Northeast Division champs the Boston
Bruins will square off against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a best of 7 series to
determine who will represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup.
The waiting
is mercifully over as the NHL has finally announced the schedule for the
Eastern Conference finals. The Boston
Bruins will have the luxury of home ice advantage as they were seeded 3rd
going into the postseason and will host Tampa Bay on Saturday night, May 14th
at 8 p.m. at the Garden.
The 5th
seeded Tampa Bay Lightning will again take their act on the road and attempt to
maintain their momentum after polishing off the Penguins 4-3 in the Conference
quarterfinals and then stunning the top seeded Capitals with a 4-0 sweep in the
semifinals. Both teams will have had
plenty of rest as the Bruins rebounded from a grueling seven game quarterfinal
battle with their arch nemesis, the speedy Montreal Canadiens, and then blitzed
the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0.
Between the pipes
If there is
one common denominator between the two teams it starts with goaltending. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas is a virtual lock
this season for collecting his 2nd Vezina Trophy in the last three
years and Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson has emerged from the shadows and
is basking in the sunshine with a sparkling 2.01 goals against average and a
magnificent .941 save percentage in the postseason. Thomas has been spectacular all year and is
just a click below Roloson’s gaudy playoff stats with a stellar 2.03 GAA and
.937 save percentage of his own.
The Bruins
have defeated the Lightning 3 out of four times this season. The Bruins took both games at home, blowing
them out on December 2nd, 8-1 and then nipping them by a score of
2-1 on March 3rd. The
Lightning won the first game in Tampa back on November 22nd by a
score of 3-1 but the Bruins took a 4-3 decision on December 28th.
So it is fair to say these are two evenly
matched squads with each game being decided by only one goal with the exception
of the early December blowout in Boston.
It should be pointed out that Tampa netminder Dwayne Roloson was not involved
in any of the games against Boston this season. He was traded from the Islanders to the Lightning shortly after the 1st
of the year. Roloson may not have faced
the Bruins this season but the 41 year old veteran is no stranger to the NHL
postseason. He was Dominik Hasek’s
backup in 1999 with the Sabres and a starter for the Edmonton Oilers in 2006
before injuries shelved him after Game 1 against the Hurricanes.
Patrice Bergeron questionable for the series
So we have
two veteran goalies who will not wilt under the glare of the postseason
spotlight but what about the rest of the rosters? Bruins faceoff ace Patrice Bergeron is
suffering from his 3rd concussion in the last four years when he was
injured in Game 4 against the Flyers.
Prior to that he was masterful on the puck drop, winning 28 faceoffs in
the first two games against Philly and was a mainstay on their penalty killing
unit.
He will not dress for at least the
first few games and may miss the series entirely. Speaking of head injuries, veteran defenseman
Pavel Kubina and the versatile Simon Gagne will most likely be sitting in Game
1 of the series with Boston due to injuries of their own.
The B’s top line of Krejci, Lucic and Horton has
caught fire at the right time which is a far cry from their notable absence in
the first round against Montreal.
Naturally, Martin St. Louis and Steve Stamkos will be the chief
offensive threats for Tampa but left winger Sean Bergenheim has been a pleasant
surprise, tallying 7 times in the post season.
But how does this matchup play out?
Who has the edge
The Bruins have had hot goaltending and excellent defense all year, with
Tim Thomas considered the best in the league and a bonafide superstar in
defenseman Zdeno Chara, the B’s ranked 2nd in goals allowed. The Bruins were also among the league’s best
in goals scored as well.
Perhaps the
most telling stat is the +/- ratio with Boston ranked as one of the league
leaders with a +51 while Tampa trailed distantly with a +7. Boston currently has 3 players in the top 5
of the +/- category in the postseason (Chara, Marchand and Recchi) and that
tells the tale. The Bruins have more
depth than Tampa Bay and while Dwayne Roloson has had a superb playoff run, Tim
Thomas is quite simply a superb goaltender.
NHL odds makers have already set the lines for the first game, and the Bruins are favored at -145. This should be the story for most of the series.
The Bruins win the series in 5
games.