nhl playoffs bracket

nhl playoffs bracket

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The road to the Stanley Cup, Bet on NHL Hockey playoffs 2010



The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the NHL playoffs 2010.

Division leaders are seeded #1, #2, and #3. The next five best teams were seeded fourth through eighth.

Seeding is determined by: point total, wins, points obtained in games against tied teams and goal differential.

There are three rounds of playoffs in each conference (first round, conference semi finals and conference finals). The winner in these three rounds will be declared the Eastern or Western Conference Champion. In the final round, these two face off against each other for the Stanley Cup. Best-of-7 format is used in all stage of playoffs.

Home-ice advantage is given to the higher seed in all rounds except the first, when all division winners are assured a seed no lower than three. Home-ice advantage for the Stanley Cup Finals to be determined by points. The team with "home-ice advantage" is at home for Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 and on the road for games 3, 4 and 6.


The Canadians just squeeked into the playoffs this year. (AP Images)


Who has the easiest path in the 2010 NHL playoff bracket? Who has the hardest? In the East, Washington certainly takes advantage of its first-place finish—the Capitals get the Canadiens in the first round, who have backed into the playoffs with three straight losses.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, draws a tough Ottawa team that went 7-2-1 down the stretch. Worse yet, the Pens will eventually have to face Washington or New Jersey—if not both—and they managed a brutal 0-8-2 record against those teams.

Out West, the first-place Sharks are trying to avoid yet another playoff collapse; they get Colorado in the first round, with the Avs losing their last three outings. Despite finishing fourth and getting home-ice in the first round, Phoenix has the unenviable task of facing Detroit. The defending Western Conference champs are 16-3-2 since the Olympic break.



2010 NHL Playoff brackets are set, and the playoff games begin Wednesday. The 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs quarterfinal round begins on Wednesday, April 14th with New Jersey vs. Philadelphia. The Eastern

Conference
regular season champions were the
Washington Capitals, posting a 54-15 record on the season with 13 overtime losses. They won the Eastern Conference by 18 total points to clinch that No. 1 seed early on. Over in the Western Conference it was the San Jose Sharks that clinched the No. 1 seed by just one point, finishing just ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks. San Jose went 51-20 with 11 overtime losses during the 2009-2010 NHL regular season.

It's hard to not look ahead to the conference semifinals because several of the possible match ups look to be extremely exciting. One of those match ups could be Washington vs. Pittsburgh, which would be an ultra-competitive series between those two Eastern power teams. Then there is the possibility of a San Jose vs. Detroit second round match in the Western Conference. That too would be a great series to watch. We have a lot of hockey to play before the semifinals get started though, and that kicks off Wednesday night with the New Jersey vs. Philadelphia series.

The start of the eight first round match ups is staggered over three days, with 'game ones' being played on April 14, 15, and 16. We broke down the seeding and the first game schedule below so that the brackets are clear to begin with. Re-seeding happens after each round though, with the best team getting to play the worst team that advances. That means we won't know the full second round match ups until the first round is complete. Get ready for some action on the ice though, because the march to the 2010 Stanley Cup begins on Wednesday


The quest for the 2010 Stanley Cup has begun for 14 teams and the final two teams will open their series on Friday.

The NHL's 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs are well underway as only Chicago and Nashville have yet to open their series. For all other series, 1 game has been played as of Friday morning.

For those that are looking for the playoff bracket please be advised that the NHL reseeds the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in an effort to ensure that the highest seed is always facing the weakest competition. A bracket, like the ones you find for NBA basketball are therefore not possible until the second round.

Here are all the first round matchups with the odds to win each series (if available) from Players Only (all odds accurate as of Friday morning April 16th):

Eastern Conference:

(1) Washington Capitals vs (8) Montreal Canadiens
Montreal leads series 1-0 and have stolen home ice advantage.

Washington opened as -600 favorites in this series while Montreal started at +400. Those odds are surely to be updated soon and expect Washington to remain favored but at odds closer to EVEN. In the future market Washington are +300 to win the Cup while Montreal are currently at +2500.

(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (5) Ottawa Senators
Ottawa leads series 1-0 and they have stolen home ice advantage.

At this point the Pittsburgh Penguins are still favored to win the series as Players Only have them priced at -165 and the Senators are priced at +135.

(2) New Jersey Devils vs (7) Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia leads series 1-0 and they have stolen home ice advantage.

Thanks to the big win in New Jersey, the Flyers are now the favorite to win the series. Players Only have lengthened the Devils' odds to EVEN while the Flyers have been shortened to -130 (10/13).

(3) Buffalo Sabres vs (6) Boston Bruins
Buffalo leads the series 1-0 and have protected home ice advantage.

The odds in this series were -180 for Buffalo to win and +150 for the Bruins to win before game 1. With Buffalo winning game 1 on home ice, their odds should shorter further. This is a great series to target for UNDER betting as the two best save percentage goaltenders are going head to head in Tuukka Rask and Ryan Miller. Game 1 played UNDER the 5 goal total and more of that should be expected in the future.

Western Conference

(1) San Jose Sharks vs (8) Colorado Avalanche
Colorado lead this series 1-0 and have stolen home ice advantage.

The San Jose Sharks remain favored to win this series even after losing game 1 and the new odds with Players Only are -180 for San Jose to win and +140 for Colorado to win. If Colorado, one of the coldest teams heading into the post-season, can keep beating San Jose it would be very surprising. -180 isn't a bad price on the Sharks although it should not be pounded too hard because of the franchise's history of losing early in the playoffs.

(4) Phoenix Coyotes vs (5) Detroit Red Wings
Phoenix lead this series 1-0 and have protected home ice advantage.

Technically the Red Wings remain the favorite to win this series at -120 although the Coyotes' odds are quite tight at -110.

(2) Chicago Blackhawks vs (7) Nashville Predators
Series is 0-0 and starts on Friday night.

The Blackhawks are pretty heavy favorites at -450 while the Preds are priced at +350.

(3) Vancouver Canucks vs (6) Los Angeles Kings
Vancouver lead the series 1-0 and have protected home ice advantage.

The Canucks came in as the favorite at -250 while the Kings were priced at +190. Updated odds are pending but look for the Canucks to shorten marginally following the Kings' win.

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