Bolts Take on Bruins in a St. Patrick’s Day Showdown

By: Victor Cabrera

Overview:

The Tampa Bay Lightning (48-18-4) will be taking on divisional rivals the Boston Bruins(44-17-8). This will be the front end of a back to back at Amalie Arena. The Bolts are looking to bounce back after a 7-4 loss on Wednesday to the Ottawa Senators. So far in March the Lightning are 5-1-0 while the Bruins are 6-2-0. This will be the second time these teams matchup this season with the Bruins having won 3-2 in November. The Bolts will want to tie the season series 1-1 and take a crucial 2 points as the regular season is coming to an end.

Tampa’s Outlook:

The Lightning have a key game against the Bruins, a lineup nightmare. This is a game for playoff position and a regulation win would be best as Boston is third in the league in points with 96 points and Tampa Bay is in second with 100 points. The Bolts are in second place on power play percentage with 24.3% and can build on the success against the Bruins who have a 81.6% penalty kill success. Although the Bruins penalty kill is good their lack of key players in the lineup can be exposed by the Bolts crafty players. A win today can be that extra adrenaline rush to pull of back to back wins, with a win on Sunday evening.

Tonight’s Three Keys:

1. Playoff Atmosphere – This might be the biggest game of the season. Gotta bring the heat. This a potential matchup for the playoffs and the team has two more matchups later in the season.

2. Rested Vasy – Vasy had a rough game versus the Sens but had practice off and a few days rest, he should be up to the task. With Vasy being a candidate for the Vezina trophy we can expect a great game from the netminder.

3. Take Advantage – the Bruins are a little banged up so this is prime opportunity for the Bolts to steal 4 points. Key players like Charlie McAvoy (Injury) and Patrice Bergeron (Injury) are out of the lineup for the Bruins this Saturday. The team needs to secure a win tonight.

Tampa’s Projected Lines:

Offense:

Miller- Stamkos – Kucherov

Gourde – Point – Johnson

Killorn – Cirelli – Erne

Kunitz – Conacher – Callahan

Defense:

Hedman – Dotchin

Sergachev – Stralman

McDonagh – Girardi

Goalie:

Vasilevskiy (Likely) 40-13 -3  2.52 GAA  9.23 SV%

Boston’s Projected Lines:

Offense:

Marchand – Backes – Pastranak

Heinen – Krejci – Nash

Wingels – Nash – Gionta

Schaller – Kuraly – Acciari

Defense:

Holden – Miller

Krug – McQuaid

Grzelcyk – Carlo

Goalie:

Rask (Confirmed) 29-11-4  2.35 GAA  .917 SV%