The NHL breaks regular-season point ties for playoff seeding in a set order: fewer games played, more regulation wins, more regulation-and-overtime wins, more total wins, then head-to-head points. If the tie still isn’t resolved, goal differential is used as the next separator.

The order

  1. Fewer games played, which means a higher points percentage.
  1. More regulation wins, shown as RW.
  1. More regulation plus overtime wins, shown as ROW.
  1. More total wins, shown as W.
  1. More points in head-to-head games between the tied teams.

Small wrinkle

If the tied teams did not play an even number of home-and-away games against each other, the first game in the city with the extra game is excluded from the head-to-head comparison.

Why it matters

This is the tiebreaker chain the league uses when teams finish with the same number of points in the standings, which can decide division spots, wild cards, and ultimately playoff seeding.