The 2008 National Hockey League playoff schedule is determined by the eighty-two regular season games played. In each Conference, the Eastern and the Western, there are eight teams that make it to the post-season. These teams are determined by rank in points garnered throughout the regular season, except for the three divisional winners.
The leaders of the three divisions become ranked numbers one through three, based on total points earned. After those three teams are ranked, the following five teams are awarded post season merit based on their total points. Even though several teams may have earned more points in the regular season than that of one of the divisional leaders, they are still ranked lower. While unfair, perhaps, this has been set in place and is adhered to strictly.
The same occurs in both Conferences, and in the first few rounds of the playoffs, you play against your own divisional opponents for the first three rounds, if you continue to win. For the fourth and final round, the top team from the Eastern Conference plays against the top team from the Western Conference for Lord Stanley's Cup.
In the first round of playoffs, the number one ranked team plays against the number eight ranked team, the number two team facing off against the number seven team, teams three and six fighting it out, and finally teams ranked four and five play each other in best out of seven series'. The top four ranked teams are the home ice squads, playing games number one, two, five, and seven, if necessary, on home ice.
After the first round of the playoffs, the four remaining teams per conference are re-ranked, and once again the top ranked team plays the lowest ranked team, and the two middle ranked teams square off. Home ice is once again determined by prior ranking. The third round follows the same format. Once the winner of each conference has emerged, the teams then cross conferences to fight it out for the holy grail of hockey, Lord Stanley's Cup.
For the purposes of the Stanley Cup Final series, home ice advantage is awarded to the team that finished the season with the greater number of points during the regular season.