diff --git a/lib/rules_block/table.js b/lib/rules_block/table.js
index cb7c3f9..7175892 100644
--- a/lib/rules_block/table.js
+++ b/lib/rules_block/table.js
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ function escapedSplit(str) {
 
 module.exports = function table(state, startLine, endLine, silent) {
   var ch, lineText, pos, i, nextLine, columns, columnCount, token,
-      aligns, t, tableLines, tbodyLines;
+      aligns, t, tableLines, tbodyLines, len;
 
   // should have at least three lines
   if (startLine + 2 > endLine) { return false; }
@@ -151,7 +151,8 @@ module.exports = function table(state, startLine, endLine, silent) {
     columns = escapedSplit(lineText.replace(/^\||\|\s*$/g, ''));
 
     token = state.push('tr_open', 'tr', 1);
-    for (i = 0; i < columnCount; i++) {
+    len = Math.max(columns.length, columnCount);
+    for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
       token          = state.push('td_open', 'td', 1);
       if (aligns[i]) {
         token.attrs  = [ [ 'style', 'text-align:' + aligns[i] ] ];
diff --git a/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt b/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt
index c168be5..e6dfc0e 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt
+++ b/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ Should be parsed before code blocks:
 .
 
 
-An amount of rows might be different across the table (issue #171):
+Allow tables with extra cells in a row outside of thead:
 .
 | 1 | 2 |
 | :-----: |  :-----: |  :-----: |
@@ -418,6 +418,8 @@ An amount of rows might be different across the table (issue #171):
 <tr>
 <td style="text-align:center">3</td>
 <td style="text-align:center">4</td>
+<td style="text-align:center">5</td>
+<td>6</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
 </table>