The Boston Bruins advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a thrilling Game 7 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, and now they’re about to face their toughest test of the season.
The Tampa Bay Lightning await the Bruins after eliminating the New Jersey Devils in five games in Round 1. The Lightning barely finished above the B’s for the Atlantic Division title and No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Bolts will have home-ice advantage in this series as a result.
Boston went 3-1-0 versus Tampa Bay during the regular season, so the B’s should be confident entering the conference semifinals.
Here’s our playoff preview of Bruins vs. Lightning.
STATS (regular season)
Goals/Game: TBL 3.5 (1st), BOS 3.26 (6th)
Goals Allowed/Game: BOS 2.57 (4th), TBL 2.90 (13th)
Power play: TBL 23.9 (3rd), BOS 23.6 (4th)
Penalty kill: BOS 83.7 (3rd), TOR 76.1 (27th)
Corsi For Percentage (5-on-5): BOS 53.72 (2nd), TOR 51.65 (7th)
SCHEDULE
Game 1: Bruins at Lightning, Saturday, April 28 at 3 p.m.
Game 2: Bruins at Lightning, Monday, April 30 at 7 p.m.
Game 3: Lightning at Bruins, Wednesday, May 2 at 7 p.m.
Game 4: Lightning at Bruins, Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m.
Game 5 (if necessary): Bruins at Lightning, Sunday, May 6 at TBD
Game 6 (if necessary): Lightning at Bruins, Tuesday, May 8 at TBD
Game 7 (if necessary): Bruins at Lightning, Thursday, May 10 at TBD
All times ET
KEY PLAYERS
Zdeno Chara, Defenseman, Bruins
Chara still is a top-tier defenseman and he excelled in his first-round matchup against Leafs No. 1 center Auston Matthews, who scored only one goal in seven games.
The Lightning have multiple lines capable of scoring with consistency, and Chara likely will play against the Bolts’ top line of J.T. Miller, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. This line scored 18 goals in just five first-round games, so Boston’s top pairing of Chara and Charlie McAvoy will need to win puck battles, make quick and accurate passes on breakouts and stay out of the penalty box to slow down the red-hot trio.
Brayden Point, Center, Lightning
If the Bruins are able to slow down the Stamkos-Kucherov tandem on the Lightning’s top line, then Tampa Bay’s secondary scoring will need to step up. Point, as the second-line center, plays a very important role in the Lightning offense as both a goal scorer and a playmaker. He scored 32 goals with 34 assists during the regular season, but he didn’t contribute much as a scorer in Round 1 with only one goal.
GOALIE BREAKDOWN
Tuukka Rask, Bruins (34-14-5, 2.36 GAA, .917 SV%)
Rask didn’t play well against the Leafs in the first round. He posted a .899 save percentage and gave up four goals in three separate games, including four in the first two periods of Game 7. In fairness to Rask, he made a bunch of clutch saves late in games when the outcome was in the balance. But he needs to play better to help the B’s slow down one of the deepest, most talented forward groups in the league.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning (44-17-3, 2.62 GAA, .920 SV%)
Vasilevskiy didn’t end the regular season well, posting a sub-.900 save percentage from March through mid-April. He was solid in Round 1, though, with a .941 save percentage and a 2.01 goals against average. Vasilevskiy hasn’t enjoyed much success against the B’s in his career, going 1-4-1 with a .922 save percentage and a 2.51 GAA.
KEY MATCHUP
The Bruins’ power play was very good against the Leafs. Boston scored seven goals on 22 opportunities with the man advantage, good for a 31.8 power-play percentage. That was the second-best PP mark in the first round, and the B’s should see similar success against a poor Lightning penalty kill that ranked 27th in the regular season and gave up three power-play goals in five games against the Devils in Round 1. The Lightning also went on the penalty kill 19 times in five first-round games. That cannot happen against the Bruins or it could be a quick series.
PREDICTION
The Bruins win the series in six games.
