Haggerty: Bruins-Lightning Tale of the Tape

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These are both star-studded groups. The Perfection Line is the best forward line in all the NHL and Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak can be unstoppable when not defended properly. However, in their last playoff series against the Lightning, the Bruins top line was effectively bottled up in even strength against the big, rugged and mobile Tampa defense group. David Krejci (3 goals and 9 points in five games in the first round) keyed the offense against Carolina while working chemistry with Jake DeBrusk and Ondrej Kase, and it will be vital that they step up and produce secondary scoring vs. the Lightning.

Tampa has arguably the best forward in the entire series as Brayden Point is at the pinnacle of his NHL career (5 goals and 10 points in 8 games) and scored a pair of OT game-winners in the first round. Point gave the B’s fits at both ends a couple of years ago. Nikita Kucherov is a former Hart Trophy winner, Steve Stamkos will return to the fold at some point and the Lightning have good scoring depth in longtime players like Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson.

One thing to watch will be Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow as Tampa players constantly on the edge. Bruins fans will come to hate them by the end of the series. The Bruins could really use a David Pastrnak offensive explosion in this series if they’re going to take it.

Edge: Lightning

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This will definitely be closer than it was a couple of seasons ago. Charlie McAvoy is playing at an extremely high level both offensively and on the defensive end, and he helped close out the Hurricanes with his punishing hit on Jordan Staal in Game 4 that sparked an epic third period comeback. McAvoy is the workhorse for the Black and Gold.

The Lightning have an even bigger ace in the hole on the back end on their team with Victor Hedman, however. He’s a perennial Norris Trophy finalist and arguably the best defenseman in the entire NHL. Ryan McDonagh is averaging upwards of 27 minutes of ice time per game, Kevin Shattenkirk gives the Lightning very good playmaking and puck-moving from the back end and Mikhail Sergachev is an up-and-comer.

Zdeno Chara looked significantly slower at 43 years old in the postseason to this point, and obviously smaller D-men like Torey Krug and Matt Grzelcyk are keys because of their puck-moving. Brandon Carlo was just okay vs. the Hurricanes and will need to be much better against Tampa Bay.

Edge: Lightning. Hedman and McDonagh are prime time defensemen at the height of their games.

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The Lightning have a Vezina Trophy finalist in Andrei Vasilevskiy and the Bruins are missing their Vezina Trophy finalist. Instead it will be Jaroslav Halak for the Bruins with Rask opting out of the tournament, and he’ll need to play in a pair of back-to-backs scheduled in the seven-game series. 

Vasilevskiy has been good for the Bolts thus far with a 1.98 goals against average and a .927 save percentage, but he has not been able to carry the Lightning all the way to the promised land with a Stanley Cup. So there are some questions still about him in big games despite all of his regular-season success.

Halak finished with a .932 save percentage against the Hurricanes, but was up-and-down in the series despite winning all three games he started. There are certainly questions about the 35-year-old standing up to a heavy workload, but Halak is experienced and has shown an ability to get hot and carry a team in the playoffs. The Bruins are hoping that happens here, but this is another category where they're outgunned without Rask.

Edge: Lightning

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For all their star power, the Lightning are just 2-for-15 on the power play in the postseason. Some of that was about going against an excellent Blue Jackets penalty kill, but it’s clear Tampa Bay isn’t firing on all fronts on special teams. It will be interesting to see if Stamkos could change things with his presence should he return.

Meanwhile, the Bruins caught fire on the PP at the end of the series against Carolina, and the power play won the clinching Game 5 after Bruce Cassidy loaded up on his top unit while leaving David Krejci on it even as David Pastrnak returned from injury. The Bruins and Lightning both have solid penalty kills with the B’s probably earning the edge because the Bergeron/Marchand PK tandem is aces and Zdeno Chara remains the best penalty killer in the entire league.

The Bruins will need their power play to be a major weapon in this series given how difficult it was to score even strength goals against Tampa the last time around in the playoffs, but they have the ability to make it so.

Edge: Bruins

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Bruce Cassidy has been named as a Jack Adams Trophy finalist twice now during his stint with the Bruins and is coming off a season where he guided the Bruins as the only team with 100 points during the regular season. Cassidy is smart, versatile and last season showed he could guide the Bruins all the way to the end, getting them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final with a steady hand.

Jon Cooper is a smart, innovative head coach with the Lightning who helped guide them to a big series win against a Columbus group that upset them the year before. If anything, he is underrated because of the impressive talent level on the Tampa Bay roster.

Both are excellent special teams tacticians and strategists, so there’s not a lot to favor one highly over the other. But Cassidy has a knack for making the right move with these Bruins teams at the right time, and those kinds of instincts can prove to be a massive advantage in a series such as this one.

Edge: Slight one to the Bruins

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This series between Atlantic Division rivals should be must-watch television. The Lightning have gotten the better of the Bruins over the last few seasons and represent the biggest stumbling block for the B’s in the East.

The one question that’s always there about Tampa Bay, however, is their makeup. They are prone to self-destructing and Kucherov is the kind of player who routinely loses his poise in the big games. The Bruins are still very clearly the leader in terms of experience and poise, but they are also clearly not as good as the Lightning on paper when the two rosters are put side-by-side.

The B’s also know this may be their last kick at the can as the Stanley Cup window is closing on an aging group with no real clear idea of when next season will even get going. For Tampa this is also desperate times as there’s only so long they can keep this current team together due to the salary cap.

This should be an intense, physical series with two teams that have developed some healthy dislike for each other, and honestly should be in the Stanley Cup Final if they can win this series. That’s how big this one is within the Eastern Conference bracket.

Edge: Bruins

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Both teams are hungry for another Cup (Tampa is at a point where they need to win one with this group, the Bruins are at the very end of their window after falling short in Game 7 last year), so there will be no shortage of intensity in this series. The fact that the B’s will have to do this with their backup goaltender just gives them another challenge along the way, but the Black and Gold have never been ones to shrink from a challenge.

Prediction: The Tampa Bay Lightning are the better team on paper and should win it in seven games. The Bruins have a shot, but they are going to have to play their very best hockey to take this one. Either way, it’s going the distance.

Dates, times, TV schedule for Bruins-Lightning series

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