As the regular season wound down, Bruins fans had every reason to love their team's chances. They were arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference. They just should have considered the argument.
We're seeing now what the Lightning are: offensively potent and defensively deep. They've shown for two straight games that even if the Bruins do what they do (take your best offensive players away), they can still beat you handily.
Tampa led the NHL in scoring this season, so even with their first line completely being taken out of the series by Zdeno Chara, they've got enough firepower to beat you if you let them carry the play.
Game 1 was an anomaly. Tampa was passive and Boston took advantage en route to a six-goal (four even strength, one power play, one empty net) outburst.
But Wednesday's Game 3 painted a better picture of what Tampa can do in their own zone. On the seemingly rare moments that the Bruins actually had the puck, the Lightning blueliners defended extremely well in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy.
While the Tampa goalie was rarely challenged, Tuukka Rask had his work cut out for him. He's ranged from very good to excellent the whole series, but wins aren't awarded for just having a good goaltending performance.
At some point, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are going to break through and have a big game. In the meantime, Tampa has enough other guys going to still carry the play. The same can't be said for the Bruins, who offensively should feel good about their first line and little else.
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The Bruins have not gotten an even-strength goal out of one of their forwards in either of the last two games. They have three goals total in that span: even-strength goals from Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug in Game 2 and a power play tally from Bergeron in Game 3. Both goals in Game 2 came with the Bergeron line on the ice.
Needing secondary scoring is nothing new for this postseason. It's just that when we've said it previously, the Bruins were either leading a series or tied. Now, for the first time all postseason, they trail a series. They're far from eliminated, but it's a fair guess that if they do go on to lose this series, the lack of secondary scoring will be high on the list of reasons.
The second line of David Krejci between Jake DeBrusk and Rick Nash can and seemingly should produce more. Fixes aren't needed there.
Yet one game after Bruce Cassidy tinkered with his fourth line, he may need to change up his third line of Riley Nash between Danton Heinen and Rick Nash. Maybe Rick Nash is still hurting after returning from injury last round. David Backes has been bad all postseason. Heinen isn't a problem, but given that Riley Nash (because he's a center) and Backes (because he's a leader) won't be scratched, he could be an option to come out of the lineup in favor of Ryan Donato.
Such adjustments are what a trailing team often has to ponder. Jon Cooper doesn't face that problem. Even without Stamkos going, the Lightning have gotten their bearings on the series. Not all of the Bruins have.
Time is obviously of the essence. If the Bruins don't respond with a Game 4 win, you can consider this series over. The Lightning are too good and deep to lose three straight to anyone.