What is Penalty Kill %?
The percentage of power-play chances your team stops without giving up a goal.
What this tells us
When your team is short a player, how often do they prevent the other team from scoring? A higher PK% means your penalty killers are doing their job — getting in front of shots, clearing the puck, and keeping the opponent's man advantage from being dangerous. Most NHL teams kill somewhere between 75% and 85% of their penalties.
Limitations
PK% doesn't tell you *how* the team is killing penalties — some teams suffocate the puck carrier and force low-danger chances, while others allow high-quality looks but have a hot goaltender bailing them out. It also doesn't account for the strength of the opposing power play; killing a penalty against Connor McDavid's unit is harder than against a fourth-line group. That's why we also show expected goals against (xGA) on the penalty kill.
Formula[show]
Goals Against on Power Play ÷ Power Plays Against = (1 − PK%)Example
A top-tier penalty-killing unit might sit at 84%–87%, meaning they give up a goal on only one or two of every ten power plays. A struggling unit might dip to 72%–75%, bleeding goals on nearly every fourth man-advantage chance.