NHL Playoff Schedule 2019: Viewing Info, Predictions for Wednesday's Action

Everything can change quickly for a team in the NHL postseason.

After sweeping the New York Islanders in the second round, the Carolina Hurricanes are now on the cusp of being swept themselves after falling behind 3-0 to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final on Tuesday.

The series could end Thursday when the Bruins go for another win at Carolina.

However, the Western Conference Final are likely going to take more games to decide a victor. The San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues are tied at one entering Wednesday's Game 3 matchup in St. Louis.

Conference Finals Schedule

*If necessary. All times ET.            

Wednesday, May 15

Game 3: San Jose at St. Louis, 8 p.m., NBC Sports Network

Thursday, May 16

Game 4: Boston at Carolina, 8 p.m., NBC Sports Network

Friday, May 17

Game 4: San Jose at St. Louis, 8 p.m., NBC Sports Network

Saturday, May 18

Game 5: Carolina at Boston, 7:15 p.m., NBC*

Sunday, May 19

Game 5: St. Louis at San Jose, 3 p.m., NBC

Monday, May 20

Game 6: Boston at Carolina, 8 p.m., NBC Sports Network*

Tuesday, May 21

Game 6: San Jose at St. Louis, 8 p.m., NBC Sports Network*

Wednesday, May 22

Game 7: Carolina at Boston, 8 p.m., NBC Sports Network*

Thursday, May 23

Game 7: St. Louis at San Jose, 9 p.m., NBC Sports Network*

Wednesday Predictions

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

After a 6-3 loss in Game 1, the Blues bounced back to notch a 4-2 win in Game 2. But that victory didn't come without some more adversity for St. Louis.

The Blues took a 2-0 lead, but the Sharks tied it with a pair of goals in a two-minute span in the second period. St. Louis responded when Robert Bortuzzo scored the go-ahead goal with 3:26 to go in the second and sealed the victory on Oskar Sundqvist's third-period goal with 3:08 remaining.

"Our team didn't panic," Blues coach Craig Berube said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jeff Gordon. "We just stayed with it. We didn't get too frustrated from it. We knew we were still playing well. We made a couple of mistakes, but we were playing well."

Relying on their balanced scoring attack and rookie goalie Jordan Binnington, the Blues will build off their momentum to notch a Game 3 victory in their return to their home ice.

St. Louis has a deep lineup and has been successful on the road this postseason—both factors that will help it return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1970. After winning Game 3, the Blues will go on to take the series against the Sharks.

Don't expect this series to end in five games, though. San Jose is going to win at least one more game and force the series to go six or seven games.

"When you get to the end, everybody's systems are in a good place, there's very few mistakes, there's very little room, there's very little free-up offense," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said, according to NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger.

"A lot of time it comes to that desperation level of when the puck is lying there—who is getting that puck? It's hard to recreate that feeling of, 'Oh boy, we're in a 2-0 hole' or 'Oh boy, we can be eliminated tonight.' That's what everyone is trying to do."