The NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs are not far away, with the first series set to begin on Saturday, April 18.
The league is on track for the biggest postseason turnover in history, with the potential for half the field — eight of the 16 spots — to be teams that did not qualify a year ago. There will be a new champion and no three-peat after the Florida Panthers were derailed by injuries following three consecutive trips to the final.
The regular season runs through Thursday, April 16, a day after Eastern Conference teams wrap up.
Who’s in the playoffs
WEST: Central Division rivals Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota are in, with the top-seeded Avalanche on track to win the Presidents’ Trophy and ensure home ice throughout the playoffs. Five spots remain open.
EAST: Carolina, the Metropolitan Division champion, is in along with Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Montreal in the Atlantic Division. The Sabres ended their NHL record 14-year postseason drought. Five spots remain open.
The matchups
The top three teams in each of the four divisions division make the playoffs. The other four spots go to the next two highest-placed teams in each conference, regardless of division.
The teams with the best record in each conference open against the wild-card team with the worst record; the other wild-card plays the other division winner. Teams that finish second and third in their division play each other in the bracket headed by their respective division winner. The second round thus carries a higher prospect of division foes matching up ahead of the conference finals.
All four rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven; the first team to 16 victories wins the Stanley Cup.
The first-round matchups so far:
— Dallas vs. Minnesota.
The favorites
Colorado is the 3-1 favorite to win the Stanley Cup, followed by Tampa Bay at 9-2, Carolina at 5-1 and Dallas at 10-1, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
How to watch
Every playoff game will be nationally televised in the U.S on an ESPN or Turner network. The NHL schedule is here and a streaming guide is here. Much of TNT’s coverage, which includes the Stanley Cup Final, will be simulcast on truTV and available on Max’s B/R Sports Add-On. In Canada, games will be showcased on Sportsnet and CBC.
After three rounds of seven-game series, the final starts in early June. If the final goes the distance, Game 7 could go as late as June 21.
Who to watch
— Colorado, with MVP candidate Nathan MacKinnon and star defenseman Cale Makar, has been hockey’s best team since October.
— Connor McDavid and Edmonton lost in the Cup Final the past two years but are playing better defense and should have Leon Draisaitl for the playoffs.
— Tage Thompson was a big part of the U.S. winning Olympic gold and the Sabres’ leading scorer finally gets to the postseason.
— Nikita Kucherov is right there with MacKinnon and McDavid in the NHL scoring race and has steadied the Lightning through months of injuries.
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