All 16 spots in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs have been locked up. All that’s left to decide in the regular-season finale Thursday are which Western Conference teams will play each other.
Ten total NHL games remain in the regular season, and just two first-round matchups are set in the West. There’s the Winnipeg Jets – who finished second in the Central Division – and the Colorado Avalanche – who finished third in the Central. On Wednesday, the Pacific Division winner Vancouver Canucks were locked into their matchup with the first wild-card team: the Nashville Predators.
The Dallas Stars clinched the regular-season conference title over fellow division winner Canucks with a win on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings can bump the Vegas Golden Knights out of the top three of the Pacific Division and into a wild-card spot with a win and Golden Knights loss Thursday.
Here’s how things stand in the NHL playoff picture as of Wednesday.
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The top three teams in each division make the playoffs. The first- and second-best records in the conference outside of the top teams in each division earn a berth as a wild card team.
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From NHL.com:
First Round:
Here’s how the first round of the playoffs would shake out in the East if the season ended after Wednesday.
Here’s how the matchups look with the current standings in the Western Conference.
*Subject to change pending Thursday results
The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs begins April 20. The Stanley Cup Final has a tentative start date of June 3, but that could be moved up depending on how quickly earlier rounds are decided.
