Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins
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vs.
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Money Line: Tampa Bay +135, Boston -155
Over/Under 5.5
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The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins clash tonight at TD Garden in Boston in a crucial Game 5 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals matchup with the series all knotted at two games apiece. Game time is set for 8 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on VERSUS.
Tampa Bay rallied from a 2-0 shutout in Game 3 as a 113 home favorite with a huge come-from-behind 5-3 win as a 116 home favorite in Saturday’s Game 4 to even this series. The Lightning are now 10-5 overall in the postseason and 6-2 on the road. They are 3-3 as a favorite and 7-2 as an underdog. The total has gone ‘over’ in nine of the 15 games.
Teddy Purcell broke Tampa’s four-period scoring drought with the first of his two goals in Game 4 early in the second period. Simon Gagne added the eventual game-winner early in the third as the Lightning erased a three goal deficit with five unanswered scores to set up the drama for tonight’s Game 5. Martin St. Louis leads the team with eight goals and 17 total points, while Purcell is tied with Vincent LeCavalier for the team lead in assists with 11. Tampa will most likely be without Steve Downie for this game after taking a hard hit to the head in Game 4.
Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson has had some issues in this series and has now been pulled twice in the last three games after getting the boot when Boston went up 3-0 in Saturday’s game. Mike Smith did a great job in relief; stopping all 21 shots he faced from that point on. Despite his recent troubles, Roloson is expected to get the start tonight.
Boston’s collapse in Game 4 dropped it to 10-5 overall in the playoffs. The Bruins are 5-2 on the road and 5-3 at home. They are 3-1 as an underdog and 7-4 as a favorite. The total has gone ‘over’ in nine of the 15 games.
Center Patrice Bergeron, who missed the first two games of this series due to injury, tallied two of the three goals in Saturday’s loss and figures to be a prominent part of Boston’s chances tonight. He leads the team in points with 14; four goals and 10 assists. Center David Krejci has also been key part of the offense with a team-high seven goals and 12 points. The Bruins scored five or more goals in four of their six previous games, but have only scored a combined five in their last two.
Boston’s chances in this game still weigh heavily on goalie Tim Thomas. He has looked absolutely spectacular at times especially in Game 3 when he stopped all 31 shots he faced. He has also looked shaky between the pipes; giving up five goals in three of the four games in this series. Thomas has played every minute of this postseason and has a goals-against-average of 2.34 and a .929 save percentage.
Head-to-head, the Bruins lost the first of four regular season matchups 3-1 as a 129 road favorite, but went on to win the next three, including both games at home. The total was evenly split 2-2 with a 5.5 goal line for all four games.
The odds makers have the Boston Bruins as a -1.5 point favorite with an over/under of 5.5.
Check out the latest NHL Hockey Odds here.
Prediction: This time around stick with Boston to gain the edge in this series with a win as Thomas turns in one of his better performances as of late.
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