Why can an NHL puck stay live on the boards but stop play after hitting netting or overhead equipment?

The boards are treated differently from an overhead obstacle

Rule 85.1 treats a puck that leaves the playing area or strikes an obstacle above the playing surface other than the boards or glass as out of play. A puck that comes to rest on top of the boards is still in play and may be played legally by hand or stick, subject to other rules.

The rule gives special face-off locations for some paths. A puck that goes out directly off a face-off stays at the same spot without a delay penalty. For contact with a player’s glove or body hanging over a bench, or entry through an open bench door, the face-off is normally at the nearest spot in the zone from which the puck was shot. A separate opposing-bench exception sends the face-off to the neutral zone beside that bench if the puck hits an opposing player’s glove or body hanging over the opposing team’s bench, or enters that bench through an open bench door. The contact route does not require the puck to enter the bench afterward.

Observed and unnoticed spectator netting have different outcomes

If a puck hits the curved glass at the end of a players’ bench, play stops when an official observes it. Contact with spectator netting at the ends or corners also ordinarily stops play and uses the out-of-play face-off rule. But if the officials do not notice that netting contact, play continues normally and the resulting play is considered legitimate.

There is a matching limit on video challenge: Rule 38.2(b) expressly excludes an unnoticed spectator-netting contact caused by either team from the missed-offensive-zone-stoppage challenge provision. Do not treat the event as a stoppage that was missed for that challenge.

Goal netting and the restart depend on whether the puck is playable

Outside goal netting is different from spectator netting. A puck can be played off the goal netting. If it stays there more than three seconds, is lodged outside the net and unplayable, or is frozen between opponents, the referee stops play. A goalkeeper freezing it on the back of the net or a defender shielding an attacker from playing it leads to a face-off in the defending zone. If an official sees the puck go under the goal or through the mesh from the side or back, play stops and the face-off is nearest the stoppage.

As a general rule, an out-of-play or unplayable puck caused by a player is faced off in the zone from which it was shot; a deflected puck uses the zone of the deflection. In the neutral zone, the selected spot gives the offending team the least territorial advantage. Rule 85.5 separately places an attacking delayed-offside or specified attacking game-flow stoppage outside the attacking zone in the neutral zone.

A missed netting touch stays live

In a fictional play, the puck rests on top of the boards: it remains live. In a separate stipulated play, the offending team shoots from its defending zone and the puck hits an overhead obstacle; the face-off is at the nearest spot closest to that shot’s origin that gives the offending team the least territorial advantage. In a second stipulated play, a shot hits the end-corner spectator netting and no on-ice official notices. Play continues, and any resulting play is legitimate. The team cannot use the missed-offensive-zone-stoppage challenge route for that unnoticed netting contact. In another fictional play, an official sees the puck hit that netting, so play stops and the normal out-of-play face-off rules apply. Finally, a puck sitting on the goal netting is still playable; if it remains there more than three seconds, the referee stops play. These surfaces and events have different rules.

Related questions

Sources and further reading

• National Hockey League Official Rules 2026–2027 (title-page edition); Rules 38.2(b), 85.1–85.2 and 85.5, printed pp. 63–64 and 132–134; physical PDF pp. 74–75 and 143–145
• NHL official FAQ, rules download index (current 2026–27 link label checked 2026-10-15; index is edition provenance, not rule text)