A situation in which a team is outnumbered by its opponents while one or more players is serving a penalty, characterized by an emphasis on defensive play.
they surrendered just 12 goals in 300 penalty kills
Compare with power play (sense 2)
the team spent nearly the entire second period on the penalty kill
Example sentencesExamples
- It's not unusual to see the 29-year-old defenseman on the ice for all of a two-minute power play - or all two minutes of a penalty kill.
- They went three-for-eight on the power play and perfect on the penalty kill with the Rams having the man-advantage six times in the game.
- Choose how to play a five-man power play or how to defend when you're on a four-man penalty kill.
- Despite the dropoff on the penalty kill, the Avalanche are a better team now than they were two weeks ago.
- He could be used on the power play, the penalty kill, or at even strength.