The National Hockey League (NHL) Conference Finals are the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Championship series of the NHL. The Conference Finals are best-of-seven series. The two series are played in late May each year after the first and second rounds of the playoffs and before the Finals. The final two teams in the Eastern conference and Western Conference face off. The series are the conference equivalents of the Stanley Cup Finals. Beginning in the 1981-82 season, the Conferences & the playoffs were realigned.