All 30 pro hockey teams enter the season on equal ground, with grand and equal aspirations of hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup at the end of the Championship.
The 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin with first-round action on April 13th, 2011. The top sixteen teams that qualify, eight from each conference, play best-of-7 series for conference quarterfinals, semifinals and championships,and then the conference champions will play a best-of-7 series for the Stanley Cup.
The NHL playoff bracket system works a little different than the NBA playoffs or the March Madness tournament.
The first round runs as you would think, the highest seed plays the lowest seed. But the second round is rearranged so that highest remaing seed plays the lowest remaining seed left in the tournament (in their conference).