Each team in the NHL plays 82 regular season games, 41 games at

home and 41 on the road. Teams used to play all other teams in

the league at least once, but this will no longer be the case

following implementation of post-lockout changes. Teams will

now play 10 interconference (that is, not in their own

conference) games throughout the entire season, 1 game against

each team in two of the three divisions in the opposite

conference. Teams will also play 40 games against

non-divisional, conference opponents (4 games against each),

and 32 games within their division (8 games against each). Two

points are awarded for wins, one point for losing in overtime

or a shootout, and zero points for a loss in regulation time.

At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with

the most points in each division is crowned the division

champion. Each Conference consists of three divisions, so these

three division champions and five more teams fill out each

Conference's playoff field. In total, 16 teams (3 division

champions and 5 additional teams, for a total of 8 from each

Conference) qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs is an elimination tournament, where

two teams battle to win a best-of-seven series in order to

advance to the next round. If the score is tied at the end of

the third period an overtime period is played. If the score is

tied at the end of an overtime period, additional overtime

periods are played until a winner is determined. Overtimes are

also full periods of twenty minutes (of five-on-five hockey),

rather than the five minutes (of four-on-four hockey, followed

by a shootout,) in the regular season. The overtime is played

with golden goal rule (sudden death) so the game ends as soon

as either team scores a goal. The higher-ranked team is said to

be the team with the home-ice advantage. Four of the seven games

are played at this team's home venue - the first and second,

and, where necessary, the fifth and seventh, with the other

games played at the lower-ranked team's home venue.

One playoff that was contested in the NHL used the following

format: the division winners were seeded one through three, and

then the next five teams with the best records in the conference

were seeded four through eight. However, the league has yet to

announce the playoff format for the 2005-06 season, and with

the new scheduling format that emphasises division play, the

league is reportedly exploring placing greater emphasis on

division standings by taking the top 2 teams in each division,

along with the teams with the next two best records for each

Conference's playoff field. In the event of a tie in points in

the standings, ties are broken first by amount of wins, then by

record against the team that is tied (disregarding the first

game played at the arena of the team that hosted more games

than the other during the season series, if applicable). Next,

the tied team with the better positive differential between

goals scored for and against is given preference, and in the

rare circumstance these tiebreakers are insufficient, the

Commissioner has the authority to devise some other means of

breaking the tie. The first round of the playoffs, or

Conference Quarterfinals, consists of the first seed playing

the eighth seed, the second playing the seventh, third playing

the sixth, and the fourth playing the fifth. In the Conference

Semifinals, the top remaining Conference seed plays against the

fourth remaining seed, and the second remaining seed plays the

third remaining seed. In the next round, the Conference Finals,

the two remaining teams in each conference play each other, with

the Conference champions proceeding to the Stanley Cup Finals.