Five on three

Five on three (also called two-man advantage) is a term used in ice hockey when one team has had two players sent to the penalty box. This leaves the opponent with five skaters (i.e., not including the goalie) to penalized team's three. The team with the advantage has a very good chance of scoring during these periods.

These advantages are usally quite short and rare because they only occur when two penalies overlap. Referees are also often unwilling to call all but the most egregious rule violations when a team is one man up, because a five on three is such a dramatic situation.

If a team does not score on a five on three, especially on a fairly lengthy one, it can give the other team a great deal of momentum and change the flow of the game.