The Tampa Bay Lightning are in search of to turn out to be the primary staff to win three straight Stanley Cups because the early ’80s Islanders. However 15 different groups and 4 rounds of playoffs stand of their approach.
Let’s reply some questions concerning the N.H.L. playoffs as they get set to start.
When do the playoffs begin?
Monday at 7 p.m. Japanese 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 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 observe. All 4 rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven-game sequence. The higher-seeded staff in every sequence will get the benefit of taking part in 4 of the seven video games at house.
The place can I watch the video games?
Video games can be proven in the USA on TNT, TBS, ESPN and ABC. Streaming is on the market 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 greatest report within the common season, and the opposite finalist, the Montreal Canadiens, had the worst report of any playoff staff.
There’s a robust Japanese Convention contingent specifically 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 report within the league. However the trophy winner hasn’t gained the Stanley Cup since 2013, and solely 4 instances 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 staff from Canada has gained the Stanley Cup because the Canadiens in 1993.
Who’re the gamers to look at?
Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs turned the league’s first participant to achieve 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 nicely.
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 12 months they missed out in a detailed battle for the wild card.
The Winnipeg Jets had additionally made the playoffs for 4 straight seasons till this one.
What’s so particular concerning the Stanley Cup?
The Cup has a protracted and wonderful 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 staff to win it, in 1917.
There’s a lengthy custom that permits gamers on the profitable staff to get someday every with the Cup. They’ll usually use their time to take the hallowed silverware to particular and typically curious places of their hometowns, like Crimson 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 normal of Canada within the late 1800s. He made a wise transfer that has stored 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 staff is within the playoffs. (Some groups in different sports activities, like baseball, have embraced this custom as nicely.) 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’ palms. It’s a customized a lot beloved by hockey followers: Count on to listen to an announcer name it “a fabulous custom.”
Why are extra time playoff video games so particular?
Within the N.H.L. common season, extra time ends after 5 minutes. However within the playoffs they only hold taking part in 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 Crimson Wings and Montreal Maroons went to 6.
Overtimes in Sport 7s — with each groups understanding a single objective will immediately get rid of or advance them — are by consensus one of the thrilling occasions in sports activities. It occurred most lately in 2020 when the Dallas Stars beat the Avalanche within the second spherical on a Joel Kiviranta objective.
The finals have gone to extra time in Sport 7 solely twice, in 1950 and 1954, each gained by the Crimson Wings.
What’s the Conn Smythe Trophy?
The M.V.P. award of the playoffs. Whereas the winner nearly all the time comes from the Cup-winning staff, 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 12 months earlier than. Each are nonetheless key gamers for the staff.
