NHL Playoffs 2011: Bruins vs. Lightning Game 3 Preview, Bergeron Likely to Play

The Eastern Conference Finals resume tonight with the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning playing Game 3 of their series at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

The puck will drop at 8:00 p.m. and will be broadcasted nationally on Versus.

The Bruins are expecting center and perhaps their best all around player Patrice Bergeron to return to the lineup tonight after recovering from a concussion suffered in the second round versus the Philadelphia Flyers.

If he plays, Bergeron will be back on the second line alongside his usual linemates Brad Marchand and Mark Recchi. 

In Bergeron's absence, Bruins rookie forward Tyler Seguin got his first taste of the playoffs, and scored six points in the first two games of the series with three goals and three assists.

With Seguin staying in coach Claude Julien's lineup for Game 3, someone has to be a healthy scratch tonight.

According to Boston.com's Fluto Shinzawa, it appears that Shawn Thornton will be scratched if Bergeron is able to play.

Thornton brings toughness and experience to the Bruins, and is a good penalty killer. But he offers little offensively and has not seen a ton of ice time throughout the playoffs.

The other possible scratch for the Bruins in case Bergeron can play is forward Daniel Paille.

Paille, like Thornton, is a great penalty killer, but he offers more offensively than Thornton and has great speed and a decent shot.

Paille offers more skills to the Bruins than Thornton, and will likely remain an active member of the lineup tonight.

The Bruins have shown they can play good hockey on the road this season. They were 24-12-5 on the road during the regular season, and are 4-1 away from home this postseason.

Whether it's having less distractions, or not having the pressure to defend home ice, the Bruins seem quite comfortable playing on the road.

The Game 2 victory for Boston was not pretty. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas let in a few soft goals and the defense was very weak at times, forcing Thomas to stop at least four breakaways.

The Bruins must play better defensively to win Game 3 in Tampa, and Thomas has to regain his form he displayed in the first two rounds of these playoffs.

One encouraging sign for the Bruins in Game 2 was the play of their power play. The Boston power play has been historically bad this postseason, but it scored two goals in Game 2.

Seguin's play on the power play has given the team more energy and speed to increase the amount of legitimate scoring chances, and his play with the man advantage in Game 3 is key to the Bruins success.

The Bruins evened the series in Game 2 with an offensive explosion against the Lightning, but against a potent Tampa offense, Boston needs to play much better defensively to win Game 3 and take back the home ice advantage.

Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins Featured Columnist, follow him on Twitter for Bruins and NHL playoff coverage.