Last night the regular championship of the National Hockey League for the 2023/2024 season was completed. Based on the results of the final matches of the soft part of the season, all pairs of the first round of the playoffs were finally formed. In the Eastern Conference, complete clarity came two days ago, while in the Western Conference, until today’s game, only two of four pairings were known. The intrigue about how the other two couples would turn out remained until the last moment. And only the victory of the Los Angeles Kings over the Chicago Blackhawks (5-4 overtime) allowed us to reach the final balance.
Who qualified for the NHL West playoffs?
We remind you that according to the regulations, in the first round the second and third places in each division face each other, the best team in the conference plays with the team that occupied the second wild card position, and the winner of the other division. meets with the team that obtained the first wild card position.
From the Central Division, the Dallas Stars (113 points), Winnipeg Jets (110) and Colorado Avalanche (107) went directly to the playoffs.
From the Pacific Division, the tickets to the Cup were won by the Vancouver Canucks (109), Edmonton Oilers (104) and the Los Angeles Kings (99).
The Nashville Predators (99) and Vegas Golden Knights (98) entered the Stanley Cup as wild cards.
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Regulations for the first two rounds of the playoffs.
At this stage, the best team in each division is ranked No. 1. The teams ranked second and third in their divisions receive the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, and meet in the first round of the playoffs. Teams that make the playoffs from a wild card position take fourth place. Each team receiving fourth place will play the best team in the division (first place).
More additional indicators are used. Among the teams that took first place in the divisions, some scored more points, while others scored less: relatively speaking, 1A and 1B. Just as two conference teams received wild cards, one scored more points and the other less, conditionally 4A and 4B. Now everything is simple: 1A plays with 4B and 1B with 4A.
How do teams get 2A, 3A, 2B and 3B? It all happens depending on which division winner has the most points in the conference. The best team in the conference was Dallas, which scored 113 points, so the three best teams in the Central Division received the letter A. Consequently, the three best teams in the Pacific Division received the letter B. The La team second wild card position, Vegas, also received it, while “Nashville” gets the letter A. As a result, the following pairings were formed.
Western Conference Matchups:
Dallas (1A) – Vegas (4B);
Vancouver (1B) – Nashville (4A);
Winnipeg (2A) – Colorado (3A);
Edmonton (2B) – Los Angeles (3B).
Thus, already in the first round of the NHL playoffs in the East, we will witness several interesting confrontations:
“Edmonton” will play “Los Angeles” (Vladislav Gavrikov) in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Interestingly, the Kings, after their Stanley Cup victory in 2014, did not win a single cup series for the next 10 years, including being eliminated twice in a row (2022, 2023) by the Colorado Oilers under Alexander Georgiev. Valery Nichushkin and Yakov Trenin did not get home field advantage and will start the game on the road against Winnipeg, whose main goalkeeper is American Connor Hellebuyck. The Jets goalie won the William Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goaltender or goaltenders on the team with the fewest goals of the season. Russian Nikita Chibrikov managed to make his debut for the Jets in the last game of the regular season, even scoring a goal immediately, but the coaching staff of the Canadian team is unlikely to count on the young hockey player in the playoffs. but Vladislav Namestnikov will definitely play; “Vancouver” (Ilya Mikheev, Nikita Zadorov and Vasily Podkolzin) quite confidently won their division and will now play with Nashville, which took the first wild card position, the current Stanley Cup winner and defending champion Vegas; , with Russian forwards Pavel Dorofeev and Ivan Barbashev in the lineup, will play their conference winner, Dallas. Evgeniy Dadonov should play for the Stars, who suffered a serious injury in mid-February and missed two months, but managed to return to duty right at the end of the regular season. The 35-year-old Russian participated in the Stars’ final regular season game;
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How the pairings will be formed for the second round of the playoffs
The second round will feature the so-called “division finals.” In practice, this means that we will see the following pairs:
“Dallas” (1A) – “Vegas” (4B);/“Winnipeg” (2A) – “Colorado” (3A);
Vancouver (1B) – Nashville (4A)/Edmonton (2B) – Los Angeles (3B).
Similarly, pairings were previously formed in the Eastern Conference, where the estimated second-round bracket is as follows.
Rangers (1A) – Washington (4B)/Carolina (2A) – Islanders (3A);
Florida (1B) – Tampa (4A)/Boston (2B) – Toronto (3B).
We remind you that the 2024 Stanley Cup will begin on the night of April 21 and will end no later than June 24. The first matches of the western series will be played on the following days:
“Winnipeg” — “Colorado” — April 22, 2:00 Moscow time;
“Vancouver” — “Nashville” — April 22, 5:00 Moscow time;
“Dallas” – “Vegas” – April 23, 4:30 Moscow time;
“Edmonton” – “Los Angeles” – April 23, 5:00 Moscow time.
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