All of the exciting action for the NHL playoffs is slated to start on May 2nd. Which is 3 days after the regular season ends.
The NHL playoffs have 8 teams total playing per conference. The bracket is divided so the top 3 teams in each division is able to make the playoffs in a guaranteed spot. Then the Wild Card spots are determined by the number of points the teams have scored on the year.
The wild card teams in each conference will play the top ranked seed plays against the wild card teams. The first round along with the other rounds are a best of 7 series and requires the teams to win 4 games to advance to the next round.
In the second round of the NHL playoffs the seeds will advance to face the next team in their bracket that wins. Then who ever wins that best of 7 series will move on to the conference finals. The conference finals is going to pit the remaining two teams in each conference against each other in a best of 7 series. The winner of that series will advance to the Stanley Cup Finals in what will be a showdown between the Western Conference and Eastern Conference champions.
The Stanley Cup winner could play anywhere from a minimum of 16 games to win the Stanley Cup to a total of 28 games played if each series the winner of the Stanley Cups goes to 7 games. No matter how many games it takes the winner of the Stanley Cup Finals will have so much energy on the ice you could not even tell how many games the team played.