NHL Playoff Schedule 2017: Round-by-Round Bracket Dates and Guide

The playoff field of 16 has been pared to eight, and the intensity is likely to go up as the NHL's best teams compete in the conference semifinal round of the postseason.

The eventual winner of the Stanley Cup still has a long way to go, but the pretenders have been eliminated and the teams remaining in the competition have proved their ability to win big games.

Two of the more surprising teams in the first round of the playoffs were the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues.

The Preds had the most impressive performance with their 4-0 sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks, the team that many expected to win its fourth Stanley Cup since 2010.

Nashville was the faster and more aggressive team throughout, and the the Predators defense limited the Blackhawks to three goals in 13 periods of action.

Nashville is looking to exceed last year's playoff performance in which they got to the seventh game of the conference semifinal round before they fell to the San Jose Sharks.

Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg give the Preds a powerful one-two punch at center, and right wing Viktor Arvidsson is one of the most creative scorers in the league. The back end is secure with Roman Josi, P.K. Subban and Ryan Ellis.

However, the big key for the Predators is goalie Pekka Rinne, who was clearly on top of his game against Chicago. Rinne was just ordinary during the regular season with a 2.42 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage, and if he reverts to that form, the Preds will have a problem against the opportunistic Blues.

St. Louis appeared to be resigned to going into a rebuilding mode when they moved star defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk at the trade deadline to the Washington Capitals, but head coach Mike Yeo would not let his players give up on the rest of the season.

The Blues secured third place in the Central Division and upset the Minnesota Wild in five games. Goalie Jake Allen continually frustrated the division runner-up with his acrobatic saves (1.47 GAA and .956 save percentage vs. Minnesota), while the Blues managed to solve Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk. 

Vladimir Tarasenko had just one goal against the Wild, but he can be expected to score more against the Predators. Jaden Schwartz had two game-winning goals in the series, while the Blues also got a lift from Vladimir Sobotka, who had a goal and two assists.

The Blues may be spurred on by the remarks of Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau, who said that his team was better than St. Louis despite losing. "They weren't the better team," Boudreau said (h/t Tom Timmerman and Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch), "but they won four games."

The Blues will have home-ice advantage in this series, and Game 1 will be played Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET.

Here's a look at the full conference semifinal round schedule.

Matchup	Game 1	Time (ET)	TV	Live Stream
Pittsburgh at Washington	April 27	7:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBCSports.com
N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa	April 27	7 p.m.	CNBC	NBCSports.com
Edmonton at Anaheim	April 26	10:30 p.m.	NBCSN	NBCSports.com
Nashville at St. Louis	April 26	8 p.m.	NBCSN	NBCSports.com

The New York Rangers had their ups and downs in their first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, but after dropping Game 3 at home and falling behind 2-1 in the series, New York reeled off three straight victories to survive and advance.

The Ottawa Senators got by the Boston Bruins in six games, all of which were decided by one goal and with four of those games going to overtime.

The Sens won three of those extra-time games, and they clearly had the most impactful player in the series in defenseman Erik Karlsson. His speed and slick passing constantly caused problems for the Bruins, and he must be priority No. 1 for the Rangers if they are going to make it through this round and get to the Eastern Conference Final.

Karlsson had six assists in the first-round series despite playing with two hairline fractures in his left heel.

The Sens also have a number of sharp scorers in Mike Hoffman, Kyle Turris and ex-Ranger Derrick Brassard. Ottawa also got an unexpected lift from Bobby Ryan, who scored four goals against the Bruins, including two game-winners.

New York will look to Rick Nash, Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello for the bulk of its offense, while ex-Senator Mika Zibanejad could be the X-factor. Zibanejad scored the overtime goal in the pivotal fifth game against the Habs.

Goaltenders Craig Anderson and Henrik Lundqvist were outstanding in their teams' first-round victories, but the Rangers have the edge in the goaltending department as a result of Lundqvist's consistency and superb quickness.

The Sens will have home-ice advantage and they will host Game 1 Thursday night at 7 p.m.