Bruins-Lightning

The Bruins open the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at the Garden.  While most of Boston thinks that this series is just a warm up before the B's take on the Sharks or Canucks for the Stanley Cup - these would be the same people that wish Nate Robinson was still Rajon Rondo's primary backup and are waiting patiently for the Ryan Mallett era to begin in Foxboro - in reality it should be a meeting of two evenly matched teams playing their best hockey at the right time of year.

Both the Bruins and the Lightning were extended to seven games in the First Round and are coming off impressive 4-0 sweeps in the Second Round.  They each have goaltenders who are playing at the top of their respective games.  The goalies are also both veterans of the New England college hockey scene, Tim Thomas played at Vermont and Dwayne Roloson played at UMass-Lowell.

The Lightning are a team that has a lot of offensive firepower.  It will take every ounce of energy from Zdeno Chara and the B's defense corps to slow down Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, Sean Bergenheim, and Ryan Malone.  On the other end, the Bruins need to break Tampa's dangerous 1-3-1 neutral zone trap (Sports Illustrated made sense of it this week).

Boston's ability to produce offense will be compromised for at least Game 1 due to the mild concussion suffered by Patrice Bergeron in the clinching win over the Flyers in the previous round.  Bergeron has been playing great hockey this postseason - he is getting it done in all three zones and has been fantastic on face-offs - and despite the positive reports about his return, I will believe it when I see it because he has a terrible history with concussions and I don't think he will play in this series.

Bergeron's roster spot will be taken by rookie Tyler Seguin.  Seguin, the second overall pick in the 2010 Draft, has not played in the postseason but he has great talent and can put the puck in the net.

I know that I picked the Bruins to win the East before the playoffs started but until I see Bergeron come back at 100%, I will give the advantage in this series to Tampa Bay.

Lightning in 6.

(My internet connection at home failed several times last night which is why this has not been posted until Sunday, May 15.)