NHL Playoffs 2015: TV Schedule, Live Stream Guide for Friday's Stanley Cup Games

The 2015 NHL postseason is a freight train that cannot be stopped and is chugging along toward a trio of Game 5 action Friday.

Two teams will have the chance to add their names to the list of second-round contestants, as the Montreal Canadiens look to oust the Ottawa Senators, while the New York Rangers aspire to take the series from the Pittsburgh Penguins at home.

The lone other contest between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues isn't an elimination game, but tied at 2-2 one team will take a commanding lead late into Friday night and Saturday morning.

There's no time to waste with the puck dropping soon, so peep all of the important information below.

Friday, April 24, NHL Playoff Schedule

Time (ET)	Matchup	TV	Series Score
7 p.m.	Ottawa Senators at Montreal Canadiens	CNBC	Canadiens lead 3-0
7 p.m.	Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers	NBCSN	Rangers lead 3-0
9:30 p.m.	Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues	NBCSN	Tied 2-2

Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra

Game to Watch: Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues (Game 5)

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

The first-round series between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues has been raucous from the opening faceoff of Game 1, but it's just getting nutty now.

Like a pendulum swinging out of control, the momentum has shifted back and forth between the two Central Division rivals as each game goes by in the series. That leaves the Wild heading back to St. Louis for Game 5 with things knotted up at two apiece.

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

It's the sheer dominance the winning team shows in each game that truly showcases how difficult sustaining positive play has been in this series. The Blues have won their two games by a combined eight goals, while the Wild prevailed 4-2 and 3-0 in their two victories.

Of course, the latest contest was an embarrassing 6-1 Wild defeat at home as the Blues routed them to get back even. Minnesota's last score prompted stud goaltender Devan Dubnyk to be pulled from the game—all the more shocking after his emergence during the second half of the season.

But to him and his teammates, the deficit doesn't matter—only the result, per the team's Twitter:

If Dubnyk is going to turn things around between the pipes, his defense will need to find a way to stop Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko. The 23-year-old has torn apart the Wild in each of St. Louis' two wins, netting a hat trick in Game 2 and two more scores in Game 4.

That makes him the first Blue to do so in more than a decade, as NHL Public Relations noted:

It's nothing new to the NHL for a young player to emerge, but Tarasenko is emerging into a group of his own as he becomes one of the game's most threatening singular forces. There's no doubting that his coaching staff and teammates want to get the puck on his stick as much as possible, as head coach Ken Hitchcock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford:

But with all due respect to Tarasenko, at least one of his goals was a simple byproduct of the Wild's shoddy defense and falling asleep on the blue line. That's something Minnesota has dominated so well during stretches of this series, but it has just been unable to rally once the Blues get their legs under themselves and start stringing together chances.

With every game in the series having a notably different feel, predicting where things are going to go in Game 5 may be impossible to do. But one thing is easy to predict: This series is going the distance, and Game 7 will be coming to St. Louis after two more memorable affairs.