The Bruins are facing the best opponent they'll face until they're either eliminated over the next couple weeks or they meet the Jets or Predators in the Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning are very well-rounded. They do everything well except kill penalties.
The Bruins recently finished off a good, not great Leafs team that boasted a strong offense but nothing special from the blue line back. Given that, it would stand to reason that the second round would look much different than the first round.
Yet the things that were actually major challenges for the Bruins in the first round were not present at all as the Bruins kicked off the second round. Two primary reasons that it took the Bruins seven games to beat the Maple Leafs were that they were rocky defensively/in goal and that their explosive first line was quieted in road games when Mike Babcock could determine the matchups.
The opposite took place Saturday. Not only did Tuukka Rask play his best game of the postseason, he actually looked confident in his surroundings. While Rask's play varied from game-to-game in the first round, rarely did it seem that the opposing offense was actually being stymied. That's often more of a defensive issue than it is a goaltending issue.
But everyone was good Saturday. Tampa's early changes came as a result of turnovers by David Backes and Sean Kuraly, but the breakdowns from defensemen were few and far between. It was also really, really nice to not see stretch-passes and players sneaking behind defensemen every two seconds.
Think of Rask's game as a no-hitter with errors. Both of Tampa's goals had little to do with goaltending. The first came from a puck that went off Tim Schaller's stick through a screen. The other came when Rask's skate blade fell out, rendering Rask pretty much useless. He screamed for the officials to blow the play dead, but they didn't.
And really, the officials didn't have to, as there is not a rule that requires the play to be stopped when a player loses their skate blade. It's a judgment call, but there is precedent for the whistle being blown, as was the case when it happened to Blues goalie Jake Allen in December.
Boston Bruins
The good news was that though it clearly infuriated Rask in the moment (he threw the aforementioned blade, which at that point was just simply a weapon, across the ice) it didn't have any longstanding effect on him or the Bruins. Rask would rob Ondrej Palat with a glove save shortly thereafter.
Much was made of the Bergeron line in the first round. When the B's were at home, they dominated, thanks in part to Bruce Cassidy throwing them out there against whomever he wanted. In Toronto, however, Babcock used Tomas Plekanec and friends to quiet them.
Jon Cooper had his choice of how to match against Bergeron Saturday. He went with the combination of his second line (Brayden Point between Palat and Tyler Johnson) and a pairing of Ryan McDonagh. The same players were deployed against Taylor Hall in the first round.
The Bergeron line absolutely feasted on the matchup Saturday, scoring three goals. It's unrealistic to expect that line to go off the same way again, but perhaps Cooper should rethink his matchups for Game 2.
This should have the makings of a long series. Tampa is too deep offensively and too strong on defense to roll over. Perhaps Game 1 will serve as the lone blowout of the series, but if the Bruins get the type of steady defensive play and goaltending they got Saturday, they should like their chances. If Cooper struggles to find the answers Babcock did, they should really like their chances.