There is nothing more disappointing than watching 65 minutes of riveting hockey — back-and-forth play, bruising sequences and a fast-paced tempo — before each player skates out one by one to try to score to decide the winner.
It feels out of place. It feels inadequate. It feels like an injustice to the game that was just played.
The NHL introduced five-minute, five-on-five sudden-death overtime for the 1983-84 regular season, but believed too many games were still ending in ties. Despite switching to four-on-four overtime in 1999-2000, and beginning to award a point to teams that lost in OT, the league was still dissatisfied with how many games were ending in ties.
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