NHL Betting – #3 vs. #5 in Eastern Conference Finals. The Eastern Conference Finals in NHL betting are a matchup between the third-seeded Boston Bruins and the fifth-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins beat Montreal in seven games in the first round and then swept Philadelphia in the second round. Tampa Bay came back to beat Pittsburgh in the first round and then swept Washington in round two. Make your NHL bet on this series at Sbg global.
This will be the first time that Boston has made the conference finals since 1992. Tampa Bay will be playing in their first conference final since 2004 and that is the only time they played in the final as they went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. The Bruins have a definite home ice advantage in this series as Tampa Bay has had very little success through the years winning in Boston. That could be the deciding factor in this series and something to keep in mind as you make an NHL bet.
Goalies
This is going to be a very good matchup in goal as the Bruins have Tim Thomas while the Lightning has Dwayne Roloson. Both are veterans who know how to win and they both have been very good in the playoffs this season. Boston won three of the four regular season meetings against Tampa Bay this season in NHL betting but Roloson didn’t face the Bruins in any of the four games.
Depth
Both teams have a lot of players who can score goals. The Lightning have star scorer Steven Stamkos but he is not the only one who is scoring goals as Martin St. Louis, Sean Bergenheim and Steve Downie have all played well. Boston has Nathan Horton to go along with Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron.
Key Matchups
The Bruins big line is David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. They were very good against the Flyers and if they are clicking the Bruins will be tough to stop. The Lightning has a big line of their own if they choose to play Steven Stamkos with Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. The Bruins have the edge on defense with Chara and he could be the difference in this series if the controls the big scorers of Tampa Bay.