NHL Playoff Schedule 2017: 2nd-Round TV Coverage, Live-Stream Guide and Picks

Fast-paced, tight and thrilling are words very much synonymous with the quest for the Stanley Cup, and the 2017 NHL playoffs are living up to that billing this spring.

The Western Conference's top two teams, the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild, have already been knocked out, and seemingly every game this postseason is being decided at the wire. The initial round of the 2017 playoffs finished among the closest in league history, per NHL Public Relations:

This, along with numerous big-time matchups, gives fans and viewers plenty of hope that the second round will be just as exhilarating. Let us take a look at the conference semifinals television and live-stream schedule, along with a preview of each series:

St. Louis Blues vs. Nashville Predators
Anaheim Ducks vs. Edmonton Oilers
Date	Game	Location	Start Time (ET)	Network	Live Stream
Wednesday, April 26	1	Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri	8 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Friday, April 28	2	Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri	8 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Sunday, April 30	3	Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee	3 p.m.	NBC	NBC Sports Live
Tuesday, May 2	4	Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee	9:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Friday, May 5	5*	Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Sunday, May 7	6*	Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Tuesday, May 9	7*	Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Date	Game	Location	Start Time (ET)	Network	Live Stream
Wednesday, April 26	1	Honda Center, Anaheim, California	10:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Friday, April 28	2	Honda Center, Anaheim, California	10:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Sunday, April 30	3	Rodgers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada	7 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Wednesday, May 3	4	Rodgers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada	10 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Friday, May 5	5*	Honda Center, Anaheim, California	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Sunday, May 7	6*	Rodgers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Wednesday, May 10	7*	Honda Center, Anaheim, California	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live

Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Rangers vs. Ottawa Senators
Date	Game	Location	Start Time (ET)	Network	Live Stream
Thursday, April 27	1	Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.	7:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Saturday, April 29	2	Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.	8 p.m.	NBC	NBC Sports Live
Monday, May 1	3	PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	7:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Wednesday, May 3	4	PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	7:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Saturday, May 6	5*	Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Monday, May 8	6*	PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Wednesday, May 10	7*	Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Date	Game	Location	Start Time (ET)	Network	Live Stream
Thursday, April 27	1	Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	7 p.m.	CNBC	NBC Sports Live
Saturday, April 29	2	Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	3 p.m.	NBC	NBC Sports Live
Tuesday, May 2	3	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York	7 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Thursday, May 4	4	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York	7:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBC Sports Live
Saturday, May 6	5*	Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Tuesday, May 9	6*	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live
Thursday, May 11	7*	Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	TBD	TBD	NBC Sports Live

Anaheim vs. Edmonton 

The first postseason of the Connor McDavid show continues, as the league's brightest young star leads the upstart Edmonton Oilers against an experienced-laden Anaheim Ducks team.

Edmonton got the best of its Pacific Division rival in the regular season, owning a 3-2 record that included a pair of overtime wins. However, the Ducks should be plenty rested after easily sweeping the Calgary Flames, while the Oilers survived the San Jose Sharks in a rugged six-game series.

Anaheim is deep and skilled up front, as they can match up superstar Ryan Getzlaf against the 20-year-old McDavid while still being able to create advantages with speedy depth players like Andrew Cogliano.

While the Ducks do not have a shutdown defender like San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic to shadow the NHL's top scorer, their defensive group as a whole matches up better than the Sharks because of their swift skating and the puck-moving skills of all three pairs.

That group looks to only get better in this series. Per NHL.com's Kyle Shohara, Anaheim head coach Randy Carlyle expects top defenseman Cam Fowler to return from injury sometime against Edmonton. Also, Sami Vatanen is working toward a return as well after going down with an upper-body injury in Game 1 against the Flames.

With these two teams being so evenly matched, special teams could play a key role. This is where Edmonton showed inexperience in Round 1, with the Oilers leading the playoffs with 65 penalty minutes.

Anaheim will be sure to take advantage of these opportunities. The Ducks scored three power-play goals in the first round, and their extra-man unit was strong during the regular season, with an 18.7 percent mark compared to San Jose's 16.7 percent rating.

The Ducks may have led the postseason with six power-play goals allowed in Round 1, but that may have been an anomaly considering their penalty kill ranked fourth in the NHL in the regular season. Anaheim could become even scarier by combining that discipline with their dominating playoff five-on-five play, which has so far resulted in an 11-3 scoreline.

This may be this Anaheim core's best shot at making a Stanley Cup run, with Edmonton only set to improve in the coming years and Chicago surprisingly eliminated. The series will be close, but the Ducks get a slight edge here due to depth and experience.

Anaheim wins the series 4-3

Kirk Irwin/Getty Images

Washington vs. Pittsburgh

The fact this matchup between the Eastern Conference's clear-cut best teams is taking place in the second round is a black mark on the playoff format, but it will still be the top conference semifinal series to watch.

This series has everything. Two generational superstars collide in Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. History exists, with these teams meeting in the playoffs for the third time since 2008-09. Each squad's supporting cast is among the league's best.

Pittsburgh ended Washington's Stanley Cup dreams in the second round last season following the Capitals' Presidents' Trophy-winning regular season, but can they repeat history this time around? Injuries to Kris Letang and Matt Murray suggest not, but the team's first-round dominance of the Columbus Blue Jackets says they can.

The Penguins' puck movement and electric team speed pretty much emulates everything the Toronto Maple Leafs did to frustrate the Captials in the first round, except it is much better.

Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who quelled any health concerns with a whopping 11 points in five games against the Jackets, run the show, but several others like Jake Guentzel, Phil Kessel, Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary are more than capable of producing offense. NHL.com's Pete Jensen provided some more context of Pittsburgh's tremendous scoring depth:

Per Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post, Caps head coach Barry Trotz is also keenly aware of the Penguins' strength despite injuries. There is no drop-off in net with Marc-Andre Fleury, and guys like Justin Schultz, 51 points this season, can still drive offense from the back end. Trotz said:

"

We're going on to play the Stanley Cup champions. They had a wonderful season. They had a lot of injuries, and we didn't pass them really or really pull away from them until the last week of the season, so we know how good they are and they knocked us out last year, so we get a chance to go back at them.

"

Washington is loaded at every position, and it is the more physically imposing team, but that did not seem to matter against the Maple Leafs. The Capitals' preferred style of quick transition play into grinding possession in the offensive zone was wiped out by Toronto's first pass defensively, and Pittsburgh should create even more problems in this area.

In the end, the Penguins' passing and speed should move them past the Capitals once more, as Washington has yet to prove it can consistently overcome this style of play. This series will be epic, but it will end in a similar fashion to last season's postseason meeting.

Pittsburgh wins series 4-2

St. Louis vs. Nashville

Goaltending questions plagued both the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues heading into these playoffs, and that area turned into a strength in the first round.

Other than a strong 2011-12 campaign, during which he posted a 2.07 GAA and a .929 save percentage in 10 starts, Nashville's Pekka Rinne had never recorded a GAA below 2.50 and a save percentage above .911 in five playoff runs. On the other hand, St. Louis' Jake Allen posted dismal save percentages of .904 and .897 in his previous two playoff stints.

Both have lit up the postseason entering Round 2, ranking either first or second in both major categories:

Player	Starts	GAA	Save Percentage	Shots Against
Allen	5	1.47	.956	182
Rinne	4	.070	.976	126

Their play is so strong that TSN's Dustin Nielson has each among his Conn Smythe Trophy favorites:

Each goalie's past suggests that neither has earned complete faith moving forward. However, Rinne's situation looks much more promising.

Nashville has arguably the top defensive group in the NHL, which was evident by its minuscule three goals allowed in the series against Chicago. Its top four of Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi and P.K. Subban all range from very good to elite two-way defensemen.

St. Louis has a strong top four as well, led by Alex Pietrangelo. The problem for both teams, though, is the extended ice time each top defense group is logging:

Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Player	Average TOI	Goals	Assists
Roman Josi	27:14	2	1
Ryan Ellis	25:49	1	3
P.K. Subban	25:18	0	2
Mattias Ekholm	25:10	0	1
Matt Irwin	11:55	0	0
Yannick Weber	11:26	0	0
Player	Average TOI	Goals	Assists
Alex Pietrangelo	29:51	0	1
Jay Bouwmeester	25:52	0	0
Colton Parayko	24:44	1	1
Joel Edmundson	22:11	2	0
Carl Gunnarsson	12:47	0	0
Robert Bortuzzo	11:35	0	0

Still, this balance favors Nashville since its top minutes are more spread out. The Predators' bottom-pairing defensemen, Matt Irwin and Yannick Weber, are also a slight improvement over St. Louis' Robert Bortuzzo and Carl Gunnarsson.

The Blues have the best offensive player in the series in Vladimir Tarasenko, but Nashville has the best line with Viktor Arvidsson, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen. The three each averaged at least a point per game against the Blackhawks while combining for a startling plus-22.

Nashville looks to be fulfilling its preseason hype as a Stanley Cup contender, and it should be able to score enough to hold off a St. Louis team that failed to outshoot Minnesota in any of its first-round games. Expect the Predators to advance.

Nashville wins series 4-2

Ottawa vs. New York

After surviving six straight one-goal games to open the playoffs, including four overtime contests, life does not get any easier for the Ottawa Senators.

The team has undoubtedly the best player in the series in Erik Karlsson. Per TSN's Brent Wallace, the Swede is playing with two hairline fractures in his left foot but still leads the playoffs in ice time while throwing ungodly full-ice sauce like this, via Sportsnet: 

Still, he does not have much support elsewhere. Derick Brassard, eight points, and Bobby Ryan, seven points, are playing slightly above themselves, and Ottawa lacks other offensive threats outside of Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone. 

This is a problem against the New York Rangers, who play as balanced as any team remaining this postseason. Every player other than Pavel Buchnevich and Marc Staal recorded a point in their first-round series against a tough Montreal Canadiens squad, and every regular roster player outside of Tanner Glass is averaging over 10 minutes of ice time per contest.

Defensively, Ryan McDonagh is playing over 26 minutes per night, but every other defender is logging at least 18 minutes. This depth is paying off in front of Henrik Lundqvist, who sparkled against Montreal with a 1.70 GAA and a .947 save percentage. 

This four-line, three-defensive-pair approach was able to wear down a Canadiens team that possessed more high-end talent, and the same should happen against Ottawa.

The Senators were not overly impressive against the Boston Bruins, but they should at least have a chance against New York since goaltender Craig Anderson has played his best in this matchup throughout his career, per TSN's Ian Mendes:

Still, this does not make up for the fact Ottawa only averaged 2.5 goals per game despite the fact the Bruins were missing three defensive regulars in Brandon Carlo, Torey Krug and Andrew McQuaid. The Senators are also due for a much greater defensive test, as Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak made up the only threatening Bruins line.

New York is clearly the better overall team, and that should come to light in this series. The Rangers are a faster side than Boston, and look for that and their depth to overwhelm Ottawa.

New York wins series 4-1

All statistics are courtesy of NHL.com unless otherwise noted.