# 2018–19 Liiga season

The 2018–19 SM-liiga season was the 44th season of the SM-liiga, the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975.

## Teams

| Team | City | Head coach | Arena | Capacity | Captain |
| HIFK | Helsinki | Ari-Pekka Selin25 Jan 2019 Jarno Pikkarainen | Helsingin jäähalli | 8,200 | Lennart Petrell |
| HPK | Hämeenlinna | Antti Pennanen | Patria-areena | 5,360 | Otto Paajanen |
| Ilves | Tampere | Karri Kivi | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,300 | Eemeli Suomi |
| Jukurit | Mikkeli | Pekka Kangasalusta | Kalevankankaan jäähalli | 4,200 | Miika Roine |
| JYP | Jyväskylä | Lauri Merikivi14 Jan 2019 Risto Dufva | Synergia-areena | 4,437 | Juha-Pekka Hytönen |
| KalPa | Kuopio | Sami Kapanen | Niiralan monttu | 5,300 | Tommi Jokinen |
| KooKoo | Kouvola | Tuomas Tuokkola8 Jan 2019 Mikko Heiskanen | Lumon arena | 6,000 | Toni Kähkönen |
| Kärpät | Oulu | Mikko Manner | Oulun Energia Areena | 6,614 | Atte Ohtamaa |
| Lukko | Rauma | Pekka Virta | Äijänsuo Arena | 5,000 | Janne Niskala |
| Pelicans | Lahti | Ville Nieminen | Isku Areena | 5,371 | Hannes Björninen |
| SaiPa | Lappeenranta | Tero Lehterä | Kisapuisto | 4,820 | Ville Koho |
| Sport | Vaasa | Ari-Pekka Pajuluoma | Vaasa Arena | 4,164 | Erik Riska |
| Tappara | Tampere | Jukka Rautakorpi | Tampereen jäähalli | 7,300 | Kristian Kuusela |
| TPS | Turku | Kalle Kaskinen | HK Arena | 11,820 | Lauri Korpikoski |
| Ässät | Pori | Mikael Kotkaniemi 9 Nov 2018 Pasi Kaukoranta | Porin jäähalli | 6,350 | Tommi Taimi |

## Regular season

Top six advanced straight to the quarter-finals, while teams between 7th and 10th positions played a wild card round for the final two spots. The SM-liiga is a closed series and thus there is no relegation.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final Result |
| 1 | Kärpät | 60 | 41 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 207 | 101 | +106 | 137 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Tappara | 60 | 32 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 177 | 150 | +27 | 108 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Pelicans | 60 | 30 | 3 | 8 | 19 | 199 | 154 | +45 | 104 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 4 | TPS | 60 | 29 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 164 | 152 | +12 | 103 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 5 | HPK (C) | 60 | 25 | 8 | 8 | 19 | 168 | 147 | +21 | 99 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 6 | HIFK | 60 | 24 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 182 | 169 | +13 | 98 | Advance to Quarterfinals |
| 7 | Lukko | 60 | 26 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 170 | 165 | +5 | 96 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 8 | Ilves | 60 | 23 | 8 | 6 | 23 | 169 | 170 | −1 | 91 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 9 | SaiPa | 60 | 21 | 10 | 5 | 24 | 156 | 162 | −6 | 88 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 10 | JYP | 60 | 17 | 12 | 7 | 24 | 145 | 155 | −10 | 82 | Advance to Wild-card round |
| 11 | Sport | 60 | 17 | 11 | 8 | 24 | 182 | 205 | −23 | 81 | |
| 12 | KalPa | 60 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 27 | 153 | 186 | −33 | 76 | |
| 13 | KooKoo | 60 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 29 | 157 | 197 | −40 | 73 | |
| 14 | Jukurit | 60 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 27 | 145 | 179 | −34 | 67 | |
| 15 | Ässät | 60 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 38 | 117 | 199 | −82 | 47 | |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) 3-point wins 3) Goal difference; 4) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points.

## Playoffs
### Bracket

| Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Wild-card round (best-of-3) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Quarter-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Semi-finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) | Finals (best-of-7) |
| | | | 1 | Kärpät | 4 | | | | | | |
| 8 | Ilves | 2 | 8 | Ilves | 0 | | | | | | |
| 9 | SaiPa | 1 | | | | 1 | Kärpät | 4 | | | |
| | | | | | | 6 | HIFK | 2 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Pelicans | 2 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | | | |
| | | | 6 | HIFK | 4 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | | | |
| | | | | | | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | 1 | Kärpät | 3 |
| | | | | | | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | 5 | HPK | 4 |
| | | | 2 | Tappara | 4 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) |
| 7 | Lukko | 2 | 7 | Lukko | 0 | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first and second round) |
| 10 | JYP | 1 | | | | 2 | Tappara | 2 | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game | Bronze medal game |
| | | | | | | 5 | HPK | 4 |
| | | | 4 | TPS | 1 | | | | 2 | Tappara | 1 |
| | | | 5 | HPK | 4 | | | | 6 | HIFK | 0 |

### Wild card round

Lukko – JYP 2-1 :
| 16.3.2019 | Lukko | JYP | 5-1 ref |
| 17.3.2019 | JYP | Lukko | 4-1 ref |
| 19.3.2019 | Lukko | JYP | 4-1 ref |
| Lukko wins the series 2-1. ||||
Ilves – SaiPa 2-1 :
| 16.3.2019 | Ilves | SaiPa | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| 17.3.2019 | SaiPa | Ilves | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| 19.3.2019 | Ilves | SaiPa | 4-2 ref |
| Ilves wins the series 2-1. ||||

### Quarterfinals

Kärpät – Ilves 4-0 :
| 22.3.2019 | Kärpät | Ilves | 4-3 OT1 ref |
| 23.3.2019 | Ilves | Kärpät | 0-4 ref |
| 25.3.2019 | Kärpät | Ilves | 2-1 ref |
| 27.3.2019 | Ilves | Kärpät | 2-3 OT1 ref |
| Kärpät wins the series 4-0. ||||
Pelicans – HIFK 2-4 :
| 21.3.2019 | Pelicans | HIFK | 6-0 ref |
| 23.3.2019 | HIFK | Pelicans | 3-2 ref |
| 25.3.2019 | Pelicans | HIFK | 1-2 OT1 ref |
| 27.3.2019 | HIFK | Pelicans | 3-1 ref |
| 29.3.2019 | Pelicans | HIFK | 5-1 ref |
| 30.3.2019 | HIFK | Pelicans | 2-1 ref |
| HIFK wins the series 4-2 ||||
Tappara – Lukko 4-0 :
| 22.3.2019 | Tappara | Lukko | 3-2 ref |
| 23.3.2019 | Lukko | Tappara | 2-3 ref |
| 25.3.2019 | Tappara | Lukko | 3-2 ref |
| 27.3.2019 | Lukko | Tappara | 1-2 ref |
| Tappara wins the series 4-0. ||||
TPS – HPK 1-4 :
| 21.3.2019 | TPS | HPK | 2-3 ref |
| 23.3.2019 | HPK | TPS | 5-3 ref |
| 25.3.2019 | TPS | HPK | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| 27.3.2019 | HPK | TPS | 2-1 ref |
| 29.3.2019 | TPS | HPK | 2-3 OT1 ref |
| HPK wins the series 4-1. ||||

### Semifinals

Kärpät – HIFK 4-2 :
| 3.4.2019 | Kärpät | HIFK | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| 5.4.2019 | HIFK | Kärpät | 3-2 ref |
| 6.4.2019 | Kärpät | HIFK | 3-0 ref |
| 8.4.2019 | HIFK | Kärpät | 2-0 ref |
| 12.4.2019 | Kärpät | HIFK | 2-1 OT1 ref |
| 15.4.2019 | HIFK | Kärpät | 0-3 ref |
| Kärpät wins the series 4-2. ||||
Tappara – HPK 2-4 :
| 4.4.2019 | Tappara | HPK | 1-0 ref |
| 6.4.2019 | HPK | Tappara | 4-1 ref |
| 9.4.2019 | Tappara | HPK | 3-2 OT1 ref |
| 11.4.2019 | HPK | Tappara | 2-1 OT1 ref |
| 13.4.2019 | Tappara | HPK | 2-3 ref |
| 15.4.2019 | HPK | Tappara | 4-3 ref |
| HPK wins the series 4-2. ||||

### Finals

HPK wins the finals 4-3.

## Final rankings

| | HPK |
| | Kärpät |
| | Tappara |
| 4 | HIFK |
| 5 | Pelicans |
| 6 | TPS |
| 7 | Lukko |
| 8 | Ilves |
| 9 | SaiPa |
| 10 | JYP |
| 11 | Sport |
| 12 | KalPa |
| 13 | KooKoo |
| 14 | Jukurit |
| 15 | Ässät |