{"id":104714,"date":"2016-04-11T19:30:09","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T23:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/?p=104714"},"modified":"2016-04-12T05:27:14","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T09:27:14","slug":"how-do-the-nhl-hockey-playoffs-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/how-do-the-nhl-hockey-playoffs-work.html","title":{"rendered":"How Do the NHL Hockey Playoffs Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It doesn\u2019t take a rocket scientist to grasp how the Stanley Cup Playoffs work. The NHL postseason used to be about the top eight teams in each conference, straight up. The process of determining those eight conference teams changed in 2014, though, as the league decided to give more weight on the top performers of each division. With all that said, let\u2019s now look at the basics of how the Stanley Cup Playoff works.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>NHL News and Predictions<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2017-nhl-draft-winners-and-losers.html\">2017 NHL Draft Winners and Losers<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2017-nhl-writers-mock-draft-predictions.html\">TopBet Writers\u2019 2017 NHL Mock Draft Projections<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2017-18-nhl-stanley-cup-futures-odds-update.html\">2017-18 NHL Season Early Stanley Cup Futures Odds<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Here\u2019s How The NHL Hockey Playoffs Work<\/h2>\n<h3>Qualifying for the playoffs<\/h3>\n<p><!-- Shortcode is missing \"name\" attribute -->The 82-game schedule is hell for all teams. And after taking care of their respective businesses in the regular season, eight teams from each conference will make the playoffs. The top three clubs in each division automatically clinch postseason spots, giving both conferences a set of six playoff teams.<\/p>\n<p>The other two playoff<a class=\"JQloguX0YV2M Vtmipc3f8ff\" style=\"z-index: 2147483647;\" title=\"Click to Continue &gt; by Advertise\" href=\"#6645998\"> slots<\/a>\u00a0in each conference will be filled in by the \u201cwild cards\u201d. These wild card teams are those that had the highest point totals in their conference (regardless of division) but didn\u2019t make it to the top three of their divisions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/9\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Create a betting account now<\/a>\u00a0and cash in on the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n<h3>Matchups<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-104738\" src=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Blackhawks-at-the-White-House.jpg\" alt=\"The Blackhawks at the White House\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Blackhawks-at-the-White-House.jpg 600w, http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Blackhawks-at-the-White-House-250x167.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After determining which teams will go dancing in the playoffs, it\u2019s time for the NHL to lay out the matchups. Here\u2019s how it goes in the first round:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The division leader that garnered the most points in the conference gets the wild card team with the fewest total points in the first round.<\/li>\n<li>The division leader that finished with the fewest points in the conference will square off with the wild card team that had the highest points total in the regular season.<\/li>\n<li>The second-place clubs in each division will be matched up against the same division\u2019s third place teams.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>There won\u2019t be reseeding for the succeeding rounds. Instead, the playoffs will follow the same format used in the NBA and March Madness, where seeds no longer matter in determining matchups.<\/p>\n<h3>Home-ice advantage<\/h3>\n<p>The home-ice advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs is given to clubs that ranked higher in the regular season standings. The home-ice advantage in the conference finals and the Stanley Cup Finals, meanwhile, is bestowed to the team that finished with the better record in the regular season.<\/p>\n<h3>Series format<\/h3>\n<p>Each series is a best-of-seven affair and played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/19\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-89566 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/NHL-Banner-1MB.gif\" alt=\"NHL-Banner-1MB\" width=\"620\" height=\"110\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It doesn\u2019t take a rocket scientist to grasp how the Stanley Cup Playoffs work. The NHL postseason used to be about the top eight teams in each conference, straight up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":104737,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[112,7450,393,45,41],"tags":[8461,12204,12213,12214,12206,12207,12208,12209,12210,12211,12212,9195,12205,11313,12215,12216,113,191,1665,3682],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How do NHL Hockey Playoffs Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here&#039;s our &#039;How Do The NHL Hockey Playoffs Work infographic&#039; to help get you through this year&#039;s Stanley Cup. 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