With the NHL season nearly complete, the 16 playoff teams are decided. While the order of the seeds is still up in the air, the field is now set.
Here's how the postseason picture looks with the season now in the books:
Just a refresher on the NHL playoff picture: It's important to remember that the top three teams in each division make up one side of the bracket in the conference playoffs. The fourth team is then pulled from the two wild-card seeds, which can come from either division.
The team with the best record in the conference gets the lowest wild-card seed on that side of the bracket.
The two winners of the divisional playoff series then meet in the conference championship, with the team with the best record being awarded home-ice advantage.
The benefit of such a format is that it intensifies divisional rivalries. The downside is that the two teams with the best record in the Eastern Conference (the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins) will play in the second round if they each win their opening matchups, rather than facing off in the conference finals.
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Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Timothy Rapp
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April 10th, 2016 by Timothy Rapp Leave a reply »
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