NHL Penalty Rules: Minor, Major, Misconduct and Match, Explained
NHL penalties come in six basic sizes. A minor costs two minutes, a double minor four, a major five, a misconduct ten, and a game misconduct or match penalty ends a player's night. Only some of them leave the team short a skater, and only some of them end early when the other team scores.
Those two questions — does my team have to play a man down, and does the player come back? — are what actually matter while you are watching. Here is the whole system, starting with the answers.
Every NHL Penalty Type at a Glance
| Penalty | Length | Team plays short-handed? | Does the player return? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor | 2:00 | Yes | Yes — after 2:00, or immediately if the other team scores |
| Bench minor | 2:00 | Yes | A designated teammate serves it |
| Double minor | 4:00 | Yes | Yes — a goal against erases only the first 2:00 |
| Major | 5:00 | Yes | Yes — the full five minutes, no matter how many goals are scored |
| Misconduct | 10:00 | No — a substitute takes his spot | Yes — at the first stoppage after 10:00 |
| Game misconduct | Rest of the game | No (unless paired with another penalty) | No |
| Match penalty | Rest of the game | Yes — a teammate serves 5:00 | No |
| Penalty shot | No time served | No | Not applicable — one free shot instead |
A team can never be reduced below three skaters plus a goaltender. If a third penalty piles up, it is stacked and does not start ticking until an earlier one expires.
What a Power Play and a Penalty Kill Actually Are
When a player is penalized, he serves the time in the penalty box — a small enclosure between the two team benches — and his team cannot replace him. That leaves five skaters against four. Penalty time runs on the game's stop clock, so two minutes of penalty takes well over two minutes of real time; see How Long Is an NHL Game?
- The team with the extra skater is on a power play.
- The short-handed team is on the penalty kill (often shortened to "PK"). Killing a penalty means surviving the two minutes without giving up a goal.
The power-play team sets up in the offensive zone — the third of the rink beyond the opponent's blue line, the thick blue stripe marking each defensive zone — and moves the puck around the perimeter hunting a shooting lane. Entering that zone cleanly matters, because the offside rule still applies: see What Is Offside in Hockey. The killers pack four players into a box in front of their own net and try to clear the puck.
One wrinkle: a short-handed team may shoot the puck the length of the ice without being called for icing. That exemption is the whole reason penalty kills survive; the full rule is in What Is Icing in Hockey.
Two penalties at once against the same team make it 5-on-3, the most dangerous situation in hockey. Special-teams roles shape how coaches build a lineup — see How Many Players Are on an NHL Roster.
Why a Minor Ends on a Goal but a Major Does Not
This is the rule that confuses more new fans than any other.
A minor terminates the instant the team on the power play scores. The penalized player leaves the box and the teams return to even strength. If a team is down 5-on-3 on two minors, a power-play goal wipes out only the first of them; the second keeps running.
A major runs its full five minutes regardless. If the power-play team scores three times in those five minutes, all three count and the penalized player is still sitting. That is why the difference between a minor and a major on a borderline hit matters so much — five minutes of unrelieved 5-on-4 can decide a game.
A double minor is two consecutive two-minute penalties. A goal against ends the first half, and the second begins immediately from a fresh faceoff. The most common double minor is high-sticking that draws blood.
A misconduct never comes off on a goal, but it never leaves the team short-handed either, so the point is moot. It is a personal punishment: the player sits for ten minutes while a teammate takes his spot on the ice.
Delayed Penalties and Pulling the Goalie
If the team that commits a foul does not have the puck, the referee does not blow the whistle right away. He raises an arm and lets play continue — a delayed penalty. The whistle only comes once the offending team touches or gains possession of the puck.
Since the penalized team cannot legally score during that window, the team with the advantage pulls its goaltender and sends out a sixth skater. You will see the goalie sprint to the bench mid-play, and for a few seconds the attacking team has a 6-on-5 with zero risk.
If the advantaged team scores during the delay, the upcoming minor is wiped out entirely and never gets served. On a double minor, only the first half is erased. Majors and match penalties are always served in full. And if the puck somehow finds the empty net without the penalized team touching it, the goal is credited to the last player on the penalized team who touched it — and the penalty is then served anyway.
Coincidental Penalties and 4-on-4
When both teams get an equal penalty at the same moment — say matching roughing minors after a scrum in front of the net — nobody goes on a power play. These are coincidental penalties, and at even strength they simply drop the game to 4-on-4 for two minutes.
Coincidental penalties do not end early on a goal, and the players stay in the box until the first stoppage after their time expires. When the teams are already at different strengths, coincidental penalties can offset entirely, with both sides allowed to substitute immediately.
The 4-on-4 that results is a different game: more open ice, more odd-man rushes, more scoring. It is the same idea the league leaned into when it moved regular-season overtime to 3-on-3, covered in NHL Overtime and Shootout Rules Explained.
Too Many Men on the Ice
A team may have six players on the ice at a time — five skaters and a goaltender. Hockey substitutes on the fly, with players hopping over the boards while play continues, so it is possible to briefly have seven bodies out there during a line change.
That alone is not a penalty. The infraction is called when the player coming on or going off actually plays the puck or makes contact with an opponent while both are on the ice. When that happens it is a bench minor — two minutes against the team rather than any individual — and the coach designates one of the players who was on the ice at the time to serve it. It is the most self-inflicted penalty in hockey, and it shows up most often when a team is tired or scrambling through a long defensive shift.
Fighting and the Instigator Rule
Fighting is a five-minute major. Two players who square off and drop the gloves both receive fighting majors, and because those are coincidental, neither team goes on a power play — the combatants sit for five minutes and the game continues 5-on-5. On top of that baseline:
- The instigator. A player judged to have started the fight against an unwilling opponent gets an extra two-minute instigator minor and a ten-minute misconduct on top of the five-minute major — 17 minutes in total. The rulebook lists what referees weigh: distance traveled, who dropped his gloves first, who threw the first punch, menacing posture, verbal threats, and whether the fight is obvious retribution for an earlier incident.
- Instigating late. If the instigator penalty comes in the final five minutes of regulation or in overtime, the ten-minute misconduct becomes a game misconduct, the player faces an automatic one-game suspension subject to league review, and his head coach is fined.
- Third man in. A player who joins a fight already in progress receives a game misconduct.
Penalty Shots
A penalty shot is the rarest and most dramatic call in the rulebook: instead of putting a team on a power play, the referee awards a free one-on-one attempt against the goaltender, taken from center ice. The principle is that the shot restores a scoring chance the foul destroyed. The most common situations:
- A player on a clear breakaway with no defender between him and the goaltender is fouled from behind in the neutral or attacking zone.
- A defending player other than the goaltender falls on or covers the puck inside the goal crease.
- A defending player throws a stick or any object at the puck or the puck carrier in his own zone.
- A defending team deliberately dislodges the net during a breakaway, or in the final two minutes when the resulting minor could not be fully served.
- A player who has illegally entered the game interferes with a breakaway.
On the shot itself, the puck must keep moving toward the goal, the shooter gets one attempt with no rebound, and the goaltender must stay in his crease until the shooter touches the puck. A penalty shot replaces the minor that would otherwise have been called, whether or not it goes in. Majors, match penalties and misconducts are still served in full.
The Penalties You Will Hear Called Most
| Call | Usual result | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Tripping | Minor | Using a stick, knee, foot, arm, hand or elbow to cause an opponent to fall |
| Hooking | Minor | Using the stick like a hook on an opponent's body or stick to slow him down |
| Slashing | Minor or major | Swinging or chopping the stick at an opponent's body or stick |
| Interference | Minor | Impeding an opponent who does not have the puck |
| Cross-checking | Minor or major | Delivering a check with both hands on the stick and no part of it on the ice |
| High-sticking | Minor, or double minor if it draws blood | Making contact with an opponent above the shoulders with the stick |
| Roughing | Minor | Unnecessary shoving or punching that stops short of a fight |
| Boarding | Minor, major or match | Violently checking a defenseless opponent into the boards |
| Holding | Minor | Grabbing an opponent, his stick or his jersey to restrain him |
| Delay of game | Minor | Most often shooting the puck over the glass and out of play from your own zone |
Two of these were tuned recently. The league told officials to crack down on cross-checking after years of it being tolerated in front of the net, and for the 2025–26 season the rulebook rewrote the high-sticking definition to focus on contact above the shoulders rather than on how high the stick was carried — a fix for players who duck.
Referees have wide latitude here: the same contact can be a minor, a major or nothing at all depending on force, intent and injury. For what the officials making these calls earn, see How Much Do NHL Referees Make.
Supplemental Discipline: The Department of Player Safety
Some incidents are too serious for the penalty box to settle. The NHL's Department of Player Safety, led by senior vice president George Parros, reviews plays after the fact and can issue fines and suspensions on top of anything the referees called — or did not call. A play that drew no penalty at all can still produce a suspension.
Under the NHL–NHLPA agreement, its decisions weigh the type of conduct, whether it was intentional or reckless, the injury caused, the player's disciplinary history, and the situation in the game. The process:
- Phone hearing when the discipline on the table is five games or fewer, or a significant fine.
- In-person hearing when six or more games are possible. The player is suspended pending that hearing unless he waives it.
- Fines are capped by the collective bargaining agreement — $10,000 for a first offense and $15,000 for a subsequent fine within 12 months.
- Appeals go to the commissioner within 48 hours; suspensions of six games or more can be appealed further to a neutral arbitrator.
Beginning with the 2025–26 season, the department's remit expanded to cover all supplemental discipline, including non-physical infractions such as obscene gestures, abuse of officials and diving, which the league office previously handled separately.
FAQ
How long is a penalty in hockey? Two minutes for a minor, four for a double minor, five for a major and ten for a misconduct. Game misconducts and match penalties end the offending player's night entirely.
Does a penalty end when the other team scores? A minor does — the player leaves the box immediately. A major does not; it runs the full five minutes no matter how many goals go in. On a double minor, a goal ends only the first two minutes.
What is the difference between a game misconduct and a match penalty? Both eject the player. A game misconduct on its own does not leave his team short-handed. A match penalty — assessed for deliberately attempting to injure an opponent — also puts the team down a skater for five minutes, served by a teammate.
What is a penalty kill? It is the short-handed team's effort to get through a penalty without allowing a goal. Penalty killers can legally shoot the puck the length of the ice without being called for icing, which is their main way of relieving pressure.
Why do teams pull the goalie on a delayed penalty? Play stops the moment the offending team touches the puck, so it has no realistic chance to score and the goaltender is not needed. Swapping him for a sixth skater is a free advantage.
Does fighting result in a power play? Usually not. Two fighting majors offset as coincidental penalties and the teams play on at even strength. A power play results only if one player also takes an instigator penalty or an extra minor.
Can a team play with fewer than three skaters? No. A team is never reduced below three skaters and a goaltender. Additional penalties are stacked and begin only as earlier ones expire.
Can a player be suspended for something the referees missed? Yes. The Department of Player Safety can issue supplemental discipline regardless of whether the play was penalized on the ice.
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