In hockey, a power play is when one team temporarily has more skaters on the ice than the other team because an opponent has taken a penalty and is in the penalty box.

What “power play” means in hockey

  • A player commits a penalty (like tripping or hooking) and is sent to the penalty box for a set time, often 2 minutes for a minor penalty.
  • Their team is not allowed to replace them on the ice, so they must play “shorthanded” with fewer skaters.
  • The other team now has a numerical advantage (for example, 5 skaters vs 4, or sometimes 5 vs 3), and that advantage is called a power play.

The main goal of the team on the power play is to use the extra space and extra player to create better scoring chances and try to score a power-play goal before the penalty time runs out.

How a power play usually looks

  • The team on the power play sets up in the offensive zone, moves the puck quickly, and tries to open passing and shooting lanes.
  • The shorthanded team mostly focuses on defending, blocking shots, and clearing the puck down the ice to “kill” time off the penalty clock.
  • If the team with the advantage scores, it’s recorded as a power-play goal , and for most minor penalties, the penalized player can then come out of the box and teams go back to even strength.

Why power plays are a big deal

  • Power plays often change momentum in close games because they give one team a higher-than-normal chance to score.
  • Teams track power-play percentage , which is the share of their power plays that result in at least one goal, and it’s a key stat in broadcasts and fan discussions.

In short: a power play is a built‑in advantage created by penalties, and coaches design special strategies and lineups just for these situations.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.