NHL announces start times for Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is still ongoing but with several teams having already punched their tickets to the second round of the playoffs, fans are naturally starting to get a little antsy about when they might get to see their favorite team back out on the ice.

Late on Friday night, following the conclusion of the contest between the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues, the National Hockey League officially announced the start date for 2 upcoming series in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs as well as the start time for one of those series. The league was likely waiting for the outcome of the Jets-Blues game to determine whether or not a Game 7 on Sunday would be needed, and a Blues victory on Friday night has indeed forced a Game 7 on Sunday.

With that in mind it comes as no surprise to learn that the NHL has decided that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers will kick off their series on Monday evening with the league officially announcing that the second round series between the Maple Leafs and Panthers will begin at 8 pm EST and will be broadcast on ESPN in the United States. Canadian hockey fans will be able to tune into the game on CBC, Sportsnet or TVA.

There is another second round series that has already been locked in as well with the Washington Capitals set to face off against the Carolina Hurricanes. The league announced on Friday night that Game 1 of this series will take placed on Tuesday night, although the official start time of this one remains to be determined at this time. This series will be broadcast by the same broadcast partners as the previous series in both the United States and Canada.

I expect the NHL will announce the full schedule at the end of this weekend when all the series from the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs have officially wrapped up.