About the NHL Playoffs

The National Hockey League (NHL) postseason is a best-of-seven series tournament crowning the league's annual champion. Founded in 1917, the NHL playoffs bring together the top 16 teams from the regular season to compete for the Stanley Cup through four rounds of playoff hockey. RinkStop provides series-by-series coverage of every playoff round — final scores, game dates, and series outcomes — alongside the year-round directory of teams, rinks, and leagues that feed into this tournament.