Fresh off a game seven victory Wednesday night at TD Garden to win their first round series against Toronto, the Boston Bruins invade Amalie Arena in Tampa Saturday for the opener of the second round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins went 3-1 against the Lightning in the regular season. The Lightning however beat out the Bruins for the top spot in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference by one single point. That gives TB the home ice advantage in this best of seven series pitting #1 vs #2 seeds in the conference.
The key matchup will be the Bruins defense against the top scoring line of the Lightning, which includes J.T. Miller, Steven Stamkos, and Nikita Kucherov. That line scored 18 goals in just five games in a Tampa 4-1 series win in the first round. In the Bruins first round series, Zdeno Chara shadowed Leafs top scorer Auston Matthews, holding him to just a goal in the seven games. David Pastrnak led Boston in the first round, with five goals and a sizzling eight assists in the seven game series.
Another key will be the powerplay. Boston was 7-22 (31.8%) against the Leafs with the extra man. Tampa Bay ranked 27th in the league in the regular season on the penalty kill, and allowed three powerplay goals in five games in the opening round against New Jersey. The Lightning also went shorthanded 19 times in those five games, something the Bruins could use to their advantage. Boston goalie Tuuka Rask will also need to play better against the very talented forwards the Lightning present. Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is only 1-4-1 in his career against Boston, with a .922 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average.
Below is the schedule for the best of seven, along with the predictions from the Eastern Maine Sports staff.
Schedule:
Game 1 at Tampa 4/28 3 pm
Game 2 at Tampa 4/30 7 pm
Game 3 at Boston 5/2 7 pm
Game 4 at Boston 5/4 7 pm
Game 5 at Tampa 5/6 TBD (if neccessary)
Game 6 at Boston 5/8 TBD (if neccessary)
Game 7 at Tampa 5/10 TBD (if neccessary)
Eastern Maine Sports picks:
Chris Lessner, Jeff Hoak- Bruins in 6
Cassidy Lessner, Anthony Delmonaco- Lightning in 5
Marc Calnan- Lightning in 6
