GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
When does closing a hand on an NHL puck mean a minor, penalty shot or awarded goal?
A player may catch a puck from the air and immediately place or knock it to the ice. Catching and skating with it to avoid a check or gain territory, concealing it on the ice, or picking it up from the ice while it is live are minor-penalty cases. If a defending skater gathers it in the crease, the puck’s location determines whether the result is a penalty shot or, with the goalkeeper replaced by an extra attacker, an awarded goal.
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An airborne catch is different from carrying or covering
Under Rule 67.2, a player may catch a puck from the air but must immediately place or knock it to the ice. The same rule calls for a minor if a player catches and skates with it to avoid a check or gain territorial advantage, conceals a puck on the ice to prevent an opponent from playing it, or picks it up from the ice while play is in progress.
This concerns handling the puck itself. A hand pass is a separate rule with its own direction and teammate-possession test; those conditions are outside this guide.
The puck’s location sets the crease consequence
When a defending skater falls on, holds, picks up or gathers a live puck from the ice in the goal crease area, Rule 67.4 orders a penalty shot. Rule 63.6 clarifies the location test: the puck must be in the crease when the offense occurs. If a skater gathers a puck from outside the crease while the skater is inside it, the rule specifies a minor instead. The puck’s location controls, not the skater’s feet.
If the goalkeeper has been replaced by an extra attacker, the same specified crease handling by a player results in an awarded goal under Rule 67.5. The goalkeeper-present penalty-shot and replaced-goalkeeper awarded-goal cases are distinct remedies.
A hand-directed goal has a separate boundary
An attacking player cannot bat or direct the puck with a hand into the net; the goal is also disallowed if a puck so directed later deflects into the net off a player, goalkeeper or official. Rule 67.6 allows a goal when the puck enters on a clear deflection off a glove, provided the other goal requirements are satisfied.
At a face-off, the centers cannot hand-bat the puck to win until a third player from either team has touched it. Once the face-off is complete, Rule 79 hand-pass enforcement applies.
Move only the puck position
In a fictional comparison, a skater catches the puck from the air and immediately places or knocks it to the ice; that is permitted. If instead the skater catches it and skates with the puck to avoid a check or gain territorial advantage, Rule 67.2 calls for a minor. In two separate crease plays, keep the defending skater’s feet inside the crease in both; in the first, the puck is outside the crease when gathered, so Rule 63.6 specifies a minor rather than a penalty shot. In the second, only the puck location changes: it is inside the crease at the moment the skater gathers it from the ice; Rule 67.4 provides a penalty shot while the goalkeeper is still defending. In a separate version of that inside-puck branch, the goalkeeper has already been replaced by an extra attacker; the specified crease handling results in an awarded goal under Rule 67.5.
Related questions
Can a player catch the puck and drop it?
Rule 67.2 permits catching a puck from the air and immediately placing or knocking it to the ice.
Does a defender inside the crease automatically cause a penalty shot by gathering the puck?
No. The puck must be in the crease at the instant of the offense. If it is outside while the player is inside, Rule 63.6 specifies a minor instead.