What to Know About the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking for to develop into the primary workforce to win three straight Stanley Cups for the reason that early ’80s Islanders. However 15 different groups and 4 rounds of playoffs stand of their manner.

Let’s reply some questions in regards to the N.H.L. playoffs as they get set to start.

When do the playoffs begin?

Monday at 7 p.m. Jap time when the Boston Bruins play the Carolina Hurricanes. Three different sequence begin on Monday and the opposite 4 on Tuesday. A full first-round schedule will be discovered right here.

How do they work?

In every of the 2 conferences, the highest three groups from every division and two wild playing cards certified. Within the first spherical, the wild playing cards play the division winners, whereas the second- and third-place groups in every division play one another.

After a second spherical of divisional play, the 4 survivors will meet within the convention finals, and the Stanley Cup finals comply with. All 4 rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven-game sequence. The higher-seeded workforce in every sequence will get the benefit of enjoying 4 of the seven video games at residence.

The place can I watch the video games?

Video games will probably be proven in the US on TNT, TBS, ESPN and ABC. Streaming is offered on ESPN Plus and Hulu.

In Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Company and Sportsnet will broadcast the video games. Sportsnet Now will stream the video games.

When are the finals?

Due to the uncertainty of the size of the sooner rounds, it isn’t clear when exactly the finals will begin. In a typical season, they start about six to seven weeks after the playoffs begin.

Who’s going to win?

As in yearly, that’s troublesome to say. It isn’t unusual for decrease seeds to win playoff sequence within the N.H.L. Final season, 5 of eight decrease seeds gained within the first spherical. The eventual winner, the Lightning, had the eighth finest file within the common season, and the opposite finalist, the Montreal Canadiens, had the worst file of any playoff workforce.

There’s a robust Jap Convention contingent particularly this season, with the entire entrants ending the season with greater than 100 factors for the primary time.

The Florida Panthers gained the Presidents’ Trophy for the highest file within the league. However the trophy winner hasn’t gained the Stanley Cup since 2013, and solely 4 occasions this century.

As of now, the Colorado Avalanche are the betting favorites at about 4 to 1 after touchdown the highest seed within the West. The Panthers are second at 6-1. Following them, all within the 10-1 vary, are the Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Lightning and Hurricanes.

The Flames’ and Leafs’ excessive rankings are vital. Though about half of the league’s gamers are Canadian, and curiosity within the sport is feverish there, no workforce from Canada has gained the Stanley Cup for the reason that Canadiens in 1993.

Who’re the gamers to observe?

Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs grew to become the league’s first participant to succeed in the 60-goal mark since 2012 and is the main candidate for M.V.P.

The perennial star Connor McDavid and his linemate Leon Draisaitl are once more a formidable one-two punch for the Edmonton Oilers, who’re one other candidate to finish Canada’s Cup drought.

Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers has been the consensus goalie of the season with a goals-against common simply barely over 2.

The legends Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals are nonetheless going robust as effectively.

Who’s lacking?

Earlier than this season, the Vegas Golden Knights had certified for the playoffs in all 4 years of their existence and made a Cup finals and two extra convention finals. However this yr they missed out in an in depth battle for the wild card.

The Winnipeg Jets had additionally made the playoffs for 4 straight seasons till this one.

What’s so particular in regards to the Stanley Cup?

The Cup has an extended and superb historical past that dates to 1893. Again within the day it was open to groups from a wide range of leagues, and its champions have included the likes of the Montreal Shamrocks, the Vancouver Millionaires, the Toronto St. Patricks and the Seattle Metropolitans, the primary American workforce to win it, in 1917.

There’s a lengthy custom that permits gamers on the profitable workforce to get someday every with the Cup. They may usually use their time to take the hallowed silverware to particular and generally curious areas of their hometowns, like Pink Sq. in Moscow, a strip membership, a celebration thrown by the actor Matthew Perry and a baptism.

Who was ‘Stanley’ anyway?

Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, the sixteenth Earl of Derby, was the governor basic of Canada within the late 1800s. He made a wise transfer that has saved him much better remembered than a lot of the different Earls of Derby: Excited by ice hockey as a result of his sons performed it, he ponied up 10 guineas for a trophy in 1892.

What’s with all of the beards?

Many N.H.L. gamers superstitiously don’t shave for so long as their workforce is within the playoffs. (Some groups in different sports activities, like baseball, have embraced this custom as effectively.) By the point of the Stanley Cup Finals, the lineups can begin trying fairly shaggy.

And the handshakes after the video games?

After a playoff sequence has concluded, each groups line as much as shake their opponents’ fingers. It’s a customized a lot beloved by hockey followers: Count on to listen to an announcer name it “a wonderful custom.”

Why are time beyond regulation playoff video games so particular?

Within the N.H.L. common season, time beyond regulation ends after 5 minutes. However within the playoffs they only hold enjoying till somebody scores. That might imply one, two, three or extra overtimes. Final season, the Oilers and Jets performed a three-overtime recreation. The season earlier than, the Lightning and Columbus Blue Jackets went to 5. In 1936, the Detroit Pink Wings and Montreal Maroons went to 6.

Overtimes in Sport 7s — with each groups understanding a single objective will immediately remove or advance them — are by consensus some of the thrilling occasions in sports activities. It occurred most just lately in 2020 when the Dallas Stars beat the Avalanche within the second spherical on a Joel Kiviranta objective.

The finals have gone to time beyond regulation in Sport 7 solely twice, in 1950 and 1954, each gained by the Pink Wings.

What’s the Conn Smythe Trophy?

The M.V.P. award of the playoffs. Whereas the winner virtually at all times comes from the Cup-winning workforce, it really is awarded based mostly on efficiency over all the playoffs, not simply the Cup finals.

Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy gained it final season for the Lightning and defenseman Victor Hedman the yr earlier than. Each are nonetheless key gamers for the workforce.