NHL
The official rink is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. The corners are a 28-foot radius. That is about 61 meters by 26 meters.
Guides
NHL and international hockey
The same sport, two rule books. This page compares the NHL Official Rules for 2026–27 with the IIHF Official Rule Book for 2025/26 — the book used at the World Championship, the Olympics, and other IIHF events.
Club leagues in Europe are a third thing. The SHL, DEL, Extraliga, and the rest publish their own formats. This page does not cover them. For those desks, start with how each league works or the tournament list.
The rink
IIHF
The official rink is 60 meters long and anywhere from 26 to 30 meters wide. The corners are a radius of 7 to 8.5 meters. A 30-meter rink is about 98 feet wide — roughly 13 feet wider than an NHL sheet. A 26-meter rink is almost the same width as the NHL.
International hockey is not always the wide Olympic ice. The IIHF book allows that range, and a competition that wants a different size needs IIHF approval.
Standings points
NHL
A tie after 60 minutes gives each team one point. The overtime or shootout winner takes one more. A regulation win is two points. A regulation loss is zero.
IIHF
In a round robin or a preliminary round, a win in 60 minutes is worth three points. If the game is decided in overtime or a shootout, the winner gets two points and the loser gets one.
Overtime and the shootout
NHL regular season
Five minutes of 3-on-3. The first goal wins. Teams change ends. If it is still tied, a shootout starts with three shooters a side, then one-for-one until somebody wins.
IIHF preliminary games
Five minutes of 3-on-3. The first goal wins. Teams do not change ends. If it is still tied, five different shooters a side take turns. Only the goal that decides the game counts on the scoreboard.
NHL playoffs
A 15-minute intermission, then 20-minute sudden-death periods. Teams change ends for each one. The first goal wins. There is no shootout.
IIHF playoffs and medal games
Playoff, classification, and bronze-medal games use a 10-minute 3-on-3. Teams do not change ends. If that period ends without a goal, the five-shooter shootout is used. A gold-medal game at a top IIHF championship stays 3-on-3 and keeps going, with a full resurface and a 15-minute break between overtime periods, until someone scores. That game is not sent to a shootout.
Fighting
NHL
A fight is a major penalty. The aggressor — the player who keeps punching someone who is defenseless or unwilling — also receives a game misconduct. So does a player who joins a fight after the original one has already started.
IIHF
The rule opens with a line the NHL book does not have: fighting is not part of international ice hockey’s DNA. A player who willingly fights is penalized and may be ejected. A player who keeps fighting after the referee orders a stop receives a major and an automatic game misconduct.
What lines up
Icing is the same idea in both books. The linesperson judges which player would touch the puck first, and that call is made no later than the first skate reaching the end-zone face-off dots. After an icing, the team that did not ice the puck chooses which end-zone dot to use.
Both books also paint a restricted area behind each net. A goalkeeper who plays the puck outside that area is penalized for delay of game.
Sources
- NHL Official Rules, 2026–27. Rink size is Rule 1.2. The tie point, 3-on-3 overtime, and the three-shooter shootout are Rule 84. Playoff overtime is Rule 84.5. Fighting is Rule 46.
- IIHF Official Rule Book, 2025/26 (version 1.1, July 2025). Rink size is in the rink section. Standings points are Rule 78.1. Overtime and the five-shooter procedure are Rule 84. Fighting is Rule 46. Icing is Rule 81 in both books.