Minor · 2 minutes
The player sits and nobody replaces him. If his team is short-handed and the other team scores, the minor with the least time left ends. A goal on a penalty shot does not end a minor.
Guides
Hockey penalties
How the NHL penalty clock works, from the NHL Official Rules for 2026–27. The rest of the game — periods, offside, icing — is on NHL rules of hockey.
How long they last
Bench minor · 2 minutes
The penalty is on the team. The coach, through the captain, picks a skater other than the goalkeeper to sit. It ends on a power-play goal the same way a minor does.
Double minor · 4 minutes
Four minutes, served as two minors back to back. If the other team scores while the referee is still signaling it, one of the two minutes is wiped out and the player serves the remaining two.
Major · 5 minutes
Five minutes, and a power-play goal does not bring the player out. A third major in the same game is an automatic game misconduct. Some majors carry one on their own.
Misconduct · 10 minutes
Ten minutes in the box. A teammate replaces him right away, so the team is not short-handed unless another penalty is stacked on top. He stays in the box until the next whistle after the ten minutes are up.
Game misconduct
The player is done for the night. A substitute may replace him. Ten minutes are written against him in the records. When the game misconduct comes with a major, the substitute waits five minutes.
Match penalty
For deliberately injuring an opponent, or deliberately trying to. The player goes to the dressing room and is suspended until the Commissioner rules. A teammate serves five minutes. The records charge fifteen minutes: five on the clock, plus ten for the ejection.
Penalty shot
Used when a scoring chance was taken away. The puck starts on the center dot. The shooter has to keep it moving toward the goal. A rebound does not count, unless the puck hits the post or crossbar, then the goalkeeper, then goes in.
The clock
Matching penalties
One minor on each team, and nothing else running, and both sides play four skaters against four. Neither team is on the power play. The players stay in the box until the next stoppage after their time is up when the penalties are coincidental and a substitute has already gone on.
A third penalty
If two teammates are already serving penalties and a third is called, his time does not start until one of those two expires. He goes to the box, and a substitute stays on the ice so his team never has fewer than three skaters.
Calls you hear every night
Holding
Restraining an opponent with the hands, arms, or legs, whether or not he has the puck. Grabbing his stick is “holding the stick.”
Hooking
Using the stick to restrain an opponent. Stick on stick, with nothing else, is not hooking.
Tripping
Placing the stick, knee, foot, arm, hand, or elbow so that an opponent trips or falls.
Interference
A player who is behind an opponent without the puck may not use his stick, body, or free hand to restrain him. He has to skate to get back into the play.
Slashing
Swinging the stick at an opponent, whether it hits or not. A non-aggressive tap on the pants or the front of the shin pads is not slashing.
Cross-checking
Using the shaft of the stick, with both hands on it, to check an opponent.
High-sticking
The stick hits an opponent above the shoulders, when those shoulders are at waist level or higher. A normal windup or follow-through can be an accident.
Roughing
A punch or a slam, with or without the glove, usually at the head or face. A fight is a separate major.
Boarding
Checking or pushing a defenseless opponent so that he hits the boards violently or dangerously.
Charging
Traveling a distance and then violently checking an opponent, including by skating or jumping into him.
Checking from behind
A check on a player who does not see it coming, with contact on the back. If he turns his back on purpose to draw the call, there is no penalty.
Delay of game
A player who deliberately freezes the puck to stop play. For a goalkeeper, that applies outside the crease. Shooting the puck directly out of play from the defending zone is the same minor.
Too many men
A substitute comes on before the player leaving is within five feet of the bench and out of the play. A bench minor.
Goalkeeper interference
Standing in the crease is not, by itself, a reason to wipe out a goal. The goal comes off when an attacking player impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move in the crease or to play his position.
Source
NHL Official Rules, 2026–27. Penalty lengths are Rules 16 through 24. The third-penalty rule is Rule 26. Matching minors are Rule 19. The calls above are Rules 41, 42, 43, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 63, 69, and 74.
NHL rules of hockey · NHL and international hockey · All league guides