How many games are in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs?

In the NHL there are two seasons, the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Teams compete throughout the course of the regular season for a chance at competing in the playoffs, and if they make the postseason a long battle for the cup is in store.

The regular season in the NHL consists of 82 games. Each team plays their divisional opponents three to four times, and the other eight teams in their conference four times. They then play the 16 teams in the other conference twice.

That means Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks won't have to worry about the Boston Bruins again this season. This schedule allows for everyone to play each other a few times and get familiarized with one another ahead of the postseason.

So the regular season is 82 games, teams win some and they lose some, but the postseason is all about the wins.

How many games are in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Winning the Stanley Cup takes 16 wins. In order to win the Cup, teams need to win four best-of-seven playoff series, so the least amount of games a team can play to win it all would be 16 whereas the most would be 28 games.

This past season it took the Vegas Golden Knights 22 games to win it all. In Round 1 they beat the Winnipeg Jets in five games, followed up by beating the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars in six games each, before beating the Florida Panthers in five games to win the cup.

In 2022, it took the Colorado Avalanche 20 games to win the Cup and before that, it took the Lightning 25 games and 23 games in back-to-back seasons to win it all. The most amount of games it has taken to win the Stanley Cup as of late has been 26 games, and that was most recently done by the St. Louis Blues in 2019.

In the regular season, everyone plays the same amount of games, but when it comes to the playoffs the only thing that matters is getting 16 wins. Sometimes teams take more time than they need to, but winning the Cup is still the same if it took you 16 games to get there or 28.