NHL Playoff Bracket 2020: TV Start Times, Live Stream Schedule and More

The Tampa Bay Lightning secured their spot in the Eastern Conference Final on Monday, completing a five-game series win over the Boston Bruins in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Since then, they've been waiting for the other series to wrap up.

They're going to be waiting for just a bit longer.

Each of the other three second-round series are heading to Game 7s. The two Western Conference semifinal series will conclude Friday, while the Lightning won't learn their next opponent until Saturday, when the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders play their winner-take-all contest.

Here's a look at everything you need to know heading into the final contests of the second round.

Upcoming Schedule

Friday, Sept. 4

Game 7: No. 3 Dallas Stars at No. 2 Colorado Avalanche, 4 p.m. ET, USA Network

Game 7: No. 5 Vancouver Canucks at No. 1 Vegas Golden Knights, 9 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network

Saturday, Sept. 5

Game 7: No. 6 New York Islanders at No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers, 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC

Games can be streamed live at NBC Sports Live

Game 7 Previews

Which Teams End Up in Western Conference Final?

The top-seeded Vegas Golden Knights had a 3-1 lead over the No. 5-seeded Vancouver Canucks. Then they lost two straight games as the Canucks tied the series and forced a Game 7.

The No. 3-seeded Dallas Stars had a 3-1 lead over the No. 2-seeded Colorado Avalanche. Then they lost two straight games as the Avalanche tied the series and forced a Game 7.

The Golden Knights and Stars are in similar situations. They had both been cruising this postseason and generating a lot of offensive production. But recently, they've been getting shut down by their opponents and now face adversity heading into a winner-take-all matchup on Friday.

Vancouver got back into its series against Vegas because of its backup goaltender. With Jacob Markstrom deemed unfit to play, Thatcher Demko has stepped in the past two games and done a tremendous job. Over those two victories, Demko has made 90 saves and allowed only one goal, and he helped secure a shutout win in Thursday's Game 6.

The Canucks already upset the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in the first round, and now they could knock off the No. 1 seed.

Colorado is coming off its best defensive showing against Dallas in Wednesday's Game 6, when third-string goaltender Michael Hutchinson filled in and collected 27 saves in a 4-1 victory. Meanwhile, the Avalanche continue to play well offensively, scoring at least four goals in each of the past four games and tallying 25 through the first six contests of the series.

By the end of Friday, it will be known which two teams will face off in this year's Western Conference Final. 

Flyers Look to Complete Comeback, Avoid Upset

Although the Flyers had gotten off to a great start this postseason, they didn't start as well in their second-round series against the Islanders. After upsetting the Washington Capitals in the opening round, No. 6-seeded New York jumped out to a 3-1 lead over top-seeded Philadelphia.

But the Flyers have done everything to get back into this series, and that meant playing quite a bit of extra hockey this week.

In Tuesday's Game 5, Philadelphia blew a two-goal lead in the third period. But Scott Laughton scored 12 minutes and 20 seconds into overtime to lift the Flyers to a 4-3 win. Then, in Thursday's Game 6, it took nearly two full OT periods before Ivan Provorov scored 15:03 into double overtime to give Philadelphia a 5-4 victory and knot the series at 3-3.

"We've had two other games where we've won in overtime, so that was the message in the locker room: Don't change anything, just play our game," Flyers goaltender Carter Hart told reporters after Game 6. "That's what we did. We just needed to funnel pucks to the net, crash hard, and that's how you score goals, just grinding it out. That's what it was there at the end."

Philadelphia hasn't made it past the second round since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2010, but it could now have momentum on its side ahead of Game 7.

The Islanders have continued to play well offensively, but they've allowed nine goals in the past two games after giving up only seven in the first four contests of the series (four of which came in an overtime Game 2 loss). 

New York hasn't reached the conference final since 1993, so it will be looking to end that lengthy drought and keep its underdog run through the 2020 playoffs going.