NHL and NBA Playoff Recap: The First Week

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Spring has sprung and play-offs have begun! If you’ve been too busy to keep track of the NBA and NHL games this past week don’t worry, Legend Rings is here with your bite-sized first-week playoff updates.

NBA

How it works:

The Top 8 teams in both the East and West NBA Conferences qualify for the NBA playoffs based upon their win-loss records. Unlike the NFL the brackets are fixed once the Top 8 teams are announced and the matchups are not re-seeded. The Top 8 teams in both divisions are seeded  1–8, 2–7, 3–6, and 4–5 based on the team’s placement in the regular season. Each round is the best of 7 games and once a team has won the majority of those games (4 wins) they move forward to the next bracket to face a new team for the consequent round.

What Has Happened So Far?

The first games started on Saturday, April 13th when 8 teams played their first game in the initial playoff round.

The Brooklyn Mets beat the Philadelphia Flyers 111-102

Orlando Magic slimly overtook the Toronto Raptors 104-101

Los Angelis Clippers lost to the Golden State Warriors 1o4-121

San Antonio Spurs took over the Denver Nuggets 1o1-96

Indiana Pacers were defeated by the Boston Celtics with a score of 84-74

Portland Trail Blazers won the matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-99

Milwaukee Bucks dominated the Detroit Pistons with a final score of 121-86

Utah Jazz dropped the ball against the Houston Rockets losing to a score of 90-122

All teams who won on Sunday currently lead their series by 1-0. Twenty-Two games are scheduled to be played in the upcoming week – we will update you on the movement next Monday (April 22nd)

If you would like to watch any of the upcoming games, this link will be the best resource to know when the games are scheduled!

NHL

How it works:

Consisting of four rounds with best of 7 series the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are full of energy. Similar to the NBA the 8 teams in each conference (Eastern and Western) with the highest points from the regular seasons. The final round known as the Stanley Cup Finals matches the two divisional winners against each other, to see who takes home the coveted Stanley Cup. Unlike the NBA, the NHL re-seeds based upon the results of the first series. In the first two rounds, the higher-seeded team gets home-ice advantage and hosts 3 out of the seven games in their home arenas.

What Has Happened So Far?

Playoffs began on Wednesday, April 10th, 2019 and all of the matchups have played each other more than once.

The Columbus Blue Jackets lead the series 3-0 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. If the Blue Jackets win again on Tuesday they have officially eliminated the Lightning from the first round of playoffs.

The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs have tied their series so far 1-1 with Toronto winning the first game 4-1 and Boston winning the second with the same score.

The Washington Capitals lead the series 2-0 against the Carolina Hurricanes winning 4-2 in the first game, and 4-3 in overtime the second.

NY Islanders lead the series 3-0 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. If the Islanders win the next game they move forward to the second series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars are tied 1-1 as Dallas took the first game 3-2 and Nashville won the second in overtime.

The St. Louis Blues lead the series against the Winnipeg Jets 2-1. However, the Winnipeg Jets came back after the first two losses with a 6-3 win on Sunday.

Colorado Avalanche and Calgary Flames have led a nail-biting series so far tied 1-1 as the second game was decided in overtime and brought home by the Avalanche.

The Vegas Golden Knights lead the series 2-1 against the San Jose Sharks scoring 5 goals or more per game so far this series.

That is all that happened so far these playoffs! See you next Monday (April 22nd) for another bite-sized recap of the NBA and NHL Playoff race to the ring!

 

 

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