Stanley Cup Playoffs: Get to know the favorites and what to watch for

The field for the Stanley Cup Playoffs is set, with the first series set to begin Saturday.

Six of the 16 teams did not qualify a year ago, including Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston in the East. It's the 10th time in 12 seasons under the divisional wild card format that there have been five or more new teams.

There will be a new champion and no three-peat after the Florida Panthers were derailed by injuries following three consecutive trips to the final.

Who's in the playoffs

WESTERN CONFERENCE: Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota and Utah from the stacked Central Division, and Vegas, Edmonton, Anaheim and Los Angeles from the Pacific. The top-seeded Avalanche won the Presidents’ Trophy to ensure home ice throughout the playoffs.

EASTERN CONFERENCE: Carolina, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia made it from the Metropolitan, with the Hurricanes earning the conference's top seed. Buffalo won the Atlantic after the Sabres ended their NHL record 14-year postseason drought, and division rivals Montreal, Tampa Bay, Ottawa and Boston also are in.

The matchups

The top three teams in each of the four divisions make the playoffs. The other four spots go to the next two highest-placed teams in each conference, regardless of division.

The teams with the best record in each conference open against the wild-card team with the worst record; the other wild card plays the other division winner. Teams that finish second and third in their division play each other in the bracket headed by their respective division winner. The second round thus carries a higher prospect of division opponents matching up ahead of the conference finals.

All four rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven; the first team to 16 victories wins the Stanley Cup. The first-round matchups:

East

— Carolina vs. Ottawa, Game 1 on Saturday.

— Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, Game 1 on Saturday.

— Buffalo vs. Boston, Game 1 on Sunday.

— Montreal vs. Tampa Bay, Game 1 on Sunday.

West

— Dallas vs. Minnesota, Game 1 on Saturday.

— Colorado vs. Los Angeles, Game 1 on Sunday.

— Vegas vs. Utah, Game 1 on Sunday.

— Edmonton vs. Anaheim, Game 1 on Monday.

The favorites

Colorado is the 3-1 favorite to win the Stanley Cup, followed by Carolina and Tampa Bay at 5-1 and Dallas and Vegas at 10-1.

How to watch

Every playoff game will be nationally televised in the U.S on an ESPN or Turner network. The NHL schedule is here and a streaming guide is here. Much of TNT’s coverage, which includes the Stanley Cup Final, will be simulcast on truTV and available on Max’s B/R Sports Add-On. In Canada, games will be showcased on Sportsnet and CBC.

After three rounds of seven-game series, the final starts in early June. If the final goes the distance, Game 7 could go as late as June 21.

What to know

WEST: The West is loaded, with Colorado, Dallas, Vegas and Minnesota all considered among the favorites.

Colorado has MVP candidate Nathan MacKinnon and star defenseman Cale Makar. Edmonton is led by star Connor McDavid but is playing better defense this season after reaching the Cup Final the past two years. If you don't know Minnesota standouts Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, you will by the end of their first-round tilt against Dallas, which has their own stars in Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnson and Mikko Rantanen.

But wait! Every one of these teams has no doubt noticed that the Vegas Golden Knights are the hottest team in the league, going on a late eight-game unbeaten to win the Pacific Division under nearly hired firebrand John Tortortella.

EAST: The feel-good stories reside here, from Buffalo to Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

Buffalo snapped the NHL's longest postseason drought at 14 years and did it in style, winning the Atlantic Division behind leading scorer Tage Thompson (a big part of the U.S. winning Olympic gold) and raising hopes that the city could finally, maybe, win its first Stanley Cup.

The trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson helped Pittsburgh reached the playoffs for the first time in three years but they are a deeper, more explosive team under first-year coach Dan Muse. Can Crosby and Co. go on a run to land his fourth Cup?

If so, the Pens will have to first get through the Philadelphia Flyers, whose youthful duo of Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone were a big part of the reason the team reached the playoffs for the first time in six years.

All of these teams are undersogs to the powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay, where Nikita Kucherov finished behind only McDavid in total points and assists in another spectacular season. Both will get stout tests right away from Ottawa (vs. Carolina) and Montreal (vs. Tampa Bay) as Canada's hopes of ending a 33-year Cup drought rests with those two teams and the Oilers.

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