NHL 25: How To Pull Goalies, Explained

There are certain mechanics you never want to use if you can help it in NHL 25, but they’re sometimes essential to pulling out a win. One of those mechanics is pulling the goalie, which can be used in a variety of ways. Pulling the goalie usually happens when you’re losing by one or two goals at the end of the third period and you want to utilize an extra skater. While this often leads to an empty net goal, it can also reward you with a game-saving goal.

There are other times when pulling a goalie makes sense, and these times aren’t as potentially catastrophic to the end result of a game. However, if you don’t know how to pull the goalie in the first place, you can’t use the mechanic at all, let alone when you need it the most. We’ll go the main way to pull the goalie in NHL 25, all of the potential uses for it, and when it makes the most sense during a game.

How To Pull a Goalie In NHL 25

Fortunately, the method to pull a goalie from his net and move to the bench is extremely simple in NHL 25. It just requires a couple of button presses that can be done by accident, so you want to ensure you don’t press this combination at any time other than when you need it. Empty-net goals are already free enough, you don’t want to give one up during the middle of the second period.

Follow the steps below to pull the goalie from the net:

• In the middle of a game, press L1 + Touchpad on PlayStation or LB + View on Xbox to pull the goalie
• The goalie will take a couple of seconds to get to the bench, but once that happens, a sixth skater will join the other players on the ice. There is no notification for this happening, but usually, if you press the right buttons, your extra skater joins the lines within a few seconds
• Sometimes, though, pressing the buttons won’t actually pull the goalie if there’s not a current stoppage. To make sure the goalie is pulled, try to pull them before a face-off or during another type of stoppage
• Alternatively, you can pause the game and use the “Pull Goalie” option in the menu. This isn’t as preferred, as you want to try and stay with the action as it’s happening, but it’s a route to go in case you forget what button combination to press in the heat of the moment. This option is only accessible in offline modes, however.

There are technically two ways of pulling the goalie in NHL 25, but only the button combination works all the time, regardless of the game mode you’re playing. If you’re chilling in an offline mode against a CPU, though, going through the menu ensures your goalie goes to the bench and can even provide you with a few seconds of reprieve to think through your next move.

Best Times To Pull The Goalie In NHL 25

Now that you know how to pull the goalie and add an extra skater, let’s talk about when you should actually take advantage of this mechanic.

At The End Of Games

As I previously alluded to, the most frequent time you’ll pull the goalie is when you’re trailing by a goal or two late in the third period. By doing this, you risk giving up an empty net goal that would truly ice the game, but it’s also the best move you have to tie the game or get it within striking distance.

Ideally, if you’re down by a single goal, you should wait until there are around two and a half to three minutes left in the third period to pull the goalie. However, you need to ensure that the other team doesn’t have control of the puck, as that’s setting them up for an easy empty netter, and that your zone is mostly clear. If you have control of the puck in your defensive zone, that’s the best time to pull the goalie. Even if you have control around center ice and there’s minimal risk of the other team gaining control, still pull the goalie.

If you’re down by more than one goal, you can pull the goalie earlier, like at around four minutes remaining. Anything beyond two goals, though, and you can pull the goalie whenever you think is best.

At The End Of Periods

Conversely, you can also pull the goalie if you happen to have a face-off in the offensive zone and there’s not much time remaining on the clock in a period. There needs to be less than five or seconds left in the period for this to be feasible, though, as you don’t want to give the other team enough time to send the puck down the ice and in the net if you lose the face-off.

The idea with this method is that if you gain an extra skater, you have more options to send a final shot at the opponent’s net before a period ends. Of course, all of this is contingent on you winning that crucial face-off. While this is the least likely time you’ll pull the goalie, it’s still something you want to keep in your back pocket across any mode in NHL 25.

On A Delayed Penalty

Finally, the last time you want to pull a goalie in NHL 25 is when the other team commits a penalty while you have control of the puck or the puck is free. When a team commits a penalty and they don’t have control of the puck, it becomes a “delayed penalty.” Penalties on a team aren’t enforced until someone from that team touches the puck. Once that happens, a stoppage occurs and the player who committed the penalty is sent to the box, and you get a powerplay.

If you see a delayed penalty come up and you have full control of the puck at that time or you can get control of it, pull the goalie as quickly as possible. This gives you an extra skater to try and get a free goal. There’s absolutely no risk here, as the other team can’t get an empty net goal since as soon as they touch the puck, the game stops, and anything after the puck is touched doesn’t count.

Of course, the big caveat with this method is that you need to keep control of the puck long enough to either set up an offensive zone rush or simply get a shot on net. With an extra skater, though, that task is made much simpler, as it’s like you have a powerplay.

Those are the three times you want to pull a goalie in NHL 25. A couple of them won’t come up often while the one that might come up more means you’re in a position you don’t want to be in. Still, knowing about this mechanic can make the difference between two points and no points in the standings.