2014 Stanley Cup: Unpredictable and Exiting playoffs

The 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs of the National Hockey League (NHL) began on April 16, 2014.

For the first time since 1973, only one Canadian team qualified for the playoffs: the Montreal Canadiens.^[1] The Detroit Red Wings increased their consecutive playoff appearance streak to 23 seasons, the longest current streak and the fourth longest streak in NHL history. The Dallas Stars ended the league's third longest active playoff appearance drought, qualifying for the postseason for the first time in six years.^[2] The Columbus Blue Jackets won their first franchise playoff game on April 19, 2014, and their first ever franchise playoff home game at Nationwide Arena on April 23, 2014, both against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Three Original Six teams reached the Conference Finals, the first time this has occurred since 1979.

The 2013–14 playoffs opening round featured leads changing hands more so than any other year. After the Anaheim Ducks rallied from a 4–2 deficit to defeat the Dallas Stars in game 6 of their opening round series on April 27, 2014, an NHL record was broken for most multi-goal comebacks by all teams in the opening round, with ten. In all four rounds combined in the previous year's playoffs, there were only eight such victories.^[3] It also marked just the fourth time in NHL playoff history that a team who led a series 3–0 in a seven game series failed to advance, when the San Jose Sharks lost to the Los Angeles Kings in Game 7 of the opening round on April 30, 2014.^[4]

• 1 Playoff seeds
• 1.1 Eastern Conference
• 1.1.1 Atlantic Division
• 1.1.2 Metropolitan Division
• 1.1.3 Wild Cards
• 1.2 Western Conference
• 1.2.1 Central Division
• 1.2.2 Pacific Division
• 1.2.3 Wild Cards
• 2 Playoff bracket
• 3 Conference Quarterfinals
• 3.1 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals
• 3.1.1 (A1) Boston Bruins vs. (WC2) Detroit Red Wings
• 3.1.2 (A2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (A3) Montreal Canadiens
• 3.1.3 (M1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (WC1) Columbus Blue Jackets
• 3.1.4 (M2) New York Rangers vs. (M3) Philadelphia Flyers
• 3.2 Western Conference Quarterfinals
• 3.2.1 (C1) Colorado Avalanche vs. (WC1) Minnesota Wild
• 3.2.2 (C2) St. Louis Blues vs. (C3) Chicago Blackhawks
• 3.2.3 (P1) Anaheim Ducks vs. (WC2) Dallas Stars
• 3.2.4 (P2) San Jose Sharks vs. (P3) Los Angeles Kings
• 4 Conference Semifinals
• 4.1 Eastern Conference Semifinals
• 4.1.1 (A1) Boston Bruins vs. (A3) Montreal Canadiens
• 4.1.2 (M1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (M2) New York Rangers
• 4.2 Western Conference Semifinals
• 4.2.1 (C3) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (WC1) Minnesota Wild
• 4.2.2 (P1) Anaheim Ducks vs. (P3) Los Angeles Kings
• 5 Conference Finals
• 5.1 Eastern Conference Finals
• 5.1.1 (A3) Montreal Canadiens vs. (M2) New York Rangers
• 5.2 Western Conference Finals
• 5.2.1 (C3) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (P3) Los Angeles Kings
• 6 Player statistics
• 6.1 Skaters
• 6.2 Goaltending
• 7 Television
• 8 References

2014 IIHF World Championship in Minsk, Belarus

The 2014 IIHF World Championship is being hosted by Belarus in its capital, Minsk. Sixteen national teams are competing in two venues, the Minsk-Arena and Chizhovka-Arena. It is the first time Belarus has hosted the tournament. The selection of Belarus to host this competition was the subject of much debate, with some politicians in both Europe and the United States calling for the IIHF to move the tournament to another country.

• 1 Host selection
• 2 Venues
• 3 Rosters
• 4 Officials
• 5 Format
• 6 Preliminary round
• 6.1 Group A
• 6.2 Group B
• 7 Playoff round
• 7.1 Quarterfinals
• 7.2 Semifinals
• 7.3 Bronze medal game
• 7.4 Gold medal game
• 8 Statistics
• 8.1 Scoring leaders
• 8.2 Leading goaltenders
• 9 IIHF broadcasting rights
• 10 Notes
• 11 References
• 12 External links