The First Round pits the top ranked team in the conference against the lower ranked wild-card and the other division winner against the higher ranked wild-card. The top three teams in each division earn automatic berths (6 teams per conference) and the next two teams in the conference earn wild-card spots.
#NASHVILLE PREDATORS SCHEDULE STANLEY CUP SERIES#
Main article: Stanley Cup playoffsAt the end of the regular season, 16 teams qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, an elimination tournament consisting of three rounds of best-of-seven series to determine which team from each conference will advance to the final round, dubbed the Stanley Cup Final. Pulling a goaltender in overtime was occasionally attempted in certain situations prior to the 2004–05 NHL lockout near the end of a season if earning a single point in overtime would have been worthless for playoff qualification purposes, but with the introduction of the shootout it has not been attempted since.Ĥ games × 4 opponents + 5 games × 2 opponentsĤ games × 6 opponents + 5 games × 1 opponent If, however, a team pulls their goaltender for an extra attacker during overtime and gives up an empty net goal, the point normally awarded for losing in overtime is forfeited. Two points are awarded for a win (including in overtime or shootout), one point for a loss in overtime or shootout, and no points for a loss in regulation time. The NHL also has a holiday roster freeze between December 18 and 27, in which in most cases, players cannot be traded, waived, or sent to the minor leagues. Games are not played on December 26 unless it falls on a Saturday, of which no games would be played on December 23. The league also schedules a three day Christmas break when no regular season games are played on either Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Every four years, from 1998 onwards (except for 2018), in lieu of an All-Star break, there is usually a break for the Olympic Winter Games. The NHL All-Star Game and its accompanying festivities occur near the midpoint of the season, during which no regular season games take place. The San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche played each other 4 times in 2013––16, but only twice in 2014––17 in favour of 5 games against all their divisional opponents. The schedule is structured so that every NHL team plays in every arena at least once per season. One Western Conference exception is that one team from each division plays one less game inside Division and one more game inside Conference but outside their Division.
The remaining games of the season are inter-conference play (32 in the west, 30 in the east), allowing every team in the league to play every other team twice. Each team plays either four or five games against the other teams in its division (a total of 26 or 29 games in the Western Conference, 28 games in the Eastern Conference) as well as playing all non-divisional teams in their own conference thrice (21 or 24 games in the west, 24 games in the east). Since the 2017–2018 season, the NHL regular season formula was adjusted to account for the new conference alignments. In all, 1,271 games are scheduled (480 of them inter-conference). Since the 1995–96 season, each team in the NHL plays 82 regular season games, 41 each of home and road. For NHL league structure, see National Hockey League.
0 kommentar(er)
