While the second of two Western Conference semifinals still awaits a Game 7 result, the schedule for the next round has been set by the NHL.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins will get the Eastern Conference final under way Friday before a two-day break over the weekend.

The winner of Thursday's Game 7 matchup between the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators, meanwhile, will head to St. Louis to take on the Blues in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday.

Here's the complete schedule:

Eastern Conference Final - Pittsburgh vs. Tampa Bay

* if necessary

Wester Conference Final - St. Louis vs. San Jose/Nashville

* if necessary

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The Washington Capitals once again came up short in their efforts to chase down a Stanley Cup, dropping the sixth game of their second-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime Tuesday.

Understanding the frustration of a passionate fan base, owner Ted Leonsis thanked the Capitals' faithful for their support with a tweet Thursday morning.

Washington captured the Presidents' Trophy after finishing the regular season with an impressive record of 56-18-8. The series loss to the Penguins marks the 11th consecutive playoff appearance in which the team has failed to advance past the second round.

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Brock Nelson is heading to Russia.

The New York Islanders forward will play for the United States at the ongoing World Championship in Moscow and St. Petersburg, USA Hockey announced Thursday.

He's expected to arrive Friday, after not making it in time for Thursday's game against France.

The Islanders were eliminated from the second round of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.

Nelson scored 26 regular-season goals in 2015-16, adding five points in 11 postseason contests.

He helped the U.S. win the bronze medal at the worlds last year, and also won bronze with the American world junior squad in 2011.

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Lindy Ruff wasn't ready for his season to end.

"It's a huge disappointment," the Dallas Stars head coach told reporters Wednesday after losing 6-1 to the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of their second-round series. "It's not our team ... It's not the ending you want."

Dallas starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen was pulled after allowing three first-period goals, and Antti Niemi gave up two more on only 10 shots, but Ruff didn't want to single out either netminder.

"Right now is not the time to assess blame," he said. "You've got to look at the whole picture. You've got to take the fact that we didn't score in some situations (when) you need to score. If you're going to beat a good team, you need to score too."

The Stars dominated possession in Game 7, holding an 87-38 edge in shot attempts in all situations and 66-30 at even strength, according to HockeyStats.ca. Dallas outshot St. Louis 32-19, but went 0-for-3 on the power play.

Still, goaltending was once again the story. Lehtonen's failure to cover up the puck allowed Robby Fabbri to score less than six minutes in, and the Blues then had another bad goal called back because they were deemed offside.

Lehtonen remained in the game, and the Blues scored twice in the final two minutes of the opening frame.

Ruff took responsibility for the way he handled his goalies.

"I think maybe it's on me," he said. "I think with the review, it maybe looked like he got a little bit rattled. I should have taken him out sooner."

Ruff didn't take any consolation in the fact the Stars got within one game of the Western Conference Final after failing to qualify for the playoffs last season.

"Sometimes, you have to learn from losing," Ruff said. "We learned from the disappointment of not making it, (made) some adjustments on how we played, and (it) took us a lot further down the road ... (but) there's no consolation. Nobody's happy in that room."

The Stars haven't advanced past the second round since 2008, when they lost in the conference final to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in six games.

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The St. Louis Blues will take the ice in their first conference final since 2001 on Sunday.

The club skated to a semifinal series win with an incredibly one-sided 6-1 victory in Game 7 over the Dallas Stars and for head coach Ken Hitchcock, it's the ultimate reward to Blues' players who have endured the team's heartaches.

"I'm happiest for the guys who were here before I got here," Hitchcock said after Wednesday's game. "Those are the guys that did all the bleeding to get us here."

Hitchcock joined the team during the 2011-12 season, inheriting the likes of David Backes, Alexander Steen, Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Reaves, Alex Pietrangelo, and Patrik Berglund.

Those players combined for five points in Game 7 and 26 during the seven games.

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Robby Fabbri is setting records with the St. Louis Blues.

At 20 years and 110 days old, Fabbri became the youngest player in NHL history to register three points in a Game 7, according to Elias Sports.

The record-setting multi-point performance came in Wednesday's 6-1 win over the Dallas Stars, in which Fabbri opened the scoring with a power-play goal and assisted on goals by linemates Paul Stastny and Troy Brouwer.

Fabbri now has three goals and 10 assists in 14 playoff games, second only to Vladimir Tarasenko of the Blues. The 13 points put him in a tie for third among all postseason participants.

Not bad for the 21st overall pick in 2014.

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This series was always going to come down to goaltending.

In Wednesday's Game 7, it was the best of times in net for one team and the worst of times for the other as the St. Louis Blues straight up throttled the Dallas Stars.

Brian Elliott, who was yanked from Game 6 after allowing three goals on seven shots, responded with a 31-save performance in the series-clinching 6-1 win.

He's started all 14 playoff games for the Blues, posting a .929 save percentage while his team has been pushed to the limit in each of the first two rounds.

Whether it's the San Jose Sharks or Nashville Predators who join the Blues in the Western Conference finals, St. Louis will have full confidence in its goaltending.

The same, however, can't be said in Dallas moving forward.

Appearing in his first career Game 7, Kari Lehtonen allowed five goals on eight shots before giving way to Antti Niemi, who didn't fare much better (two goals allowed on 10 shots).

Over the course of the playoffs, the alleged 1A-1B tandem combined for a sub-.900 save percentage, which simply won't cut it for any team with serious Stanley Cup aspirations.

That general manager Jim Nill is tied to this pair for two more seasons and for more than $10 million is troubling, to say the least.

Sure, the Stars were playing without one of their very best players in Tyler Seguin, and the nucleus of a contending team is in place, but in order for this team to take another, bigger step next season, Nill is going to have to return to the drawing board and figure out how to get out of this mess.

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