I meant to get some of this up earlier tonight, but I just couldn’t take myself away from the action. Plus I was waiting on the Chicago-Vancouver result.
First here is what we know for tomorrow night. CBC will come on at 6:30pm ET with a special Hockey Tonight pregame show. That will be followed at 7:00pm ET with game 7 of Canadiens-Bruins from Boston. TSN will come on at 7:30pm ET with a pregame show. It will be followed by Lightning-Penguins game 7 at 8:00pm ET. CBC will probably pick up a second round game from TSN in exchange for the Lightning-Penguins game.
Now looking ahead to the next round. I think the Nashville-Vancouver series, which will be on CBC, will run like this (just an educated guess)
Game 1 – Thursday April 28 @ Vancouver (9pm ET)
Game 2 – Saturday April 30 @ Vancouver (9pm ET)
Game 3 – Tuesday May 3 @ Nashville (8pm ET)
Game 4 – Thursday May 5 @ Nashville (8pm ET)
Game 5 – Saturday May 7 @ Vancouver (9pm ET)
Game 6 – Monday May 9 @ Nashville (8pm ET)
Game 7 – Wednesday May 11 @ Vancouver (Time TBA)
And for the Detroit-San Jose series (which will be on TSN)
Game 1 – Friday April 29 @ San Jose
Game 2 – Sunday May 1 @ San Jose
Game 3 – Wednesday May 4 @ Detroit
Game 4 – Friday May 6 @ Detroit
Game 5 – Sunday May 8 @ San Jose
Game 6 – Tuesday May 10 @ Detroit
Game 7 – Thursday May 12 @ San Jose
We should have the two Eastern series starting on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. If Montreal wins, their series will probably start on Friday night at 7pm ET on CBC.
A Rouge Point 
I think the Saturday games will start at 6pm pacific.
Ooops I meant 7 pm start
This reply really goes to everyone. The reason why I think the Habs will start Friday is because of the election on Monday. Plus, they are already packed for a long road trip, so they probably wouldn’t mind the short turnaround. Plus, the Capitals will have been off for almost a week by then.
As for the 9pm ET start times. In general there will be two games every day. On the weekend NBC will have one game. That means one afternoon game and one daytime game on the weekend. CBC (and the NHL) won’t want their standalone primetime game to air at 10pm ET. CBC won’t care about their doubleheaders because they will have the Habs one night and the Canucks the other. They would love a schedule with all earlier starts.
Why are all the Vancouver home games at 9:00 ET? Then there can’t be a double header.
If the Habs win their series, they will start game 1 on Saturday in Washington. The CBC will want that just as they did in the Boston series. No way will the CBC accept a Friday start for the Habs.
If the Habs lose game 7, maybe the CBC will choose the Red Wings-Sharks series as their 2nd pick. They had Detroit in the first round and being a border city helps. The potential schedule you posted for both western series has no conflicts between the two.
Just like Lion said, having the games in Vancouver start at 6:00 Pacific eliminates doubleheaders. Those games will start at 7:00 or 7:30 to make way for doubleheaders. The games could also start at 6:30 Pacific as they did last year when they played Chicago. If the Canucks home game is the only playoff game that night then it is possible for the 6:00 start or half hour earlier or so on the weekend.
Robert
If the election was not next monday i would agree but with a election monday it makes it a bit complex.They could start sat then play sunday or take 2 days off and play game 2 tuesday.The more likley is they will start friday game 2 sunday then game 3 tuesday etc.
agree with Robert. If the Habs win again tonite, their series would start on Saturday. I would guess the start time would be traditional 7 pm with the Canucks playing at 10 for a Saturday night double header
One thing to remember here – CBC will want to avoid games on Monday night. No way they want anything conflicting with election coverage. That may be the rationale for starting MTL-WAS Friday as opposed to Saturday. If they start Saturday, the series will be behind, and they won’t want to give an extra off day, especially without travel involved. And a Montreal game is not being relegated to CHEX.
NHL Has confirmed that Nashville-Vancouver Series will start on Thursday April 28, 2011 at 9:00PM Eastern and 6:00PM Western on CBC,Versus and RDS
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