How many periods are in an NHL game?

Answer 1

A regulation NHL game consists of three 20-minute periods. Depending on the amount of breaks during the first and second periods, the intermissions between periods can last from 15 to 20 minutes. There are three television timeouts in each period. During the regular season, a game that goes beyond regulation will have a brief timeout (sometimes not long enough for a commercial break) followed by a 5-minute sudden death overtime. As of the 2005-06 season, any game not decided by the end of overtime in the regular season will go to a shootout. In the playoffs, regulation periods and intermissions occur as they do in the regular season. However, shootouts are not implemented and all overtimes are 20 minutes long. Time between peroids is generally shorter, closer to ten minutes, and there are no commercial breaks in overtime. So, there are only Three Periods!!