How Many Game Series Are There in the NHL Playoffs?
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The NHL playoffs are upon us and it’s time to start asking the hard questions. How many game series are there in the playoffs? We break it down for you.
NHL Playoffs
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series. The first three rounds determine which team from each conference will advance to the final round, dubbed the Stanley Cup Finals.
How many game series are in the NHL playoffs?
In each conference, the top four seeds receive a bye to the conference quarterfinals. The first-round series are best-of-5. In the conference quarterfinals and semifinals, home ice advantage is determined by seeding number, not position on the bracket. In the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final, home ice advantage goes to the team with the better regular season record — regardless of seeding.
The Stanley Cup playoffs (French: Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley) is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series to determine the league champion and the winner of the Stanley Cup. Eight teams from each of the two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records.
Stanley Cup Playoffs
The Stanley Cup Playoffs is an elimination tournament held after the NHL regular season to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded to the playoff champion at the end of the playoffs.
How many game series are in the Stanley Cup playoffs?
The Stanley Cup playoffs is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series. The winner of each series advances to the next round, until the final, whose winner is awarded the Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are not intended to be a random single-elimination event: rather, the successful teams are supposed to be those that performed best over the entire regular season. Thus, divisional and conference seeding is important, and there is usually very little variation between seedings from one year to the next.
During Round 1, the division winner with the best regular season record in each conference is matched against the wild-card team with the worst regular season record (not counting eliminated teams), and two other division winners are matched against each other. In Round 2, the division winner with the best remaining regular season record in each conference is matched against one of the lower-seeded wild-card teams (again, not counting eliminated teams), while two other division winners play each other. For Rounds 3 and 4 (the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals), seeding within each conference proceeds according to regular season points.
