The NHL season is divided into two parts: a regular season, which lasts from October to April, and a playoff stage, which lasts from April to June. The playoffs culminate in the final series for the Stanley Cup, at the end of which the NHL champion for that season is crowned.
the regular season
In the regular season, each team plays 82 games - 41 home games and 41 away games (in recent years, several games are held in neutral venues - in Europe, Asia, or North American cities that do not have NHL teams - for marketing purposes).
Each team plays in the season 3 or 4 times against each opponent from its home (26 games in total), three times against each opponent from the other home in its division (24 games in total), and two games - a home game and an away game - against each team from the second division ( 32 games in total). The structure of the games allows each team to host and play against every other team in the league at least once - in other words, each team plays in all 32 venues of the league during the season.
In the middle of the season, in January-February, the league stops for a short break for the "All-Star" weekend events centred on the "All-Star" game itself—a meeting between two teams of the league's best stars. In years when the Winter Olympics are held, if NHL players participate, the All-Star weekend is cancelled, and the league takes a two-week break during the Olympics.
The team receives 2 points in the table for each victory and each loss in overtime or a penalty shootout - 1 point. The team does not receive points for a loss in the legal time of the game. The rationale behind awarding a point to the losing team in overtime or a penalty shootout is encouraging teams to attack during overtime, as one point is already guaranteed and can only be gained from a winning goal. Overtime is 5 minutes long and takes place using the "golden goal" method (in English, the technique is called "sudden death", i.e. "sudden death") - when one of the teams scores a goal, the game is stopped, and it is the winner. In overtime, each team plays with two fewer players, i.e., three skaters and a goalie only (if one of the teams faces a penalty that extends beyond the legal time, and in order not to be left with less than three skaters on the ice, the penalty is realized by adding a fourth skater to the other team). If there is no decision at the end of the extra time, a penalty shootout of 3 penalty shots is held for each team. If there is no decision at the end of the period, the battle continues with alternating penalty shots until one team scores and the other misses.
the playoffs
At the end of the regular season, the top 3 in each house advance to the playoffs, and the two remaining spots in each division - so-called Wild Card spots - are occupied by the best teams among those remaining, according to their ranking in the table on a divisional basis (meaning, one house in a division may advance to the five-team playoffs, and from the second house you will only have three).
The playoff series are held separately in each division and are based on the "best of seven games" method. The winner of four games wins the series and advances to the next round, and the loser is eliminated and ends the season. The higher-ranked team has a home advantage—the first two games and, if necessary, the fifth and seventh games will be played in the home stadium.
The top seed in the entire division plays in the first round of the playoffs against the inferior team among the two Wild Card teams, and the second home champion in the division meets with the second Wild Card team. The 2nd and 3rd ranked in each house meet each other. The winners of the first round meet each other for the house championship, and the winners of the second round - the champions of the two houses of the division - meet in the third round, the division final series.
The method of deciding games that ended in a tie at the end of legal time differs from the regular season. In the playoffs, a 20-minute overtime is played using the "golden goal" method, where, unlike the regular season, the teams on the ice keep a full lineup of five skaters and a goalie. If a decisive goal is not scored in overtime, another 20-minute overtime takes place, and God forbid. There is no decision in a penalty shootout. Theoretically, then, an NHL playoff game could go on indefinitely. The longest game in NHL playoff history as of March 2024 was decided in the sixth overtime.
Stanley Cup Final Series
The winners of the third round (the divisional finals), who are the champions of the Eastern Division and the Western Division, meet each other in the final series for the Stanley Cup, which crowns the NHL champion. The final series is also played using the "best of 7 games" method, where the home advantage is determined according to the points earned by each team in the table in the regular season, regardless of its ranking within its division.
Teams and league structure
The league teams are divided into two divisions: the eastern division, which includes the teams from the east part of North America (Eastern time zone), and the western division, which consists of the teams in the central part and the west part of the continent (the other time zones). In each division, there are two houses - in the eastern division, the houses are the metropolitan and the Atlantic, and in the western division - the central and the Pacific. The division of houses is also a geographical division.
The 32 league teams are divided equally between the divisions and houses - 16 teams in each division, 8 in each home.
Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Western Division | Western Division |
The Pacific House | The central house | The Atlantic House | The Metropolitan House |
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