1st-round schedule for 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs | NHL.com (2025)

FAQs

What is the new NHL playoff format 2023? ›

Each of the four playoff rounds is a best-of-seven-game series. In each conference's first round, the second wild card team (with the worst record) takes on the division winner with the best record, while the first wild card team (with the better record) faces the conference's other division winner.

The first round is the only round where the better teams play easier opponents, as every other round is played by the winner of another series, thus leaving no opportunities to reseed. The winners of these series advance to the conference finals and the two conference finals winners move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Game 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final is scheduled for Saturday, June 8. Every game in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final will start at 8 p.m. ET and will be available on ABC and ESPN+ in the U.S. In Canada, every game will be available on Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports.

On March 17, in the first Stanley Cup playoff game, the Montreal Hockey Club (Montreal HC) defeated the Montreal Victorias, 3–2. Five days later, in the first Stanley Cup Finals game, Montreal HC beat the Ottawa Hockey Club 3–1.

To win the Stanley Cup, a team must win 16 playoff games, 4 in each of the 4 rounds. The playoffs have 4 rounds. Each round is a best-of-seven series. This means up to seven games are played until one team wins 4 of the games.

The Edmonton Oilers are the consensus Stanley Cup odds favorites across our best NHL betting sites, placing a huge target on their collective backs. The defending champion Florida Panthers nudge in just behind, trading as the second-biggest favorites, marginally in front of the Dallas Stars.

2024-25 NHL championship odds: Florida Panthers are betting favorites - ESPN.

Each of the four rounds is a best-of-7; the first team to win four games advances to the next round.

Following the play-in tournament, the 16-team NBA playoffs officially began with four games on April 20 and four more on April 21. In the first round, eight teams from each conference face off in a best-of-seven series to advance.

Which team has the most Stanley Cup Final appearances? ›

The Montreal Canadiens have the most appearances by a team in the Stanley Cup Finals, with 33 appearances.

Stanley Cup Final Schedule

Game 1: Saturday, June 8, 2024 (Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Fla.) Game 2: Monday, June 10, 2024 (Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Fla.) **Game 5: Tuesday, June 18, 2024 (Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Fla.)

Brad Aldrich's name has been removed from the Stanley Cup. Aldrich, a video coach for the Chicago Blackhawks during their 2009-10 Stanley Cup run, is the center of a sexual abuse case which involved a former Blackhawks player. Can confirm that Brad Aldrich's name has been x'ed out on the Stanley Cup.

However, Bill Westwick, Ottawa Journal sports editor and the son of Silver Seven player Rat Westwick, and NHL commissioner Frank Calder both deny it ever happened. No contemporary reports support the legend, although champagne was drunk from the Cup that night.

The first, the original, is kept in a vault at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The current “real” cup, sometimes known as the Presentation Cup, is the one that's handed to the winning team at the end of the playoffs, and that players get to spend a day with during the offseason.

These matchups are played on a 2-3-2 basis to reduce travel. In a 2-3-2 series, the team with the most points can choose to start the series at home or on the road. The Eastern Conference champion faces the Western Conference champion in the Stanley Cup Final.

The new 12-team College Football Playoff field will include the five highest-ranked conference champions, which will receive automatic bids. The seven highest-ranked teams remaining will round out the 12-team format. The top four teams will receive a first-round bye to the quarterfinals.

For the 2021–22 season the NHL regular season formula was adjusted to account for the addition of the Seattle Kraken. Each team plays either three or four games against the other teams in its division (a total of 26 games) as well as playing all non-divisional teams in their own conference three times (24 games).

— starting in 1993-94 (division winners got top seeds), which ran through 2012-13. Then with realignment in 2013-14, the league went from three divisions to two in each conference and switched to the current playoff format.