The Lightning already came into Boston and stole Game 1 with a 5-2 victory after blitzing the Bruins with 3 goals in under 2 minutes in the first period. That was a very impressive game for Tampa Bay as they often mixed up the looks they were showing Boston and that confusing led to some mis

Meanwhile the Lightning are on quite the roll, having won eight straight since being down 3-1 to Pittsburgh in round 1 and just continue to surprise. Their offense has remained remarkably consistent of late, scoring at least 3 goals in each of the past five, with four of those games reaching 4 goals or higher.  They are 7-1 SU against a team that allowed 5 or more goals last time out and are 7-0 SU as a dog. Their penalty killing has been phenomenal in these playoffs as they have only allowed 3 goals in 58 attempts which is good enough for a 94.8 % on the kill. Combine that with Bostons inability to convert on the power play (4.9%), and this series could quickly turn into a repeat of what Tampa did to Washington last round.

Boston needs to find an answer on that power play to keep up with the speed and scoring that Tampa could bring to this game. They have scorers like Lucic and Horton that appeared to get it going against Philly but all that time off after the sweep appeared to have killed that momentum. They are 4-1 SU when playing off two days rest and did beat Tampa 3 of 4 during the regular season so they will need to reflect on that experience to get it done tonight. Tim Thomas cannot let a few softies in like he did last game but the likely Vezina winner should bounce back tonight. The question for bettors thinking of backing Boston is whether or not the Bruins can get enough goals by Roloson to keep up with the offensively-gifted Lightning in what could be classified as somewhat of a must-win for the Bruins.

It is because of that little sense of desperation the Bruins will have tonight I think they open it up a bit more and attack. The total sits at 5.5 like last game and although it took a late empty net goal to push it over, I think bettors wont even need that tonight to cash the same ticket. Boston will continue to pepper Roloson with rubber (33 shots) but tonight, some of those point shots will get through and leave juicy rebounds for the forwards. Tampa will do their part to continue to produce and I easily could see this game ending up 3-3 and heading to OT. Therefore, at +120 on the over the value is there once again to see these two teams put quite a few pucks past the goal line.

The NHL free pick is on the over 5.5 tonight.