How puckfeed works
puckfeed is last night’s hockey as a retro video game. Every goal, big hit and big save is replayed in pixel art from where the players and the puck really were, and you can take over any of them and play.
What’s on puckfeed
The scores of every game, the standings, the scoring leaders, box scores, and a page for every team and player. Pick your team once and it comes first everywhere.
Every goal, big hit and big save is replayed in pixel art. Watch them on each page’s video board, or swipe through all of them in Reels.
Tap Play on any of them and you take over a few seconds before it happened, at the real score and time. Then the game keeps going to the final horn.
How the replays are made
For every goal, the league records where each player and the puck are, ten times a second. puckfeed draws those real paths, so the goal you watch is the goal that happened, skated by pixel players in the teams’ colors.
Hits and saves come with less: where it happened, who was involved and who was on the ice. puckfeed places everyone else, and those replays say Player positions estimated.
Once you take over, the replay stops being a recording. The other players stick to what really happened for as long as they can, then play for themselves.
How to play
A stick and three buttons, on a phone, a keyboard or a controller. What each button does depends on who has the puck, and the game shows it on screen: the big button shoots when your team has the puck and hits when the other team does.
Skate
Sprint (it tires you out)
Shoot when your team has the puck (hold to wind up, let go to shoot), or hit when they have it
Pass when you have the puck, or switch to another player when you don’t
Deke when you have the puck, or poke check when you don’t
Start the game
Pause and open the menu
- Your shot goes where you’re skating (or where the right stick points). Shots from straight in front rarely beat the goalie: cut across the crease, or pass for a one-timer.
- To win a faceoff, press the big button as the puck drops, not before.
- Tips pop up the first time each move matters, using the buttons on the device in your hands. The pause menu always shows the controls.
Ways to play
Play a replay
Every replay has a Play button. After a 3-2-1 you control the scorer, the hitter or the shooter, a few seconds before the real play. From the menu you can play it from the other side too. Then the game goes on to the final horn, and your final score sits next to the real one.
Play a whole game
Tap Play this game on any game’s page to start it from the opening faceoff with the real teams.
Watch a whole game
Watch a real game from start to finish, in a few minutes or in real time, and take over whenever you like.
Quick game
Any two teams, from the opening faceoff. Play alone against the computer, or with a friend on the same screen.
Shootout
Straight to the shootout. You shoot for your team; the computer shoots for the other.
Play of the day
One real goal a day, the same for everyone. Score it for up to three stars, keep your streak going, and challenge a friend to beat you.
Your season
Your team’s regular season, one game at a time. Play each game, or skip it and keep the real result, and see where you finish in the standings.
Rewrite the game
Replay one team’s night, one big play at a time: score its goals again, stop the other team’s, and finish the chances that were saved. A second scoreboard keeps your version of the game.
Rules, level and length
puckfeed plays arcade hockey: five skaters and a goalie a side, and icing, but no offside, no penalties and no line changes. A game tied after three periods goes to overtime, as in the real league (see Questions).
- Level
- Rookie, Pro, All-Star: how well the computer plays. Pro unless you choose. The play of the day and challenges are always played at Pro, so everyone’s results compare fairly.
- Period length
- 2, 3, 5 minutes. A replay always runs at real speed; after it, the clock runs faster, so a 2-minute period still covers all twenty minutes of game time.
Choose both before a game on the Play page, or change them from the pause menu. puckfeed remembers them for next time.
Hide scores
Watching a game later? Tap Hide scores (the eye at the top of the page). Every score and result blurs until you tap it, and goals don’t name the scorer. It stays on in this browser until you turn it off.
Questions
Where do the replays come from?
puckfeed draws every replay itself, from public data on where the players and the puck were during the real game. There is no broadcast video on puckfeed, and every picture and sound is our own.
Why don’t the players in the game have names or numbers?
The pixel players stand in for the real ones: they skate where the real players skated, but they aren’t them. You’ll find names in the text around the game, and above the players while a real play runs. Once you take over, nobody is named.
What does “Player positions estimated” mean?
Goals come with the exact path of every player and the puck. For a hit or a save, the data tells us where it happened, who was involved and who was on the ice, and puckfeed places everyone else. Those replays are marked so you know.
Is puckfeed free?
Yes. Every way to play is free and runs in your browser, on a computer or a phone. There is nothing to download or install.
Do I need an account?
No. There are no accounts. Your team, your settings, your streak and your season are saved in this browser. Using another browser, or clearing this one, starts them over.
Can I play on a phone?
Yes. Your left thumb steers wherever you put it down, and the three buttons sit under your right thumb. On an iPhone, add puckfeed to your Home Screen (tap Share, then Add to Home Screen) to play full screen.
Does it work with a controller?
Yes, with any controller your browser recognizes. The left stick skates, X or the right shoulder shoots or hits, A passes, B or the left shoulder dekes, and Start pauses.
How does overtime work?
Like real hockey, a game tied after three periods goes to sudden death: the next goal wins. In the regular season that’s one five-minute period, three skaters a side, then a shootout if nobody scores. In the playoffs, teams play full periods five a side until someone scores.
How does the shootout work?
Each team sends three shooters, taking turns. Each one skates in alone from center ice for one shot at the goalie. If it’s still tied after three, it goes one round at a time until one team scores and the other doesn’t. The winner gets one extra goal on the final score.
When does the play of the day change?
Every morning at 6 AM Eastern, after the night’s last games are in. Everyone gets the same play all day.
Does puckfeed collect data about me?
puckfeed counts how the site is used, with PostHog: the pages you open, the games you play and how they end, what you share, errors, and recordings of visits with anything you type hidden. You are never named, since there are no accounts; a random id saved in this browser tells visits apart.
Is puckfeed part of the NHL?
No. puckfeed is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the NHL, its teams or its players. Teams, players and results are mentioned as facts, in text.