TAMPA — The Bruins managed just a split of the first two games at the Garden to open the Eastern Conference final against Tampa Bay, but they may just find themselves in a more comfortable position for Game 3: On the road.
While teams battle to finish with the best record possible in the regular season to be rewarded with home-ice advantage in the playoffs, the Bruins have actually thrived away from the Garden all year. In the regular season, they were 24-12-5 on the road, a slight notch above their 22-13-6 home mark.
The road has been even kinder to the Bruins in the playoffs, as they have lost just one of five away games so far, while going just 5-3 at home.
"It's always a lot tougher to play on the road, and for some reason we seem to play our best on the road," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said. "That's huge, especially in playoff time. You need to be able to win in opposing teams' buildings. It takes a lot of hard work and everybody's got to be committed to do it, but it's always a great sign for your team when you can win on the road."
The Bruins came up huge in vital road games in each of the first two series of the postseason. After dropping two straight at home to the Canadiens in the opening round, the Bruins rallied to even the series with two wins in Montreal. They then set the tone for an eventual sweep of the Flyers with a dominating 7-3 win in Game 1 in Philadelphia, followed by a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2.
So what has made the Bruins so effective at winning in such hostile environments?
"I think that question has been asked so much this year because we have been pretty good on the road even during the regular season," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We've played some pretty sound games on the road and having said that, I think our team has gotten better especially in the last month of the regular season and in the playoffs, at being better at home. We've played some decent games, but no doubt the road has been a place for us that has been very successful. And the team that we are playing tonight was one of those teams as well. And you saw the kind of challenges they gave us and hopefully we can give them those kind of challenges in their own building."
Tampa was 3-1 on the road in the playoffs before the Bruins evened the series with a 6-5 win at the Garden on Tuesday. But unlike the Bruins, the Lightning have been even better in front of the home folks at the St. Pete Times Forum, where they are 6-2 this spring.
It will be a tough task for the Bruins to maintain their strong road in these next two games in Tampa, beginning Thursday night with Game 3. The Lightning are well aware of how good Boston has been on the road, and aren't taking their home-ice advantage for granted.
"It's still an ice surface with two nets," Tampa forward Martin St. Louis said of his home rink. "I know we're home and we're going to have the fans behind us, but we can't get wrapped up in think, 'Oh, we're at home and things are going to go our way.' You have to fight for those bounces and you've got to play your game."
The Bruins will try to play their game as well, cleaning up the defensive breakdowns that have cost them in the first two games and getting back to the simple but effective style they've used on the road to great effect throughout the year.
