What is Penalty Kill?

A team's ability to prevent goals while playing with fewer players than the other team.

What this tells us

When your team has a penalty and plays short-handed (say, 4 vs. 5), the penalty kill is your chance to survive that disadvantage without giving up a goal. A higher PK% means your team is really good at shutting down the other team's power play — they're not scoring even when they have the extra player. A lower PK% means you're bleeding goals on the penalty kill and putting yourself in a hole.

Limitations

PK% doesn't tell you *why* a team is good or bad at it — whether it's because of great goaltending, disciplined positioning, or just luck. It also doesn't account for how dangerous the opponent's power play is (facing Connor McDavid's PP is harder than facing a bottom-six forward's PP). And on small sample sizes, one or two goals against can swing the percentage a lot.

Example

An elite penalty-kill team might stop 85% of power plays against them; a struggling team might be down around 75%. Over a season, that difference compounds — a few extra goals allowed on the PK can cost you points and playoff position.