NHL Playoff Schedule 2018: TV, Live-Stream Coverage Guide for Saturday Matchups

If the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins were paying attention to what was happening in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday night, they were able to get a strong lesson of what not to do as they prepare for potential close-out games in their series Saturday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators took 3-1 series leads into their home games Friday night against the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche, respectively. Both teams were unable to take advantage of their situations.

The Penguins looked uninspired at the start of their game and dropped a 4-2 decision to the desperate Flyers. The Preds, meanwhile, were locked in a scoreless battle with the Avalanche past the midway point of the third period. However, after Nashville scored to take a late lead, the plucky Avs responded with goals by Gabriel Landeskog and Sven Andrighetto to pull off a shocking 2-1 victory.

Tampa Bay has a chance to finish off the New Jersey Devils at home Saturday, and the Bruins have the same opportunity with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Both have to realize they will be facing desperate opponents who will fight to stay alive until their last breath.

The Lightning have played well in the first round, scoring 15 goals in the first four games of their series. They have also done a solid job on the penalty kill, and that was an area of concern prior to the start of the postseason.

They have held the Devils to two power-play goals on 16 attempts. Head coach Jon Cooper knows his team has an excellent opportunity and that it's important to take advantage.

"If you have a chance to win a series, do it," Cooper said, per Stats/TSX (h/t CBSSports.com). "It's the travel. It's the wear. Just to get the mental and physical rest, to sit around and hope all the other series go deep. If you have this opportunity, you hope to take advantage of it."

Nikita Kucherov has scored four goals and nine points to lead the Lightning, while Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos both have five points.

New Jersey will try to counter with Taylor Hall leading the offense and Cory Schneider in goal. The Devils have fought hard throughout this series, but they were only able to win one of their two home games, and that's why they are in a win-or-go-home scenario.

Saturday's Stanley Cup Playoff Schedule

New Jersey Devils at Tampa Bay Lightning, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN

Columbus Blue Jackets at Washington Capitals, 3 p.m., NBC

Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins, 8 p.m., NBC

All times are ET. Games can be live-streamed on NBC Sports Live.

The Bruins are in a similar situation to the one they had five years ago when they met the Maple Leafs in the first round of the playoffs.

Boston built a 3-1 lead before dropping the next two games. Toronto built a 4-1 lead midway through the third period of the seventh game, but the Bruins famously mounted a furious comeback to win the decisive game in overtime.

They can avoid giving the Maple Leafs hope by winning on home ice Saturday night. Boston won the first two games of the series at home by 5-1 and 7-3 scores as their offensive creativity played havoc with Toronto's defense.

The Maple Leafs played better at home in splitting two games, but they have to raise their level of play to get the better of Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask.

If Toronto can attack with speedy forwards Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and Auston Matthews, they may have a chance to make the Bruins play on their heels. However, if Boston's offense continues to have its way with Toronto's ordinary defense, the Bruins should advance.

Boston could get a lift from the return of star center Patrice Bergeron, who sat out Game 4 with an upper-body injury. The Leafs will add Nazem Kadri back to their lineup as he returns from a three-game suspension, and his return could improve their chances of picking up a win in TD Garden.