The two favorites begin their run for the Stanley Cup Thursday night.The Chicago Blackhawks have won three Stanley Cup championships since 2010 and earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They are plus-400 favorites to win the NHL championship, according to OddsShark, meaning a successful wager will return the $100 bet and a $400 profit.Here's a look at the NHL's full bracket and schedule, courtesy of NHL.com.The Capitals won their second consecutive Presidents' Trophy, but they are still in search of their first league championship. They are plus-450 and hope to do much better than last year when they were beaten by the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the postseason.The Blackhawks begin their run with a best-of-seven series against the Nashville Predators, while the Caps open with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nashville and Toronto were both the No. 2 wild-card teams in their respective conferences.The Blackhawks will attack with perhaps the best 1-2 punch in the league in Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Kane is a brilliant puck handler and scorer who has blazing speed and an ability to make plays when the Blackhawks need them most.Toews is one of the best all-around players in the league, as he excels on defense and the face-off circle and will also score clutch goals for head coach Joel Quenneville."It's a long road to get there. It's a long enough road to get where we are right now," Toews said, as per Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times. "We're happy about the way the season's gone and where we're at as a team. We're right where we want to be going into the playoffs. We're as prepared as we can be."The biggest difference between the Caps and the Blackhawks may be confidence. Washington's past failures in the playoffs have appeared to weigh heavily on the franchise, but that could change if they can win the Stanley Cup this year. They certainly have brilliant all-around talent with Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie.Kuznetsov did not distinguish himself during last year's playoffs, and teammate Justin Williams believes he needs to be at the top of his game if the Caps are going to win the Cup."Kuzy's his best when he's having fun, not when he's angry," Williams toldIsabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. "When he's having fun and he can feel the puck and he can see plays, he's not getting in his own way. ... For us to win, Kuzy is going to have to be a vital, vital role."Goaltender Braden Holtby ranks as one of the best in the league and has a chance to limit the opposition to no more than a goal or two most nights.The Predators will not be pushovers, even though they come into the series as the No. 2 wild-card team. Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson both led the team with 61 points, while high-scoring center Filip Forsberg scored 31 goals.The Preds also have excellent firepower from the back end with defenseman Roman Josi and P.K. Subban. Both defensemen can rip shots from the point and also get creative when they carry the puck and trigger the offense.The Maple Leafs are surely one of the up-and-coming teams in the league, as they are led by a slew of high-scoring young players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, and they have veteran support from James Van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri.Head coach Mike Babcock has brought a more serious attitude to the Maple Leafs as well, and he holds players accountable for their mistakes.Neither the Preds nor the Maple Leafs are likely to beat their opponents, but it would not be a shock if either series went six or seven games.The third game on the schedule Thursday night is a matchup between the Pacific Division champion Anaheim Ducks and the Calgary Flames, who finished as the No. 1 wild-card team in the Western Conference.The New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks all won the opening game of their series Wednesday night. All but the Penguins were road teams, and that could bode well for the Predators, Maple Leafs and Flames.
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