Examining the home advantage in the National Hockey League: Comparisons among regulation, overtime, and the shootout

- We examined the extent of the home advantage in the National Hockey League.
- We compared home teams' odds of winning in regulation, overtime, and the shootout.
- Higher quality home teams' odds of winning were slightly lower in overtime than regulation.
- Higher quality home teams' odds of winning were slightly lower in the shootout than regulation.
- Regardless of quality, home teams' odds of winning were moderately lower in the shootout than overtime.

ObjectivesTo investigate the magnitude of the home advantage in the National Hockey League (NHL) as games proceeded from regulation, to overtime, to the shootout, while adjusting for team quality.DesignArchival.MethodBinary logistic regression analyses were conducted using data from the 2005-2006 through 2013-2014 NHL seasons (N = 10,534 games) to compare home teams' odds of winning in regulation, overtime, and the shootout.ResultsCompared to games decided in regulation, higher quality home teams' odds of winning were slightly lower when games concluded in either overtime or the shootout. Further, regardless of team quality, home teams' odds of winning were moderately lower when games concluded in the shootout rather than overtime.ConclusionsThe shootout may affect home team players' psychological and behavioural states, generally resulting in a decrease in home teams' odds of winning in the shootout relative to overtime.