Using operational research to answer some interesting questions about NHL shootouts

When NHL teams are tied after 60 min of regulation time and 5 min of sudden‐death overtime, there is a shootout to determine who gets the overtime point. Essentially the teams alternate shots until a winner is determined. In this note a number of interesting shootout issues are examined including whether there is an advantage to the team going first, whether shooters' performance is affected when they must score to extend the shootout, and, in view of some of the longer shootouts to date, the probability distribution of shootout length.