The Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings will decide their closely-contested Western Conference Quarterfinal series Sunday night in Game 7 at Honda Center in Anaheim (10 p.m., ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS). Four of the first six games, including each of the past three, have been won in overtime.

The Ducks will be playing their fifth Game 7 in franchise history (2-2) and the first since dropping a 4-3 decision at Detroit in the 2009 Western Conference Semifinals. The Red Wings will be making their 23rd Game 7 appearance (13-9) and fifth in the past five seasons.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- As the parade of players with frowns and scowls slowed to a trickle and the Minnesota Wild locker room started to empty, one man remained surrounded at his locker stall with a smirk -- almost a smile -- on his face.

No, goaltender Josh Harding was not happy the season is over. Nobody in the room was.

But no player in the room had to endure what the 28-year old veteran had to endure off the ice. And though there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding the Wild as they head to a 10th straight offseason without advancing past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, perhaps no one in the room had the positive outlook Harding had.

"It's one of the reasons I re-signed back here [last summer]," Harding said. "I know this hockey team is headed in the right direction."

The same could be said about Harding, diagnosed last fall with multiple sclerosis, a revelation that not only cast doubt on his hockey career but changed his life.

SAN JOSE -- Four days after finishing a sweep of the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, the San Jose Sharks continued Saturday to prepare for a second-round test in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

The Sharks are down to two possibilities: the reigning Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, or the top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks, who won the Stanley Cup in 2010.

If the Anaheim Ducks defeat the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 of their quarterfinal series Sunday at Honda Center, the Sharks will open the second round at Chicago. If the Red Wings defeat the Ducks, the Sharks will open at Los Angeles.

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Rick Nash said his self-evaluation following games includes looking at his scoring chances, his blocked shots, his hits -- the typical stats that give a good indication for how he played.

"But the main thing is you look at the score of the game," he said.

The New York Rangers lost Game 5, 2-1 in overtime, and are trailing the Washington Capitals in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals 3-2 in part because Nash, their leading goal-scorer in the regular season with 21, hasn't done enough to help them win. If he doesn't figure it out in Game 6 Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET, CNBC, TSN), there's a good chance he won't get another opportunity this season.

Nash has no goals and one assist through the five games. He didn't have a shot on goal through regulation in Game 5 before registering two in overtime. He still leads the Rangers with 19 shots on goal, but eight of those came in Game 1.

CHICAGO -- It was only for a practice, and the Chicago Blackhawks don't even know the particulars of when and whom they'll face in the Western Conference Semifinals, but a message was sent to a couple of lineup regulars Saturday.

Rookie left wing Brandon Saad and 27-year old right wing Viktor Stalberg skated with white jerseys, rather than the normal black or red sweaters worn by members of the lineup.

Saad and Stalberg also skated outside the top four units for line rushes, with Stalberg placed at right wing on the fifth unit and Saad on the left side of the sixth group, with defensemen Ryan Stanton at center and Sheldon Brookbank on the right wing. Ben Smith skated in Saad's top-line spot, and Andrew Shaw shifted from center of the third line to Stalberg's spot on the right wing.

CHICAGO -- Center Dave Bolland and goaltender Ray Emery are expected to dress for Game 1 of the Chicago Blackhawks' Western Conference Semifinal series whenever it begins next week.

After missing the entire five-game Western Conference Quarterfinal series against the Minnesota Wild, each with a lower-body injury, Bolland and Emery participated without restrictions in a practice the Blackhawks held Saturday.

Chicago will face either the San Jose Sharks or the Detroit Red Wings, but Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville will be happy to have more lineup options available regardless of the opposition, especially with Bolland.

"We love tough decisions and having [Bolland] back is something that … if it had been Game 6, he would've been playing," Quenneville said. "We'll visit with [where he fits] in the next couple of days, but we like having [Bolland] back in the lineup. It gives us a lot of options."

Douglas Murray

Defense - PIT

GOALS: 2 | ASST: 0 | PTS: 2
SOG: 4 | +/-: 1

Boasting one of the most star-studded lineups in hockey, there are several players on the Penguins' blue line who can contribute with timely scoring. Like Norris Trophy finalist Kris Letang, who has done his part by totaling two goals and six points in five playoff games. The two goals entering Game 6 Saturday on Long Island (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS) ties Letang with six other defensemen for the most in the postseason. That list includes Murray, who came into the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs having scored two goals combined in the past three seasons.

"I always try to contribute with getting the puck to the net," Murray said. "It's something I've worked on for years. I think I've got some pretty good shots on the net in the past two years without results. I'm just going to stay at it and hope to get more there. Also, the last goal was a pretty lucky bounce -- you need those sometimes. Whenever you can contribute, it's great."

How close was the Western Conference Quarterfinal series between the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues? Only once did either team hold a two-goal lead, and that was for all of 5:01.

The teams combined for 479 hits in an inch-by-inch territorial tussle. If it went to a Game 7, they might have been playing until Memorial Day.

But the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings prevailed to win their fifth straight Stanley Cup Playoff series as the lower-seeded road team, and eliminated the Blues for the second straight year. What was the difference?

Let's start with that defending champion pedigree in the five reasons Los Angeles advanced to the semifinals:

BOSTON -- If anyone knows what Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin are going through during the Boston Bruins' Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it's forward Milan Lucic.

In 2011, Lucic led the team during the regular season with 30 goals but failed to score a goal in the Bruins' first seven postseason games. Lucic also failed to score in the first round in 2012 against the Washington Capitals before the Bruins were eliminated.

Although the Bruins carry a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 Sunday (7 p.m. ET, CBC, RDS), Marchand and Seguin have yet to solve the Toronto Maple Leafs' defense. Marchand, the Bruins' leading scorer in the regular season with 18 goals and 36 points, has two assists through five games, and Seguin, who scored 16 goals in the regular season, has no points.

"It happened to me last year and it happened to me in 2011, where you lead the team in goals and scoring and then you go into the first round of the playoffs and it's not really going for you," Lucic said after an optional practice Saturday at TD Garden. "I mean, I think you have to try to do whatever you can to get yourself out of it and not put too much emphasis on scoring. Because scoring is, if you look at it, you can't get to C without accomplishing A and B. So you just focus on A and B more so and it'll get to the result that you want to get to."

John Tavares

Center - NYI

GOALS: 2 | ASST: 2 | PTS: 4
SOG: 18 | +/-: -3

In each of the three previous years, May has meant Tavares was playing for Canada at the IIHF World Championship after his New York Islanders missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now he and the Islanders are in the postseason for the first time since 2007, preparing for a win-or-go-home Game 6 Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nassau Coliseum (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS).