Eastern Conference Finals: Boston Bruins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
While we wait for the Sharks, Wings, Predators and Canucks to finally settle who’ll play in the Western Conference Finals, we already know who will go at it in the east. Both the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning swept their way into the ECF, the Bruins knocking off Philadelphia in four games and the Lightning doing the same to the top-seed Washington Capitals.
It was the first time a number-one seed had been swept in a playoff series since the current conference-based format began in 1994.
Boston entered into the postseason as the third seed and Tampa Bay fifth, but both had identical 46-25-11 records and 103 points. That was good enough for the Bruins to win the Northeast Division crown and for the Bolts to finish second in the Southeast.
Tampa Bay’s 247 goals were one more than Boston tallied, but the Bs only gave up 195 goals while the Lightning allowed 240.
The Bruins took three of the four games played between the two. On November 11 the Lightning won 3-1 and December 2 the Boston pounded the Bolts 8-1. Then on 28th of December Mark Recchi scored a power play goal with 19.7 seconds left in the third period to give his team a 4-3 victory and last March 3 it was Milan Lucic scoring with 3:42 remaining in regulation time as the Bruins won 2-1.
Your pick in the ECF
- Boston Bruins (74%, 403 Votes)
- Tampa Bay Lightning (26%, 140 Votes)
Total Voters: 543
Loading ...Lucic, who led the Bruins with 30 goals this past season, did not score a goal in the last ten regular season games and failed to find the net in the first ten playoff matches. However, he potted a pair in the 5-1 game-four win over the Flyers last Friday.
After snapping out of his scoring drought, he was quick to give thanks to his teammates for their support.
“My teammates, especially my linemates with Krejci and Horton, we’ve been able to create so much chemistry here”, he said. “They always have my back, and even for them, times were tough this year. I had to lift them up, and just tell them to relax, and that was the same sort of thing.”
“They had my back, and they just told me, ‘It’s going to come. Just keep sticking with it.’”
Tampa Bay, who trailed Washington for only 26 minutes and 15 seconds during the four game sweep, comes into this series riding a seven game winning streak. Boston has won five consecutive and eight of their last nine after falling behind the Montreal Canadiens two games to none in the opening round.
Both teams have gotten outstanding performance in goal during the postseason. Tim Thomas is 8-3 with a 2.03 GAA and .937 SV%. However, Tampa Bay’s Dwayne Roloson has been just a tad better statistically, 8-3 with 2.01 GAA, .941 SV% and 1 SO.
While I’m sure the Bolts’ skaters appreciate what Roloson has done for them this spring, he has nothing but praise for them as well.
“You call it whatever you want, relentlessness, willpower, desire, whatever word you want to use, but what I think it just comes down to is not being afraid to lose”, the 41-year old netminder said of his teammates. “The guys are not afraid, they are going out, they are playing and putting everything on the line day in and day out.”
“When you do that, it makes for a tough [team] to play against.”
Patrice Bergeron , who leads the Bruins with 12 overall points in the playoffs, will miss one possible two games with a concussion. This means rookie Tyler Seguin will see his first ever NHL playoff action. Brad Marchand, Davis Krejci and Nathan Horton each have 5 goals. And defenseman Zdeno Chara is a +11 and averaging a team-high 28:41 TOI.
Martin St. Louis leads team with 13 overall points, 6 goals 7 assists. Sean Bergeneim’s 7 goals leads the Bolts, Vinny Lecavalier has 5 goals and 7 assists, Steven Downie is a +9 while defenseman Eric Brewer’s 26:09 TOI leads the Bolts.
As for the outcome of this series, the only thing I’m really sure of is that it’s unlikely to end in the fashion both teams experienced in the second round…a sweep. This once should be fun to watch with plenty of action and will probably go deep, six or seven games.
I’ll go with the Bruins to win in six. If I’m right we’ll then get a chance to see former Thrasher Rich Peverley, who was traded to Boston in February, perform in the Stanley Cup Finals.
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139 comments Add your comment
Rawhide
May 10th, 2011
10:48 pm
Rotes Licht – Sehr gut dann, mein freund.
R. Stroz
May 10th, 2011
11:17 pm
Heartless Joe Thornton, Gutless Dany Heatley, and Trade Me Don’t Waive Me Dan Boyle have a big lump in their collective throats.
World Be Free
May 11th, 2011
7:42 am
Stroz-and you know the coach will get the blame if the Sharks complete the collapse. Another coach takes the bullet for players that can’t put out the effort. Toss in Marleau, my buddy.
They can’t move on the ice cuz they are toting their fat contracts.
Notice that none of the guys you named are European?
Red Light
May 11th, 2011
8:01 am
Red Wings clearly outplayed San Jose all night and if weren’t for Niemi’s performance through the first 50 minutes, the game would have been out of reach. Tough way to try to win a game when you get outshot 18-6 in the first, 14-7 in the second and 13-12 in the third period.
Sharks announcers were commenting that Datsyuk’s injury was BS, and it looked like they were right.
JT from Columbus
May 11th, 2011
8:52 am
Any news on how the vote went in PHX last night for the 25 mil for the NHL?
Hockey Biltong
May 11th, 2011
9:15 am
Red Wings win to die another day. What a game…..I’m still rooting for the Sharks.
This is hard to say, but I want Tampa to beat Boston, keeping the SE DIv. looking strong and I want the Cup to go to them so we can whip them next year…
Hockey Biltong
May 11th, 2011
9:16 am
JT- Arizona will barf up the bucks.
ZAvalanche
May 11th, 2011
11:13 am
NHL.com is posting that Glendale voted to keep them another year.
Man, that Detroit team doesn’t know the meaning of “panic”. Dangit, I knew this would happen.
glovesave29
May 11th, 2011
12:18 pm
Glendale is offering $25M, and the league says the team lost $37M last year. The NHL is willing to take $12M in losses to keep the market as they see that it has potential.
Still think Atlanta is going to be left out in the cold? I am thinking no.
ZAvalanche
May 11th, 2011
12:44 pm
Glove, I agree. The NHL knows that both Glendale and Atlanta has a lot of northern transplants. Pretty sure you don’t take the expansion risk lightly and they did a TON of statistical demographic analysis (maybe RL did it) before they moved a team here. 5+ million people in Atl vs 600k + in the Peg. Not even a comparison as far as revenue potential – the product has just been marketed poorly.
Final thought (well, not FINAL, I post all the time) – Despite my pick, Damn the Big Red Borg, common Sharks! If Det wins I will be 11-1 through the first 2 rounds.
ZAvalanche
May 11th, 2011
12:52 pm
Err, I am wrong on my picks. I went back to a previous blog and saw that I picked Washington to make it through round 2. Don’t know why the hell I did that. If Det wins I will be 10-2.
ZAvalanche
May 11th, 2011
12:58 pm
Also, for the record, I am picking Tampa to make it to the Finals. They showed me a lot in the Caps series. Man, that top line can move. That being said, if Timmy is in top form it is going to be a long series.
ZAvalanche
May 11th, 2011
1:03 pm
As for the West, I really can’t venture a guess. Vancouver has been very inconsistent but I think they have proven they can play physical. Detroit has two of the best, as far as skill and hockey sense, forwards in Datsyuk and Zet. But I am pretty sure that Datsyuk’s wrist is in a mess – he only took one face-off in the last game. Kesler is on fire and is going to cause some major problems for either team’s defense. SJ is all grit and if they get the nod, they will prove, either way, if Van can handle a blue collar team.
Red Light
May 11th, 2011
3:31 pm
Few seem to care in the US about the World Championships and it was buried alive here…but
“We didn’t play that well as in the previous games. We had a little bit of luck,” said Jagr, whose team has a perfect record at the tournament, in great part due to goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. “Ondrej was great and had several great saves in the first period. We looked a bit sleepy,”
Pavelec stopped 29 shots for the shutout of the U.S.
Tom
May 11th, 2011
3:55 pm
RL, regarding the World Championships and Pavelec, I am concerned. He may really be a world class goalie stuck behind a mediocre to piss poor defense. If that is the case he will be doing everything he can to get out of ATL unless we invest in a better d-line.
Red Light
May 11th, 2011
4:08 pm
Defense is a six-person effort, not just two defensemen and a goalie. Therein lies the problem IMO Tom.
Good news for the Islanders, sort of, as it will take another vote…
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=562517&navid=mod-rr-headlines
Hejduk re-signs with the Avs, and I’m sure ZAvs will have a smallish smile on his face as a result.
Red Light
May 11th, 2011
4:21 pm
More on Pavelec
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=562529
Tom
May 11th, 2011
4:27 pm
Great point on the 6 person effort. We need to improve our back end to keep a goalie that can perform like Pav’s can. He has been dominant at the Worlds.
Red Light
May 11th, 2011
4:57 pm
From 1976 to 2009 once a team took a 3-0 series lead, that series ended prior to going to a Game 7 112 straight times. In the span of 12 months, three teams have forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0 and of course, the Flyers beat the Bruins last year, while the Hawks took the Canucks to seven and now the Wings have done the same to the Sharks. Three other teams, prior to the Blackhawks this season, forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0 in the series but lost.
So, that means the teams that were trailing 3-0 are now 3-4 in Game 7s prior to tomorrow night’s clash.
ZAvalanche
May 11th, 2011
5:31 pm
RL – that is a good bit of stats on game 7’s. And yes, I have more than a smallish smile on my face for The Duke resigning. He has some pretty serious skills, even at his age.
Keep The Trashers
May 11th, 2011
10:51 pm
Had a call from a good source that the Thrashers announcement is coming within 24 to 48 hours. The news may not be good. I cannot ignore this source, but I hope they are wrong. See HockeyBuzz post on this FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KeepTheThrashers/188894621145432
Here is our call to action by ATL leaders – a call that may be too late now that they sat on their hands for three months:
http://www.keepthethrashers.com/videokeepthrashersATL.html
Many “confirmed sources” have been wrong on this story – so it may not be bad, but again I would not ignore the news in the next 48 hours.
Keep The Thrashers
May 11th, 2011
10:56 pm
Had a call from a good source that the Thrashers announcement is coming within 24 to 48 hours. The news may not be good. I cannot ignore this source, but I hope they are wrong. See HockeyBuzz post on this FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KeepTheThrashers/188894621145432
R. Stroz
May 11th, 2011
11:17 pm
If the team is moved, the ASG owners better be prepared for a really revealing present.
Say Ahh?
May 12th, 2011
8:48 am
No concerts, no Hawks games, no special events until these morons are run out of town!
Russ
May 12th, 2011
9:02 am
Red Light – As the unofficial blog statistician, I have an assignment for you. If you need something to do??? All four of the conference finalists this season will have already faced a game 7 within the first two rounds of the playoffs. How often has this happened in the past? Just curious.
EA
May 12th, 2011
9:05 am
Rawhide, any “inside” information on what is going on with the Thrashers? It is time for a new blog.
Was the Team Sold Months Ago? You Decide
May 12th, 2011
9:14 am
While this is still in the rumor stage, if this deal goes through you have to ask these questions (use link). We hope the media asks the NHL and ASG about this:
http://www.keepthethrashers.com/winnipeg.html
GO THRASHERS!
Rawhide
May 12th, 2011
10:20 am
EA – Yes, it shuld be time for a new blog…and I actually drafted one up last night. But once it was done it was rendered moot given the latest rumor to break about a “24-48″ timeframe for some sort of announcement.
Really there’s nothing more to add by me above and beyond what C-Viv and others in the media are reporting. They are the ones who can shed any insight and anything I could add is simply speculation at this point.
So I’m taking a wait and see position. Either this is just another baseless rumor, much like all of the others or the AS, LLC are exactly what so many of us have suspected all along…the biggest sack of lying human debris ever.
I plan on posting a Western Conference Finals Predictions blog after a winner is determined between San Jose and Detroit tonight. If you wish to opine on the on-going saga that has fallen uon Thrasherville, Vivlamore has this blog to do so.
JT from Columbus
May 12th, 2011
10:46 am
Just cannot believe this is happening!! Looks like it’s a done deal.
ZAvalanche
May 12th, 2011
11:00 am
I won’t count it a done deal until they actually say it is over and the team is gone. Surprised we haven’t seen the trolls yet……
Hockey Biltong
May 12th, 2011
1:37 pm
troll,troll troll troll.
trolling,trolling,trolling,
move ‘em up head ‘em out, Rawhide…
Zombie Steve
May 12th, 2011
3:35 pm
R.I.P Atlanta Thrashers….. and to the collective ownership, the Atlanta Spirit Group LLC, I wish you nothing but pain, misery, and misfortune for lying to fans, running this team into the ground, and allowing a second NHL hockey team to leave Atlanta.
EA
May 12th, 2011
3:41 pm
Thanks Rawhide.
rusty
May 12th, 2011
10:47 pm
Will there still be this blog if the Thrashers do leave?
Brendan
May 12th, 2011
11:56 pm
Marleau, with the winner!! Sharks win! Sharks win!! Sharks win!!
(But I don’t gain any ground on Red Light. And that really blows.)
I up my mark, with a 2-2 CSF, to 8-4.
Haven’t decided who to pick in the Western CF. First thoughts say … San Jose is making back-to-back trips to the CF, and are there for the 3rd time since 2004. The Sharks have made the playoffs every year under the CBA. The Sharks have been cup contenders, but couldn’t win with Ron Wilson behind the bench. The Marty Schottenheimer of hockey is gone now. Their Coach comes from the Red Wing organization. Heatley, Marleau, Thornton, Boyle, Niemi. It’s very tempting to take the Sharks.
Then again, why wouldn’t it be tempting to take the Canucks? President’s Trophy winners. Luongo is a world-class goalie. Their defense is large and in charge. They’ve got depth. The only knock on Vancouver is … they haven’t been dominant, by any stretch, in the playoffs. They cannot close a series early. Up 3-0 to Chicago, it took overtime of Game Seven to win. Up 3-1 on Nashville, they couldn’t close until Game Six. The 2011 Playoffs are favoring the road teams. So, who will win their home games? Vancouver or San Jose? If the roadies win every game, then it’s the Sharks moving on to the Finals.
If it’s San Jose vs. Tampa Bay for the Cup, I think back to expansion in the early 1990’s. San Jose entered the league in 1991. It was an awful 39-point season, that saw just 17 wins and 359 goals scored against them. It got worse the next year, when the Sharks gave up a STAGGERING 414 goals. In 1992, the Tampa Bay Lightning came into existence. They had a 59-point season, with 23 wins. They gave up 332 goals against.
Atlanta Spirit Sucks
May 13th, 2011
12:29 am
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-Spirit-Sucks/114671988618038
Fan from Carolina
May 13th, 2011
7:22 am
Hey Brendan, A SJ-TB finale would be something to see, especially with Boyle against his old team. The only problem would be the TV ratings. Of course all the die-hard NHL fans will be watching but not too many others. In any event we are ’stuck’ with either SJ or Vancouver which makes for some late night viewing. Good thing Marleau scored or he would have been thrown under the team bus. I think that was his first point of the series. Brutal!
ZAvalanche
May 13th, 2011
9:02 am
I guess Marleau listened to JR’s thrashing of him on TV. That was an exciting game. So glad to see Detroit out of it! 10-2 so far for me. I missed Anaheim in the first round and Detroit in the 2nd.
I am going with a Vancouver – Tampa Finals. Those are going to be some long plane flights……
Rawhide
May 13th, 2011
9:19 am
This is your 10-minute Ranallo Warning.
Yes I know it’s been a few days, but now that the WCF is finally set it’s time to make your predictions. New blog will be posted at 9:30am.