Three periods
A game is three 20-minute periods of 5-on-5 hockey, with intermissions in between. The team that scores more goals wins.
Eurasia · 2026–27
KHL, explained.
Eurasia. One table. One Gagarin Cup. Here’s the quick guide.
The Kontinental Hockey League is the top professional circuit in Russia and the wider Eurasian map: conferences, a long regular season, and a playoff for the Gagarin Cup.
A short history
The KHL launched in 2008 as the successor to the Russian Superleague. It has included clubs from several neighbouring countries; the current map is concentrated in Russia plus a small set of other Eurasian sides.
The championship trophy is the Gagarin Cup, named for Yuri Gagarin.
How the league works
Same ice, same three periods — then a points race into a national playoff.
Standings points
A regulation win is worth three points. An overtime or shootout win is two. An overtime or shootout loss is one. A regulation loss is zero.
Overtime
Most European regular-season games that are tied after 60 minutes go to a short overtime, then a shootout. Playoff overtime is usually played until someone scores.
Power play
A penalty puts the other team a skater up. That extra-man advantage is the power play; the shorthanded side is on the penalty kill.
Offside and icing
A player cannot enter the offensive zone ahead of the puck (offside). Icing is shooting the puck the length of the ice from behind centre; play stops and the faceoff comes back.
The table
Kontinental Hockey League ranks clubs by points through the regular season, then seeds the playoff that awards the Gagarin Cup.
The season
Training camp in late summer, a fall-to-spring regular season, then a spring playoff.
How the playoffs work
The champion is the club that wins the Gagarin Cup playoff — not always the team that finished first in the regular season.
Who gets in
The top clubs in each conference qualify for the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
Conference brackets
Early rounds stay inside the conference. Series are best-of-seven.
The Gagarin Cup
The two conference champions meet in the final.