Quote:
Originally Posted by Tsawwassen
Early in the season and for the 1st half, most teams will lock it down in the 3rd period to get the single point. For the second half of the season, teams will notice that they need regulation wins for tie breakers.
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This actually doesn't seem to be as true as it once was. I think what we are seeing this year is an anomaly to start the year. After seeing all four games go into extra time yesterday it got me really curious.
I was able to scrape the info from Hockey Reference, so my data is only as good as theirs, but in the 2025-26 season there have been 282 games completed as of last nights games. A quarter of a season is equal to 328 games.
2025-26:
28.37% - 80 Through 282 games
2024-25:
20.57% - 58/282
20.43% - 1st Q (67/328)
20.43% - 2nd Q (67/328)
20.43% - 1st Half (134/656)
19.21% - 3rd Q (63/328)
22.56% - 4th Q (74/328)
20.88% - 2nd Half (137/656)
20.66% - Full Season (271/1312)
2023-24:
19.86% - 56/282
19.21% - 1st Q (56/328)
24.70% - 2nd Q (63/328)
21.95% - 1st Half (144/656)
20.43% - 3rd Q (67/328)
18.60% - 4th Q (61/328)
19.51% - 2nd Half (128/656)
20.73% - Full Season (272/1312)
2022-23:
20.21% - 57/282
20.73% - 1st Q (68/328)
22.87% - 2nd Q (75/328)
21.80% - 1st Half (143/656)
24.70% - 3rd Q (81/328)
23.78% - 4th Q (78/328)
24.24% - 2nd Half (159/656)
23.02% - Full Season (302/1312)
2021-22:
23.40% - 66/282
21.34% - 1st Q (70/328)
23.78% - 2nd Q (78/328)
22.56% - 1st Half (148/656)
19.82% - 3rd Q (65/328)
22.87% - 4th Q (75/328)
21.34% - 2nd Half (140/656)
21.95% - Full Season (288/1312)
2021-2025 Average:
21.01% - First 282
20.43% - 1st Q
22.95% - 2nd Q
21.69% - 1st Half
21.04% - 3rd Q
21.95% - 4th Q
21.49% - 2nd Half
21.59% - Full Season
Assuming the pace continues for the rest of the 1st quarter of this season, it will be the highest quarter since 2016-17 2nd quarter @ 29.22% - 90/308 (excluding Covid shortened seasons - I didn't check these). If the season average falls down to the four year average above, we will need to see a drop to 19.7% of extra time games for the remaining ~78.5% of the season.
If the trend continued we will see over 370 extra time games this season. I'd assume that would be a record. Maybe I'll get bored during the game and check.
