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Tampa is playing great team hockey, other things we learned in Bruins vs. Lightning

By Bruin Belisle

BOSTON, MA - MAY 4: Teammates swarm Dan Girardi #5 of the Tampa Bay Lightning after he scored the game winning goal during overtime of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 4, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Lightning defeat the Bruins 4-3. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MAY 4: Teammates swarm Dan Girardi #5 of the Tampa Bay Lightning after he scored the game winning goal during overtime of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 4, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Lightning defeat the Bruins 4-3. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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The Tampa Bay Lightning stole Game 4 from the Boston Bruins, winning their second straight game in TD Garden. They now look to close out the series at home. Here is what we learned in Game 4.

The Tampa Bay Lightning completed the improbable and stole two straight games in Boston. Game 4 went their way early, as they broke out to a two-goal lead (more on that later). The Boston Bruins fought back and carried a lead in the third before the Lightning tied it up and put it away in the first overtime period.

The Lightning received goals tonight from Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Dan Girardi. The Bruins got their scoring from David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron (two). Sound familiar? Aside from Jake DeBrusk and a brief dash of Rick Nash, the Bruins haven’t gotten much help. All four lines need to be great for the rest of this series if they hope to come back.

The Lightning are heading home as confident as ever after stealing two in Boston. They could not have put themselves in a better position. This series isn’t over, but it isn’t looking good for the B’s.

Here are the three takeaways from Game 4

1. The Lightning are winning games with their secondary players

This is a great sign if you are a Tampa Bay fan but a terrible sign if you are a Bruins fan. Players like Ondrej Palat, Anthony Cirelli and Dan Girardi are the ones playing well for the Lightning. They’ve allowed players like Steven Stamkos to work through their small slumps and come back into the fold. Stamkos had a goal tonight.

The Lightning are looking like the opposite of the Bruins right now. The Bruins top line is shining (they had all three goals tonight), but they aren’t getting much help from anyone else. The Lightning’s top forwards were not delivering, but lines two through four are stepping up in their place. Now, the Lightning are slowly getting everyone up to par and that doesn’t bode well for the Bruins.

The NHL playoffs often come down to who’s team plays the best as a whole. Right now, that is the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning have a very good chance to close out this series at home, much to the dismay of many hockey fans who find them extremely boring to watch.

2. The Bruins could benefit from not starting each game down by two goals

The Bruins have been in this bad habit lately of going down two in the early going. Almost identical to Game 3, Game 4 opened with a strong Bruins push followed by a defensive mistake leading to a Lightning goal. In Game 3, it was Matt Grzelcyk fumbling a lob and in Game 4, Zdeno Chara failed to pick up a streaking Brayden Point that led to an easy goal.

The Bruins went on to commit an inopportune penalty (Chara tossing a puck into the rafters) leading to a second goal. If the Bruins could start a game without chasing, they would be way better off.

The Bruins need to be disciplined at the beginning of games. They should focus on getting an early goal, like they did in Game  1 and not committing any bad penalties. This will go a long way when they aren’t spending the entire second period fighting to get back into the game.

3. The Torey Krug potential injury is very troublesome

Torey Krug went down in the third on an awkward fall that resulted in his ankle twisting in his skate in a very unnatural looking manner.

Krug has been excellent for the Bruins all season, but especially in the post season. He has three goals and nine assists through these playoffs. He’s been one of, if not the best defender on the Bruins team and if this injury is serious, it is going to severely hurt their chances of a comeback.

The Bruins have to hope for the best when it comes to Krug’s situation, but it is very difficult to see a scenario in which they continue winning without him. He’s been a key player in every one of their games and seeing him get hurt just sucks.

Look. It’s 2018. A 3-1 series lead means almost nothing these days. If there is a team that has faced adversity this season, or a team that is used to coming back from being down, it is the Boston Bruins. This series is definitely not over, but the Bruins would have loved to come out of Boston at 2-2 and they have a very steep uphill battle ahead of them.

Next: Best hockey player from each state

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