Predicting every matchup in the Stanley Cup semifinals

Atlantic Division – Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning

Offense – Whew buddy, if you like some offensive hockey, this could be the series for you. Tampa scored the most goals in the NHL by a significant margin and they are loaded up front. Steven Stamkos didn’t even get a lot of attention this year and still finished at over a point per game. Nikita Kucherov led the Bolts with 100 points in the regular season and picked up where he left off with 10 points in five playoff games. On the Boston side, youngster David Pastrnak went bonkers against the Maple Leafs. He scored 13 points in their seven game series and Boston also has plenty up front with the likes of Brad Marchand, David Krecji and Patrice Bergeron. Both teams can put the biscuit in the basket and we could see a lot of goals this series.

Edge – The Lightning carry the higher skill level among the forwards. Boston’s group is very good and deserves plenty of respect. The 1-2 combo of Kucherov and Stamkos is a little bit better than Pastrnak and Marchand and could swing the series.

Defense – Big man Zdeno Chara is the captain of the Bruins but he’s not quite what he used to be. Torrey Krug and Charlie McAvoy are both slightly better than Chara and Krug especially is coming off a nice series where he scored nine points. While it’s not an intimidating group on paper, they did allow the second fewest goals during the regular season. They’re going to be tough puzzle to solve.

The Tampa defense is better on paper. First, they have Victor Hedman which many teams can’t match. Hedman was quiet in the first round and went without scoring point. Don’t expect that to continue. Newly acquired Ryan McDonagh is getting his feet back under him after missing a lot of the season and they will form a tough 1-2 punch on the back end. Youngster Mikhail Sergachev played all five games in the first round and could really help swing the series.

Edge – This goes to Tampa again because they could roll out Hedman and McDonagh on different pairs. Unsurprisingly, the gap is not wide at all.

Goaltending –  Finally, we get to a spot that Boston can say they have an edge just a little bit. Tuukka Rask had an excellent regular season as usual. The numbers don’t look very good from the first round with a save percentage under .900 and a goals against of almost 3.00. That is a little concerning for Boston, but Rask still has a lot more playoff experience than Bolts net minder Andrei Vasilevsky. He played extremely well against the Devils but that’s not the same style of team that Toronto is. Rask gets a bit of a pass for his first rounded he’s got the experience that can pay off in this spot.

Edge – It goes to Boston. Rask is better than he showed against Toronto and both goalies have a very difficult matchup this round. It could come down to who makes the big and timely save every night. Vasilevsky has had his own playoff bugaboos outside of the five games against New Jersey.

Series Prediction – The last four series all stand to be good and they’re difficult to pick. Toronto pushed the Bruins almost over the edge and I think that seven game series will take its toll on Boston as this series goes on. The Bolts have just enough edges through the roster to take out Boston and the Lightning take this series in 6 games.