Horton and Thomas lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals...

The Boston Bruins are off to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1990. I think one could say that game seven between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning will go down as an instant classic, tonight's game was also not for the faint of heart as both teams skated up and down the ice exchanging chances on the opposition's net.

Both goalies Dwayne Roloson and Tim Thomas were stellar and Nathan Horton scored the only goal (8th of the Stanley Cup Playoffs) at the 12:27 mark of the third period and then Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins defense held on for the win as Tampa Bay had a few good chances to even the score.

* The Bruins outshot the Lightning 38-24...
*  The Boston Bruins are 11-10 all-times in Game 7s
*  Tim Thomas had two shutouts during the ECF Finals.  
*  There were two players in their 40's playing in this series Recchi 43 Roloson 41.
* Two of the three Vezina finalist are in the Stanley Cup Finals.

This is what Tim Thomas had to say after the game... 

"I think a lot of people thought I was over the hill,"' said the 37-year-old Thomas, a Vezina Trophy finalist who was sidelined throughout last year's playoffs. "I knew it wasn't true. I put in a lot of work over the summer and I've had an unbelievable year. I've been blessed."

Bruins defense coughs up a fur ball…

Well that was nice! The Boston Bruins blew an opportunity to send the Tampa Bay Lightning to the golf course for the summer and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals to take on the unlikeable Vancouver Canucks. I have have two word for the Bruins defense tonight "absolutely atrocious" add to that,  their penalty killers were equally "absolutely atrocious," these were the same penalty killers who had killed 16/18 Tampa Bay Lightning power plays in the first five games of the series. Tonight the penalty killers was way more generous giving up three power play goals on four power play opportunities.

Bruins second year defenseman Johnny Boychuk was also brutal tonight and worthy of sitting in the press box for game seven as he was on the ice for all five of Tampa Bay’s goals. I am not sure why Claude Julie kept coming back with the young defenseman, an example of his work can be seen in the video above.

The usually  steady Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was horrible tonight barely stopping 80 percent of the shots he faced. Thomas finished the night giving up 5 goals on 26 shots (21/26), no very Vezina Trophy like tonight. Not to be out down the aging Dwayne Roloson was equally unimpressive giving up 4 goals on 20 shots (16/20).

Dwayne Roloson to start for the Lightning.

Image by bridgetds via FlickrIt looks like the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to start goalie Dwayne Roloson in net tonight for game 6 against the Boston Bruins in Tampa Bay. If I was a player on the Boston Bruins I would be licking my lips because the Bruins have had good success against Dwayne Roloson. 

AMPA - Dwayne Roloson will be back in the net for the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight as the Bolts face elimination in the Eastern Conference final.

The 41-year-old goaltender was sat out by Tampa coach Guy Boucher for the Lightning’s 3-1 loss in Boston in Game 5, leaving the Bolts down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series and facing elimination for the fourth time this post-season.

They were down 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening round and came back to win the series.

“(Roloson)’s going to be ready, willing and able to prove why he’s one of the big reasons we got here as a team,” said Tampa forward Steven Stamkos.

Boucher said he told Roloson, who is 6-0 in his career in elimination games, he would be playing in Game 6 Monday, the day of Game 5, same time as he told him he wouldn’t be playing that night.

Something for Mike Smith fans to ponder...

Maybe just maybe this is the reason that Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Mike Smith hasn't got the start against the Boston Bruins just yet? Like I said before there is probably a valid reason why Dwayne Roloson is playing instead of back up goalie Mike Smith Smith.

I have also mentioned in the past, that the Boston Bruins have not challenged Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith when he has played against the Bruins in two relief appearances, the Bruins need to get bodies in front of the Tampa Bay goal and challenge him, to date they have not, the Bruins also need to get Smith's  feet moving. Let it be known that Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith is not a world beater or a goalie of Carey Prices stature, Mike Smith is a mediocre goalie with an .899 save percentage that the Dallas Stars traded away.

Bruins choke away three goal lead…

The Boston Bruins were 23-0-0 when leading by three goals. Make that 23-1-0 after today’s unhinging debacle. The Bruins came out flying in the first period and raced to an impressive 3-0 lead in the game, the Bruins even chased the Tampa Bay Lightning’s starting goalie Dwayne Roloson who appeared to be very shaky from the game. Roloson was then replaced by Lightning backup goalie Mike Smith…I think it’s safe to say that everything was going the Bruins’ way until the 6:55 mark of the second period when the roof fell in on the Boston Bruins. Lightning forward Teddy Purcill got the Tampa Bay Lightning on the score board by scoring two quick unanswered goals. It would have been a great opportunity for the Bruins to call a time out but they did not, another #epicfail for the Bruins head coach Claude Julien.

Can’t score if don’t shoot

In my opinion I think it’s fair to say that Mike Smith was hardly challenged the by the Boston Bruins after replacing Dwayne Roloson. If you go back and watch the game you will see that Smith didn’t have to make a lot of difficult saves and most of his shots were logo killers from the Boston Bruins. The Bruins also failed to get traffic in front of the Tampa Bay Lightning net. You can’t win many games with that kind of a game plan you have to generate opportunities down low and get bodies in front of the opposition net.

Sit on the lead = #epicfail...

If this years Boston Bruins’ team has one glaring fault, it’s when they get a lead and then they try to sit on the lead and they fail to compete anymore, they go into a defensive shell which doesn’t always seem to work for them, especially against the talented offensive minded teams. The Boston Bruins can not give a talented team like the Tampa Bay Lightning grade “A” scoring opportunities in front of their net and expect the goalie to make every save, last time I check Tim Thomas was a human being and he isn't going to stop every shot that somes his way. Good teams bury grade “A” scoring chances in close off of turnovers, the defense and the forwards have to be better, they have to be smarter with the puck and get the pucks deep and get offensive opportunites between the dots. The Bruins should have kept the pressure on and continued to attack… Instead the Boston Bruins sat back and watched the Tampa Bay Lightning race by them like they were big orange road cones.

Power outage

The Boston Bruins registered an unimpressive shot total of eight shots during the third period of today’s game and it was many minutes into the third before the Bruins even registered a shot on goal. I would classify that as being unacceptable and that can’t happen if the Bruins want to win this series and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

While the Bruins were caught flat footed numerous times the Lightning continued to race through the neutral zone with speed attacking the Bruins net and capitalizing off the Bruins turnovers. For whatever reason the Bruins abandoned their successful game plan from game three after they got the three goal lead going into the second period… That three goal lead promptly disappeared in four short minutes with two goals from former Maine Black Bear Teddy Purcill and Sean Bergenheim. From the 6:55 minute of the second period on the Bruins also looked uninterested in playing strong defensively as well and became a turnover factory and failed to get pucks deep. There were numerous times the Bruins failed to get puck deeps and turned the puck over to the speedy offensive minded Tampa Bay Lightning.

conference finals predictions

Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning: i find this series to be really interesting. Tampa Bay has the firepower to match any team with guys like Vincent Lacavailer and Martin St. Louis. the Boston Bruins have gotten good goaltending throughout the playoffs from Tim Thomas and Tampa Bay has as well with Dwayne Roloson. If Boston wants to win the series they will need to activate their defenseman into offensive zone and to take advantage of Chara's rocket shot from the point. the bruins need to break down Tampa Bay's 1-3-1 trap and to get their big guys like Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder in front of Roloson who is very good at stopping the first shot and doesn't give up a lot of rebounds. If Tampa Bay wants to win they will want to keep getting points from guys like dominic moore and teddy purcell to help out the big guns and for Roloson to shut down boston's top line of Lucic,Horton, and Krejci. I like the Bruins in 6 games because of the play of Tim Thomas in these playoffs, he has been amazing and i think the Bruins top line is going to have a big series.
Guys to Watch in this series: Krejci, BOS and Martin St. Louis, TB

San Jose Sharks vs Vancouver Canucks: in the western conference we have a battle of two teams that at times in the playoffs have been very inconsistent and have giving up big leads in previous series. I think we haven't seen the best of the Sedin Twins yet and expecting them to have a big series. the MVP of the playoffs so far has been Ryan Kesler, who seems like he is a man on a mission so far and is dominating every facet of the game. He is seen as one of the best two-way players in the NHL. The key for the Sharks to win this series is too shut down the Sedins and Kesler. The play of Dan Boyle of SJ in the playoffs has been amazing and he has made some key defensive plays as well as setting up a lot of offensive chances. Devin Setoguchi has also had a great playoff run so far and look for that to continue in this series. Anetti Niemi had a great series vs the Red Wings and that save he made vs Datsyuk in game 7 was just awesome. this series is going to come down to goaltending and i think Niemi has the advantage over Roberto Luongo in this series because Luongo has been very inconsistent throughout the playoffs and i think Niemi is coming into this series with a lot of confidence after taking down the red wings. i like the San Jose Sharks In 6 games because of the play of Niemi
Guys to Watch in this Series: Joe Thornton, SJ and Ryan Kesler, VAN