Goalies look helpless and certain marquee players can’t stand it, but the new 3-on-3 overtime format is doing exactly what it was supposed to do, and more.
In the first overtime game of the season on Oct. 8, the Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning opened our eyes to the best the NHL has to offer. In 137 seconds, the teams combined for eight shots on goal, four breakaways, one penalty shot, a few SportsCenter Top-10-worthy saves and a beautiful game-winner.
The pace is breathtaking and the constant scoring chances are unparalleled, and sure, it might be a little obscure, but at the end of the day it is must-watch action.
When I see a game is in overtime, I drop everything I am doing and go watch it. It takes no time at all and, as a sports fanatic, it’s how I want all sports to be.
Following the Philly-Tampa game, Scott Van Pelt of ESPN tweeted what we were all thinking.
I doubt everyone caught TB/Philly, but I have an an observation about new NHL 3 on 3 OT: it's sick. Total insanity. People will love it
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) October 9, 2015
“It’s just chaos out there,” said Flyers netminder Steve Mason following a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 27. “It’s chance after chance, and they’re grade-A chances. That’s why so many games are being ended in overtime. There are just so many quality chances that eventually a guy is going to score.”
In the first three weeks of the season, the new overtime format has significantly cut down on the amount of shootouts. So far, the NHL is on pace to cut the amount of overtime games that require the decisive shootout in half. In the 27 overtime games so far during the 2015-16 campaign, only nine of them have been decided via the shootout.
The overtime format was changed this offseason from five minutes of 4-on-4 sudden-death overtime followed by a shootout, to five minutes of 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime, in an attempt to decrease the number of shootouts. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the team owners decided that shootouts are great to quickly avoid ties, but that relying on them consistently for an outcome makes results too arbitrary.
Amid the insanely fast-paced action in 3-on-3, every miscue is magnified. Whenever a pass, dump in, pinch by a defenseman, clearance by a goaltender or line change is mistimed, chances are the other team has an odd-man rush or breakaway headed the other way. A slow forward or an indecisive defenseman can’t coast by in 3-on-3.
The new overtime not only magnifies everything we love about hockey, but it also accelerates scoring chances. Hockey, unlike basketball, football and soccer, is not a possession-based sport. Turning the ball over is costly, but in hockey the location of the puck is what matters and not necessarily who has it. Intentional turnovers, formally known as dump-ins, are commonplace. Dumping the puck creates no skill and is flat out boring to watch at times.
There is none of that in 3-on-3 play, as a turnover will turn into a 2-on-0 the other way, proving just as costly as a fourth quarter Peyton Manning interception. The NHL is moving in the direction of fan interest. As tensions rise, the quality of play should improve as the new overtime format requires the utmost alertness in decision-making.
The new format is made for offensive geniuses like Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane to blow by defensemen and light the lamp. Defensemen have quickly picked up on this trend and, as a result, players will literally do anything from grabbing, tripping or diving at opponents to limit breakaway chances.
The new OT also forces coaches to play their best nine guys in a format with so much space, where speed and stickhandling are paramount and truly a thing of beauty to watch. For a sport that struggles to get consistent national media attention and sell out arenas every night, this new overtime process will keep fans coming back for more. If fans are happy, naturally ownership will be happy, too.
However, the open ice offered by the new OT gives the game a pond hockey, gimmicky feel, which some players think isn’t real hockey, and, like shootouts, shouldn’t determine a winner.
Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop calls it a “gong show.” Goalie stats are feeling the impact of huge scoring changes, with a league save percentage in overtime of .846, almost .07 points below the regulation time average.
Goalies aren’t the only ones who are upset about the change. Most notably, All-Star defensemen Erik Karlsson and Dustin Byfuglien have voiced their displeasure with the new system.
“It’s not really hockey,” Karlsson told the Calgary Sun. “It’s about who holds onto the puck the longest. Who cheats the most. Small stuff like that. It’s kind of boring.”
Byfuglien said he thinks the new system is “a terrible part of hockey” and that there was no problem with four-on-four.
The quotes and opinions of players are great, but you have to be a boring person to firmly believe the new 3-on-3 format isn’t downright entertaining. Even hockey purists get tired of bad neutral zone turnovers, and pucks stuck in the skates of four players on the crowded half-wall.
There is no need to over-complicate things with the beauty of 3-on-3 in the NHL. I know that is slightly ironic given my column, but bear with me. This format excites the hockey-purist while also enticing the casual sports fan. Bring me fast-paced games and high-volume scoring chances in a sudden-death format with fewer shootouts, and I am here to stay as an NHL fan. Hats off to you, Gary Bettman.
