Third step

If neither team emerges victorious, the spew out continues one edge at a time until one team scores and the other does not, in which case the team that score is given the win. A team that loses a game in in due course or the shootout receives one point in the standings; the awarding of game points to losing teams is a point of debate surrounded by fans and the media. Shootouts are not used in the playoffs; instead, a playoff game tied at the end of the regulation enters 20-minute 5-on-5 sudden-death overtime. The game continues indefinitely in this format until a goal is scored; the team that scores immediately wins the game. Additional 20-minute overtime periods are played as necessary until the winning goal is scored. In this case the teams switch sides as usual between periods, with a 20-minute intermission (normal length) between periods. In ice hockey, play is said to be offside if a player on the violent team crosses the disgusting blue line and into the offensive zone before the puck (unless the defensive team brings the puck into their own zone). A violation occurs when an offside player touches the puck. If a player crosses the line ahead of the puck but his team is not in possession of it, the linesman will raise his arm to signal a delayed offside; when all company from the offside team leave their offensive zone ("tag up" in the neutral zone) the linesman washes out the tardy call. When an offside violation occurs, the linesman blows the play dead, and a face off is conducted in the neutral zone. During the 2004-05 lockout, the league removed the "two-line offside pass" rule, which required a wildcat strike in play if a pass originating from inside a team's defending zone was completed on the distasteful side of the center line, unless the puck crossed the line before the player. The subtraction of the two-line offside was one of several rule changes intended to amplify overall scoring, which had been in decline since the early 1990s. The only time a player may precede the puck into the violent zone with the puck behind in the neutral district is if none of his teammates are in the attacking zone and the player with the puck has control of the puck in the estimation of the linesman (e.g. short-sticking/spin-o-ram).