Boston Bruins plays host to the Tampa Bay Lightning
The first game of Thursday will be hosted by the Boston Bruins as they are up against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the TD Garden.
This will be the fourth and final meeting between the two sides with the Bruins leading the series 2-1.
The first game of the series saw the Lightning winning 3-1 but the Bruins came back to thrash them 8-1.
In their most recent meeting on the 28th of December, the Bruins won the game easily 4-3. The Bruins and the Lightning are placed second and third in the Eastern Conference respectively.
They are level on points which makes the game all the more exciting. The Bruins will be looking to maintain the second spot which they got into recently as are in good shape after winning six straight games.
The Lightning is on a three game road trip and this will be the last game of the trip. Before the road trip the Lightning played absolutely brilliant during the 12 games home stand.
During the course of the 12 games they won seven games in regulation, three games in overtime and lost just two.
In their most recent game against the New York Rangers saw them winning 2-1 in the end.
However, this was after a 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
Guy Boucher, coach of the Lightning, wasn’t impressed by the team’s performance against the Rangers and said that it was one of the worse performances during the course of the current season.
“We lost a patience game," coach Guy Boucher said. "We won it back home (last Friday) and lost this one, so it was who was going to make the last mistake and we did … we turned it over and they capitalized on it.”
The Lightning have played 63 games during the course of the season out of which they have won 37 games in regulation time, seven games in overtime to score a total of 81 points.
On the other hand, the Bruins have played 63 games out of which they have won 37 games in regulation time and seven games in overtime to score 81 points. However, they have a better goals percentage which places them above the Lightning.
The Bruins were one of the hottest and happening teams in the NHL when it came to the trades.
They secured players like Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly well before the deadline came.
They also added Tomas Keberle to the roster. All the newly added players have played in a combined of six games and fortunately haven’t faced defeated as yet.
This is first time the Bruins completed a six games regulation time wins road trip after doing this last time in February 1972.
“We've done a lot of miles here in the last four days, three games in the last four and coast to coast, and our guys looked a little tired tonight,” Boston coach Claude Julien said after his team defeated Ottawa 1-0 on Tuesday. “But character took over,
we persevered and found a way to win.”
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