NHL Playoff Schedule 2016: Latest Stanley Cup Championship Odds and Guide

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals are getting ready to play an epic second-round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Capitals were the best team in the league throughout the regular season when they registered 120 points to win the Presidents' Trophy. They had a bit of a scare in the opening round before they put away the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.

The Penguins had no such scare. After tasting defeat at the hands of the New York Rangers in each of the last two years, Pittsburgh battered New York in five games with an explosive offense. The Penguins combined for 11 goals in Games 5 and 6, as their team speed turned out to be a characteristic that the Rangers were ill-equipped to fight.

Prior to the start of the postseason, Pittsburgh closed the regular season by winning 14 of its last 16 games.

The Penguins are led by one of the game's best all-around players in Sidney Crosby, while the Capitals have the most consistent goal scorer in the league in Alex Ovechkin. It should make for compelling viewing from start to finish.

The Pittsburgh-Washington series appears to be the high point of the NHL's second-round playoff schedule.

The oddsmakers give a slight edge to the Caps, who are minus-140 favorites compared to Pittsburgh's plus-120 odds, according to Odds Shark.

Team	Odds
Anaheim Ducks	+900
Dallas Stars	+500
Nashville Predators	+2.200
New York Islanders	+1,500
Pittsburgh Penguins	+400
San Jose Sharks	+700
St. Louis Blues	+550
Tampa Bay Lightning	+1,225
Washington Capitals	+380

These two teams are the Stanley Cup favorites, with the Caps at plus-380 while the Penguins are at plus-400. The Dallas Stars are the third choice at plus-500.

The matchup between the Dallas Stars and the St. Louis Blues may turn out to be as good or better than the Pittsburgh-Washington series, but it is not likely to get anywhere near the same amount of hype.

The Stars are the highest-scoring team in the league, as they averaged 3.2317 goals per game under head coach Lindy Ruff. The Stars averaged 3.5 goals per game in their six-game playoff win over the Minnesota Wild, and they were led by Jamie Benn, who scored four goals and had 10 points. 

Tim Sharp/Associated Press

While Benn has been a consistent leader for this team, his running mate in Tyler Seguin remains out of the lineup with an Achilles injury. While Seguin came back from his late-season malady in Game 2 of the Minnesota series, he has been out since then, and his return does not appear to be imminent.

The Stars have had problems on the defensive end. In their decisive 5-4 win over the Wild in Game 6, the Stars built a 4-0 lead after two periods, but Minnesota rallied for four goals in the final 20 minutes.

The Blues appear to be in an excellent position to take advantage of any defensive weaknesses the Stars have demonstrated. They overcame their own demons when they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in Game 7 to emerge victorious in their seven-game series.

The victory was the Blues' first in the postseason since the 2012 playoffs, and as a result, the win lifted a significant amount of pressure from this exceptional team.

Jaden Schwartz (seven points against Chicago) and Vladimir Tarasenko (four goals) propel the offense, while Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Colton Parayko lead the club's blue-line efforts. Brian Elliott is coming off a fine all-around series in which he averaged 2.40 goals against per game.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

The other Eastern Conference series features the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Islanders won back-to-back games in double overtime to close their first-round series against the Florida Panthers, and they climbed on the back of superstar John Tavares in the final game.

Tavares scored the tying and winning goal in Game 7, setting off a huge celebration as the franchise won its first playoff series in 23 years. The Lightning had a relatively easy time of it in beating the Detroit Red Wings in five games, but they don't have high-scoring Steven Stamkos (blood clot) in the lineup.

The final Western Conference series will feature the San Jose Sharks and the winner of Wednesday night's seventh game between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators. The Sharks were at their best in the first round, as they defeated the powerful Los Angeles Kings in five games. Joe Pavelski (five goals) and Brent Burns (eight points) are a formidable one-two punch, while Martin Jones averaged 2.18 goals-against average in goal.

Look for the Ducks to emerge in their survive-and-advance game against the Preds. If they can win that game, they will have home-ice advantage over the Sharks. If the Preds register the Game 7 victory on the road, the Sharks will have that advantage in the series.