Tampa Bay Lightning look to tie finals series against Boston Bruins in Game 4: NHL Play-offs Preview
The Boston Bruins have won two straight matches against the Tampa Bay Lightning who are looking to tie up the National Hockey League (NHL) Play-offs Eastern Conference Finals series as they both meet up again in Game 4 on Saturday.
The Bruins on the other hand have won two games straight, one at home and the most recent in Tampa Bay and now have the opportunity to put the Lightning on the verge of elimination in Game 4. What looked like a series which would be in the grip of the Lightning
who extended their winning streak to eight straight in the postseason after they won game one by a 5-2 margin have overturned as the Bruins now lead 2-1. The 2004 winners of the Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay, fell short and lost that special motivation which led
them to cleanly sweep the top seed of the Eastern Conference, Washington, in the semi-finals.
Considering the amount of pressure which both the conference finalists face, they are still determined in reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, but the problem is that only one will advance and currently, no one is in the mood of losing. Boston ended game three
on a high note as they shutout the Lightning 2-0 easily as their superstar centre Patrice Bergeron returned to the line-up after missing the first two games due to concussion related problems.
"I really felt that Patrice looked like a guy who hadn't missed a step," Boston Coach Claude Julien said. "You would have never known that he almost spent two weeks without playing a game. ... You could just tell by his skating, by his battles and everything
else that he felt really good."
Over the series, the Lightning has seemed to weaken down. In Game 1, Tampa Bay thrashed Boston 5-2 and kept the opposition locked down in the offensive end. Game 2 led Boston to scoring more, but Tampa Bay attacked equally, but lost by a single goal. In
the previous match-up, Tampa Bay was totally shutdown and could not penetrate to get anywhere near their goalie Tim Thomas to take a shot. Boston played smart and opened up opportunities in front of Dwayne Roloson for themselves and made the shots which was
a change in strategy from the last two games.
"It's a much tighter game," Lightning Coach Guy Boucher said. "So, you're looking for those opportunities and things you normally do, but they are harder to come by. It's not like we're playing a phantom team and they were just going to let us run around
and have our breakaways."
The 19-year-old rookie, Tyler Seguin had been a miracle back-up player for the Bruins when Bergeron was out of the starting five. Unexpected to be playing at all, Seguin came into his first ever play-off match and scored a goal. In Game 2, Seguin picked
up four points which included two goals and assists which ultimately led them to win the match. Playing him would probably be the best strategy for now as his style of play has worked in their favour against the Lightning.
Bruins forward David Krejci has remained hot and scored back-to-back goals in two games, while Tampa Bay’s Dominic Moore and Sean Bergenheim have five points each and are the highest scorers for their team at the moment. The match is scheduled to begin on
Saturday in Tampa Bay.
Tags: