Pulling the goalkeeper is legal; the replacement is an ordinary skater.

The ruleset used on this page

This explanation uses the International Ice Hockey Federation Official Rule Book 2026/27, which the IIHF lists as the current book for its events. It covers international ice hockey under IIHF rules; it is not a universal statement for every professional, college, junior or recreational league.

National associations and competition organisers can add event regulations. Overtime format, standings consequences, video-review availability and local substitution procedures should therefore be checked against the rules appointed for the game.

Six skaters can be the legal full-strength line-up

IIHF Rule 5.3 allows one goalkeeper on the ice at a time and expressly permits that goalkeeper to be removed for another skater. The substitute does not receive goalkeeper privileges: an ordinary skater cannot use goalkeeper-only rights to freeze or handle the puck.

At normal strength, five skaters plus one goalkeeper becomes six skaters with no goalkeeper. If penalties have reduced the team's on-ice strength, pulling the goalkeeper adds one skater to the number then permitted; it does not cancel a penalty or restore the usual full-strength count.

How to judge an empty-net sequence

1. Name the ruleset and phase. Regulation, overtime and a delayed penalty can have different consequences.
2. Count the permitted players. Include penalties already affecting on-ice strength.
3. Check the change. Was the goalkeeper close enough to the bench before the extra skater entered, and did either player join the play during illegal overlap?
4. Track the puck and whistle. On a delayed penalty, a touch is not automatically control; play ends when the team to be penalised gains control.
5. If the puck travels toward the open goal, decide goal, live puck or icing under the normal scoring and icing rules.
6. If a foul removes the chance, test every awarded-goal element rather than assuming any open-net foul is a goal.
7. Apply the competition procedure. Review technology, overtime standings and local regulations can supplement the IIHF baseline.

The extra skater must wait until the goalkeeper is within 1.50 metres

IIHF Rule 71.1 is specific to a goalkeeper proceeding to the players' bench for a substitution. The incoming skater cannot enter the playing surface until the goalkeeper is within 1.50 metres of that bench.

If the skater enters early, the official stops play immediately unless the non-offending team has possession; in that case the stoppage is delayed until possession changes. Rule 71 imposes no time penalty for this premature goalkeeper substitution. If play is stopped beyond the centre red line, the face-off is at centre ice; if stopped before the line, it is at the nearest face-off spot in that zone.

That limited remedy is not permission for a team to play with an illegal extra participant. Situations outside Rule 71—including an overlapping change in which the changing players become involved—can fall under Rule 74 and produce a bench minor for too many players on the ice.

The whistle waits for control, not every touch

Under IIHF Rule 15.1, when the team not controlling the puck commits a penalty, the referee signals a delayed call and stops play when that team gains control. That is why the non-offending team commonly replaces its goalkeeper with an extra attacker: ordinary loss of control to the offending team should bring the whistle before a return shot.

The risk is not zero. A deflection or loose touch that does not amount to control may leave play alive. The non-offending team can also pass or deflect the puck into its own empty goal before the whistle.

Rule 78.4 says a puck put into a goal by the defending side counts and credits the last attacking player who touched it. In this delayed-call own-goal case, the team about to be penalised receives the goal, and the signalled penalty is still assessed: Rule 15.2 washes out a minor only when the non-offending team scores.

An empty-net goal is judged like any other goal

The goalkeeper's absence does not create a separate scoring test. Under Rule 78.4 the puck must legally pass entirely across the goal line between the posts, below the crossbar and with the frame in its proper position. The usual no-goal rules still apply, including an illegal attacking action or a stoppage that occurred first.

Where the competition has the required technology, Rule 37.3 permits review of listed goal questions such as whether the puck crossed the line, beat the clock, entered before the frame was displaced or was illegally directed. Rule 38 coach's challenges are used only at selected IIHF championships. “Empty net” is not by itself a new review ground.

A long shot that scores is a goal; a miss may be icing

If a legal shot from the shooter's own half enters the open goal between the posts, it is a goal. If it misses and crosses the goal line outside the posts, the normal hybrid-icing judgment in Rule 81 applies. Rule 81.6 removes icing when the shooting team is below the opponent's numerical strength, but simply facing six skaters does not make a full-strength team “short-handed” by penalty.

The pulled goalkeeper creates two useful boundary cases. Under Rule 81.3, a goalkeeper genuinely travelling to the bench and making no attempt to play the puck does not cancel a potential icing. After icing, Rule 81.4 normally bars the offending team from changing, but expressly allows it to replace the extra attacker with the goalkeeper.

The open goal changes the remedy only when every test is met

IIHF Rules 25.1 and 25.3 require more than a foul near an empty net. The goalkeeper must have been removed; the attacking player must have possession and control of the puck, or clearly have been about to obtain it, in the neutral or attacking zone; there must be no defending player between that attacker and the opposing goal; and a defending-team infraction must prevent a reasonable scoring opportunity. When those elements are present, the referee stops play immediately and awards a goal.

If the goalkeeper is still on the ice—even after the attacker has skated around the goalkeeper—the open space behind the goalkeeper does not satisfy Rule 25's removed-goalkeeper test. Rule 24.8 explains that a qualifying breakaway foul then produces a penalty shot rather than an awarded goal.

The 2026/27 book also changes the scoring credit in Rule 33.2: when an attacker is about to reach a loose puck and is fouled before a shot at the open net, the fouled player receives credit for the awarded goal. That is a statistical-credit change; it does not remove Rule 25's substantive tests.

Six skaters attack with 40 seconds left

Situation: at five-on-five, Blue's goalkeeper reaches the bench legally and a sixth Blue skater enters. Red gains the puck and shoots it into Blue's empty goal while play is live.

IIHF 2026/27 ruling: goal. Rule 5.3 made Blue's six-skater line-up legal, and the lack of a goalkeeper supplies no defence to a legal goal under Rule 78.4.

The extra attacker enters too soon

Situation: Blue's goalkeeper is still more than 1.50 metres from the bench when the extra skater steps onto the ice. Red has possession.

IIHF 2026/27 ruling: do not stop Red's possession immediately. Under Rule 71.1 the stoppage is delayed until the puck changes possession; no time penalty is imposed for that premature goalkeeper substitution, and the rule's face-off-location formula applies. A separate active-overlap offence can still bring Rule 74 into play.

A delayed-penalty pass enters the team's own net

Situation: Red has pulled its goalkeeper during a delayed minor against Blue. A Red pass misses its teammate and slides into Red's empty goal before Blue gains control.

IIHF 2026/27 ruling: goal to Blue, credited under Rule 78.4 to the last Blue player who touched the puck. The delayed minor is still assessed because this was not a goal by the non-offending Red team.

An even-strength empty-net attempt misses

Situation: Red, at full strength, shoots from behind the centre red line toward Blue's empty goal. The puck misses, crosses the goal line outside the posts and produces a close race.

IIHF 2026/27 ruling: apply Rule 81's hybrid-icing test. If icing is called, Red cannot make an ordinary line change, but Blue may put its goalkeeper back for the extra attacker before the face-off.

A foul prevents an attacker reaching a loose puck

Situation: Blue's goalkeeper is off. Red is about to collect a loose puck in the neutral zone with no Blue player between Red and the goal, but a Blue player trips Red and removes the reasonable scoring chance.

IIHF 2026/27 ruling: awarded goal if the referee judges that Red would have gained possession and control and all Rule 25 elements are satisfied. Under the 2026/27 Rule 33.2 change, the fouled Red player receives the goal credit.

NHL regular-season overtime adds a standings consequence

The NHL is a separate rules family. In the latest book offered on the NHL's official rulebook page when checked—NHL Official Rules 2025-2026—Rule 84.2 allows a goalkeeper to be pulled in regular-season overtime, but a team that loses while voluntarily using the extra attacker forfeits the automatic standings point earned by reaching overtime. The exception is a pull for a delayed penalty against the opponent.

Do not assume that NHL standings consequence applies to an IIHF event or another league; use the appointed competition regulations. The NHL had not posted a 2026-27 rulebook on its official rulebook page when this page was checked on 27 August 2026, so this comparison is deliberately labelled 2025-26 rather than projected forward.

Five claims that miss an important condition

• “Six skaters is automatically too many.” Not when Rule 5.3 has lawfully replaced the goalkeeper.
• “Any touch by the penalised team ends a delayed call.” IIHF Rule 15.1 uses gaining control, not mere contact.
• “A missed empty-net shot cannot be icing.” It can; apply Rule 81, numerical strength and the hybrid race.
• “Any foul with the goalkeeper pulled is an awarded goal.” Rule 25 still requires zone, control or prospective control, no intervening defender and a denied reasonable chance.
• “The goalkeeper cannot return after the team ices the puck.” IIHF Rule 81.4 expressly permits that goalkeeper-for-extra-attacker substitution.

Governing-body sources and effective versions

• International Ice Hockey Federation — Official Rule Book 2026/27, Rules 5.3, 15, 24–25, 33.2, 37–38, 71, 74, 78 and 81
• International Ice Hockey Federation — current Rules, Regulations & Guidelines hub (2026/27 rulebook status)
• National Hockey League — Official Rules 2025-2026, Rule 84.2 (regular-season overtime extra attacker)

Checked on 27 August 2026 against the IIHF 2026/27 rulebook and the IIHF page directing its events to the latest published version. The IIHF book is the controlling baseline here. The NHL comparison uses the last edition then offered on the NHL's official rulebook page and is not treated as a 2026-27 rule. Competition regulations may add overtime, standings and review procedures.