Man Advantage

Man Advantage is a situation that occurs when one hockey team has a player in the penalty box. The team that does not have the player in the box is said to have a “man advantage”, since they have more players on the ice. A man advantage is also referred to as a “power play”. If two minor penalties are called on the same team, the opposing team will have a two-man advantage. However, if more than two players on the same team receive penalties at the same time, the opposing team may not have any more than a two-man advantage at any given point in the game.

If the man advantage occurs due to a minor penalty, the team with the man advantage continues to have the extra player until the two-minute penalty expires or until they score a goal. If the man advantage occurs because of a major penalty, the team with the extra man will continue to have a man advantage for the full five-minutes regardless of whether or not they score during that time. If the team with the man advantage gets a penalty, they lose the man advantage and the game becomes even strength until the first penalty expires or one of the teams score.