NHL Playoff Schedule 2015: TV Info and Preview for Remaining Conference Finals

The 2015 NHL playoffs are just a pair of 60-minute contests away from deciding who will be clashing in the coming weeks for the vaunted Stanley Cup.

Although six games have been played in both the Western Conference Final and the Eastern Conference Final, we're no closer to figuring out which team has the edge in either. Certain trends have been established throughout the respective series, but all of it can be turned on its head with a few bounces of the puck in Game 7.

The only thing better than one Game 7 is a pair of Game 7s, and that's just what is on tap for NHL fans over the weekend. Let's take a look at how to catch the action.

NHL Playoff Schedule: Conference Finals

Teams	Time (ET)	TV	Live Stream
Teams	Time (ET)	TV	Live Stream
Friday, May 29
Tampa Bay at NY Rangers: Game 7	8 p.m. ET	NBCSN	NBC Live Sports Extra
Saturday, May 30
Chicago at Anaheim: Game 7	8 p.m. ET	NBC	NBC Live Sports Extra

Friday Preview: Eastern Conference Final

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

The New York Rangers have been in worse positions before, which is why they scoffed at the test of having to win Game 6 in Tampa Bay to keep their season alive. Now, they have the familiar task of taking a Game 7 in the confines of Madison Square Garden.

Goal-scoring seems to have eluded the Rangers throughout some of the series, as they've scored two goals or fewer in three games—two of which were losses. But right when it looked like New York's defense-first identity would lead to their demise, Rick Nash and Co. got going to hang up five or more scores in the other three games.

A seven-goal explosion in Game 6 got them here, and it puts them in a favorable spot to improve to 8-0 in Game 7s at home. The Rangers also look to improve to 16-3 when facing elimination since 2012, but they have already learned in this series that any sort of win isn't easy to come by.

The brilliance of Henrik Lundqvist has to be lauded, and the Rangers' renewed commitment to team defense has been even bigger. However, the Lightning only have themselves to blame. Shaky defense on their end—especially of late—got them to this point, with their offense (19 goals through six games) is more than picking up the slack.

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

It hasn't helped that Lightning goalie Ben Bishop has struggled considerably lately, but he can erase all of those memories by repeating his Game 7 heroics from earlier this postseason, via ESPN's John Buccigross:

Although Bishop stepped up in one Game 7, he's going up against a netminder in Lundqvist who has made his name in Game 7s. His six-straight Game 7 wins are an NHL record, and he's given up an average of 0.81 goals against in those contests.

Lundqvist hasn't been replicating those numbers against the Lightning, though, and Steven Stamkos issued a warning that Tampa Bay just might put an end to Lundqvist's Game 7 reign, per ESPN's Pierre LeBrun:

If Lundqvist is going to shut down the Lightning attackers one last time, he'll need the defense in front of him to play with energy and keep bodies away from the net. There's an obvious difference between the games in this series that New York has held on to and those that have slipped away, and it has much more to do with a lack of a defensive presence than Lundqvist's own struggles.

Of course, the Lightning can say the same exact thing about their defense, which hung Bishop out to dry in that woeful Game 6 at home. 

Expect the tone to be set on the defensive end of the ice for both teams in Game 7. It should only amplify the desire of each squad's attackers to come racing forward for opportunities to get their team into the Stanley Cup Final.