Boston Bruins versus Tampa Bay Lightning- a historic battle in the National Hockey League
Both teams involved in the Eastern Conference Finals have had very tough times in the last few years. Bruins is starving for a Stanley Cup win while it has been quite some time since the last time Lightning won the Stanley Cup.
Mark Recchi of Boston Bruins is the oldest player involved in the Finals at the age of 43.
The last time that Bruins got its hands on the Stanley Cup, he was four years old. However, he has been on the end of winning the Stanley Cup twice and now hopes that he can do it for the third time.
Bruins is trying to end a drought of 39 years without winning the Stanley Cup. It hadn’t been in the best of forms over the last decade or so since it was unable to qualify for the Conference Finals.
This is the first time in around 40 years that Bruins has made its way into the Conference Finals since 1992.
On the other hand, Tampa Bay Lightning has also made it this far for the first time since 2004 when it went on to claim the Stanley Cup.
The two teams met each other four times during the course of the season out of which Bruins have won three games. However, the interesting fact ahead of this is that the star goalkeeper, Dwayne Roloson, wasn’t in the line-up in each of the wins.
Lightning has also come up with some brilliant performances thus far in the playoffs. It has been on the end of seven straight wins including a comeback against Penguins even though it was down by 3-1.
However, the amazing performance came against top seeded Washington Capitals that was knocked out after Bruins clean swept the series by 4-0.
The game also includes two former college mates, Tim Thomas of Boston Bruins and Martin St. Louis of Tampa Bay Lightning, both will play important roles for their respective teams.
There are speculations as to who can be the game changing performers in the series and when it comes to Bruins then the inclusion of Tyler Seguin in the series would be the major headline.
The rookie player is among one of the best in the league and replaces Patrice Bergeron as he is out of action after sustaining an injury.
He wasn’t able to handle the pressure when it came to crunch situations during the regular season which is the reason as to why this is his first game in the playoffs.
Nevertheless, if he clicks then expect Bruins to win the series dominatingly.
On the other hand, Lightning will be looking to Steve Downie who has consistently been performing for them and will be looking to continue what he has been doing so far.
He created scoring chances for his teammates throughout the playoffs which has made him a key player in the team.
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