Hockey - Goalkeeper Changes

Empty net and pulled goalie rules, made clear.

Pulling the goalie is a legal substitution, not a special penalty rule. A team removes its goaltender and sends on another skater, usually to chase a goal late in the game or to use an extra attacker during a delayed penalty.

Quick ruling: a team may replace its goaltender with a skater when the rulebook and substitution timing allow it, but the team then has no goaltender defending the net. If the other team scores into that open net, the goal counts unless another rule has already stopped play.

Decision path

How to read the situation

Identify whether the goaltender has actually left the ice or is still in the play during a change.
Count the team's legal active players for that moment, including penalties and any delayed penalty extra-attacker situation.
Apply normal substitution rules: the replacement cannot create a too-many-players advantage while the goalie is leaving.
If the empty-net team loses the puck, decide whether play is still live, whether a delayed penalty whistle is due, or whether icing or another stoppage applies.
If a foul denies an obvious empty-net scoring chance, check the active rulebook for whether the result is a penalty shot, an awarded goal, or another sanction.

Core rule

What pulling the goalie means

In practical terms, pulling the goalie means substituting the goaltender for an ordinary skater. At full strength, that usually turns five skaters and one goaltender into six skaters and an empty net. If the team is short-handed, it may still pull the goalie, but the total number of skaters changes with the penalty situation.

The extra skater is not a power play by itself. It is simply a risk-reward substitution: more attacking pressure at one end, no goaltender at the other.

When it applies

Common empty-net situations

Late in the game: a trailing team may remove the goaltender to create an extra attacker and try to tie the score.
Delayed penalty: the non-offending team often pulls the goalie because play should stop when the penalized team gains control of the puck.
Special standings or tournament needs: a team may take the risk earlier than usual if only a win, goal difference, or another competition-specific result matters.
Power-play pressure: a team already on a power play can also remove its goaltender for an even larger skater advantage, but the empty-net risk remains.

Delayed calls

Why the empty net is usually safer on a delayed penalty

During a standard delayed penalty, the referee lets the non-offending team keep attacking until the offending team gains control. That is why teams often send the goalie to the bench: the penalized team normally cannot carry the puck down and shoot because the whistle should come when it controls the puck.

The risk is an own-goal sequence. If the attacking team misplays the puck into its own empty net before the whistle, the goal can still count for the other team under normal scoring-credit principles.

Empty-net goals

What counts when the net is open

An empty-net goal is still a regular goal on the scoreboard. If the puck legally enters the open net while play is live, the goal counts even if the shot came from far away, even if the defending team was under pressure, and even if the goalie had only just reached the bench.

Statistical treatment can vary by competition, especially for goaltender goals-against records, but that does not change the game score. The official scorer and the competition's stats rules handle those details after the goal decision is made.

Icing risk

Shooting at an empty net can still create icing

A team defending a lead may shoot toward the open net from deep in its own end. If the puck goes in, it is a goal. If it misses and crosses the goal line untouched, icing may be called unless an icing exception applies, such as the shooting team being short-handed in a rulebook that uses that exception.

This is why players often try to gain the red line before shooting at an empty net. The open goal makes the reward large, but a miss can bring the face-off back into the shooter's defensive zone.

Awarded goals

When a goal may be awarded instead of a penalty shot

Many ice hockey codes treat an empty-net breakaway foul differently from a normal breakaway foul. If a player has a clear chance at an empty net and is illegally prevented from scoring, the officials may award a goal rather than run a penalty shot against no goaltender.

The exact test is rulebook-specific. Officials look at whether the net was empty, whether the attacker had control or a clear scoring chance, where the puck and players were, and whether the foul directly took away the goal opportunity.

Too many players

The change still has to be legal

Pulling the goalie does not excuse a sloppy substitution. If the replacement skater joins the play while the goaltender is still active in a way that creates an illegal extra-player advantage, officials can call too many players under the same logic used for ordinary line changes.

The practical question is not just whether six skaters are visible. Six skaters can be legal with an empty net. The problem is having more active participants than the team's situation allows.

Common argument

"The team has six skaters, so that is illegal"

Six skaters are legal when the goaltender has been replaced. It becomes illegal only if the team also has a goaltender active, if a change creates illegal overlap, or if penalties reduce the number of skaters the team is allowed to use.