from Bob McKenzie of TSN,

It is now or never for three-on-three overtime in the NHL.

“It is, isn’t it?” said Ken Holland, who has been banging the three-on-three drum for years and knows the moment of truth is at hand.

The Detroit Red Wing general manager has long been an advocate of going to three-on-three overtime if four-on-four overtime fails to produce a winner. The goal, of course, is to reduce the number of NHL games that go to a shootout.

At face value, it looks like, and should be, a slam dunk for the NHL.

The American Hockey League has this season been using three-on-three overtime when four-on-four overtime ends. The results have been noteworthy.

Seventy-eight per cent of all of overtime games in the AHL end with a goal in OT. In the NHL, where there’s only four-on-four OT, the OT resolution rate is just a shade over 50 per cent.

Using more understandable numbers, roughly one in four AHL games that are tied after 60 minutes go to a shootout while approximately one in two NHL games tied after regulation get settled by a shootout.

So what are we waiting for? The NHL has no desire to do away entirely with the shootout, but most right-thinking individuals would like to see fewer games decided by the equivalent of a skills competition.

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