ICE HOCKEY
Stanley Cup play-offs 2020
August 11, 2020 - October 4, 2020 - Start of the Stanley Cup play-offs, the climax of North America’s NHL season.
The 2020 Stanley Cup features a shortened format due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The top four teams in each conference, plus four qualifying teams, will contest a best-of-seven play-off series, the last of which is the Stanley Cup Finals, contested by the two conference champions.
The top four teams in each conference played round robin matches to decide seeding postions 1-4. The next 8 teams (5th-12th placed finishers) played a one-off match to fill the remaining four qualifying places, seeded 5-8.
After posting a 44-14 regular season record, the Boston Bruins started the round robin matches as Presidents’ Cup champion – awarded to the team with the best regular season record – and Atlantic division winners, only to be beaten by the Philadelphia Flyers. Consequently, the Philadelphia Flyers start the play-offs as the number one seeds.