How the 2021 NHL Playoffs Will Work
The NHL playoffs are back for 2021! Here’s a quick guide on how the playoffs will work this year.
Introduction
The 2021 NHL Playoffs will feature a new format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The playoffs will begin on May 11 and will end no later than July 9. The Stanley Cup Finals will be played in a best-of-seven format.
The top four teams in each conference will play each other in the first round of the playoffs. The two winners of those series will then advance to the Conference Semifinals, where they will play the team that had the best regular season record in their conference.
The Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals will follow a traditional best-of-seven format.
The Format
The 2021 NHL playoffs will have a different look to them as the league tries to move forward with the season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The playoffs will be held in two “bubbles,” one in each Canadian city of Toronto and Edmonton.
The Conference Quarterfinals
The first round of the playoffs, also known as the Conference Quarterfinals, will feature the traditional best-of-seven series format. The first two games of each series will be played at the home arena of the team with the higher regular season point total, before shifting to the home arena of the team with the lower regular season point total for games three and four. If necessary, games five through seven will alternate between the two home arenas.
The Conference Semifinals
The second round of the 2021 NHL Playoffs is set to begin on May 24th. The Conference Semifinals will feature the following matchups:
In the East, the Tampa Bay Lightning will take on the New York Islanders, while the Carolina Hurricanes will face off against the Montreal Canadiens.
In the West, the Colorado Avalanche will meet the Los Angeles Kings, and the Vegas Golden Knights will battle the Minnesota Wild.
The Conference Semifinals are set to be best-of-seven series. The schedule for each series has not yet been released.
The Conference Finals
The Conference Finals are a best-of-seven series played between the winners of the two semifinals series. The Conference Finals will be played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, meaning that the team with home-ice advantage will host games one, two, five and seven (if necessary), while their opponents will host games three, four and six (if necessary).
The Stanley Cup Final
The Stanley Cup Final will be a best-of-seven series between the two conference champions, with the first two games and potentially Games 5 and 7 to be played at TD Garden in Boston. The schedule for the Stanley Cup Final has not been released yet, but it is expected to start on Saturday, May 29.
The Schedule
The 2021 NHL playoffs will begin on May 11 and will feature 16 teams. The top four teams in each conference will compete in a round-robin tournament to determine the seeding for the first round of the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs will be a best-of-seven series and will be played from May 16 to May 28.
Conference Quarterfinals
The first round of the playoffs, otherwise known as the Conference Quarterfinals, will feature the traditional best-of-seven series format. The top four teams in each conference will play each other in the first round. The matchups are as follows:
Eastern Conference:
(1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (4) New York Islanders
(2) Washington Capitals vs. (3) Boston Bruins
Western Conference:
(1) Colorado Avalanche vs. (4) St. Louis Blues
(2) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (3) Minnesota Wild
Conference Semifinals
The first round of the playoffs, which is a best-of-seven series, will be played within the four divisional brackets. The regular season schedule-makers did an excellent job of making sure that the first-round opponents for each team were as close to even as possible in terms of point totals and win/loss records.
The top two seeds in each division will play each other in the first round, and the third and fourth seeds will also face off. As it stands right now, the Boston Bruins would play the New York Islanders, and the Tampa Bay Lightning would take on the Florida Panthers. In the West, the Colorado Avalanche would battle the St. Louis Blues, while the Vegas Golden Knights would face off against either the Wild or Arizona Coyotes.
The second round of the playoffs will feature the four division winners against each other, regardless of whether they won their first-round series in five games or seven. That means that we could potentially see a completely fresh matchup in Round 2 between teams that just battled tooth-and-nail for a full seven games only days before.
Conference Finals
The second round of the playoffs is complete and the field has been whittled down to the final four teams. In the East, it will be the Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the New York Islanders. In the West, it will be the Colorado Avalanche taking on the Vegas Golden Knights.
Here is a look at how the conference finals will play out:
(1) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (2) New York Islanders
(3) Colorado Avalanche vs. (4) Vegas Golden Knights
Both series will be best-of-seven and will start on Saturday, May 15. The schedule for both series is below. If necessary, Game 7 for both series will be played on Wednesday, May 26.
Conference Final Schedule:
Game 1: Saturday, May 15
Game 2: Monday, May 17
Game 3: Wednesday, May 19
Game 4: Friday, May 21
Game 5 (if necessary): Sunday, May 23
Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, May 25
Game 7 (if necessary): Wednesday, May 26
Stanley Cup Final
The Stanley Cup will be awarded to the champion of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The playoffs are scheduled to begin on May 15, 2021, and will end no later than July 15, 2021. The Stanley Cup Final will be played in a best-of-seven format.
The playoffs will feature 16 teams, eight from each conference. The top four teams in each conference will play in the first round of the playoffs, which will be a best-of-seven series. The first round is scheduled to begin on May 15, 2021.
The Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals are also scheduled to be best-of-seven series. The Conference Semifinals are scheduled to begin on May 27, 2021, and the Conference Finals are scheduled to begin on June 4, 2021.
The Stanley Cup Final is scheduled to begin on June 17, 2021.
The Teams
There are eight teams in each conference that will qualify for the playoffs. The conference seeding will be determined by each team’s regular-season points percentage. The Presidents’ Trophy will go to the team with the best regular-season record, regardless of conference.
Conference Quarterfinals
All four rounds of the playoffs will be played within the divisions this year, meaning there will be no inter-conference match-ups until the Stanley Cup Final.
The first round, or conference quarterfinals, will feature the first seed in each division playing the fourth seed, and the second and third seeds squaring off. The division winners that earned the top seeds in each conference will play the lowest remaining seed in the first round.
As usual, all series in the playoffs will be best-of-seven.
Conference Semifinals
After the four best teams in each conference advance from the first round of the playoffs, the second round—or conference semifinals—will pit those teams against each other in best-of-seven series. The matchups for the conference semifinals are as follows:
In the East, it will be the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the winner of the series between the Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators, and the Boston Bruins vs. the winner of the series between the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders.
In the West, it will be the Colorado Avalanche vs. the winner of the series between the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights, and the Minnesota Wild vs. eitherthe Edmonton Oilers or Vancouver Canucks.
Conference Finals
In the Conference Finals, the four remaining teams will be seeded according to their regular-season records. The top seed in each conference will play the lowest remaining seed, while the second and third seeds in each conference will square off against each other.
The Conference Finals are best-of-seven series, meaning that the first team to win four games will advance to the Stanley Cup Final. If the series is tied after seven games, a winner will be decided in a sudden-death overtime period.
Stanley Cup Final
The Stanley Cup Final will be a best-of-seven series between the Eastern and Western Conference champions. It will be played in May and June, with start dates to be announced later by the NHL.
Conclusion
The 2021 NHL playoffs will feature a qualifying round, four best-of-seven rounds, and a Stanley Cup Final. The qualifying round will be played between the 16th and 24th seeds in the league, with the eight winners advancing to the first round of the playoffs. The first three rounds will be played between the top 16 seeds in the league, with the winners advancing to the next round. The Stanley Cup Final will be played between the winner of the Eastern Conference and the winner of the Western Conference.
