 left in the 3rd period, and 51% had pulled with 2:00 or more left (831 late one-goal deficits). Down by two, the median pull came with 3:23 left.
How often does pulling the goalie work?
With the goalie pulled, trailing teams scored 7.2 goals per 60 minutes and allowed 21.3 empty-net goals per 60 in 2025-26. Of 541 pulls while down one, 85 (16%) ended with the tying goal before the goalie went back in. An empty-net goal against usually just turns a one-goal loss into a two-goal loss; the tying goal turns a likely loss into at least a point.
Which NHL team pulls its goalie the earliest?
Among teams with at least 10 late one-goal deficits in 2025-26, the DAL pulled earliest (median 2:41 left) and the CHI latest (median 1:33). Samples are small, so the team pages show each team's curve with the number of games behind it.
Who scores the most empty-net goals?
The skaters a coach sends out to protect a late lead: usually the top centers, shutdown forwards and top-pair defensemen. Their share of empty-net defense time is very stable from season to season (r = 0.75) and tracks empty-net points, so the empty-net defense board on this page is the best guide to who gets those goals.
Do empty-net goals count in fantasy hockey?
Yes. An empty-net goal counts as a goal and a point for the scorer and the assists in Yahoo, ESPN and Fantrax, and a goal allowed into an empty net does not count against the goalie’s goals-against average or save percentage. The players a coach trusts to defend a late lead get the empty-net chances, which is why the empty-net defense shares on this page matter for goals and points.
Does an empty-net goal count against the goalie?
No. The goalie was not on the ice, so the goal is charged to the team but not to the goalie: it does not change his save percentage or goals-against average.