So it appears the Rangers and Islanders will be Vegas-bound when and if the competition begins in late July or early August. Multiple sources have confirmed the NHL has settled on Vegas as one of its two hub cities to host the tournament.
As the league previously has indicated it would not allow a team to play at home, so the Golden Knights and the Western Conference will be located in the other hub city, which the NHL would like to name as Toronto if Canada drops its 14-day self-quarantine requirement for all individuals entering the country.
So in Vegas, it would be Rangers-Carolina and Islanders-Florida in addition to Pittsburgh-Montreal and Columbus-Toronto in the best-of-five qualifying rounds, and Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington and Philadelphia play a round-robin to establish the order of seeding.
The likelihood is that — at least for the qualifying round, if not beyond — Games 1 and 2 and Games 3 and 4 would be played back-to-back with a day between. That is the scheduling format that was in place for the first two rounds from 1980-84 and for the first round from 1980-89
The Gotham Reporter 