Let's quickly recap how teams make it into the playoffs and who is playing who. Out of the 30 teams in the league, 16 will make it. Eight from the Western Conference and eight from the Eastern Conference. During the regular season teams play 82 games and pick up 2 points for a win, 0 for a lose in regulation and 1 point for a lose in overtime or a shootout. Those points are added up. The top 3 teams in each division (there are four: Pacific, Central, Atlantic and Metropolitan) make it into the playoffs. That leaves two spots open in each conference. Those two spots are called 'Wild Card Spots' and they go to the two teams with the next highest points. Then team are "seeded" 1-4. Each conference is seeded 1,2 and 3, then a Wild Card time is slotted in as the 4th team, 1plays 4 and 2 plays 3. That means this year
The St. Louis Blues are playing the Minnesota Wild
The Nashville Predators are playing the Chicago Blackhawks
The Anaheim Duck are playing the Winnipeg Jets
The Vancouver Canucks are playing the Calgary Flames
The Montreal Canadiens are playing the Ottawa Senators
The Tampa Bay Lightning are playing the Detroit Red Wings
The New York Islanders are playing the Washington Capitals
and finally the
The New York Rangers are taking on Pittsburgh Penguins
Tonight's line up looks like this:
The Ottawa Senators play the Montreal Canadiens at 4:00pm
The New York Islanders lace up their skates to play the Washington Capitals at 4:00pm
Veteran playoff team the Chicago Blackhawks will drop the puck with the Nashville Predators at 5:30pm
and lastly
The Vancouver Canucks take on a great rivalry the Calgary Flames at 7:00pm!
All times Pacific Standard Time (PST)
Tomorrow hockey fans I will go over what makes a playoff game different from a regular season game
Until then please continue to enjoy this great game!