The 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs, the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL), began after the conclusion of the 1993–94 NHL season. Prior to the season, the league renamed its conferences and divisions, and switched from a divisional-based to a conference-based playoff structure. The sixteen teams that qualified, eight from each conference, played best-of-seven game series for conference quarterfinals, semifinals and championships; and then the conference champions played a best-of-seven series for the Stanley Cup. The playoffs ended when the New York Rangers defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh game of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. In total, an NHL record seven game sevens were played in this year's playoffs, two of which went to overtime and was later repeated in 2011 and 2014, which were also the respective years where the Canucks and the Rangers made their next appearances in the Final.

For the first time since joining the NHL, all four former WHA teams (the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets) failed to make the playoffs. Wayne Gretzky also missed the playoffs for the first time in his career. Conversely, the San Jose Sharks became the first post-1990 expansion team to make the playoffs. All series played between Central and Pacific Division teams had a 2–3–2 format to reduce travel. This remains the last time that two Canadian teams made it to the Conference Finals in the same year, let alone faced each other in that particular round.

This was the first season of the NHL's new conference-oriented playoff format, emulating the NBA's seeding format in use then. The top eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs. The top two seeds in each conference were awarded to the division winners; while the six remaining spots were awarded to the highest finishers in their respective conferences.

The following teams qualified for the playoffs:

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series. Most followed a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team played at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). All series played between Central and Pacific Division teams instead had a 2–3–2 format to reduce travel, with the sites for games five and six switched, and the team with home-ice advantage had the option to start the series on the road instead of at home. The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the two division winners seeded 1–2 based on regular season records, and the six remaining teams seeded 3–8.

The NHL used "re-seeding", similar to the National Football League, instead of a fixed bracket playoff system used by the NBA. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home-ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home-ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

The New York Rangers earned the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's best regular season team with 112 points. The Islanders qualified as the eighth seed earning 84 points during the regular season. This was the eighth playoff series between these two rivals, with the Islanders winning five of the previous seven series. They last met in the 1990 Patrick Division Semifinals which the Rangers won in five games. The Islanders won the season series earning six of ten points during this year's five game regular season series.

This was the last time that the Islanders got swept in a playoff series until the 2019 Eastern Conference Second Round.