Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Last week, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the league’s regular season was officially over – it was shut down on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic – and that 24 instead of the usual 16 teams would advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The top 12 from each conference by points percentage are in the postseason.

The Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers are the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference and will play each other once in a round-robin format to officially seed the top of the East. Ditto in the West, where the top four are the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars.

The other eight clubs in each conference will play in best-of-five qualifying round series by seed (5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, etc.) to advance and face one of the top four in the first round of the playoffs. The Eastern Conference playoffs will be held in one “hub city” and the Western in another.