NHL Playoff Bracket 2019: TV Info, Predictions for Saturday Schedule

The difference between a 2-0 lead and a 1-1 tie can be huge in a best-of-seven NHL playoff series. A team can either face a huge disadvantage, or it can make up for dropping the opener.

After dropping their second-round series openers, the Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets will look to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole on Saturday. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins will look to take commanding 2-0 leads and gain even more control of these series.

Here's a look at the schedule for Saturday's pair of matchups, as well as what to expect from the playoff contests.

Saturday Schedule (All Times ET)

Game 2: Dallas at St. Louis, 3 p.m., NBC

Game 2: Columbus at Boston, 8 p.m., NBC

Saturday Predictions

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The Game 1 matchups in both these series were close, and expect more of the same Saturday.

The Blues and Stars each won their first-round series in six games, and it wouldn't be surprising to see a long series between these Central Division foes. St. Louis may have won Game 1 on its home ice, but either of these teams is capable of winning at home or on the road against the other.

Dallas will prove that to be true when it ties the series at 1 with a Game 2 victory on Saturday afternoon.

"It's going to be a chess match for the whole series," Stars left wing Jamie Benn said, according to NHL.com's Mark Stepneski. "We had our pushes; they had theirs. Going to go back and forth all series and it's only going to get harder from here."

St. Louis may have won Game 1, but Dallas won three of the four regular-season meetings between the two teams. It would not be surprising to see this playoff series go six or seven games, and it wouldn't be surprising to see either team come out on top.

The Blue Jackets swept the top-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, but after a nine-day layoff, they dropped Game 1 of their second-round series against the Bruins in overtime.

Boston may have only had two days of rest entering Game 1, but it had momentum from its seven-game first-round series win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"I think when you play an emotional series like we did against Toronto it could go either way," Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said, according to the Boston Herald's Marisa Ingemi. "You want to ride that same emotion going into that next series, but then again you realize that you need to bring the same intensity. So that’s what we wanted to do, we wanted to play hard right off the bat."

Boston will continue to play at that level in Game 2 as it will take a 2-0 series lead at home.