17. Oktober 2026
How Long Is a Hockey Game? Periods, Overtime and Your Bet
A hockey game has three 20-minute periods but takes about two and a half hours. Intermissions, overtime, the shootout, and what each one means for your bet.
Sixty minutes. That's how much hockey is in a hockey game: three periods of 20 minutes each. Block out more like two to two and a half hours if you're watching an NHL game, though, because the clock stops every time the whistle goes and there are two intermissions to sit through as well.
Below: where all that extra time comes from, how overtime and the shootout work, and why the length of the game matters a lot more than you'd think once there's a bet on it.
How many periods are in a hockey game
Three, and each one is 20 minutes on the clock. The clock only runs while the puck's live. Icing, offside, a penalty, a goal: any whistle and it stops. So a 20-minute period usually eats up somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes of your evening.
After each period the players head for the dressing room and out comes the Zamboni, so every period starts on fresh ice.
Why 60 minutes takes two and a half hours
Whistles. A normal game has dozens of stoppages, and the clock stops for every one.
TV timeouts. NHL broadcasts get three commercial breaks a period, each roughly two minutes long.
Intermissions. Two of them, about 17 minutes each in the regular season and a little longer in the playoffs.
Reviews and penalties. Goal reviews on video, plus sorting out who's going to the box, add a few minutes more.
Add it all up and the 60 minutes of regulation fill most of two and a half hours. And nobody's played any overtime yet.
Overtime and the shootout
Tied after 60 minutes in the regular season? Then it's five minutes of sudden-death overtime, three skaters a side instead of five. Next goal wins, and with all that open ice, chances come thick and fast.
Nobody scores? Shootout. Three shooters per team take turns going in alone on the goalie. Still level after three rounds and it becomes sudden death, round by round, until one team scores and the other doesn't.
The points table explains a lot. Any win, whether in regulation, overtime or the shootout, is worth two points. Lose in overtime or the shootout and you still get one. Lose in regulation and you get nothing. So when a game is tied late on, both teams know a point is sitting there for them, and that's why the last few minutes can look oddly cautious.
Playoff overtime is different
No shootout in the playoffs. If it's tied, they play full 20-minute periods, five on five, sudden death, with intermissions in between, and they keep going until somebody scores. Most of these games end in the first overtime. A few drag into a second or a third, and those are the ones still going well after midnight.
How many games are in an NHL season
From 2026-27, it's 84 regular-season games per team. For three decades before that it was 82. Then come the playoffs: four best-of-seven rounds, so a team that goes all the way can play as many as 28 more.
What game length means for your bet
Here's where it gets expensive if you're not paying attention. Hockey markets don't all settle on the same stretch of the game.
The main winner market on our NHL board says "incl. overtime and penalties" in its name. It goes on the final result, overtime and shootout and all, and there's no draw option.
The 1x2 market does have a draw, which means it can only settle on the 60 minutes of regulation. Your team wins in overtime? For this market, that's a draw.
Period markets, like first period 1x2 or a second period total, only care about that one period.
Totals and handicaps are where people get caught. Some include overtime goals and some don't, so read the market name before you bet.
An example from 17 October: Washington against New Jersey, 1.79 and 1.97 on the winner market. Those prices imply 55.9% and 50.8%. Add them and you get 106.6%, so the margin on that line was about 6.6%. You can run the same check on anything you're looking at, and our guide to the vig shows how.
Intermissions and live betting
Those two intermissions are a handy moment to look at the next period. The score tells you one story and the shot count sometimes tells a different one, and period markets let you bet on just the next 20 minutes. It all runs off the same balance as the rest of the site, on the ice hockey board.
Don't fancy waiting two and a half hours for a result? Our bitcoin dice game settles every roll on the spot.
Other levels of hockey
College hockey in the US uses the same three 20-minute periods, normally with shorter intermissions, so games tend to wrap up a bit sooner than in the NHL. Youth and high school games are shorter again, and the period length is up to each league or association, so there's no one standard. Follow other sports too? We've worked out how long a football game takes and how long a soccer game lasts as well.
Common questions
How many periods are in a hockey game?
Three, 20 minutes each, so 60 minutes of playing time. You only get overtime if it's tied.
How long is a hockey period?
Twenty minutes on the clock. In real time it's usually 30 to 40, since the clock stops at every whistle.
How long does an NHL game last?
Two to two and a half hours, usually, and that includes two intermissions of about 17 minutes. Overtime and a shootout can tack on another 10 to 15 minutes.
Does overtime count in hockey betting?
Depends on the market. On our NHL board the winner market includes overtime and the shootout. The 1x2 market and the period markets don't; they settle on regulation time or on the period itself.