How many rounds are the NHL Playoffs?

The playoff bracket is set and your Washington Capitals will face off against the New York Rangers beginning Sunday afternoon with Game 1 at 3 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. You can catch the game on Monumental Sports Network locally and ESPN if you live outside the DC market.

If you're new to the game of hockey the playoffs consist of four rounds with each round being the best four out of seven so buckle up. Here is the complete NHL playoff bracket in order by conference as well as the first round matchups listed starting with the Western Conferernce followed by the Eastern Conference:

Central Division:

#1 Dallas Stars vs. Wild Card #2 Vegas Golden Knights, #2 Winnipeg Jets vs. #3 Colorado Avalanche

Pacifiic Division:

#1 Vancouver Canucks vs. Wild Card #1 Nashville Predators, #2 Edmonton Oilers vs. #3 Los Angeles Kings

Atlantic Division:

#1 Florida Panthers vs. Wild Card #1 Tampa Bay Lightning, #2 Boston Bruins vs. #3 Toronto Maple Leafs

Metropolitan Division:

#1 Presidents Trophy winning New York Rangers vs. Wild Card #2 Washington Capitals(!!!!!), #2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. #3 New York Islanders

Latest from the rink

The Capitals held a practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex and will practice there again at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow before departing for the Big Apple. Rasmus Sandin didn't partake in practice but here were the lines via Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network on X:

So it looks like Lucas Johansen could be the healthy scratch heading into Game 1 unless Sandin is available. But we don't know yet as of this writing nor are we at the rink right now. But lots of people were and it was indeed a packed house in Arlington, Virginia.

El-Bashir noted after practice that Spencer Carbery said that Sandin along with Nick Jensen skated before practice but that their status for Sunday's Game 1 is still to be determined.

The next step of course would be to join their teammates at practice but we won't know that till 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.