Game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals – weighing Tampa Bay Lightning against Boston Bruins (Part 2)
Continuing to analyse the teams ahead of game seven, we will be discussing the defence of both teams.
There were many speculations that led to people saying that Lightning was going to struggle in the series.
Lightning paired up its two best, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Mike Lundin, hoping to maintain a tight defence. It has certainly exceeded its expectation and there have been some strong and brilliant performances by the two defenders.
One thing that has hurt Lightning and is going to be an area of concern for them is that they haven’t been able to bring out the best of them as yet.
Lightning was one of the deadliest team on power-plays during the regular season. The reason was that their transition play from defence to attack was flawless and very effective.
Its strategy remains the same but the players seem to be failing in implementing it.
Bruins, on the other hand, has taken advantage of this weakness as they are hanging in the middle not knowing whether to assist in the attack or concentrate on staying behind.
As a result, Lightning has decreased the role of its defence in attacks. This has prohibited the team from being the usual full attacking team.
The last game was won by Lightning after maintaining a tight defence that didn’t go on the attacks as often as it does.
Lightning was definitely stronger of the two teams with regard to defence but the fact that they didn’t receive much assistance from the defence lessened the amount of chances coming their way.
On the other hand, Bruins has seen a great deal of productivity that has also led them to success from their defence. At the beginning of the series, they had a few players in the injury list but the pair, Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, has done quite
well.
They have been outstanding to say the least as they are the reason that Lightning’s big three forwards, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos have failed drastically. Though they have come up with a few goals, they are players who have
the capabilities of scoring several goals which has hurt Lightning significantly.
There are some questions hovering over Bruins as to what its defence will be when these two players are replaced but still Bruins look stronger of the two teams when it comes to defence.
Continuing to analyse the teams ahead of Game 7, we will be discussing the centre of both teams.
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