NHL field locked in
The NHL playoff field is set and attention has shifted to seeding and matchups, with the postseason scheduled to begin Saturday, April 18. Reports note the remaining regular‑season games are about final positioning rather than qualification as the bracket is now determined. (cbssports.com) (usatoday.com)
The National Hockey League playoff field is set, and the final days of the regular season are now about who plays whom when the Stanley Cup Playoffs open on Saturday, April 18. (nhl.com) (usatoday.com) In the Eastern Conference, Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Montreal have clinched the Atlantic Division spots, while Carolina, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have taken the Metropolitan Division spots. Ottawa and Boston are the two Eastern wild cards. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) (nhl.com 3) In the Western Conference, Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota are in from the Central Division, and Vegas, Edmonton and Anaheim are in from the Pacific Division. Utah and Los Angeles hold the two Western wild cards. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) (nhl.com 3) That leaves seeding as the live issue. The National Hockey League’s format sends the top three teams in each division to the playoffs, adds two wild cards per conference, and uses regulation wins as the first tiebreaker, followed by regulation-and-overtime wins. (cbssports.com) (usatoday.com) Some first-round pairings are already locked. Pittsburgh will face Philadelphia in the “Battle of Pennsylvania” after the Flyers clinched third in the Metropolitan Division with a 3-2 shootout win over Carolina on Monday. (nhl.com) Other matchups are still moving. National Hockey League playoff pages listed Buffalo versus Boston, Tampa Bay versus Montreal, Carolina versus Ottawa, Vegas versus Utah, Edmonton versus Anaheim, and Colorado versus Los Angeles as the “if the playoffs started today” bracket on Wednesday. (nhl.com) The last push changed the race in both conferences. Anaheim clinched its first playoff berth since 2018 on Monday, and Los Angeles clinched its fifth straight berth the same night with a 5-3 win against Seattle. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) At the top of the bracket, Colorado already secured the Presidents’ Trophy on April 9 by beating Calgary 3-1, which gave the Avalanche the National Hockey League’s best regular-season record and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. (nhl.com) The remaining games still matter, but in a narrower way. Boston and Ottawa were still sorting out the first Eastern wild card, and the Pacific Division order remained unsettled enough to shift who opens on the road and who gets home ice. (nhl.com) (cbssports.com) The race to get in is over; the race to land the right path is what is left before Saturday. (nhl.com)
