Shootout wins over many of its skeptics
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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The NHL emerged from the lockout with a new look, including a bold new way to determine a winner for each regular-season game.
Plenty of skepticism from the purist wing of the sport surrounded the introduction of the shootout. Grumbling about using a skills competition -- akin to a home run derby after 10 innings of a tied baseball game -- to settle the score after 65 minutes probably will never go away.
The shootout, though, has won over some of the initial doubters. With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire this summer, the opportunity exists to make another round of significant rule changes, but commissioner Gary Bettman made it sound as if this tiebreaker is here to stay.
"All the research that we do on a regular basis tells us overwhelmingly our fans like the shootout," Bettman said glowingly during All-Star weekend in Ottawa. "We're looking at numbers in the 70 and 80 percent approval range, which on any question is an extraordinarily high number."
The seeds for the shootout were sewn eight years ago, when the general managers gathered at a resort just outside Las Vegas and, well, rolled the dice on some radical alterations. After the entire 2004-05 season was canceled during the labor dispute, the fans needed to be won back. The tiebreaker was one of those spices the NHL added to the recipe for regular-season intrigue.
Putting aside the concern about cheapening the outcome with a few fancy one-on-one drills, the dislike for draws is about unanimous.
"People want to see somebody win. They want to walk away without an empty feeling like, 'Wow, that was a really good tie tonight,' " said Minnesota coach Mike Yeo, whose team has played in 10 shootouts this season, tied for most in the NHL.
One potential downside is the creation of artificial parity, since one point is awarded to the loser in either an overtime or shootout game.
According to research by STATS LLC, 164 of 735 games this season have been tied after three periods. That means 22.3 percent of the time there are three points awarded in a game instead of two. The chase for playoff spots gets thickened this way, but teams with essentially losing records can wind up looking better in the standings than they are.
They sure like the shootout in Colorado. The Avalanche are 7-0 this season in those situations and have won 10 consecutive tiebreakers, one short of the NHL record for consecutive shootout wins set by the Dallas Stars during the 2005-06 season.
"A lot of fans probably appreciate it," Colorado right wing Milan Hejduk said. "You don't have a tie like in soccer. I think it's a nice way."
First Published January 31, 2012 12:00 am
