Three-on-three hockey. Love it or hate it at least it’s better than the shootout. The NHL’s tweaking of overtime hockey has been around for five seasons now. For most of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s history, though, overtime was played with five skaters aside. It was like regulation except the next goal ended the game. There was even a time when, if no one scored in overtime, the game ended in a tie and everyone went home.
The problem was that if a team lost in overtime they wouldn’t get a point at all. It was all or nothing.