The set-up:The Bruinns have had an eventful last two weeks. With a chance to earn the East's No. 1 seem, Boston lost its final home game of the regular season 4-2 to the Panthers. The Bruins then let 2-0 and 3-1 leads slip away against the Maple Leafs in their opening round series, as Toronto force a Game 7. The Maple Leafs took a 4-3 lead into the third period in Game 7 at the TD Garden but Boston exploded for four final period goals for a 7-4 win. Up next for Boston was the top-seeded Lightning for Game 1 at Amelie Arena, where Tamp Bay had gone 32-10-2. The Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line led the way to 6-2 Boston victory on Saturday. Marchand (one goal) and Pastrnak (four assists) each posted four points ,while Bergeron had two goals to go along with an assist as the trio combined for a plus-12 rating in the win. Tampa Bay finished with a 36-24 edge in shots in Game 1 but could not contain the top line and made just enough mistakes to thwart their chance to climb back in the contest after falling behind 2-0. Tampa Bay's leading scorer Nikita Kucherov (five goals, 10 points in the playoffs) attempted eight shots in Game 1 and only two ended up on net

Boston: Goalie Tuukka Rask made 34 saves in Game 1, including several big stops in the first period and with a one-goal lead later in the contest, after a subpar performance in the first round against Toronto (.899 save percentage). Left wing Rick Nash scored twice in the series opener after managing one goal in the first round and rookie defenseman Charlie McAvoy added two assists to give him three in the playoffs.

Tampa Bay: The Ondrej Palat-Brayden Point-Tyler Johnson line, along with defensemen Anton Stralman and Ryan McDonagh, were matched up against the Bergeron trio in Game 1 and likely will get the job again, despite being out-played. "You dance with the one that brung you." the numbers. "We have to raise the battle level in the defensive zone," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper told reporters. "For all the battle level we had in the offensive zone, if we turn that into the defensive zone for some of those plays, maybe they don't go in."

The pick: Hard to imagine Boston's top line outplaying Tampa Bay's that badly again. Tampa Bay MUST slow down the trio of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, or it won't matter much even if the Lightning do improve in other areas of the ice. "There was just some tough coverage moments where I think everything they shot went in," Cooper told reporters. "They were opportunistic, but that's how you win games." This is almost a "must win" situation for Tampa Bay and they will need a better effort from goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped just 18 of 23 shots on Saturday. Yes, he's just 1-4-1 in six career regular-season games against Boston but he did own a .922 save percentage versus them. He's more than capable of bouncing back and remember, Rask looked very vulnerable in the Toronto series (a reminder above). Make Tampa Bay an 8* play.