The NHL has taken two skaters off the ice during overtimes this season, hoping 3-on-3 hockey will cut down on shootouts.

It has worked.

Twenty-nine of the 42 games that have lasted longer than three periods have been decided in overtime entering play Monday, according to STATS, extending just 31 percent of those games to a shootout. Over the previous 10 seasons, at least 50 percent of games that went to overtime were decided by a shootout and as much as 61.1 percent were decided by the shooter-on-goaltender duels, according to STATS.

“I was a big supporter of the rule change after seeing it in the American (Hockey) League,” Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said during the first intermission of his team’s 4-1 victory at Detroit on Sunday. “It has served its purpose of eliminating a lot of shootouts, and it has been really exciting for the fans.”