The Calgary Flames may qualify for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Or they may miss the playoffs. But the way things are trending, the margins are pretty thin in either direction. They’ll probably either barely make the post-season, or barely miss it.
So with that in mind, it’s probably worthwhile to discuss the National Hockey League’s standings tiebreakers.
The NHL’s standings are pretty straightforward: the standings are sorted by points, with teams earning two points for a win and one point for losing outside of regulation. But when teams are tied in the standings in points, things can get a bit murky..
If two or more teams are tied in points, here are the tie-breaking scenarios:
[1] Games played (fewer) or points percentage (higher)
This is pretty straightforward. A team with fewer games played will have a higher points percentage and be higher in the standings.
[2] Regulation wins
St. Louis has 28 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 26 (in 72 games), Calgary has 26 (in 70 games), Utah has 24 (in 71 games)
[3] Regulation and overtime wins
St. Louis has 34 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 31 (in 72 games), Calgary has 31 (in 70 games), Utah has 31 (in 71 games)
[4] Total wins
St. Louis has 38 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 34 (in 72 games), Calgary has 34 (in 70 games), Utah has 32 (in 71 games)
[5] Head-to-head points, excluding any “odd games”
This is a bit messy so here’s how it works: when teams have not played an even number of games against each other, the first game played in the city that hosted the extra game is ignored. (Example: Calgary and St. Louis played three times in 2024-25, once in Calgary and twice in St. Louis. For this tiebreaker, the first game in St. Louis would be ignored. It’s called the “odd game” in the NHL’s guidelines.) If more than two teams are tied, points percentage earned in games against each other (removing “odd games”) is used to determine standings.
For this tiebreaker, there are six combinations of teams to look at:
- St. Louis has the tiebreaker clinched over Vancouver (4 points to 2)
- St. Louis has the tiebreaker clinched over Calgary (4 points to 1)
- The St. Louis/Utah tiebreaker is yet to be determined (the Blues are up 2 points to 0, but they have a game left)
- The Calgary/Vancouver tiebreaker is a wash (both teams earned 5 points)
- Utah has the tiebreaker over Vancouver (4 points to 0)
- The Calgary/Utah tiebreaker is yet to be determined (Utah is up 2 points to 0, but they have a game left)
If it somehow gets as far as the fifth tiebreaker, the Blues are in good shape.
[6] Goal differential
St. Louis is +15 (in 73 games), Vancouver is -13 (in 72 games), Calgary is -20 (in 70 games), Utah is -13 (in 71 games)
[7] Goals for
St. Louis has 224 (in 73 games), Vancouver has 206 (in 72 games), Calgary has 186 (in 70 games), Utah has 203 (in 71 games)
The Flames look to be pretty competitive in terms of wins (of various types). They don’t look to fare well in head-to-head tiebreakers, goal differentials or goals for. Hopefully it doesn’t get that far.
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