Bruins at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning will be a very well-rested team when they host the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon for Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Lightning wrapped up their first-round series April 21 by topping New Jersey in five games while the Bruins trailed by a goal going into the decisive Game 7 before rallying for a 7-4 victory over Toronto on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay will benefit from the break physically and mentally, and the players don’t expect any rust Saturday: “We’ve had a really good week of practicing,” Lightning right wing Ryan Callahan told reporters. “Our practices have been intense, upbeat. It shouldn’t be an issue.” The Bruins won the first three games in the season series before suffering a 4-0 defeat at Tampa Bay in the finale April 3 with a 33-shutout from Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had a dazzling .941 save percentage in the first-round series for the Lightning. David Pastrnak is third in the league in scoring during the playoffs with 13 points for Boston, which averaged four goals in the first round, and fellow right wing Nikita Kucherov led Tampa Bay with five goals and five assists against New Jersey. “They have had time to rest and if they had any injuries probably get a little healthier,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters. “. … But for us going into Saturday we are battle-tested and we have to bring that mentality into the next round.”
TV: 3 p.m. ET, NBC, Sportsnet, TVA
ABOUT THE BRUINS: Pastrnak, left wing Brad Marchand (nine points), Torey Krug (eight points) and captain Zdeno Chara (plus-5 rating) were solid in the first round, but goalie Tuukka Rask (2.94 goals-against, .899 save percentage) must be better. “Some games he played really, really well,” Boston general manager Don Sweeney told reporters. “At the end of the day we have a lot of confidence in Tuukka, and I think going into the next series we’ll remain the same level of confidence that we can get the job done and he’ll be there for us.” Rookie left wing Jake DeBrusk matched Pastrnak with five goals to lead the Bruins in the first round.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING: Tampa Bay was much improved on the penalty kill in the first-round series, giving up three goals on 19 attempts (two when down two skaters), but face a Bruins team that was 7-for-22 with the man advantage against Toronto. Ryan McDonagh, who had four assists in the first round, and Anton Stralman have become the shutdown pair that will often face the Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Pastrnak line while Norris Trophy candidate Victor Hedman is averaging a team-high 26:24 of ice time. Left wing Alex Killorn recorded four goals in the first round after managing 15 in the regular season, which was eighth-best on the team.
OVERTIME
1. Boston F Sean Kuraly had four points and a plus-5 rating in the first round and owns four goals in 11 career playoff contests.
2. Kucherov boasts 52 points in 50 career playoff games, tied with Vincent Lecavalier for second on the franchise’s all-time postseason scoring list.
3. Bruins C David Krejci has 85 career playoff points and needs two to tie Cam Neely for seventh on the team’s all-time postseason scoring list.