NHL Playoffs 2011: Will Lightning or Bruins Take Eastern Conference?
After what was a very short second round of the NHL Playoffs, we now have our first matchup. The upstart Tampa Bay Lightning will face off with the Boston Bruins.
It what is shaping up to be a great Eastern Conference Finals matchup, one wonders who will win the Prince of Wales Trophy.
As we look at the matchup who will have the offensive edge, the defensive edge, the special teams edge, and most importantly, the goaltending edge?
Forwards and Offense
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Both teams are offensively gifted. Boston has skill players like Milan Lucic,David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Zdeno Chara and his ankle breaking slapper, and skilled puck disher Patrice Bergeron. While these players are good they fall in comparison to the Tampa Bay Lightning's.
Tampa Bay has a plethora of offensively gifted and talented scorers. Vinny Lecavalier is one of the best passers Tampa Bay has had this playoff season. He has also been clutch when it comes to putting the puck in the net.
Marty St.Louis has had his best season in the NHL this year. He had 99 points and was nominated for the Hart Trophy.
Sean Bergenheim is a strange case. He has been uncharacteristically hot during the playoffs. He has played well on a line with other grinder and role players. The Bergenheim,Downie,Moore line has been exceptionally productive this offseason.
Edge- Tampa Bay Lightning
The clear edge goes to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The have such a depth of players that include Lecavalier, St.Louis, Stamkos, Moore, Bergenheim, Downie, etc.
The Lightning have scored 38 goals so far in these 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Bruins have scored 37 goals.
Defensemen
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The Bruins blueline is lead by Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle. These two defensemen are both great puck movers and are men of size. Chara and his Paul Bunyan like stick have been known to break up the play or an odd man rush. Kaberle and his shot were acquired to help run the Bruins powerplay. Other Bruin d-men include Dennis Widemen and notable crowd saluter Andrew Ference.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are stacked with defensemen. They have acquisitons from this season like Marc-Andre Bergeron and Eric Brewer, draftee Victor Hedman and long time league stalwarts Pavel Kubina and Mattias Ohlund.
Edge- Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay wins this one again. The depth of their defense is superb as they are both offensively and defensively capable. No offense to the Boston Bruins but outside of Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle no one really jumps off the page.
Stats- The Tampa Bay Lightning have blocked 233 shots thus far in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Goaltending
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This is the toughest choice and it will be the most important factor of this series.
The Boston Bruins have Tim Thomas who is on the verge of winning another Vezina Trophy. By all accounts he has had one of his greatest years in the NHL. Thomas has done a good job so far for the Bruins as they faced the Montreal Canadiens and the Philadelphia Flyers.
Enter Dwayne Roloson.
Dwayne Roloson has a knack of keeping up with the youngsters come playoff time. Dwayne Roloson is a 41-year-old goalie in a young man's game. However the wily vet has posted a 2.01 GAA and a .941 SV percent thus far.
Edge- Tie
This one is truly too close to call. Tim Thomas has been great but Roloson has played just as good if not better. Roloson has stood tall and on his head against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. It is going to be the make of break point of this series.
The Lightning have allowed 24 goals thus far in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Boston Bruins have allowed 24 goals.
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Special Teams- Powerplay
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The Boston Bruins powerplay has been dreadful. It is so bad as long as the Bruins were without a powerplay goal, The Nashua Silver Knights a summer league team in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League fans will receive free Powerade with each ticket purchased.
The Bruins have since then scored on the powerplay but a 5.4% success rate (2 for 7) will not help them win the Prince of Wales Trophy, let alone the Stanley Cup.
The Tampa Bay Lighting on the other hand have capitalized early and often on the man advantage. The Lightning have scored 12 goals on the man advantage in 45 attempts for a 26.7 % success rate.
Edge- Tampa Bay Lighting
This one was a no brainer. 2 goals on 37 attempts is pathetic especially when you have two great point men in Kaberle and Chara.
Tampa Bay is going to be a hard team to beat especially if they are given some powerplay time.
Special Teams- Penalty Kill
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Thus far, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been shorthanded an unprecedented 54 times. One would think that allowing the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins have so much power play time would have did them in for sure. Quite the contrary.
The Boston Bruins have been shorthanded 38 times and have allowed 8 goals for a penalty kill effectiveness rate of 79.0%
Edge: Tampa Bay Lightning
Despite being shorthanded so many times, the Lightning have only allowed three power play goals for an overall penalty kill effectiveness of 94.4 %
Overall Review
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The Tampa Bay Lightning have the overall edge in this series. In the categorical breakdowns, Tampa had the edge in four out of the five categories and tied with Boston for goaltending.
This is a series many people wanted to see. Boston is a team made up of strong goaltending and good defense and the Tampa Bay Lightning are skilled offensively, defensively, and in net with Dwayne Roloson.
It should be a great series overall but how many games will this series be and who will prevail?
Predictions
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Game 1- Tampa Bay 3 Boston 2 OT Tampa Bay 1-0
Game 2- Tampa Bay 2 Boston 1 Tampa Bay 2-0
Game 3 Boston 3 Tampa Bay 1 Tampa Bay 2-1
Game 4- Tampa Bay 4 Boston Tampa Bay 3-1
Game 5 Boston 1 Tampa 0 OT Tampa Bay 3-2
Game 6 Tampa Bay 4 Boston 2 Tampa Bay wins Series 4-2
In what will be a low scoring series, I predict the Tampa Bay Lighting to win the series in six games. Tampa will get off to a fast start I think and will surprise Boston. Boston and Tampa will than go back in forth splitting games until Tampa ultimately wins in Game Six
Eastern Conference Champs and Prince of Wales Trophy Winners- Tampa Bay Lightning
Comments, Questions, Concerns ?
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