An in-game penalty shot counts as a shot on goal if it scores or is saved. A miss does not, and shootout attempts stay separate.

An in-game penalty shot counts as a shot on goal if it scores or the goaltender saves it. If the attempt misses the net or hits the post or crossbar and stays out, it does not count as a standard shot on goal.

A penalty by itself never adds a shot. Any shot taken during the resulting power play simply follows the normal on-target test. Post-overtime shootout attempts are different again: they are recorded in separate shootout categories, not in the game’s standard SOG total.

Penalty-shot results at a glance

The NHL defines a shot on goal as a puck directed into the net or one that would have entered had the goaltender not stopped it. That definition covers penalty shots as well as shots during normal play. It also explains why a puck that hits the post and stays out is not a shot on goal (NHL hockey glossary).

A saved penalty shot adds one SOG

The NHL record of Chicago’s March 16, 2023 game at Nashville provides a clear example. At 13:40 of the second period, Matt Duchene took a penalty shot against Alex Stalock. The league’s machine-readable play-by-play classifies the attempt as shot-on-goal, credits Duchene as the shooter and lists Nashville’s running total as 16 SOG (NHL play-by-play data).

The final box score gives Nashville 36 shots on goal and Stalock 35 saves on 36 shots against, with the saved penalty shot included in those ordinary totals (NHL gamecenter; NHL box-score data).

A successful penalty shot also counts as a shot on goal because the puck enters the net. No game-clock time runs during the attempt: Rule 24.7 says the time required to take a penalty shot is not included in regulation or overtime playing time (2026–27 NHL Official Rules).

Why penalty-shot columns can look inconsistent

The NHL maintains dedicated penalty-shot fields for attempts, goals, failures and saves. Their definitions are broader than those of standard shooting and save percentage.

The league’s statistics glossary says penalty-shot shooting percentage uses every attempt, including misses. More confusingly, the specialized PS Svs field counts every penalty-shot attempt that does not become a goal—even one that misses the net. That does not turn a wide attempt into a conventional goalie save (NHL statistics glossary).

So one attempt can be recorded as:

• a penalty-shot failure in the specialized data;
• a penalty-shot save for purposes of the specialized PS save percentage; but
• not a standard SOG or conventional save if the puck missed the net.

When checking a player prop, game log or database export, the column name and denominator therefore matter.

Shootout attempts stay separate

An NHL shootout uses penalty-shot procedures, but the resulting attempts are not added to standard game SOG. The NHL glossary provides separate fields for shootout attempts, goals, saves and percentages. It also defines shootout save percentage using all failed attempts, including misses, rather than conventional shots on goal (NHL statistics glossary).

Rule 84.4 adds one goal to the winning team’s final score regardless of how many shootout goals were scored. The deciding shooter receives no goal in personal statistics, and the losing goalie is not charged with that extra goal against (2026–27 NHL Official Rules).

This statistical separation is not unique to the NHL. The NCAA statisticians’ manual states explicitly that shootout goals, shots and saves do not count toward team or individual totals, although the attempts and their outcomes are still recorded separately (NCAA Ice Hockey Statisticians’ Manual).

The practical rule is: an in-game penalty shot follows the normal on-target test; a tiebreaking shootout attempt belongs in a separate statistical bucket.