National Hockey League and the Stanley Cup

Each NHL team plays 82 regular season games, 41 home games and 41 away games. Teams used to play every other team in the league at least once, but this will no longer be the case after the post-lockout changes are implemented. Teams will now play 10 interconference games (i.e. not in their own conference) throughout the season, 1 game against each team in two of the three divisions in the opposite conference. Teams will also play 40 games against non-division conference opponents (4 games against each) and 32 games within their division (8 games against each). Two points are awarded for wins, one point for losing in extra time or a penalty shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the division champion. Each Conference consists of three divisions, so these three division champions and five more teams complete each Conference’s playoff field. In total, 16 teams (3 division champions and 5 additional teams, for a total of 8 from each Conference) qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs is an elimination tournament, where two teams battle it out to win a best-of-seven series to advance to the next round. If the score is tied at the end of the third period, an overtime period is played. If the score is tied at the end of an overtime period, additional overtime periods are played until a winner is determined. Overtime is also full twenty-minute periods (of five-on-five hockey), instead of the full five minutes (of four-on-four hockey, followed by a shootout) in the regular season. Extra time is played with the golden goal (sudden death) rule, so the game ends as soon as either team scores a goal. The highest ranked team is said to be the team with home court advantage. Four of the seven games are played at the home ground of this team: the first and second and, when necessary, the fifth and seventh, with the remaining games being played at the home ground of the lower-ranked team.

A playoff that was contested in the NHL used the following format: the division winners were seeded one through three, and then the next five teams with the best records in the conference were seeded four through eight. However, the league has yet to announce the playoff format for the 2005-06 seasons, and with the new scheduling format emphasizing division play, the league is exploring placing greater emphasis on division ranking by taking the Top 2 teams in each division. along with the teams with the next two best records for each Conference’s playoff field. In the event of a tie on points in the standings, ties are broken first by number of wins and then by record against the tied team (not taking into account the first game played in the arena of the team that hosted more games than the other). ). during the series of the season, if any). Preference is then given to the tied team with the best positive differential between goals scored for and against, and in the rare circumstances where these tie-breakers are insufficient, the Commissioner has the authority to motto some other means to break the tie. The first round of the playoffs, or conference quarterfinals, consists of the first seed playing against the eighth seed, the second against the seventh, the third against the sixth and the fourth against the fifth. In the Conference Semifinals, the top remaining seed in the Conference plays the remaining fourth seed, and the remaining second seed plays the remaining third seed. In the next round, the Conference Finals, the remaining two teams in each conference meet, with the Conference champions advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.

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