The Boston Bruins are facing off against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2nd round of the playoffs. It will be a hard-fought battle, but the Bruins should be successful if they are able to do these 3 things.
The Boston Bruins are about to go up against the No.1 team in the Eastern Conference. It definitely will not be a cakewalk to the Eastern Conference Finals.
With that in mind, the Bruins aren’t going up against Goliath. They beat the Lightning three times in the regular season. Overall the Bruins match up well against Tampa Bay. There are some areas of Tampa’s game that they will be able to exploit. The Lightning are not as deep as the Toronto Maple Leafs
If the Boston Bruins are able to do these 3 things they will be successful and will be moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
It needs to be Tuukka Time
Tuukka Rask needs to have a much better series. Rask currently has a .899 save percentage and a 2.94 goals against average. If the Bruins want to have any chance of advancing they need Tuukka to be hovering around 2 goals per game.
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Now part of this was due to a struggling defense, but Rask still gave up some goals that he wished he could have back.
Rask was pretty dominant against the Lightning in the regular season. He was 3-1 with a .926 save percentage and a 2 goals against average. If Rask can replicate these performances the Bruins will have a good chance to come out on top.
It hasn’t been the best of postseasons for Tuukka. If the Bruins lost game 7 Bruins fans would be calling for him to lose his job. Rask was flat out horrible.
Tuukka has been gifted a second chance against a team that he has performed well against. Hopefully, he will be able to take advantage.
Where is Rick Nash?
Rick Nash has been nonexistent in the playoffs so far. His only points came when the Bruins were blowing out the Maple Leafs. The Bruins acquired Nash specifically for the playoffs. He is a strong power forward who should be scoring, but that hasn’t happened this postseason.
Nash has been known to struggle in the playoffs. He has played a season’s worth of playoff games and only has 16 goals.
The Bruins need much more production out of Nash. Jake DeBrusk has been carrying the 2nd line for the entire postseason. The rookie could use some help from the guy who cost the Bruins two draft picks including a first rounder.
Nash skated much better in game 7 against the Leafs. Hopefully, he will be able to build off of that performance. He needs to use his size to his advantage and stay strong on the puck. This will allow him to get some great scoring opportunities.
Defense, Defense, Defense
It can not be overstated how important defense is in playoff hockey. The Bruins defense seemed to struggle against the Toronto Maple Leafs speed and youth. The Bruins will now have to focus on some different aspects of their game.
Steven Stamkos is a deadly shooter. His weapon of choice being the one-timer, so the Bruins need to limit the Lightning’s zone time and not allow them to set up Stamkos with these great opportunities. This will also cause the Bruins to have to get the puck out of the zone easily. At times versus Toronto it seemed like there was a force field on the Bruins blue line. The puck magically found a way to stay in their zone. The Bruins can’t let the Lightning get comfortable. They need to apply pressure and clear the puck on the first try, not the fifth.
Another focus for the defense will be not allowing Nikita Kucherov to gain open ice. The Russian will make you pay if you give him room to breathe. I would expect Patrice Bergeron to be on the ice whenever Kucherov is. The Selke Award finalist should be able to shut him down.
Next: Bruins playoff preview: Round 2 against Tampa Bay
It’s hard to imagine the Bruins losing if Rask and Nash perform well, and the defense is a stonewall.