Just got done looking at the schedule for the conference finals, and we’re wondering: Could the NHL have spread it out any more?
Each of the conference final series will last 16 days if it goes the distance, with Detroit-Chicago ending on June 1 and Pittsburgh-Carolina the following day.
We have no problem with the West final starting on Sunday to accommodate NBC, but why did the league have to wait until Monday to open in the East?
Yeah, we know Carolina didn’t close out its series with Boston until Thursday, but one day off is enough for the Hurricanes. Besides, at this point you want to keep playing, you don’t want a lot of days off.
It seems to us the league could have opted to begin the Penguins-Hurricanes in Pittsburgh on Saturday, especially to accommodate a “Hockey Night in Canada” audience.
Another thing we noticed is that there a number of instances in both series where there will be three days between games. That seems odd because usually the league is pretty consistent scheduling games on every other night (unless, of course, there are building conflicts.)
In the Penguins-Hurricanes series, there are three cases where the teams will have two days off between games. They play Game Three on May 23, Game Four on May 26 and Game Five on May 29. That means they will play just two games in a six-day from May 24-29.
There also is two days off between Game Six (May 31) and Game Seven (June 2).
The West schedule also includes three cases of two days off between games. The teams have such a break between Game Two (May 19) and Game Three (May 22), and again after Game Four (May 24) and Game Five (May 27). Game Six is slated for May 30.
There isn’t a great deal of travel involved in these series, which makes the scheduling seem even stranger. Oh, well. We hope the NHL doesn’t lose the momentum of what has a spectacular postseason so far.
