NHL Line Combinations

Who plays with whom, and which combinations control play.

Which lines tilt the ice when they are out there? Every forward line and defense pair a club has used in its last three games, ranked by its share of the five-on-five scoring chances while those skaters were on the ice together.

2026-27 seasonregular season and playoffs, from the league's shift charts

Forward linestop 60 of 89 · at least 12 five-on-five minutes together

Draisaitl – Kapanen – Podkolzin (Oilers) have the best share of the chances among qualifying forward lines: 88.1% of the five-on-five expected goals in 12 minutes together. The most-used is Zibanejad – Lafrenière – Perreault (Rangers) at 46 minutes and 64.2%. 48 of the 89 are above 50%.

#	Together	GP	5v5 TOI	xG share	xGF/60	xGA/60	Goals
1	Draisaitl · Kapanen · Podkolzin	2	12:23	88.1%	6.29	0.85	1–1
2	Thomas · Holloway · Snuggerud	2	17:50	83.3%	3.80	0.76	1–0
3	Karlsson · Marner · Howden	2	17:37	79.9%	2.07	0.52	0–0
4	Hyman · McDavid · Formenton	1	11:42	79.3%	3.62	0.94	1–0
5	Sissons · Paul · Cowan	3	19:45	78.4%	3.28	0.91	1–0
6	Forsberg · Hoglander · Wood	2	11:49	77.3%	3.69	1.08	0–0
7	Anderson · Evans · Bolduc	2	14:24	77.2%	3.72	1.10	1–0
8	Kyrou · Protas · Protas	2	14:31	76.5%	4.60	1.41	1–1
9	Miller · Dorofeyev · Kartye	3	14:17	75.5%	3.14	1.02	0–1
10	Barkov · Reinhart · Tkachuk	2	11:32	74.9%	0.93	0.31	0–0
11	Boeser · Rossi · Ohgren	3	15:07	74.3%	1.75	0.60	1–0
12	Roslovic · Matthews · Marchenko	3	30:14	74.2%	3.89	1.35	1–2
13	Draisaitl · McDavid · Podkolzin	2	26:21	72.5%	4.08	1.55	3–2
14	Luostarinen · Lundell · Vilmanis	2	14:12	72.0%	4.46	1.73	0–0
15	Crouse · Hayton · McBain	3	26:04	71.0%	3.97	1.62	0–0
16	Meier · Hischier · Evangelista	2	17:00	70.8%	2.80	1.15	0–1
17	Mantha · Bratt · Hughes	2	19:00	69.8%	3.37	1.46	0–1
18	Verhaeghe · Bennett · Tkachuk	2	19:19	69.5%	1.81	0.80	1–0
19	McLeod · Krebs · Helenius	2	16:23	69.5%	4.34	1.91	1–1
20	Eberle · Stephenson · McMann	2	19:56	68.5%	5.27	2.43	1–1
21	Kempe · Panarin · Byfield	2	23:57	68.2%	3.31	1.54	0–1
22	Winterton · Wright · Catton	2	17:30	67.9%	2.78	1.31	1–0
23	Jenner · Beauvillier · Sourdif	2	16:16	67.4%	3.77	1.82	2–0
24	Boeser · Cotter · Ohgren	3	17:15	67.1%	3.43	1.68	3–1
25	Thompson · Norris · Doan	2	22:16	66.5%	3.33	1.67	2–1
26	Hertl · Olofsson · Connelly	2	13:31	66.5%	4.51	2.27	1–1
27	Quinn · Ostlund · Benson	2	24:52	64.9%	3.28	1.78	0–1
28	Zibanejad · Lafrenière · Perreault	4	46:00	64.2%	3.33	1.86	3–1
29	Trocheck · Schmaltz · Keller	3	32:44	63.2%	3.94	2.29	3–0
30	Scheifele · Connor · Perfetti	2	22:05	62.9%	4.39	2.59	0–0
31	Rodrigues · Gritsyuk · Mercer	2	18:26	61.9%	3.81	2.35	1–1
32	Stamkos · O'Reilly · Kerfoot	2	12:31	61.0%	3.07	1.96	0–1
33	Miller · Bjorkstrand · Dorofeyev	4	27:28	60.6%	3.88	2.52	0–1
34	Lee · Guenther · Cooley	3	28:47	60.5%	3.97	2.60	1–1
35	Crosby · Rakell · Robertson	2	21:08	60.3%	4.01	2.64	2–1
36	Foligno · Foligno · McCarron	2	16:04	59.2%	2.55	1.76	1–1
37	Marchment · Smith · Celebrini	2	23:00	59.2%	1.96	1.35	1–1
38	Kuraly · Jeannot · Kastelic	3	21:03	58.3%	1.80	1.29	1–0
39	Malkin · Novak · Chinakhov	2	20:07	57.3%	2.37	1.77	3–0
40	Johnson · Knies · Fantilli	2	22:52	56.1%	1.92	1.50	0–2
41	Newhook · Slafkovský · Demidov	2	17:50	55.8%	1.98	1.57	1–3
42	Kadri · Nelson · Landeskog	2	15:05	54.7%	2.38	1.97	2–0
43	Guentzel · Cirelli · Hagel	2	15:49	54.6%	2.32	1.93	0–0
44	Kane · Nazar · Kantserov	3	18:40	53.6%	2.91	2.52	1–1
45	Frost · Coronato · Gridin	2	21:03	53.1%	3.25	2.88	0–1
46	Coyle · Olivier · Sillinger	2	20:22	52.4%	3.45	3.13	0–0
47	Zacha · Geekie · Mittelstadt	3	31:26	51.7%	3.35	3.13	1–1
48	Buchnevich · McMichael · McTavish	2	12:37	50.7%	3.02	2.93	1–2
49	Stenlund · Carcone · But	3	23:44	48.7%	2.73	2.88	1–1
50	Hall · Stankoven · Blake	3	23:30	48.1%	3.06	3.30	0–2
51	Lindholm · Pastrnak · Peterka	3	29:42	47.6%	1.88	2.06	1–1
52	Khusnutdinov · Minten · Hagens	3	25:12	46.5%	1.73	1.98	1–0
53	Coleman · Eriksson Ek · Boldy	2	14:44	46.2%	2.83	3.29	0–0
54	Greenway · Smith · Greene	3	32:22	45.4%	2.50	3.00	2–3
55	Backlund · Farabee · Honzek	2	16:32	45.2%	2.83	3.43	0–3
56	Lehkonen · MacKinnon · Necas	2	19:56	43.6%	1.37	1.78	0–0
57	Kapanen · Jones · Dach	3	16:30	43.2%	0.89	1.17	1–1
58	Danault · Texier · Dach	2	15:39	41.1%	1.33	1.91	1–0
59	Goodrow · Sherwood · Ostapchuk	2	13:39	40.6%	1.91	2.79	1–0
60	Zuccarello · Turcotte · Laferriere	2	20:36	38.9%	1.34	2.11	0–2

How this is measured

The league's shift charts say who was on the ice every second. Each stretch of five-on-five play with three forwards and two defensemen a side is credited to that forward line and that defense pair, along with the expected goals each team created in it (from our shot model) and the goals actually scored. A line's xG share is its team's part of those expected goals: above 50% it out-chanced whoever it faced.

Only combinations used in the club's last three games are listed, so a trio broken up weeks ago does not sit on the board, and only those with at least the stated minutes together, because a share over a few shifts is noise. Ice time with four forwards or during a line change counts for nobody. The number does not adjust for who the line played against or where its shifts started. More →