Furthermore, the Lightning have had more rest as they ended their series in the semis against the New York Islanders two full days before the Penguins ended theirs. But if #91 were to lace up the skates against the Penguinss it would give Tampa Bay not only a scoring lift, but also a huge emotional one as well, something that can often propel a team over the hump in a tightly-contested playoff series.
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In the first two rounds the Lightning used home ice to their advantage, winning five of six games at Amalie Arena while going 2-2 on the road.
Stamkos Surprise – One of the NHL’s top scorers and most dynamic players, Steven Stamkos has been out of the Lightning lineup since early April with a blood clot. The Penguins may be slightly faster. The team appointed Mike Sullivan after they fired Mike Johnston. But Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh was between the pipes during the Pens’ 2009 Cup run, and that makes him the only goaltender alive in the post-season with experience winning everything as a regular starter. The Penguins silenced Evgeny Kuznetsov, got to Braden Holtby, and overwhelmed the Capitals with four lines of speed. He does not waste energy, and uses his positioning to let the puck hit him. Visiting social media and various pro sports sites will show numerous Lightning vs. Penguins polls, and most, if not all, appear to be skewed largely in Pittsburgh’s favor.
“I think you have to look at every series differently because they are all different”, forward Phil Kessel said.
What then might be the pivotal difference? “Coming off an emotional series, you want to make sure you’re ready to have that same level of desperation and intensity that you need in the playoffs”.
Hedman does what the best defencemen do: he controls the flow of the game. Like Iginla, he has played for the Stanley Cup, reaching the finals with Philadelphia in 1997, his rookie season. The missing men were pivotal: in those three matches Stralman scored four of his nine regular-season goals while Stamkos had two goals and three assists.
It always seems like their best guys are on the ice, no matter which guys they have on the ice. Martin Jones of San Jose also has a Cup, but he was not active in the 2014 playoffs much as a member of the Kings. With Stralman out late in the season (and in the playoffs) there have been notable changes and instability on defense, and while Stralman’s return does not guarantee that lapses will abate immediately, his presence upticks overall confidence among the defensive corps (and among fans too). Bishop was outside the crease during a Pittsburgh power play when he turned around to scramble back into position. St Louis has no defender of Burns’s calibre.
When the Bruins won their first two games against Pittsburgh this season, Mike Sullivan was in his first week as coach after replacing Mike Johnston.
Why they won’t win it all: One wonders how long that defence can keep performing at the level it is. So I will switch to San Jose over Tampa in six. The series was closer than the outcome indicates; Isles twice held third-period leads only to lose in overtime.
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The Conference Finals are here, and the Penguins and Lightning are set to open the third round of Stanley Cup playoff action. It doesn’t really effect you this time of year, how many games you played, a little break is not going to kill you. “Not just recover the injury but to start playing a game and doing the reads and timing, all that stuff”.
