NHL Playoff Schedule 2016: Updated Stanley Cup Dates, Live Stream and Guide

The Nashville Predators were impressive at the beginning of their playoff series with the Anaheim Ducks as well as the end, and that allowed them to overcome a three-game losing streak in the middle. 

The Predators picked up a 2-1 victory on the road in Game 7 of their series with the Ducks on Wednesday night, and that allowed them to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Preds will begin their series with the San Jose Sharks on Friday night.

The Preds jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Collin Wilson and Paul Gaustad, and they kept the Ducks off the board until Ryan Kesler scored a power-play goal early in the third period. The Predators played tight defense before and after Kesler's goal, and goalie Pekka Rinne came up with the key stops to clinch the decisive game.

As a result, the Ducks lost the sixth and seventh games of a playoff series after taking a 3-2 lead for the fourth straight year. All four of the seventh-game losses came at home.

While the Ducks have had problems closing out opponents in seventh games, Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette has not. He is now 5-1 in Game 7s in his head coaching career (1-0 with the Predators). 

Nashville will have little time to enjoy its win, however, as it will travel up the coast to San Jose to take on the Sharks. San Jose advanced to the second round after registering a five-game victory over the Los Angeles Kings, so head coach Peter DeBoer's team is well-rested and has been waiting to return to action.

The Sharks got clutch play from Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns in their victory over the Kings. Pavelski found the back of the net five times, while Burns scored eight points from the blue line. The Sharks also got key contributions from Logan Couture (six points), Joel Ward (four points) and Patrick Marleau (four points).

Youngsters Joonas Donskoi, Melker Karlsson and Chris Tierney all scored their first playoff goals in the series closer and are ready to contribute in the second round. 

"You kind of experience everything in that first series," Tierney told Eric Gilmore of NHL.com. "They're a great team. It was a big test and a big challenge for our guys, but it's kind of nice to have that first-round experience. Try to use that to get ready for the second one."

Conference	Matchups	Home ice advantage	Stanley Cup Odds
Eastern	New York Islanders vs. Tampa Bay Lightning	Tampa Bay	N.Y. Islanders, +1,500; Tampa Bay, +1,225
Eastern	Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals	Washington	Pittsburgh, +380; Washington, +380
Western	St. Louis Blues vs. Dallas Stars	Dallas	St. Louis, +550; Dallas, +500
Eastern	Nashville Predators vs. San Jose Sharks	San Jose	Nashville, +2,200; San Jose, +700

The playoff games can be live streamed on NHL.TV.

The New York Islanders got the second round underway with a 5-3 road win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night. 

The Islanders took advantage of a rare off night by goalie Ben Bishop, as they pumped four goals by the 6'7" netminder, ultimately forcing Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper to pull his Vezina Trophy finalist in the second period.

"Just be aggressive," John Tavares told the media after the game. "I thought we had some really good jump tonight, making plays. The way were just rolling our lines over and over, keeping our shifts short and playing hard and making it tough on them. Obviously would like to sustain it a little longer."

The Islanders gained the early advantage in this series by winning Game 1 on the road. They did the same thing against the Florida Panthers in the first round, and that led to their first playoff series victory since 1993. The two teams will play Game 2 at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Saturday.

The Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals and the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins will get their second-round series underway Thursday night at Verizon Center in Washington. 

It marks the first postseason meeting between the two teams in seven years, and the easy headline is the matchup between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.

However, the two superstars are just a part of the story between these two powerful teams. The Capitals were dynamic throughout the regular season, as they scored 3.0244 goals per game, which ranked second in the league, and allowed 2.3293 goals per contest, which also ranked second overall.

The Penguins won 14 of their final 16 regular-season games and then overpowered the New York Rangers in five games in their opening-round series. The Penguins got a big boost from their power play against New York, scoring on 38.1 percent of their man-advantage opportunities.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Both teams have a slew of superstars. In addition to Crosby, the Penguins have Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Kris Letang, while the Capitals have an excellent supporting cast for Ovechkin that includes Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson and goaltender Braden Holtby.

Washington head coach Barry Trotz told the Associated Press (via CBS Sports) it's "disrespectful" to boil the series down to Ovechkin vs. Crosby.

The final second-round series is between the St. Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars. The Stars won the Central Division by two points over the Blues, and they will have home-ice advantage. That series gets underway Friday night in Dallas.