Bet the NHL Stanley Cup
Bet the NHL Stanley Cup
NHL stanley cup playoffs
The NHL Stanley Cup playoffs is an elimination tournament 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. The winner of that series becomes the NHL and Stanley Cup champion. The 2009 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs are currently in progress.
The first round of the playoffs, or Conference Quarterfinals, consists of four matchups in each conference, based on the seedings (1–8, 2–7, 3–6, and 4–5). In the second round, or Conference Semifinals, the top remaining conference seed plays against the lowest remaining seed, and the other two remaining conference teams pair off (unlike the NBA, for example, where the 1–8 winner always plays the 4–5 winner, regardless of who wins). In the third round, the Conference Finals, the two remaining teams in each conference play each other, with the conference champions proceeding to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.
For the first three rounds, the higher-seeded team has home-ice advantage (regardless of point record). In the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, it goes to the team with the better regular season record. The team with home-ice advantage hosts Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, while the opponent hosts Games 3, 4 and 6 (Games 5–7 are played "if necessary").
Before the 1993–94 season, the format was completely different. The league was divided into four divisions, and the top four teams in each of the divisions advanced to the playoffs. Also, instead of the top team playing the eighth place team in the conference, the first place team played the fourth place team in each division, and the second place team played the third place team. In the second round, the two winning teams in each division would face each other for the divisional championship. The divisional champions in each conference would play one another in the third round for the right to advance to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. This structure is still used for determining the teams in the playoffs in the American Hockey League.
