NHL Playoff Schedule 2016: Full Weekend TV and Live Stream Info

The San Jose Sharks may be the most overlooked Stanley Cup contender playing in the second round.

The focus in the Eastern Conference is the powerful matchup between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins, and after the Capitals took Game 1 on an overtime goal by T.J. Oshie that survived a video review, the series appears as though it will live up to the hype.

The Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues are commanding headlines in the Western Conference, as the Stars are the highest-scoring team in the league, and the Blues knocked out the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks with a memorable seven-game triumph.

The Sharks? Didn't they play a couple of months ago? 

That's what it feels like because they knocked out the Los Angeles Kings in five games. That series concluded April 22, and the Sharks finally return to action Friday night when they host the Nashville Predators.

The Sharks didn't even make the playoffs last season, and they had been a regular playoff disappointment prior to that. But there was a determination and a fine edge to their game against the Kings that had rarely been seen before.

Matchup	Date	Game No.	Series Standings	Time (ET)	TV
St. Louis at Dallas	April 29	1	0-0	8 p.m.	NBCSN, CBC, TVAS
Nashville at San Jose	April 29	1	0-0	10:30 p.m.	NBCSN, TVAS, SN
N.Y. Islanders at Tampa Bay	April 30	2	NYI, 1-0	3 p.m.	NBC, TVAS, SN
Pittsburgh at Washington	April 30	2	Wash., 1-0	8 p.m.	NBC, CBC, TVAS
St. Louis at Dallas	May 1	2	0-0	4 p.m.	NBC, TVAS, SN
Nashville at San Jose	May 1	2	0-0	8 p.m.	NBCSN, CBC, TVAS

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

They have a dominant one-two punch in Joe Pavelski (five goals) and Brent Burns (eight points) that devastated the Kings, and if those two can keep up their level of play, they should be able to get the best of a surprising Predators team that won Games 6 and 7 against the Anaheim Ducks after falling behind 3-2 to survive and advance.

While Pavelski and Burns are the leaders, head coach Peter DeBoer knows he has plenty of depth players who will make a difference. Logan Couture had six points against the Kings, while veterans Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are capable of making big plays at key moments.

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The X-factor for a long San Jose run may be Joel Ward. He is a do-it-all forward who has a good shot and is an excellent passer, but his greatest asset is his ability to get to the front of the net and stay there. If he has to take punishment to screen the goaltender, he's more than happy to do it

Nashville will count on Colin Wilson, the net-front presence of James Neal, the booming shot of defenseman Shea Weber and goaltender Pekka Rinne to lead it to another playoff upset.

The Preds have more than enough talent to push the Sharks and take the series if San Jose is not on top of its game, but this should be San Jose's series. Nobody's paying attention, but the Sharks should be able to make it to the Western Conference Final.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have some work to do against the New York Islanders if they are going to put their signature on their second-round Eastern Conference series.

The Lightning came up flat at the start of Game 1 in the series and dropped a 5-3 decision in the opener at home Wednesday night. Those two teams will meet in Game 2 at Amalie Arena on Saturday afternoon.

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The biggest development in the opener was the shoddy play of Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop, who allowed four goals on 13 shots and was replaced in the second period after head coach Jon Cooper decided he had seen enough. 

While there's always plenty of blame to go around when a team starts leaking goals, the normally fastidious Bishop uncharacteristically was off of his angles in the net and put his team in a hole. 

That has not been the case with Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, who has emerged as one of the stars of the postseason. Greiss has a 1.94 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage in the playoffs, as he has given head coach Jack Capuano all he could have hoped for after Jaroslav Halak suffered a groin injury in a March 8 game.

Greiss was unimpressive in his first few games in the lineup after Halak's injury, going 1-5-1 and causing angst for Islanders fans. But he turned it around at the most critical time of the year.

"I think everybody at one point in time goes through a rough stretch in the regular season," Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk told NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika. "You're not going to play your best every night, but he bounced back and has been playing great. He has to continue to do so."

The Bolts are going to have to turn up the pressure and solve Greiss if they are going to gain control of this series. The Lightning also need Bishop to return to form quickly if they have any chance of advancing to the Eastern Conference Final.