AHL 3-on-3 overtime is still killing off shootout

What do the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Chicago Wolves, the Utica Comets and the Texas Stars have in common?

Correct: They’re all American Hockey League teams. But they’re also the four American Hockey League teams that, as the regular-season midpoint arrives, have yet to participate in a shootout.

Oh, they’ve had overtime games. Hamilton is 4-6, Chicago is 3-4, Utica is 3-5 and Texas is 2-9 (yuck) through Wednesday night’s games. But they’ve not participated in shootouts. Why? Because through nearly half a season, the League’s 3-on-3 overtime is effectively turning the skills competition into a rarity rather than the norm for overtime games.

There have been 136 AHL games that have gone to overtime this season. Of those, 101 have been decided in either 4-on-4 or 3-on-3 overtime, or 74.3 percent; 35 were decided in the shootout, or 25.7 percent.

Last season, the AHL saw 35.3 percent of its overtime games (275) end in the 4-on-4 overtime; the number of overtime games decided in the shootout was a robust 64.7 percent – 178 games.

So from 64.7 percent of overtime games, down to 25.7 percent. That’s more like it.

How much of this can be attributed to the 3-on-3 overtime? There have been 101 overtime goals scored (obviously). Of those, 56 have come during the 4-on-4 and 45 have come during the 3-on-3. So, combining the games decided in the 3-on-3 and the games decided in the shootout, you get 58.8 percent, bringing us a tad closer to the overall shootout total from last season.

The 3-on-3 has helped dramatically slice into the number of shootout games.

Last season, there were seven teams that played at least 15 shootouts each. As we stated at the top, there are four that have yet to play in one.

No one knows if this is an anomaly, if shootout levels will climb in the second half or next season. But as the sample size has grown, the numbers are holding steady, even if shootouts have climbed slightly since the last time we checked in.

Hopefully the NHL takes notice. Kill the shootout! Go get’em, Ken Holland!

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