A skate may direct the puck in. A distinct kick may not.

The ruleset used on this page

This page applies the National Hockey League Official Rules 2025-2026, principally Rules 37.2-37.4 (video review), 49.1-49.2 (kicking), 76.2 (face-off location) and 78.4-78.5 (goals). As checked on 27 August 2026, 2025-2026 remained the rulebook linked from the NHL's official Video Rulebook.

This is an NHL explanation, not a universal ice-hockey rule. IIHF events, NCAA hockey, USA Hockey, Canadian amateur hockey and domestic professional leagues use their own current books and competition regulations. The appointed ruleset controls the game being played.

The puck must actually enter a legal goal

NHL Rule 78.4 requires the puck to pass between the posts, below the crossbar and entirely across the goal line with the goal frame in its proper position. The puck crossing the line is only the first gate: Rule 78.5 can still make an apparent goal illegal because of a distinct kick, a deliberate body direction, a high stick, goalkeeper interference, a displaced net or a play the Referee has deemed stopped.

A skate touch is therefore neither automatic goal nor automatic no goal. Officials identify the contact that sent the puck toward the net and then apply the correct scoring restriction.

What “distinct kicking motion” means

For NHL video review, Rule 37.4 defines the motion by its effect: the video must make clear that an attacking player deliberately propelled the puck with a kick of the foot or skate and that the puck then entered the net. Rule 49.1 separately describes kicking as deliberately using the skate with a kicking motion to propel the puck.

The rule does not say that every deliberate skate redirection is a kick. Rule 49.2 expressly allows a puck to be directed into the net by an attacker's skate if no distinct kicking motion is evident. The legal question is the prohibited kick, not simply intent, skate angle, forward puck movement or skate contact.

The complete kicked-puck branches

• No distinct kick: a puck that deflects off, or is directed by, an attacking skate can be a good goal.
• Distinct kick straight in: no goal.
• Kick, then any player's body: no goal, including a deflection from the goalkeeper's body or pads.
• Kick, then the goalkeeper's stick: no goal.
• Kick, then a skater's stick: good goal. Rule 49.2 includes the attacker's own stick and the stick of any other player, but expressly excludes the goalkeeper's stick.
• Kick equipment at the puck: no goal if an attacker kicks a stick, glove, helmet or other equipment at the puck and causes it to cross the line. Kicking the blade of the attacker's own stick is included.

The intervening-contact rule is why “the attacker kicked it” is not always the end of an NHL replay. Officials must track whether the next contact was a body, a goalkeeper's stick or a skater's stick.

A deliberate skate angle can still be legal

NHL Rule 49.2 distinguishes a legal direction from a distinct kick. An attacker may place or angle a skate so an arriving puck changes course into the net, provided the player does not use a kicking motion to propel it. A puck may also legally deflect from an attacker's skate while that player is stopping.

“Stopping” is not a blanket exception. The decisive fact remains whether the puck merely deflected during the stop or whether the foot or skate delivered a distinct kick. A moving leg is evidence to assess, not a separate rule that automatically decides the play.

Skates have a specific exception; hands and bodies do not

Rule 78.4 allows an accidental deflection from an attacker's skate or body. Rule 78.5(i), however, disallows a puck deliberately directed, batted or thrown into the net by an attacker other than with a stick. That means an accidental torso, arm or hand deflection can count, but deliberately batting the puck in with a hand, arm or other body part cannot.

The skate rule is narrower and more permissive: an attacker may intentionally direct the puck with a skate, but only without the distinct kicking motion prohibited by Rule 49.2.

An ordinary own-goal kick is treated differently

The no-goal language in Rule 49.2 applies to an attacking player kicking the puck into the opponent's net. Under Rule 78.4, if a defending player puts the puck into that player's own goal during ordinary live play, the goal is awarded to the attacking team, subject to the other goal rules.

This does not rescue a prior illegal attacking kick: Rule 49.2 specifically says a kicked puck that then deflects from any player's body is still no goal. The sequence, not just the last player touched, controls.

No goal, neutral-zone face-off—and normally no penalty

Kicking the puck is permitted in all zones under NHL Rule 49.2. A distinct attacking kick that sends the puck illegally into the net therefore produces no goal, not a penalty merely for kicking the puck. Rule 76.2 places the resulting face-off at the nearest neutral-zone face-off spot when the attacking team illegally directs, bats, kicks or high-sticks the puck into the goal.

Do not confuse that scoring rule with kicking an opponent. NHL Rule 49.3 treats kicking or attempting to kick another player as a match-penalty offence; that is a separate act and outcome.

The NHL Situation Room reviews the goal

Under Rule 37.2, every NHL goal is reviewed by the NHL Situation Room. If a closer examination is required, play is held while the Situation Room and on-ice Referee complete the review. Rule 37.3(d) expressly makes the presence of a distinct kicking motion a goal-review question, and the Situation Room's decision is final.

This review does not require a coach to challenge the play. A potential goal must be reviewed before or during the next stoppage; Rule 37.2 says a goal cannot be awarded or disallowed by video review once play has resumed. Rule 37.4 asks whether the video makes the deliberate propulsion by a kick clear.

The attacker opens the skate to a pass

Situation: a pass is travelling across the crease. The attacker deliberately turns a stationary skate, and the puck glances from the blade into the net without the foot swinging through it.

NHL 2025-2026 ruling: goal, assuming the other goal requirements are satisfied. Rule 49.2 allows a puck directed by an attacking skate when no distinct kicking motion is evident. Deliberately presenting the angle is not by itself the prohibited act.

A kick rebounds from the goalkeeper's pad

Situation: the attacker kicks the puck toward goal. It hits the goalkeeper's pad and crosses the line.

NHL 2025-2026 ruling: no goal. Rule 49.2 says a kicked puck that deflects from the body of any player, including the goalkeeper, remains illegal. The restart is the nearest neutral-zone face-off under Rule 76.2; the puck kick alone does not create a penalty.

A kick reaches a teammate's stick

Situation: the attacker kicks the puck across the crease. A teammate's stick redirects it into the net.

NHL 2025-2026 ruling: goal, provided no other violation applies. Rule 49.2 treats a kicked puck that subsequently deflects from any skater's stick as a good goal. The intervening legal stick contact is the decisive fact.

The same play hits the goalkeeper's stick

Situation: the attacker kicks the puck; it clips the goalkeeper's stick and enters.

NHL 2025-2026 ruling: no goal. The skater-stick exception in Rule 49.2 expressly excludes the goalkeeper's stick. A later touch of the goalkeeper's stick therefore does not make the attacking kick legal.

A defender kicks the puck into the defender's own net

Situation: with play live and no prior illegal attacking action, a defender deliberately kicks a loose puck and it enters that defender's goal.

NHL 2025-2026 ruling: goal for the attacking team under Rule 78.4. The distinct-kick scoring prohibition in Rule 49.2 is written for an attacking player putting the puck into the opponent's net.

How to decide an NHL skate goal

1. Confirm entry: did the whole puck cross the line between the posts and below the crossbar with the frame legally positioned?
2. Identify the actor: was the skate action by an attacker or a defender?
3. Separate direction from kick: did the puck deflect from or get directed by the skate, or did a deliberate kick propel it?
4. Trace every later contact: after a kick, distinguish a body, goalkeeper's stick and skater's stick.
5. Check the remaining goal gates: play stopped, time, high stick, deliberate body direction, goalkeeper interference and net position can independently decide no goal.
6. Apply review and restart: the Situation Room makes the NHL video decision; an illegal attacking kick into goal restarts at the nearest neutral-zone spot.

Four shortcuts that produce the wrong ruling

• “Any skate contact means no goal.” A deflection or direction without a distinct kick is legal.
• “If the player meant to redirect it, it is no goal.” NHL Rule 49.2 permits intentional skate direction without a kicking motion.
• “Any later deflection makes the kick legal.” A body or goalkeeper-stick deflection does not; a skater-stick contact can.
• “A kicked-puck no goal also means a penalty.” Kicking the puck is allowed in open play. Kicking an opponent is the separate penalised offence.

NHL sources and effective version

• National Hockey League — Official Rules 2025-2026, Rules 37.2-37.4, 49.1-49.2, 76.2 and 78.4-78.5
• National Hockey League — Video Rulebook: Kicking Motion (Rule 37 video review)
• National Hockey League — official Video Rulebook and current rulebook download

Checked on 27 August 2026 against the NHL's current published rulebook download, the 2025-2026 Official Rules. This page does not apply IIHF, NCAA, USA Hockey or other competition rules; those organizations' current books and event regulations may produce a different process or outcome.