how many teams go to stanley cup playoffs
Stanley Cup playoffs The Stanley Cup playoffs (French: Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley) is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series. Eight teams from each of the two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season points totals. The final round is commonly known as the Stanley Cup Finals, which sees the two conference champions play for the Stanley Cup.
Stanley Cup playoffs The Stanley Cup playoffs consists of four rounds of best-of-seven series. Each series is played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format, meaning the team with home-ice advantage hosts games one, two, five, and seven, while their opponent hosts games three, four, and six. Games five, six, and seven are only played if needed.
Stanley Cup playoffs In the First Round,[1] the teams are split into two separate brackets by division. Each bracket consists of the top three divisional qualifiers and one of the wild cards. The lower seeded wild card plays against the division winner with the best record while the other wild card plays against the other division winner, and both wild cards are de facto #4 seeds. The other two series match the second and third place teams from the divisions.
Season structure of the NHL At the end of the regular season, 16 teams qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, an elimination tournament consisting of three rounds of best-of-seven series to determine which team from each conference will advance to the final round, dubbed the Stanley Cup Final. The top three teams in each division earn automatic berths (6 teams per conference) and the next two teams in the conference earn wild-card spots. The First Round pits the top ranked team in the conference against the lower ranked wild-card and the other division winner against the higher ranked wild-card. The second and third place teams in each division play each other. The top ranked team in a division, along with its wild card opponent and the second and third ranked teams of the same division comprise a group or bracket during the First Round, and the two winners will meet in the Second Round. The Western Conference (Pacific vs. Central divisional bracket champions) and Eastern Conference (Atlantic vs. Metropolitan divisional bracket champions) Finals will determine who faces off in the Stanley Cup Finals.[3]