2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs of the National Hockey League (NHL) began on April 30, 2013 following the conclusion of the 2012-13 NHL regular season.

The regular season was shortened to 48 games, and the playoffs pushed to a later date, due to a lockout. The playoffs ended on June 24, 2013 with the Chicago Blackhawks defeating the Boston Bruins in six games to win the Stanley Cup.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs for the first time since 2004, breaking one of the NHL's longest playoff droughts. Since the 1967 expansion, only the Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils (1979–1987) and the Florida Panthers (2001–2011) have had longer playoff droughts.

The 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs mark the first time since 1996 that every Original Six team has advanced to the playoffs in the same year.

Also, this year marks the first time since 2004 that two Canadian teams have played each other in the playoffs.

In all, four Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver), the most since 2006. For the 2nd time in 3 years, all three teams from California made the playoffs.

For the first time since 2007, and for only the third time in history, all four former WHA teams; Carolina (formerly the Hartford Whalers), Colorado (formerly the Quebec Nordiques), Edmonton, and Phoenix (formerly the Winnipeg Jets) missed the playoffs in the same year.

For the first time since 1945, the final four teams remaining in the playoffs were the previous four Stanley Cup champions: Pittsburgh (2009), Chicago (2010), Boston (2011), and Los Angeles (2012) and indeed with the Detroit Red Wings (2008) being the last of the teams eliminated from the Conference Semi-Finals, the final five teams were the previous five Cup champions.

The 2013 Stanley Cup Finals was contested between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, the first meeting in the Finals between the two teams and the first time that two Original Six teams competed in the Finals since Montreal defeated the New York Rangers in the 1979 Stanley Cup Finals.

Conference Semifinals
===4.1 Eastern Conference Semifinals