The NHL playoffs are now into round 2 for 2014 and the Chicago Blackhawks will play against the Minnesota Wild when things start on Friday, while the Pittsburgh Penguins and NY Rangers will matchup in the second round and those games will be on the NBC Sports Network on TV and they start at 7 pm and 9:30 pm ET and now the NHL.com website has put out a full schedule for the postseason's second round.
The results from Wednesday put the NY Rangers, Minnesota Wild and LA Kings into the second round after they all won Game 7 matchups and now the entire postseason bracket is set. The Rangers and Flyers alternated wins and losses for their entire series and after winning Game 1, the Rangers had enough in the tank to get it to Game 7 and they got the win. The team remains undefeated at MSG in Game 7 matchups and now they will face the Penguins in a very tough series matchup in the second round.
The Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche went into overtime and the Wild won the series after losing the first two games and now they advance to play the Blackhawks. Chicago is the defending Stanley Cup champs and they have some momentum after losing the first two games of their series to the Blues, as they won four straight to take that series and move into the second round. The LA Kings were down 3-0 against the Sharks and now they are through after winning four in a row against San Jose and that was a historic comeback and now they will have another all-California series with Anaheim after playing against SJ.
The Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins play on Thursday in the first game of the second round and that comes at 7:30 pm ET and has the two teams coming in after a long layoff, as the Canadiens won their series 4-0 and the Bruins topped the Red Wings 4-1. The Friday schedule starts the Blackhawks and Penguins series, while Game 2 for the Canadiens and Bruins will be the early game on Saturday at 12:30 pm and that will be followed by the LA Kings and Ducks Game 1 and that will be at 8 pm ET on the NBCSN.
The Blackhawks are the defending Stanley Cup champions and they will be the home team in the Wild series and now they are the last ones standing from the first three in the central, as the Avalanche lost after winning the division, while St. Louis was handed the "Blues" when the Blackhawks beat them and now they are the last ones left from the top part of the division. Game 3 of that series will be in Minnesota on Tuesday and that will also have game 3 for Boston and Montreal on the schedule.
The Rangers have a tough schedule, as they played back to back games on Tuesday and Wednesday and now must play on Friday in Game 1 before playing Sunday in Game 2 and then Monday for Game 3, as the NHL has no soul and that could run the team ragged.
