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.