Each NHL team plays 82 regular season games, 41 home games and 41 road games. Teams used to play every other team in the league at least once, but this will no longer be the case after the implementation of the post-lockout changes. Teams will now play 10 interconference games (meaning not in their own conference) throughout the season, 1 game against each team in two of the three divisions in the opposite conference. Teams will also play 40 games against non-division conference opponents (4 games against each) and 32 games within their division (8 games against each). Two points are awarded for wins, one point for losing in overtime or in a penalty shootout, and zero points for losing in regulation time. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned division champion. Each Conference consists of three divisions, so these three division champions and five other teams fill out each Conference’s playoff field. In total, 16 teams (3 division champions and 5 additional teams, for a total of 8 from each Conference) qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs is an elimination tournament, where two teams fight to win a best-of-seven series to advance to the next round. If the score is tied at the end of the third period, an overtime period is played. If the score is tied at the end of an overtime period, additional overtime periods are played until a winner is determined. Overtimes are also full twenty-minute periods (of five-on-five hockey), instead of the five minutes (of four-on-four hockey, followed by a shootout) in the regular season. Extra time is played on the golden goal (sudden death) rule, whereby the game ends as soon as either team scores a goal. The highest ranked team is said to be the team with home field advantage. Four of the seven games are played at the home of this team: the first and second and, when necessary, the fifth and seventh, with the other games being played at the home of the lower ranked team.
A playoff contested in the NHL used the following format: the division winners were seeded one through three, and then the next five teams with the best records in the conference were seeded four through eight. However, the league has yet to announce the playoff format for the 2005-06 seasons, and with the new scheduling format emphasizing division play, the league is exploring placing more emphasis on division standings by taking Top 2 teams in each division. along with the teams with the next two best records to the playoff field from each Conference. In the event of a tie on points in the standings, ties are broken first by number of wins and then by record against the tied team (not taking into account the first game played in the arena of the team that hosted more games than the other ). during the season series, if any). Preference is then given to the tied team with the better positive differential between goals scored for and against, and in the rare circumstances where these tie-breaking criteria are insufficient, the Commissioner has the authority to rule out some other means of breaking the tie. The first round of the playoffs, or conference quarterfinals, consists of the first seed playing the eighth seed, the second against the seventh, the third against the sixth, and the fourth against the fifth. In the Conference Semifinals, the top remaining seed in the Conference plays the fourth remaining seed, and the second remaining seed plays the third remaining seed. In the next round, the Conference Finals, the remaining two teams in each conference meet, with the Conference champions advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.
