NHL Playoff Bracket 2019: Updated Conference Finals Schedule and Outlook

The Eastern Conference finals ended on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Western Conference finals are just heating up.

The Boston Bruins swept the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup finals, and they now await the winner of the series between the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues. However, they'll go at least a week between games as the earliest the Western Conference finals can end is Tuesday.

The Sharks and Blues have both been resilient teams this postseason, with neither playing a series shorter than six games. And that's not changing now, with the Western Conference finals guaranteed to go to at least Game 6.

The three teams remaining in the postseason have been exciting to watch in these playoffs, so the Stanley Cup finals this year should be an intriguing matchup to watch.

Conference Finals Schedule

All Times ET

Sunday, May 19

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

Tuesday, May 21

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

Thursday, May 23

Game 7: St. Louis at San Jose, 9 p.m., NBC Sports Network (if necessary)

Predictions

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

The Bruins have had a strong postseason, taking out the Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes. However, they're now waiting for the finish of the Western Conference finals, and they're going to have a slow start to the Stanley Cup finals because of the time off.

Meanwhile, both the Sharks and Blues have been tested more this postseason. That's going to lead to the winner of the San Jose-St. Louis series going on to win the Stanley Cup.

The Sharks and Blues are also hungrier than the Bruins, who have won six Stanley Cups in their history, including their most recent in 2011. Neither San Jose nor St. Louis has ever won a Cup.

The Sharks have reached the Stanley Cup finals once, in 2016, when they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Blues reached the Stanley Cup finals in three consecutive years from 1968-70, but they haven't been back since.

The real question is, which team will win the Western Conference finals—San Jose or St. Louis?

With the series tied at 2, there's a solid chance that the Sharks and Blues will go to seven games. However, St. Louis has been the better road team this postseason, winning six of its eight away games. So, while San Jose will host Game 5 and a potential Game 7, that could actually bode well for the Blues.

With a deep scoring attack and a strong goalie in rookie Jordan Binnington, the Blues are going to go on to win this series. And in fact, they'll do so in six games, building off the momentum of their Game 4 victory to win back-to-back games and reach the Stanley Cup finals.

"We're in a good spot here," St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said, according to NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. "We played a couple of good games. Obviously we didn't end the last one the way we wanted to, but we feel like we've got some momentum."

So, when this hockey season comes to an end in a few weeks, it will be the Blues hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time in their franchise's history.