Beginner’s guide to the PWHL: Rules, standings, playoffs, and how to follow the Boston Fleet on NESN

The PWHL is a professional women’s hockey league featuring elite international talent and a points system designed to reward regulation wins. Here’s how the league format works, how the standings are calculated, how the playoffs are structured, and what new Boston Fleet fans should know.

If you’re a hockey fan in New England, the PWHL is the easiest “new” league to fall in love with: fast, physical, and packed with players you’ve seen dominate international tournaments for years.

The best part? You don’t need a deep background in women’s hockey to enjoy it.

This guide is built to be your starting point — what the league is, how the standings and playoffs work, the rule twists you’ll notice right away, and the simplest ways to follow the Boston Fleet as NESN continues to build a home for PWHL coverage.

What is the PWHL?

The PWHL launched on January 1, 2024, and it didn’t take long to feel legit. The league says it has already surpassed one million all-time fans, broken multiple attendance records, and set the worldwide attendance record for a women’s hockey game. Beyond the headlines, the product looks like high-level hockey: structured systems, elite goaltending, and stars who can take over a period the way NHL fans are used to seeing.

A big reason it stands out: the league has leaned into a few rule and format changes designed to keep games competitive for the full 60 minutes and create more action.

Who’s in the league?

As of the 2025-26 season, the PWHL is an eight-team league: Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver. Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes joined as expansion teams, giving the league a bigger footprint and new rivalries to build around.

The league has also leaned into growing the audience outside the “home” markets via the PWHL Takeover Tour, which the league says features 16 neutral-site regular-season games in 2025-26. That matters for fans: more visibility, more momentum.

How the standings work (it’s not the NHL points system)

The PWHL uses a 3-2-1-0 points system that rewards teams for winning in regulation:

• Regulation win: 3 points
• Overtime or shootout win: 2 points
• Overtime or shootout loss: 1 point
• Regulation loss: 0 points

Why it’s great for new fans: it keeps the late-game urgency high. Teams are incentivized to push for the full three points instead of settling for overtime.

How the playoffs work (and what you’re playing for)

At the end of the regular season, the top four teams qualify for the playoffs. The postseason is two best-of-five semifinals, followed by a best-of-five final for the Walter Cup.

One wrinkle that’s fun: the No. 1 seed gets to choose its semifinal opponent between the third and fourth seeds. That adds strategy, bulletin-board material, and instant storyline fuel.

The PWHL rules you’ll notice right away

Even if you’ve watched hockey forever, you’ll catch a few “wait… what?” moments early on — in a good way.

1) The “Jailbreak Goal”
If a team scores shorthanded while killing a minor penalty, the penalized player can “break out” and the penalty ends immediately. It rewards aggressive penalty killing and creates real chaos in the best way.

2) The “No Escape Rule”
If your team takes a penalty that puts time on the clock, the skaters who were on the ice can’t change until after the next faceoff. Translation: take a lazy penalty, and you might be stuck starting the kill with a weird mix (three forwards and one defender, for example). It’s a simple rule that creates immediate consequences.

3) A strong player-safety baseline
The league’s beginner guide notes that illegal checks to the head carry an automatic major and game misconduct and trigger further review via the league’s situation room process. That emphasis shapes how games feel — physical, yes, but with a clear line around head contact.

Roster and draft basics (what “team building” looks like)

If you’re wondering how deep rosters are, the league has used 23 active roster players per team, plus up to three reserve players.

And for the draft: the PWHL introduced the “Gold Plan,” designed to keep non-playoff teams competing hard late in the season. Once a team is mathematically eliminated, the standings points they earn the rest of the way become Draft Order Points, and the non-playoff team with the most gets the higher pick. For fans, it means fewer meaningless games — and more honest effort every night.

How to follow the Boston Fleet on NESN

If you’re building a weekly routine around the Fleet, start simple: check the matchup, know what the points mean, and recognize the special-rule moments when they happen (jailbreaks and no-escape situations can swing a game fast).

For viewing, the Fleet’s official team page regularly lists broadcasts for Boston audiences on NESN and NESN+ (with additional league streaming options depending on where you’re watching).

Quick glossary for first-time PWHL viewers

• Forecheck: Pressure applied in the offensive zone to force turnovers.
• Breakout: How a team moves the puck out of its own zone.
• Power play/penalty kill: Up a skater vs. down a skater. (In the PWHL, remember the jailbreak rule can end a minor early.)
• Blue line hold: A defender keeping the puck in the offensive zone to sustain pressure.
• “Three points” game: A regulation win is worth 3 points — huge for climbing the standings.