What Is a Penalty Kill in Hockey?
A penalty kill in hockey is a unique situation in a game in which a team has a player removed from the ice for committing a violation of the rules, and thus has to try to prevent the other team from scoring a goal while down one or two players. When a player violates the rules, or takes a penalty, they’re sent to the penalty box. Penalties in hockey include tripping, high-sticking, slashing, roughing, and so on. Minor penalties are the most common, and are served for two minutes, though more severe penalties come with a four minute sentence (which is called a double minor), or five minutes (a major), or even ten minutes (a misconduct).
Hockey is normally played with five skaters and one goalie per side, which is referred to in shorthand as 5on5 (the goalie’s position is assumed). So, when one team is penalized, it means the other team receives a 5 on 4 power play. During the power play, the shorthanded team is on a penalty kill, which is a significant disadvantage. One rule that makes the lives of the penalty kill a little easier is the ability to ice the puck, or shoot the puck the length of the ice to the other team’s zone, which, in regular 5 on 5 play results in an icing call and a defensive zone faceoff.
Once the clock starts after the offending player is removed from the ice surface, the penalized team tries to kill the penalty (hence the term penalty kill) by preventing a goal by the team that’s on the power play. If the penalty killers are successful and no goal is scored by the time the penalty is over, then the penalized player returns to the ice during play. If the team on the power play scores, the whistle blows and the penalized player returns to the bench.
Any player can be penalized, including a team’s goalie. When a goalie receives a penalty, one player who was on the ice at the time of the infraction must serve the penalty. A second player can also receive a penalty during the ensuing power play, which results in a 5 on 3 power play.
What are the benefits of having an effective penalty kill?
An effective penalty kill can turn one of the game’s most stressful situations into an area of strength for a hockey team. The odds of scoring a goal on a power play are dramatically increased compared to regular 5 on 5 play, so the penalty killing team knows they are at a significant disadvantage when down a player or two.
However, to understand why a hockey team benefits from having an effective penalty kill, it’s helpful to understand the opposite, or why teams with a poor penalty kill are at an even more significant disadvantage.
Since penalties are handed out mostly due to over-aggressive play, teams with a poor penalty kill might hesitate or hold back during regular 5 on 5 play. Hockey is an inherently aggressive sport - teams who check hard usually have the puck more than teams who don’t. If a team is constantly worried about their poor penalty kill, it is likely to over-think or play with an overly passive mindset.
The opposite effect is true for teams with effective penalty kills. These teams know they stand a good chance of killing off an ensuing power play, and thus play with more aggression, even though that might lead to going over the line and committing more penalties. The end result is a team that plays hard and fast during regular 5 on 5 play, which is worth the risk if the penalty kill is a trusted, efficient system.
How can you choose the right penalty kill for your team?
The best way to choose the right penalty kill for your team is to have a strong understanding of another team’s power play. In general, the most successful power plays in hockey depend on highly skilled players who pass the puck quickly in order to create dangerous scoring chances. With that in mind, the best penalty kills in hockey depend on players with excellent skating speed and agility. Quick players can check a power play player quickly, taking away their time and space, and force errors.
But that’s not the only valuable skill. Intelligent players find their way onto the penalty kill system because they understand what the power play is trying to do, and they can anticipate the next pass or the next shot. Most coaches call this type of intelligence Hockey IQ, which is shorthand for describing a player who plays with a coaching mindset. Hockey players on the penalty kill with a high Hockey IQ can see what the power play is attempting and shut it down before it becomes a dangerous scoring chance.
Of course, the best penalty killers in hockey have a combination of both: a high Hockey IQ combined with quick skating.
What types of penalty kill formations are there in hockey?
As the penalty kill formation depends largely on the power play formation of the other team, there are a handful of heavily utilized penalty kill structures that hockey teams use to their advantage. Most teams will default to a certain formation while watching for specific tactics from the power play before they deploy their own specific tactics. The most common formations, or starting points, are:
